We introduce a formal model of a complex knowledge integration process named 'thinking along'. Based on the empirical analysis of Berends et al. (2004), the concept 'thinking along' describes how peers' interactions in the workplace often consist of 'temporary cognitive work with regard to a problem of someone else'. In this paper, we use an agent-based modelling approach to analyse the thinking along phenomenon and we combine it with a laboratory experiment which will allow us to validate our simulation results. We model the firm as a working environment consisting of agents arranged into work-practices, which provide the context for their interactions. The objective of the simulation experiments reported here is to compare different practice structures and test for their effectiveness with respect to their ability to solve problems by thinking along. To do so we will also introduce the notion of problem complexity. Under different scenarios of problem complexity we compare different workplace structures aiming at identifying the most effective. From such comparison it emerged that, as foreseen, complex problems are better tackled when practices group together agents with disparate skills (i.e. divisional practices) whereas simple problems can be more effectively addressed by organisational practices composed of agents with similar skills (i.e. functional practices). In either case, the simulated knowledge integration process played the dominant role. However, increasing problem complexity brought an overall reduction in problem-solving performance, which, in the case of organisations with divisional structure, is a non-trivial result.

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