Groupware and teamwork in new product development: the case of a consumer goods multinational

In a competitive environment that is global, intense and dynamic, the development of new products and processes is increasingly becoming a focal point of competition (Clark and Wheelright, 1993). Firms able to get to the market faster and more efficiently with products which are well matched to the needs and expectations of the customer have significant competitive advantage. In order to cope with this kind of environment many organizations are attempting to transform their structures and processes through teamwork, global integration and networking.(Ciborra, 1993; Orlikowski et al., 1995) New communication technologies such as e-mail, computer conferencing and groupware can play a strategic role since they provide companies with platforms that operate on a global scale by connecting users dispersed over the organizational networks. Furthermore, by "textualizing" work (Zuboff, 1988) and rendering it transparent the electronic networks open up new possibilities for reducing barriers to communication, and sharing organizational knowledge. To be sure, with network technologies the organizational local and global levels are far more interwoven than simple, hierarchical models would suggest. As the distinction between centre and periphery tends to fade, organizational boundaries become virtual and users, in shaping the way technology is actually deployed (De Certeau, 1988), can play on and dwell in the creative ambiguity and the "interpretative flexibility" (Orlikowski, 1992) allowed by the complexity of the networks. In order to capture such complexity and its dynamics, we can look at it as characterized by multiple physical, organizational and social features. In this perspective, echoing Bressand and Distler's (1995) terminology, it is possible to detect in any network three distinct analytical levels: