Online Communication Technology and Relational Development

Key to success in negotiation is managing and enhancing relationships. This concept can be difficult to convey in short-term executive training courses where students have little time for relational development. Not to worry: the authors assert that by strategically using online communication before, during, and after such courses, students can effectively both train for, and depend on, good relations at a distance

An empirical investigation of Network-Oriented Behaviors in Business-to-Business Markets

This study is concerned with the extent to which network-oriented behaviors directly and/or indirectly affect firm performance. It argues that a firm's interaction behaviors in relation to an embedded network structure are key mechanisms that facilitate the development of important organizational capabilities in dealing with business partners. Such network-oriented behaviors, which are aimed at affecting the position of a company in the network, are consequently important drivers of firm performance, rather than the network structure alone. We develop a conceptual model that captures network-oriented behaviors as a driving force of firm performance in relation to three other key organizational behaviors, i.e., customer-oriented, competitor-oriented and relationship-oriented behaviors. We test the hypothesized model using a dataset of 354 responses collected via an on-line questionnaire from UK managers, whose organizations operate in business-to-business markets in either the manufacturing or services sectors. This study provides four key findings. First, a firm's networkoriented behaviors positively affect the development of customer-oriented and competitor-oriented behaviors. Secondly, they also foster relationship coordination with its important business partners within the network. Thirdly, the effective management of the firm's portfolio of relationships is found to mediate the positive impact of network-oriented behaviors on firm profitability. Lastly, closeness to end-users amplifies the positive effect of network-oriented behaviors on relationship portfolio effectiveness

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

Diversity, teams, and technology

Although it is often anticipated that demographic diversity in decision-making teams will enhance decision quality because individuals will offer unique perspectives, there is little empirical support for this hypothesis. Diverse work teams usually suffer from poor communication and are prone to conflict because individuals are so different from each other. My dissertation research tries to better understand how demographic diversity affects individuals in teams by examining the team decision-making process in depth. I study the intervening process variables of conflict and miscommunication, as well as the outcome variables of team identity and decision quality. I also examine how communication media affect individuals in these same teams. I conducted a field experiment. Subjects were assigned to conditions based on their actual roles in an organization. Using a balanced 2 x 2 design, I constructed demographically diverse and homogenous work teams along the dimensions of organizational function, racial-ethnic minority status, and sex. Teams communicated face-to-face or using computer-mediated communication technology. Results indicate that demographic diversity has both a positive and a negative effect on the ability of individuals to identify with their team and to negotiate higher quality decisions. Results also show that when teams' communication was computer mediated, individuals in these teams had weaker team identity and lower decision quality. An intervening process theory involving miscommunication and conflict is supported

The sharing economy ideal Implementing an organization-sponsored sharing platform as a CSR program

Purpose Bridging noted gaps in the sharing economy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literatures, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how an organization-sponsored sharing platform – a new class of information technology (IT) and the sharing economy ideal – is given meaning as a CSR program for internal stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach The research involves phone interviews conducted with site coordinators of the Zimride by Enterprise® ridesharing platform in 25 organizations. Findings This case study reveals that two component processes of organizational sensemaking – sensegiving and sensebreaking – are underlying micromechanisms used by organizations to enact a sponsored sharing platform as a CSR program. Qualitative analyses demonstrate that every meaning given to Zimride remained open to sensebreaking during its implementation. As such, site coordinators were continuously drawn into sensemaking about Zimride’s cognitive, linguistic and conative dimensions as a CSR program and had to exert ongoing effort to stabilize its socially (re)constructed meaning within their organization. Furthermore, site coordinators’ sensegiving narrative about Zimride was often undermined by their sensebreaking communications and organizational actions, albeit unintentionally. Research limitations/implications Sponsoring a sharing platform to facilitate collaborative consumption can deliver triple bottom line benefits for both organizations and their members, but it may not. The key to accruing this potential shared value lies is how site coordinators navigate organizational sensemaking about these IT-enabled CSR programs. Originality/value This paper provides valuable insights into these sensemaking processes and develops a prescriptive framework for enacting an organization-sponsored sharing platform as a CSR program

Examining the Viability of Organization-Sponsored Sharing Platforms

Organization-sponsored sharing platforms represent the sharing economy ideal because they facilitate the peer-to-peer exchange of goods and services among members of an established community. By embedding sharing within an organization, this platform configuration infuses collaborative consumption with the moral dimension of shared values and concerns. However, the conflicting institutional logics inherent in community-based sharing create paradoxical tensions that are likely to destabilize this new organizational form. Therefore, to understand when an organization-sponsored sharing platform is viable, we conducted an empirical investigation of the Zimride by Enterprise® ridesharing platform for universities and corporations. Using qualitative and quantitative data from 25 organizations that sponsored Zimride’s ridesharing service, we found that this new organizational form is characterized by contradictions due to the market, hierarchy and community logics of its multi-level B2B2P2P service delivery model. However, the mere presence of such paradoxical tensions did not render this sharing economy ideal infeasible. We, therefore, discuss when the Zimride platform was viable and how site coordinators at sponsoring organizations managed, in particular, the tension between their organizational members’ need for a heterogenous supply of transportation options and a strong collective identity to motivate their collaborative consumption