Managing Social Distance in Geographically Distributed Teams

2021 ◽  
pp. 286-307
Author(s):  
Vinita Seshadri ◽  
Elangovan N.
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Team Effectiveness ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Distributed Team ◽  
Geographically Distributed

The chapter highlights the social distance, i.e. lack of emotional connection, formed among individuals working remotely in a geographically distributed team. The virtuality and cultural diversity of such teams creates limited opportunities for dispersed members to build social ties with remote team members leading to formation of ‘us' versus ‘them' attitudes which corrode team effectiveness. Based on a survey of 482 Indian IT professionals working in distributed teams, we find that social distance negatively impacts team effectiveness. Further, the results of the study show that practices such as task interdependence, inclusive communication, contextual information and shared identity can moderate the negative relationship between social distance and team effectiveness at varying levels of perceived status equality among individuals working in geographically distributed teams. The chapter provides recommendations for the effective management of geographically distributed teams whereby managers act as a bridge between the team members to overcome social distance.

Trust in Distributed Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 98-112
Author(s):  
Stephen Rylander
Keyword(s):  
Professional Relationships ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Distributed Team ◽  
Basic Need ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Team Model

Creating and maintaining trust amongst distributed team members is required for an organization to benefit from a distributed team model. Where face-to-face interactions were once the only model to gradually create trust, different models are required for a team that is not co-located. This chapter examines the basic need for trust, how the individual comes before the team, barriers to trust, and prepares the reader to examine his or her own situation to improve or create a new team based on trusting professional relationships.

The Influence of National and Organisational Culture on Knowledge Sharing in Distributed Teams

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Siakas ◽  
Elli Georgiadou ◽  
Dimitrios Siakas
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Code Model ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Distributed Team

In today's competitive business environment increasingly large numbers of organisations use distributed teams in their international operations. This paper provides a basis for discussion and analysis of knowledge sharing between distributed team members working in a global context in different organisational and national cultures. Examining the different cultural values and perceptions related to knowledge sharing, the authors aim at making more explicit the human and cultural dynamics that bear on knowledge sharing and knowledge management success. A lifecycle for knowledge creation and sharing is discussed. The use of Cultural and Organisational Diversity Evaluation (CODE) is proposed for assessing the fit between national and organisational culture. The objective of using the CODE model is to raise awareness of the cultural values and attitudes in distributed teams and in combination with the life-cycle to ensure an effective process quality management and foster a knowledge sharing culture within distributed team members.

Offshore Vendors’ Software Development Team Configurations

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Suranjan Chakraborty ◽  
Saonee Sarker ◽  
Sudhanshu Rai ◽  
Suprateek Sarker ◽  
Ranganadhan Nadadhur
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Configuration Theory ◽  
Home Location ◽  
Distributed Team ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The One ◽  
Off Shoring

This research uses configuration theory and data collected from a major IT vendor organization to examine primary configurations of distributed teams in a global off-shoring context. The study indicates that off-shoring vendor organizations typically deploy three different types of configurations, which the authors term as thin-at-client, thick-at-client, and hybrid. These configurations differ in terms of the size of the sub-teams in the different distributed locations and the nature of the ISD-related tasks performed by the distributed team members. In addition, the different configurations were compared on their inherent process-related and resource-related flexibilities. The thick-at-client configuration emerged as the one that offers superior flexibility (in all dimensions).However, additional analysis also revealed contingencies apart from flexibility that may influence the appropriateness of the distributed ISD team configuration, including the volatility of the client organization’s environment and the extent to which the ISD tasks can be effortlessly moved to the vendor’s home location.

The Influence of National and Organisational Culture on Knowledge Sharing in Distributed Teams

2020 ◽  
pp. 533-555
Author(s):  
Kerstin Siakas ◽  
Elli Georgiadou ◽  
Dimitrios Siakas
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Code Model ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Distributed Team

In today's competitive business environment increasingly large numbers of organisations use distributed teams in their international operations. This paper provides a basis for discussion and analysis of knowledge sharing between distributed team members working in a global context in different organisational and national cultures. Examining the different cultural values and perceptions related to knowledge sharing, the authors aim at making more explicit the human and cultural dynamics that bear on knowledge sharing and knowledge management success. A lifecycle for knowledge creation and sharing is discussed. The use of Cultural and Organisational Diversity Evaluation (CODE) is proposed for assessing the fit between national and organisational culture. The objective of using the CODE model is to raise awareness of the cultural values and attitudes in distributed teams and in combination with the life-cycle to ensure an effective process quality management and foster a knowledge sharing culture within distributed team members.

A Macroergonomic Approach to Distributed Team Performance

2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (15) ◽  
pp. 1335-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haydee M. Cuevas ◽  
Stephen M. Fiore ◽  
Eduardo Salas ◽  
Clint A. Bowers
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Distributed Team ◽  
Practical Guidelines

With the structure of teams in organizations increasing in complexity to include both co-located and distributed team members, explicit linkages between theory and practice are critically needed to mitigate the negative effects that computer-mediated interaction may have on distributed team performance. Following a macroergonomic approach, this paper focuses on describing how theories from organizational psychology can address some of the challenges faced by this small, but growing, subset of teams. Specifically, theories in motivation, group dynamics, and decision making can be applied to offer practical guidelines to foster the development of positive team attitudes (e.g., cohesion, trust) and behaviors (e.g., goal-setting, self-regulation), and successful decision making performance in distributed teams.

Mostly Virtual

2005 ◽  
pp. 66-69
Author(s):  
Robert Jones ◽  
Rob Oyung ◽  
Lisa Shade Pace
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Model ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Distributed Team ◽  
Geographically Distributed

In the mostly virtual model, team members are spread around the globe. This model sometimes can evolve slowly. Perhaps a team starts with one or two members working remotely. Then, company reorganizations, mergers, or acquisitions may spark the need for additional geographically distributed team members. Alternatively, we’ve also seen cases where a team was formed to be mostly virtual and distributed from the beginning in order to meet a business need (the PC COC team we mentioned earlier serves as a key example).

Offshore Vendors’ Software Development Team Configurations

2012 ◽  
pp. 176-204
Author(s):  
Suranjan Chakraborty ◽  
Saonee Sarker ◽  
Sudhanshu Rai ◽  
Suprateek Sarker ◽  
Ranganadhan Nadadhur
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Configuration Theory ◽  
Home Location ◽  
Distributed Team ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The One ◽  
Off Shoring

This research uses configuration theory and data collected from a major IT vendor organization to examine primary configurations of distributed teams in a global off-shoring context. The study indicates that off-shoring vendor organizations typically deploy three different types of configurations, which the authors term as thin-at-client, thick-at-client, and hybrid. These configurations differ in terms of the size of the sub-teams in the different distributed locations and the nature of the ISD-related tasks performed by the distributed team members. In addition, the different configurations were compared on their inherent process-related and resource-related flexibilities. The thick-at-client configuration emerged as the one that offers superior flexibility (in all dimensions).However, additional analysis also revealed contingencies apart from flexibility that may influence the appropriateness of the distributed ISD team configuration, including the volatility of the client organization’s environment and the extent to which the ISD tasks can be effortlessly moved to the vendor’s home location.

Lean-team effectiveness through leader values and members’ informing

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1530-1550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desirée H. van Dun ◽  
Celeste P.M. Wilderom
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Team Effectiveness ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Conservation Values ◽  
Self Transcendence

Purpose Although empirical tests of effective lean-team leadership are scarce, leaders are often blamed when lean work-floor initiatives fail. In the present study, a lean-team leader’s work values are assumed to affect his or her team members’ behaviors and, through them, to attain team effectiveness. Specifically, two of Schwartz et al.’s (2012) values clusters (i.e. self-transcendence and conservation) are hypothesized to be linked to team members’ degree of information and idea sharing and, in turn, to lean-team effectiveness. The paper aims to report the examination of these hypotheses. Design/methodology/approach Survey responses (n=429) of both leaders and members of 25 lean-teams in services and manufacturing organizations were aggregated, thereby curbing common-source bias. To test the six hypotheses, structural equation modeling was performed, with bootstrapping, linear regression analyses, and Sobel tests. Findings The positive relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders’ self-transcendence values, and the negative relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders’ conservation values were partly mediated by information sharing behavior within the team. Research limitations/implications Future research must compare the content of effective lean-team values and behaviors to similar non-lean teams. Practical implications Appoint lean-team leaders with predominantly self-transcendence rather than conservation values: to promote work-floor sharing of information and lean-team effectiveness. Originality/value Human factors associated with effective lean-teams were examined, thereby importing organization-behavioral insights into the operations management literature: with HRM-type implications.

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