Distributed Collaboration

Using interviews and case studies, this project will examine the various technologies and practices used for distributed collaboration in organizations.

In contemporary organizations, work is increasingly performed across geographic, functional, and organizational boundaries, as workers need to collaborate on activities such as new product development, knowledge sharing, and strategy creation. Today, there are a wide variety of technologies--ranging from instant messaging and wikis to visualization tools and virtual worlds--that can mediate cross-boundary communication and coordination. Yet, little is known about how these technologies are used in practice to enable effective distributed collaboration.

This research project will examine the various technologies and practices used for distributed collaboration in organizations. Using interviews and case studies, the research will focus on how distributed collaboration is occurring in practice, the conditions under which particular technologies and practices produce various outcomes, and the implications of these. Specific research questions include:

(*) What is the ecology of technologies and practices available today to facilitate collaboration among organizational workers?
(*) What are the conditions (cultures, structures, and processes) that enable effective distributed collaboration?
(*) How do these conditions differ across diverse work contexts?
(*) What are implications of such distributed collaboration for individuals and organizations? What works? What doesn't? When?