Challenges in Transdisciplinary, Integrated Projects: Reflections on the Case of Faculty Members’ Failure to Collaborate

In this article we describe the challenges of transdisciplinary teamwork involving four faculty members from dissimilar epistemological traditions in the process of developing a manuscript on the lessons learned in our teaching collaboration. Our difficulty originated in implicit mental models and assumptions that caused incongruence between our intent to collaborate and the (habituated) relationship structure of the partnership. The dynamics are described through the lens of Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s leadership model and Aristotle’s causality. We suggest that successful collaboration necessitates careful attention to the process of establishing the collaboration, its structure, and the metacognitive capacities to see one’s own thinking, suspend one’s epistemic beliefs, and engage in productive dialogue around conflict.