Distributed Work: Communication in an Officeless Firm

This paper describes and analyses an officeless firm, where all employees work from their own homes. Drawing upon observations and interviews, the modes of communication and the nature of the interpersonal relationships that have permitted this organisation to succeed are described, along with the challenges that face this organisation in the future as it attempts to grow.

[1]  Peter R. Monge,et al.  Connective and Communal Public Goods in Interactive Communication Systems , 1996 .

[2]  Rosann Webb Collins,et al.  Distributed Work Arrangements: A Research Framework , 1998, Inf. Soc..

[3]  Jørgen Bøegh The Virtual College , 1998 .

[4]  D. Armstrong,et al.  Managing distances and differences in geographically distributed work groups. , 2002 .

[5]  Deborah H. Gruenfeld,et al.  Group Composition and Decision Making: How Member Familiarity and Information Distribution Affect Process and Performance , 1996 .

[6]  Peter R. Monge,et al.  FOSTERING INTRANET KNOWLEDGE- SHARING: AN INTEGRATION OF TRANSACTIVE MEMORY AND PUBLIC GOODS APPROACHES , 2001 .

[7]  Bonnie A. Nardi and Steve Whittaker The Place of Face-to-Face Communication in Distributed Work , 2002 .

[8]  Pamela J. Hinds,et al.  The Phenomenology of Conflict in Distributed Work Teams , 2002 .

[9]  Youngjin Yoo,et al.  Dynamic nature of trust in virtual teams , 2002, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[10]  Pamela J. Hinds,et al.  Distributed Work , 2002 .

[11]  M. Rutter Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. , 1987, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[12]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams , 1999, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[13]  R. Moreland Transactive memory: Learning who knows what in work groups and organizations. , 1999 .

[14]  D. Harrison,et al.  Beyond Relational Demography: Time and the Effects of Surface- and Deep-Level Diversity on Work Group Cohesion , 1998 .

[15]  John W. Sweeney An experimental investigation of the free-rider problem , 1973 .

[16]  G. Northcraft,et al.  You have printed the following article : Why Differences Make a Difference : A Field Study of Diversity , Conflict , and Performance in Workgroups , 2007 .

[17]  Sumita Raghuram,et al.  Work-nonwork conflict and job stress among virtual workers , 2004 .

[18]  Niki Panteli,et al.  Richness, power cues and email text , 2002, Inf. Manag..

[19]  Maryalice Citera Distributed Teamwork: The Impact of Communication Media on Influence and Decision Quality , 1998, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[20]  John P. Walsh,et al.  The Virtual College: Computer-Mediated Communication and Scientific Work , 1996, Inf. Soc..

[21]  P. Samuelson The Pure Theory of Public Expanditure , 1954 .

[22]  Bradley L. Kirkman,et al.  The Dimensions and Antecedents of Team Virtuality , 2005 .

[23]  Pamela J. Hinds,et al.  The Place of Face-to-Face Communication in Distributed Work , 2002 .

[24]  Gerardine DeSanctis,et al.  Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory , 1994 .

[25]  C. Nemeth Differential contributions of majority and minority influence , 1986 .

[26]  M. D. Giusta A theory of trust based systems of intermediation. , 2007 .

[27]  Sara Kiesler,et al.  Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication , 1984 .

[28]  C. Handy Trust and the virtual organization , 1999 .

[29]  Herbert H. Clark,et al.  Grounding in communication , 1991, Perspectives on socially shared cognition.

[30]  Gwen M. Wittenbaum,et al.  Management of information in small groups. , 1996 .

[31]  Peter R. Monge,et al.  Introduction to the Special Issue: Communication Processes for Virtual Organizations , 1999 .

[32]  M. Olson,et al.  The Logic of Collective Action , 1965 .

[33]  A. Zaheer,et al.  Does Trust Matter? Exploring the Effectsof Interorganizational and Interpersonaltrust on Performance , 1998 .

[34]  Holly Crawford,et al.  Information Ecologies: Using Technology With Heart , 2000 .

[35]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart , 1999 .

[36]  Nancy J. Stone,et al.  Understanding coordination in computer-mediated versus face-to-face groups , 2008, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[37]  P. Earley,et al.  Trust, Perceived Importance of Praise and Criticism, and Work Performance: An Examination of Feedback in the United States and England , 1986 .

[38]  D. Rousseau Organizational behavior in the new organizational era. , 1997, Annual review of psychology.

[39]  Robert L. Jacobson,et al.  The "Virtual College.". , 1995 .

[40]  R. Daft,et al.  Information Richness. A New Approach to Managerial Behavior and Organization Design , 1983 .

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

[42]  D. Wegner Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind , 1987 .

[43]  Blake Ives,et al.  Virtual teams: a review of current literature and directions for future research , 2004, DATB.

[44]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Coordination in software development , 1995, CACM.

[45]  E. Mannix,et al.  The Dynamic Nature of Conflict: A Longitudinal Study of Intragroup Conflict and Group Performance. , 2001 .

[46]  Laku Chidambaram,et al.  Relational Development in Computer-Supported Groups , 1996, MIS Q..

[47]  A. Hollingshead Communication, Learning, and Retrieval in Transactive Memory Systems☆☆☆ , 1998 .

[48]  Ned Kock,et al.  Trust and leadership in virtual teamwork: A media naturalness perspective , 2004 .

[49]  Ojelanki K. Ngwenyama,et al.  Communication Richness in Electronic Mail: Critical Social Theory and the Contextuality of Meaning , 1997, MIS Q..

[50]  G. Hardin,et al.  The Tragedy of the Commons , 1968, Green Planet Blues.

[51]  Jean Carletta,et al.  Virtual team meetings: An analysis of communication and context , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[52]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Swift trust and temporary groups. , 1996 .

[53]  Pamela J. Hinds,et al.  Computer Network Use, Collaboration Structures, and Productivity , 2002 .

[54]  C. Cramton Attribution in distributed work groups. , 2002 .