Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams
Published online in Articles in Advance June 15, 2009
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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INFORMS
2011
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67073 |
| _version_ | 1826198734351892480 |
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| author | O'Leary, Michael Boyer Mortensen, Mark |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management O'Leary, Michael Boyer Mortensen, Mark |
| author_sort | O'Leary, Michael Boyer |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Published online in Articles in Advance June 15, 2009 |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:09:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/67073 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:09:18Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | INFORMS |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/670732022-09-27T17:30:05Z Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams O'Leary, Michael Boyer Mortensen, Mark Sloan School of Management Mortensen, Mark Mortensen, Mark Published online in Articles in Advance June 15, 2009 Research regarding geographically dispersed teams (GDTs) is increasingly common and has yielded many insights regarding the effects of spatio-temporal and socio-demographic factors on 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 individual, subgroup, and team-level 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 two-site configurations. As predicted based on social categorization, we find that configuration significantly affects team dynamics—independent of spatio-temporal distance and socio-demographic factors. More specifically, we find that the social categorization in teams with geographically based subgroups (defined as two or more members per site) triggers significantly weaker identification with the team, less effective transactive memory, more conflict, and more coordination problems. Furthermore, imbalance in the size of subgroups (i.e., the uneven distribution of members across sites) invokes a competitive, coalitional mentality that exacerbates these effects; subgroups with a numerical minority of team members report significantly poorer scores on identification, transactive memory, conflict, and coordination problems. In contrast, teams with geographically isolated members (i.e., members who have no teammates at their site) have better scores on these same four outcomes than both balanced and imbalanced configurations. Boston College (Research Incentive Grant) 2011-11-18T19:35:58Z 2011-11-18T19:35:58Z 2009-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1047-7039 1526-5455 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67073 O’Leary, M. B., and M. Mortensen. “Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams.” Organization Science 21.1 (2009) : 115-131. en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1090.0434 Organizational Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf INFORMS SSRN |
| spellingShingle | O'Leary, Michael Boyer Mortensen, Mark Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams |
| title | Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams |
| title_full | Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams |
| title_fullStr | Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams |
| title_full_unstemmed | Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams |
| title_short | Go (Con)figure: Subgroups, Imbalance, and Isolates in Geographically Dispersed Teams |
| title_sort | go con figure subgroups imbalance and isolates in geographically dispersed teams |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67073 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT olearymichaelboyer goconfiguresubgroupsimbalanceandisolatesingeographicallydispersedteams AT mortensenmark goconfiguresubgroupsimbalanceandisolatesingeographicallydispersedteams |