Friends and Enemies Within: The Roles of Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams

Research regarding geographically dispersed teams (GDTs) is increasingly common and has yielded many insights into how spatio-temporal and socio-demographic factors affect GDT functioning and performance. Largely missing, however, is research on the effects of the basic geographic configuration of GDTs. In this study, we explore the impact of GDT configuration (i.e., the relative number of team members at different sites, independent of the characteristics of those members or the spatial and temporal distances among them) on GDT dynamics. In a quasi-experimental setting, we examine the effects of configuration using a sample of 62 six-person teams in four different one- and twosite configurations. As predicted, we find that configuration significantly affects team dynamics – independent of spatio-temporal distance and socio-demographic factors. More specifically, we find that teams with geographically-based subgroups (defined as two or more members per site) have significantly less shared team identity, less effective transactive memory, more conflict, and more coordination issues. Furthermore, in teams with subgroups, imbalance (i.e., the uneven distribution of members across sites) exacerbates these effects; subgroups with a numerical minority of team members report significantly poorer scores on the same four outcomes. In contrast, teams with geographically isolated members (i.e., members who have no teammates at their site) outperform both balanced and imbalanced configurations

A Transactive Memory Systems Perspective on Virtual Team Creativity

Regulating the creativity of virtual teams (VTs) has turned up to be a major concern for many companies. Furthermore, organizations with geographically distributed teams, are struggling to keep up satisfactory VT relations to enhance creativity initiatives. This research analyses how firms can manage the relationship between transactive memory systems (TMS) components (specialization, coordination and credibility) with VT creativity. We examined the collected data from 231 professionals employing structural equation modeling to assess the model fit and partial least squares to evaluate the robustness of our results. Our investigations found different results. The first conclusion shows that TMS components have a positive impact on VT creativity. Second, our study gives a confirmation of the combined intra and inter-TMS components’ effect on VT creativity

Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration and Review

With the increasing emphasis on work teams as the primary architecture of organizational structure, scholars have begun to focus attention on team learning, the processes that support it, and the important outcomes that depend on it. Although the literature addressing learning in teams is broad, it is also messy and fraught with conceptual confusion. This chapter presents a theoretical integration and review. The goal is to organize theory and research on team learning, identify actionable frameworks and findings, and emphasize promising targets for future research. We emphasize three theoretical foci in our examination of team learning, treating it as multilevel (individual and team, not individual or team), dynamic (iterative and progressive; a process not an outcome), and emergent (outcomes of team learning can manifest in different ways over time). The integrative theoretical heuristic distinguishes team learning process theories, supporting emergent states, team knowledge representations, and respective influences on team performance and effectiveness. Promising directions for theory development and research are discussed

Virtual Team Common Knowledge: Construct Specification and Effect on Knowledge Integration Effectiveness

Common wisdom in the literature on virtual team is that rigid, explicit and formal forms of coordination are required for the integration of different expertise to take place, while tacit forms of coordination are difficult to establish and maintain. This study challenges this claim and evaluates the contribution of virtual team common knowledge – a tacit coordination mechanism – on virtual teams’ knowledge integration effectiveness. In an attempt to reconcile the different theoretical stances adopted in previous studies, we offer a new conceptualization for “virtual team common knowledge” and assess its structural and psychometric properties. A measure is developed and tested with 700 individuals spread across 102 virtual teams in the field. The evidence suggests that virtual team common knowledge is formed by common task knowledge, common expertise knowledge, common IT interaction knowledge, and common specialized knowledge. Virtual team common knowledge is also found to positively influence knowledge integration effectiveness

Knowledge processes in virtual teams:consolidating the evidence

This article takes stock of the current state of research on knowledge processes in virtual teams (VTs) and consolidates the extent research findings. Virtual teams, on the one hand, constitute important organisational entities that facilitate the integration of diverse and distributed knowledge resources. On the other hand, collaborating in a virtual environment creates particular challenges for the knowledge processes. The article seeks to consolidate the diverse evidence on knowledge processes in VTs with a specific focus on identifying the factors that influence the effectiveness of these knowledge processes. The article draws on the four basic knowledge processes outlined by Alavi and Leidner (2001) (i.e. creation, transferring, storage/retrieval and application) to frame the investigation and discuss the extent research. The consolidation of the existing research findings allows us to recognise the gaps in the understanding of knowledge processes in VTs and identify the important avenues for future research

Searching Unanswered Questions A Review of Knowledge Management Processes in Virtual Teams

This article provides a review of the empirical literature on knowledge management processes in virtual teams in an effort to keep the stock of the current state of knowledge. The review is organized according to the four basic knowledge management processes outlined by Alavi and Leidner (2001) (i.e., creation/acquisition, sharing/transferring, storage/retrieval and application). Factors influencing the effectiveness of knowledge management processes studied in the existing literature are examined and discussed. Building on this review, we critically evaluate this stream of research and propose avenues for future work on knowledge management in virtual teams

The Impact of Perceived Subgroup Formation on Transactive Memory Systems and Performance in Distributed Teams

With distributed teams becoming increasingly common in organizations, improving their performance is a critical challenge for both practitioners and researchers. This research examines how group members\u27 perception of subgroup formation affects team performance in fully distributed teams. The authors propose that individual members\u27 perception about the presence of subgroups within the team has a negative effect on team performance, which manifests itself through decreases in a team\u27s transactive memory system (TMS). Using data from 154 members of 41 fully distributed teams (where no group members were colocated), the authors found that members\u27 perceptions of the existence of subgroups impair the team\u27s TMS and its overall performance. They found these effects to be statistically significant. In addition, decreases in a group\u27s TMS partially mediate the effect of perceived subgroup formation on team performance. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for managerial action, as well as for researchers, and they propose directions for future research

The Influence of Subgroup Dynamics on Knowledge Coordination in Distributed Teams: A Transactive Memory System and Group Faultline Perspective

With the rapid growth of globalization, distributed teams have become increasingly common in organizations. This research investigates the impact of inter-subgroup dynamics on knowledge coordination in distributed teams. To address this research question, we extend and apply theory from two primary sources – Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) theory and the faultline model. The paper uses data collected from 22 distributed MBA student teams to provide several novel insights into how perceived faultlines impact team processes (knowledge coordination) and outcomes (team performance and member satisfaction). First, perceived faultlines reduce knowledge coordination, which is an important antecedent of team performance and member satisfaction. Second, knowledge coordination fully mediates the negative effect of perceived faultines on team performance and member satisfaction. Third, low levels of TMS not only impair performance, but also reduce member satisfaction in distributed teams. Implications for research and practice are discussed together with potential avenues for future research

Exploring The Role Of ICT In The Formation Of Transactive Memory Systems In Virtual Teams

This paper is a research in progress. Virtual teams (VTs) are increasingly common in organizations, yet explicit research on VTs’ performance is relatively rare. One of the key challenges faced by individuals in VTs is the awareness of ‘who knows what’ and ‘who does what’ in the team. One of the solutions offered by past research in overcoming these key challenges is for teams to form Transactive Memory Systems (TMS). However, previous research on TMS has been limited and focused primarily on face-to-face teams yielding inconsistent results with respect to TMS formation in VTs. Therefore, the goal of this research is to explore and describe the formation of TMS in VTs. Our focus will be on the role of ICT as a communication tool to foster TMS formation. We intend to empirically examine this role, using a model derived from Brandon and Hollingshead (2004) as basis. We propose to use a large-scale survey to test our augmentation of this model. It is hoped that this study will provide a deeper understanding of the use of ICT as a communication tool during the formation of TMS in VTs

Does Dormant Faultline Still Matter in Distributed Teams? Extending the Faultline Concept to Distributed Environment

Subgroup divisions based on demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and race (the notion of dormant team fautlines) have been found to influence team processes and outcomes in face-to-face teams. This research extends the faultline concept to distributed environment, by proposing that recognized faultlines, instead of dormant faultline, will have a negative impact on distributed team performance and an important team cognitive process – Transactive Memory Systems (TMS). The research model was tested based on survey data collected from 156 MBA students in 42 distributed teams. Our results show that in distributed teams where each team member locates at a different location and never meet face-to-face, recognized faultlines have a negative relationship to both team performance and TMS, while dormant faultlines only have a negative link to TMS, but no significant relationship to team performance. Implications for research and practice are discussed together with potential avenues for future research