Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams: An exploratory study.

Modern organizations face many significant challenges because of turbulent environments and a competitive global economy. Among these challenges are the use of information and communication technology (ICT), a multicultural workforce, and organizational designs that involve global virtual teams. Ad hoc teams create both opportunities and challenges for organizations and many organizations are trying to understand how the virtual environment affects team effectiveness. Our exploratory study focused on the effects of cultural diversity and ICT on team effectiveness. Interviews with 41 team members from nine countries employed by a Fortune 500 corporation were analyzed. Results suggested that cultural diversity had a positive influence on decision‐making and a negative influence on communication. ICT mitigated the negative impact on intercultural communication and supported the positive impact on decision making. Effective technologies for intercultural communication included e‐mail, teleconferencing combined with e‐Meetings, and team rooms. Cultural diversity influenced selection of the communication media

Project Quality of Offshore Virtual Teams Engaged in Software Requirements Analysis: An Exploratory Comparative Study

The off-shore software development companies in countries such as India use a global delivery model in which initial requirement analysis phase of software projects get executed at client locations to leverage frequent and deep interaction between user and developer teams. Subsequent phases such as design, coding and testing are completed at off-shore locations. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in off-shoring even requirements analysis phase using computer mediated communication. We conducted an exploratory research study involving students from Management Development Institute (MDI), India and Marquette University (MU), USA to determine quality of such off-shored requirements analysis projects. Our findings suggest that project quality of teams engaged in pure off-shore mode is comparable to that of teams engaged in collocated mode. However, the effect of controls such as user project monitoring on the quality of off-shored projects needs to be studied further

High-Tech Dispute Resolution: Lessons from Psychology for a Post-Covid-19 Era

Covid-19 fostered a remote technology boom in the world of dispute resolution. Pre-pandemic, adoption of technical innovation in dispute resolution was slow moving. Some attorneys, courts, arbitrators, mediators and others did use technology, including telephone, e-mail, text, or videoconferences, or more ambitious online dispute resolution (ODR). But, to the chagrin of technology advocates, many conducted most dispute resolution largely in-person. The pandemic effectively put the emerging technological efforts on steroids. Even the most technologically challenged quickly began to replace in-person dispute resolution with videoconferencing, texting, and other technology. Courts throughout the world canceled all or most in-person trials, hearings, conferences, and appeals and began to experiment with using technologically-assisted alternatives. The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments using telephone conference calls. Attorneys, mediators, and arbitrators relied far more heavily on phone, e-mail, text, and video. Some courts expanded programs to help disputants obtain information and even resolve their disputes online. “Thanks” to the pandemic, the traditionally slow-moving and technology-resistant legal community suddenly embraced many kinds of technology with both arms and more. This move to technology-mediated dispute resolution was met with greater enthusiasm than many might have anticipated, leading to predictions that we may never return to the world of extensive reliance on in-person dispute resolution. As the pandemic endured, lawyers, neutrals, and court administrators found that practices adopted out of desperation could be worth preserving post-pandemic. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack, in describing “temporary” pandemic adjustments, noted: “I don’t think that things will ever return to the way they were, and I think that is a good thing.” Even many who were previously hesitant about or relatively unaware of the possible uses of technology saw the potential for clear benefits. Some judges, mediators, arbitrators, and court administrators observed that the online versions of litigation, mediation, and arbitration could be as good or even better than the in-person versions. Some began to consider new ways to combine processes or to use them differently. Tech advocates saw this as one silver lining of the pandemic, noting that Covid-19 achieved a result that twenty years of tech advocacy could not. As in-person interactions once again become possible, disputants, lawyers, courts, and neutrals will need to decide whether and under what circumstances to conduct interviews, depositions, court proceedings, negotiations, mediations, or arbitrations in-person, by phone, using videoconferencing, or in writing of some form. While many hail the potential benefits of using technology, others fear the loss of the human side of dispute resolution, expressing significant skepticism that technology can adequately replace the close contact, credibility assessment, rapport, and interpersonal connection they believe are critically important aspects of dispute resolution. Some tout the possibilities for using technology to facilitate access to justice, but others worry about the ways that technology might impede such access. Psychological science provides a useful lens through which to consider these essential issues. Using different means of communication can influence how participants experience the interaction and these experiential differences have important implications for dispute resolution. These implications offer valuable lessons for legal actors choosing which modes of communication to use and determining how to communicate well within a particular medium. While it is natural to seek simple answers, the psychological research we explore is nuanced, revealing that no single mode of communication is “best” in all circumstances. In lieu of a simple solution we provide a multi-dimensional analysis that will help guide decision makers in making these critical determinations. Understanding the science will help participants maximize the benefits and minimize the drawbacks of different communication media, enabling them to make informed choices among media, design the chosen media to fit their goals, and adjust their advocacy, judging, negotiation, and other activities to the chosen medium. In Section II, we draw on psychology to analyze four key characteristics of communication media: (1) the channels that they provide for communication, (2) the degree to which they facilitate synchronous or asynchronous communication; (3) the extent to which they provide transparency or privacy; and (4) their formality, familiarity, and accessibility. In Section III, we explore how these characteristics affect participants in dispute resolution. We focus on the impacts of alternative modes of communication in ten areas that are particularly relevant to dispute resolution: (1) focus and fatigue; (2) rapport; (3) emotion; (4) the exchange of information; (5) participant behavior; (6) credibility determinations; (7) persuasion; (8) judgment and decision making; (9) procedural justice; and (10) public views of justice. In Section IV, we explore how decision makers might incorporate the insights of psychology into their technological choices. We identify three important variables for decision makers to consider: the goals the decision maker has for the process; the characteristics of the disputants; and the nature of the dispute or task. We explain why these variables are critically important and provide examples of how decision makers can draw on psychology to best fulfill their goals in designing and using technology for dispute resolution. In Section V, we briefly conclude and point to several areas in which additional research would be particularly useful

Designing together apart : computer supported collaborative design in architecture

The design of computer tools to assist in work has often attempted to replicate manual methods. This replication has been proven to fail in a diversity of fields such as business management, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer- Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW). To avoid such a failure being repeated in the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Design (CSCD), this thesis explores the postulation that CSCD does not have to be supported by tools which replicate the face-to-face design context to support distal architectural design. The thesis closely examines the prevailing position that collaborative design is a social and situated act which must therefore be supported by high bandwidth tools. This formulation of architectural collaboration is rejected in favour of the formulation of a collaborative expert act. This proposal is tested experimentally, the results of which are presented. Supporting expert behaviour requires different tools than the support of situated acts. Surveying research in computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW), the thesis identifies tools that support expert work. The results of the research is transferred to two contexts: teaching and practice. The applications in these two contexts illustrate how CSCD can be applied in a variety of bandwidth and technological conditions. The conclusion is that supporting collaborative design as an expert and knowledge-based act can be beneficially implemented in the teaching and practice of architecture

Flexible Global Software Development (GSD): Antecedents of Success in Requirements Analysis

Globalization of software development has resulted in a rapid shift away from the traditional collocated, on-site development model, to the offshoring model. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in offshoring even in early phases like requirements analysis. Additionally, the flexibility offered by the agile development approach makes it attractive for adaptation in globally distributed software work. A question of significance then is what impacts the success of offshoring earlier phases, like requirements analysis, in a flexible and globally distributed environment? This article incorporates the stance of control theory to posit a research model that examines antecedent factors such as requirements change, facilitation by vendor and client site-coordinators, control, and computer-mediated communication. The impact of these factors on success of requirements analysis projects in a “flexible” global setting is tested using two quasi-experiments involving students from Management Development Institute, India and Marquette University, USA. Results indicate that formal modes of control significantly influence project success during requirements analysis. Further, facilitation by both client and vendor site coordinators positively impacts requirements analysis success

ICT-driven interactions: on the dynamics of mediated control

Interactions driven by Information Communications Technologies (ICT) have gained significant acceptance and momentum in contemporary organisational settings, this is illustrated by their massive adoption and varied deployment across the various levels of an organisation’s hierarchy. ICTs such as mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), videoconferencing, BlackBerries and other forms of portable and immovable computing technologies provide enduring bases for mediated interactions in human activities. This thesis looks into the dynamics of ICT-driven interactions and, distinctively, focuses on the manifestations and implications of mediated control in a collaborative environment. The study draws on the concept of administrative behaviour which leads to the observation that the nature of mediated control is not static, but evolutionarily dynamic that springs from highly unpredictable contexts of work. Thus, interactions driven by ICTs influence and change the dynamics of mediated control against the background of the rhythm, structure and direction of an organisation’s purposeful undertakings. Findings indicate, quite paradoxically, that networks set up through the instrumentality of technology mediated interaction discourage domination and inspire individual discretion in spite of their promise of electronic chains. The analysis reflects the notion that mediated control is not only about the predetermination of targets that are attained at the subordinate level. Indeed, the study advocates a fundamental conceptualisation of mediated control as double-sided concept, integrating the use of discretion that, occasionally, makes subordinates drive and initiate key control techniques that steer organisational life. Therefore, through the application of philosophical hermeneutics for a rigorous data interpretation, this study develops an innovative and holistic understanding of mediated control which not only adds to, but also extends, the current organisational perception of control by the incorporation of discretion and, in the process, makes a distinctive contribution to scholarship

Organization development as instrument to build and maintain organizational effectiveness in remote mode: a qualitative inductive research

The public-health driven COVID-19 lockdowns unpredictably forced organization development (OD) consultants to work from home in no time. As original interventions, driven by behavioral and social science knowledge were predominantly designed for face-to-face encounters, adaptation to virtual OD services was inevitable. The purpose of this study was to investigate how organization development consultants adjusted their labor activity from a predominantly face-to-face to a solely technology-mediated setting. We adopted a bottom-up, research approach to inductive concept development, following Gioia and colleagues’ methodology (2013) to study the adaptation process of 10 both external and internal OD consultants. The emergent framework suggests that adjusting to a virtual setting was a complex process that occurs in more or less sequential stages: (1) we go into action, (2) acknowledging limits, (3) an ongoing need and evolvement of a tech & tool literacy, and finally (4) the acceptance of change, resulting in an evolved state of the occupational field. The findings indicate a parallel to Lewin’s famous Three-Phase Model of Change (1951). We suggest that our emergent framework can be well applied by other occupational fields (e.g., education sector, therapy, consultancies) in a transition process to a virtual setting. To facilitate the transition in other occupational fields we outline a roadmap as guidance.Os confinamentos do COVID-19, impulsionados pela saúde pública, forçaram imprevisivelmente os consultores de desenvolvimento de organização (DO) a trabalharem a partir de casa em pouco tempo. Como as intervenções originais, impulsionadas por conhecimentos comportamentais e de ciências sociais foram predominantemente concebidas para encontros presenciais, a adaptação a serviços virtuais de DO era inevitável. O objetivo deste estudo era investigar como os consultores de desenvolvimento organizacional ajustaram a sua atividade laboral de um ambiente predominantemente presencial para um ambiente exclusivamente mediado pela tecnologia. Adoptámos uma abordagem "bottom-up", de investigação para o desenvolvimento de conceitos indutivos, seguindo a metodologia de Gioia e colegas (2013) para estudar o processo de adaptação de 10 consultores externos e internos de DO. O quadro emergente sugere que a adaptação a um cenário virtual foi um processo complexo que ocorreu em fases mais ou menos sequenciais: (1) entramos em acção, (2) reconhecimento de limites, (3) uma necessidade contínua e evolução de uma alfabetização tecnológica e de ferramentas, e finalmente (4) a aceitação da mudança, resultando num estado evoluído do campo ocupacional. Os resultados indicam um paralelo com o famoso modelo de mudança de três estágios de Lewin (1951). Sugerimos que o nosso quadro emergente seja aplicado por outros campos profissionais (por exemplo, sector da educação, terapia, consultorias) num processo de transição para um cenário virtual. Para facilitar a transição noutros campos profissionais, delineamos um roteiro como orientação