Team size and technology fit: participation, Awareness,and rapport in distributed teams

In this paper we investigate the effects that team size has on geographically distributed team behavior and technology choice. We report results from a survey of distributed team members conducted within a large, multinational technology manufacturing organization. Responses indicate that members of smaller teams participated more actively on their team, were more committed to their team, were more aware of the goals of the team, had greater awareness of other team members, and were in teams with higher levels of rapport. Larger teams are more conscientious than smaller teams in preparing meeting agendas. Team size was also associated with different technology choice: larger teams adopted technology to support the coordination of asynchronous work, while smaller teams adopted technology that primarily supported collaboration. We discuss the implications of distributed team size for team performance and technology adoption.

[1]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams , 1999 .

[2]  I. Steiner.  Group process and productivity , 1972 .

[3]  D. Shaw,et al.  Size of Share in Task and Motivation in Work Groups , 1960 .

[4]  P. Slater.  Contrasting Correlates of Group Size , 1958 .

[5]  Raymond R. Panko,et al.  Project teams: profiles and member perceptions-implications for group support system research and products , 1996, Proceedings of HICSS-29: 29th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[6]  Ping Zhang,et al.  Fast timing estimation for CDMA waveforms in a near-far environment , 1996, Proceedings of GLOBECOM'96. 1996 IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference.

[7]  David R. Millen,et al.  Multi-team Facilitation of Very Largescale Distributed Meetings , 2003, ECSCW.

[8]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  Message Equivocality, Media Selection, and Manager Performance: Implications for Information Systems , 1987, MIS Q..

[9]  A. Hare.  A Study of Interaction and Consensus in Different Sized Groups , 1952 .

[10]  O. Hall,et al.  The Influence of Plant Size on Industrial Relations. , 1955 .

[11]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  Meeting at the desktop: An empirical study of virtually collocated teams , 1999, ECSCW.

[12]  R. Bales,et al.  Channels of communication in small groups. , 1951 .

[13]  Ilze Zigurs,et al.  A Theory of Task/Technology Fit and Group Support Systems Effectiveness , 1998, MIS Q..

[14]  Raghu Garud,et al.  Communication Patterns as Determinants of Organizational Identification in a Virtual Organization , 1999, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[15]  Jon R. Katzenbach,et al.  The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization , 1992 .

[16]  Steven E. Poltrock,et al.  Requirements for a virtual collocation environment , 1999, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[17]  Herbert A. Thelen,et al.  Group Dynamics in Instruction: Principle of Least Group Size , 1949, The School Review.

[18]  Suzanne P. Weisband,et al.  Developing trust in virtual teams , 1997, Proceedings of the Thirtieth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[19]  Martha Haywood,et al.  Managing virtual teams : practical techniques for high-technology project managers , 1998 .

[20]  Maureen S. Battistella,et al.  Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization , 1991 .

[21]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[22]  Blake Ives,et al.  Virtual teams: managerial behavior control's impact on team effectiveness , 2000, ICIS.

[23]  Ned Kock,et al.  Compensatory adaptation to a lean medium: an action research investigation of electronic communication in process improvement groups , 2001 .

[24]  Paul H. Cheney,et al.  Project characteristics and group communication: an investigation , 2002 .

[25]  Starr Roxanne Hiltz,et al.  Culturally heterogeneous vs. culturally homogeneous groups in distributed group support systems: effects on group process and consensus , 2001, Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[26]  Daniel R. Ilgen,et al.  TEAMS EMBEDDED IN ORGANIZATIONS : SOME IMPLICATIONS , 1999 .