Distributed Work
Distributed Work
edited by Pamela Hinds and Sara Kiesler
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic
or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and
retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Sabon by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Distributed work / edited by Pamela Hinds and Sara Kiesler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-08305-1 (hc. : alk. paper)
1. Division of labor. 2. International division of labor. 3. Teams in the workplace.
4. Communication in management—Technological innovations. 5. Computer networks.
6. Globalization. I. Hinds, Pamela. II. Kiesler, Sara, 1940–
HD51 .D57 2002
658.4¢036—dc21
2001056237
To Herbert A. Simon, 1916–2001
Contents
Foreword by C. Suzanne Iacono
Preface xiii
I History of Distributed Work
xi
1
1 Managing Distance over Time: The Evolution of Technologies of
Dis/Ambiguation 3
John Leslie King and Robert L. Frost
2 Distributed Work over the Centuries: Trust and Control in the Hudson’s Bay
Company, 1670–1826 27
Michael O’Leary, Wanda Orlikowski, and JoAnne Yates
II Lessons from Collocated Work
55
3 What Do We Know about Proximity and Distance in Work Groups? A Legacy
of Research 57
Sara Kiesler and Jonathon N. Cummings
4 The Place of Face-to-Face Communication in Distributed Work
Bonnie A. Nardi and Steve Whittaker
83
5 The (Currently) Unique Advantages of Collocated Work 113
Judith S. Olson, Stephanie Teasley, Lisa Covi, and Gary Olson
6 Understanding Effects of Proximity on Collaboration: Implications for
Technologies to Support Remote Collaborative Work 137
Robert E. Kraut, Susan R. Fussell, Susan E. Brennan, and Jane Siegel
III Group Process in Distributed Work
165
7 Managing Distances and Differences in Geographically Distributed Work
Groups 167
David J. Armstrong and Paul Cole
viii
Contents
Addendum: Virtual Proximity, Real Teams
David J. Armstrong and Erika Bill Peter
8 Attribution in Distributed Work Groups
Catherine Durnell Cramton
187
191
9 The Phenomenology of Conflict in Distributed Work Teams
Elizabeth A. Mannix, Terri Griffith, and Margaret A. Neale
213
10 Time Effects in Computer-Mediated Groups: Past, Present, and Future
Joseph B. Walther
235
11 Conventions for Coordinating Electronic Distributed Work: A Longitudinal
Study of Groupware Use 259
Gloria Mark
12 Fuzzy Teams: Boundary Disagreement in Distributed and Collocated Teams
283
Mark Mortensen and Pamela Hinds
IV Enabling Distributed Work
309
13 Maintaining Awareness in Distributed Team Collaboration: Implications for
Leadership and Performance 311
Suzanne Weisband
14 Fostering Intranet Knowledge Sharing: An Integration of Transactive Memory
and Public Goods Approaches 335
Andrea B. Hollingshead, Janet Fulk, and Peter Monge
15 Outsiders on the Inside: Sharing Know-How Across Space and Time
Thomas A. Finholt, Lee Sproull, and Sara Kiesler
Box 1: Sense of Presence 379
Box 2: Distributed Work Groups and External Task Communication
16 Essence of Distributed Work: The Case of the Linux Kernel
Jae Yun Moon and Lee Sproull
V Distributed Scientific Collaborations
357
380
381
405
17 What Makes Collaborations Across a Distance Succeed? The Case of the
Cognitive Science Community 407
Christian Schunn, Kevin Crowley, and Takeshi Okada
Contents
18 Computer Network Use, Collaboration Structures, and Productivity
John P. Walsh and Nancy G. Maloney
Contributors
Index 465
459
433
ix
Foreword
The chapters in this book breathe fresh air into a critical area of research: the
increasing geographical distribution of work enabled by shifts in the world economy,
increasing investments in new information technologies and changing expectations about how people will use these technologies to carry out their work and
engage with their colleagues. Such research is critical if we care about high-quality
worklife, organizational productivity, innovation, collaboration, learning, and
knowledge generation. Can work be effectively carried out at a distance? If so, how
should that work be managed, supported, and carried out? What technologies are
useful, and at what point? And what is lost or gained when we embrace these
changes in our workplaces? While research on transformations in the workplace
related to information technologies has been carried out for several decades, this
book represents a significant leap in the development of an overarching multidisciplinary framework for carrying out this work. With this book, the field has a new
starting place for understanding how information technologies interact with the
various dimensions of work relationships at a distance, for example, with ambiguity, proximity, awareness, know-how, trust, control, knowledge sharing, and
leadership.
Over the past fifteen years, the Computation and Social Systems (CSS) Program
(formerly called Information Technology and Organizations) at the National Science
Foundation has been interested in developing new knowledge about collective phenomenon and social action. This book and the workshop that helped produce it
were funded by CSS to bring together researchers from various disciplines—
computer science, information systems, communications, industrial relations, social
sciences, human-computer interaction, and others—who work on these important
topics. Multidisciplinary research is critical to further our understanding of distributed, collective action and how it can be supported by information technologies.
xii
Foreword
The editors, Pamela Hinds and Sara Kiesler, have produced a book that makes a
serious intellectual contribution to this field of inquiry. Their guidance and persistence made this book possible.
C. Suzanne Iacono
Information and Intelligent Systems Division
Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering
National Science Foundation
Preface
Technological advances and changes in the global economy are motivating and
enabling an increasing geographic distribution of work. Today, the geographic distance between an average pair of workers is increasing in industries ranging from
banking, to wine production, to clothing design. According to Bureau of Labor
surveys of workers, more people worked for an employer with more than one location in 1998 (61.8 percent) than in 1979 (52.3 percent). Many workers today communicate regularly with coworkers at a distance; some monitor and manipulate
tools and objects at a distance. Work teams are spread across different cities or
countries. For example, research and development laboratories are increasingly
deploying labs in countries other than the home of their headquarters (Brockhoff
1998), and software development teams increasingly are composed of programmers
from around the globe (Carmel 1999). Joint ventures and multiorganizational projects are pervasive and entail work in many places. Complex work arrangements
involving long-distance commuting and multiple employers are becoming commonplace. Some spectacular examples—ranging from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s
fur trading empire in the seventeenth century to the recent development of the Linux
computer operating system—suggest that distributed work arrangements can be
innovative, flexible, and highly successful.
Nonetheless, geographically distributed work has always presented challenges to
the conduct of work and personal life. Distributed work can change the way people
communicate, how they organize themselves and their work, and the manner in
which they live. Research from over thirty years ago to the present suggests that
physical proximity can have powerful and positive effects in everyday life as well
as in science, government, and business (Sykes, Larntz, and Fox 1976). Moreover,
proximity has proven to be hard to simulate through modern technologies such as
videoconferencing.
xiv
Preface
Given the benefits of proximity and collocation, organizations would seem to face
some major hurdles when the work is distributed rather than collocated. What are
the forces favoring distributed work arrangements? There are many. In mergers of
companies or acquisitions of new companies, it may be infeasible to bring all
employees to a single site, perhaps because key personnel refuse to move or perhaps
because of the expense involved in orchestrating a move. To leverage expertise from
these multiple sites, companies often form cross-site project groups and consultations. This is possible when jobs and professions use cognitive and social skills
that can be practiced anywhere and the work process can proceed without close
supervision.
Some organizations choose to distribute work geographically to acquire otherwise unavailable expertise, perhaps by hiring or contracting with workers who
prefer to live in the distant location. Carmel (1999) describes a software development project for which the organization scoured the globe to find a few people with
the required expertise. Because workers could not be uprooted, a team was formed
with experts working together across four continents. In addition to increasing
access to expertise, organizations can reduce costs by tapping into the lower-cost
labor supply in developing countries.
Some organizations distribute work purposely as a way to establish a presence in
multiple locations and increase the global appeal of their products. For example,
LM Ericsson achieves a more global product by having members of product development teams located on multiple continents collaborate on actual designs (Mayer
1998). Organizations also can reduce the time required to bring products to market
and the time required to trouble-shoot customer problems by using globally distributed teams. For example, Pape (1997) described a team at Verifone that worked
on a customer problem around the clock by handing it off from team members in
San Francisco to team members in Singapore and then to team members in Greece,
so that they could deliver a solution in twenty-four hours.
Workers themselves may choose distributed work because of external incentives
and priorities. For example, to promote innovative science, the National Science
Foundation has been offering financial support for multidisciplinary collaborations—scientific or technical groups whose members have diverse skills and disciplinary or professional backgrounds that are applied to their collaboration (see
Goodwin 1996). These collaborations can range from dyads or partnerships, to
small teams, to huge projects of 100 members or more.
Preface
xv
These and many other factors, are motivating the rapid expansion in the amount
of distributed work. However, neither the phenomenon of distributed work, nor its
causes and effects, are clearly understood. In contrast to the detailed statistics that
the U.S. government collects and analyzes about other work conditions, it has no
direct measure of the geographic distribution of workers within organizations, the
mobility of workers in their jobs, or the reliance of organizations on communications and computer technologies to get work done across distance.
In 1994, a group of scientists and engineers convened to discuss research on distributed work and ways to facilitate basic technologies and applications for distributed work (see Committee on Telecommuting and Technology 1994). This group
worked mainly on a research agenda that would encourage appropriate technological support for distributed work in teams and better understanding of the processes
of distributed work. In the ensuing years, technological and economic change, as
well as new studies of distributed work, suggested that distributed work is even
more varied and complex than was envisioned five years ago.
Research on distributed work is being conducted by psychologists, sociologists,
anthropologists, historians, computer scientists, economists, and others. These
scholars are located with disciplinary programs as well as cross-disciplinary programs in information systems, cognitive science, organizational behavior, humancomputer interaction, industrial engineering, and other hybrid fields. Because of
their diverse backgrounds and separate venues for publication and research peer
groups, there have been few opportunities for these researchers to meet and work
together to understand distributed work from a broader perspective. Our objective
in this project was to provide a forum for researchers from many fields to exchange
ideas and present research on distributed work. A group of the authors met for this
purpose at a workshop in Carmel, California, in August 2000 to share papers and
ideas.
One can understand distributed work on many levels: at the individual level, as
on stress, family life, and careers; at the group and organizational levels, as on communication, innovation, and effectiveness; and at the industry and societal levels,
as on regional economies and the maintenance of community. The main topic in
this workshop was particularly the group and organizational aspects of distributed
work.
This book, based on the papers presented at the workshop, is a compendium
of essays and research reports representing a variety of fields and methods. It is
xvi
Preface
intended primarily for researchers and others who seek to understand the nature of
distributed work groups and organizations, the challenges inherent in distributed
work, and ways of enabling and organizing more effective distributed work.
Through this work, we hope to spur more research on this topic and encourage
debate on the design of technologies for and policies relating to distributed work.
The chapters are organized to begin with a historical perspective on distributed
work, starting in ancient times. We then follow with a collection of four chapters
on proximity and collocation to provide a basis for comparing distributed work
with collocated work. The next six chapters address the group dynamics and social
processes involved in distributed work. We then present four chapters that describe
factors associated with successful distributed work. Finally, two chapters present
research on distributed work in one domain, collaborative scientific research.
Because of space limitations, much excellent research and some entire areas of
work are not represented here. We do not include studies of the effects of distributed work on people’s personal lives. For example, we do not include a chapter on
workers who are required to travel extensively and often work on the road. This
choice was partly motivated by a dearth of research on this topic. We also do not
include chapters addressing industrial organization—changes in the nature of industries and economies—because that literature is too large a domain of inquiry. Nor
do we include chapters on telecommuting or telecommuters. We believe that this
work has been reasonably well covered elsewhere. Many chapters discuss technologies to support distributed work, but this is mainly a book designed to foster
understanding of what distributed work entails rather than to understand technology itself.
Several cross-cutting questions about distributed work arise in the book and
suggest where promising research on distributed work is headed. One question concerns the organization and management of distributed work and distributed
workers. Starting with the two historical chapters (1 and 2), many other chapters
in the book describe alternative ways that distributed work is organized and
managed. Many of the authors discuss divisions of labor, incentives, methods for
controlling group members, ways of facilitating interaction among distant workers,
and ways of monitoring performance. From these discussions, it seems clear that
much remains to be learned, but that research on the organization of distributed
work is emerging as an exciting and fruitful domain of inquiry.
Effective strategies for organizing and managing distributed work may depend
in part on the type of work being conducted. A question one can draw from the
Preface
xvii
chapters concerns the role that the type of work plays in determining the success of
distributed work arrangements. The types of work represented in this book range
from soldiering and missionary work (chapter 1) to project management (chapters
2, 7, 13, 16) to field engineering and support (chapter 15), to secretarial work
(chapter 10) and scientific collaborations (chapters 6, 17, and 18). The authors
report both positive and negative aspects of distributed work. However, to varying
degrees, all of these domains are populated by professionals who can operate to a
large extent locally and autonomously. Further, few empirical comparisons are made
to collocated workers in the same domain, so it is difficult to determine the effect
of distribution on different types of work. Some types of work may be more effective when distributed than when collocated. For example, in chapters 17 and 18,
we find some evidence that distant scientific collaborations may be more productive than collocated collaborations. The reason for this difference is important to
discern. We need to study more kinds of collaborations over time and observe more
varieties of distributed work in context to know the answer to this question.
A third question arising from this collection of work is whether social relationships in distributed work are as important as they are in collocated work. Early
chapters in the book point to the virtues of collocated work, one of which is that
it fosters social ties. To what extent do group activities, such as agreeing on goals
and passing along information, depend on people’s social contacts and ties to each
other or to the group, that is, to their social networks and group identities? Many
organizations are successfully distributing workers who never meet face-to-face and
have a limited social relationship with their colleagues. For example, the Linux community described by Moon and Sproull (chapter 16) is wonderfully productive, but
many members have never met. We can expect advances in theory and practice in
distributed work to come from research on the nature of social ties in electronic
work groups and organizations, and on their role in the interactions and effectiveness of distributed workers.
Finally, many authors in this book address the question of whether and how technology can support distributed work. The authors are not agreed on this question,
and particularly on whether technology can make it possible for all kinds of work
to be distributed successfully. However, many authors discuss the requirements of
new technology to support distributed work and workers—for example, the kinds
of awareness technology should help sustain (chapter 13), the varieties of social
interaction that it should promote (chapter 4), and the infrastructure it should
provide for social interaction and exchange, not simply instrumental exchanges of
xviii
Preface
information (chapters 14, 16, and others). From the interest of the authors, their
many citations to recent conferences and literature and the technologies represented
in the studies, research and development of technologies to support distributed work
seems to be thriving.
Acknowledgments
Through the support of the Computation and Social Systems Program of the
National Science Foundation, 0000566, we were able to host a workshop for most
of the authors represented in this book to present their work, review one another’s
papers, and discuss directions for future work in this field. Suzanne Iacono provided
many valuable suggestions and ideas. Lawrence M. Greene drew the cover illustration of picnickers discussing a project over lunch. Mark Mortensen handled workshop logistics. Jonathan Cummings designed and maintained the Web site for the
workshop and volume. Mary Scott made all financial arrangements. P. N. wishes
to thank Mark Diel for his support during the development of the book. Both of
us wish to acknowledge the contributions of Larry, Moe, Pilar, Tai, and Mauser,
especially to their persistent reminders of the value of collocation.
References
Brockhoff, K. (1998). Internationalization of research and development. New York: Springer.
Carmel, A. (1999). Global software teams: Collaborating across borders and time zones.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Committee on Telecommuting and Technology. (1994). Research recommendations to facilitate distributed work. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Goodwin, Charles (1996). Transparent vision. In E. Ochs, E. A. Schegloff, and S. A. Thompson (eds.), Interaction and grammar (370–404). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, M. (1998). The virtual edge: Embracing technology for distributed project team
success. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Pape, W. (1997). Group insurance. Inc, 19, 29–31.
Sykes, R. E., Larntz, K., and Fox, J. C. (1976). Proximity and similarity effects on frequency
of interaction in a class of naval recruits. Sociometry, 39, 263–269.
Distributed Work
© The New Yorker Collection 2001 Robert Weber from cartoonbank.com. All rights
reserved.
I
History of Distributed Work
When we embarked on this project, many colleagues reminded us that distributed
work is not a new phenomenon. The two chapters in this part provide historical
examples of distributed work in centuries when computers and modern transportation and communication technologies did not exist. These examples offer many
lessons to us as we try to understand new forms of distributed work enabled and
encouraged by technology.
John King and Robert Frost, in chapter 1, argue that people in ancient times
invented ways of stabilizing information and agreements—money, written contracts,
and so forth—so that exchanges could be made without ongoing negotiation and
surveillance. They address a major issue in understanding distributed work: the
extent to which it requires clear, precise exchanges of information across distance.
The authors present arguments for ambiguity. Institutions, names, and principles
can provide a rubric under which local adaptations and flexible behaviors can take
place.
Michael O’Leary, Wanda Orlikowski, and JoAnne Yates, in chapter 2, present a
fascinating case study of the Hudson Bay Company, which for a century and a half
conducted trade across two continents. They show how the management practices
and organization of the company created mechanisms for managing work despite
the vast distances that stood between the headquarters offices in London and the
traders in the New World. This chapter sets the stage for many of the chapters to
come, in which issues of trust and control arise in distributed work.
1
Managing Distance over Time: The Evolution of
Technologies of Dis/Ambiguation
John Leslie King and Robert L. Frost
The management of distance is as old as work itself. Successful management of distance
requires a careful balancing of disambiguation and ambiguation in the construction of
meaning among disparate parties in collaboration. We argue that current efforts to develop
technology for improved management of distance concentrate almost exclusively on
improving means of disambiguation. This strategy overlooks the subtle but crucial role of
ambiguation in maintaining shared understanding while allowing local discretion. We explore
four successful technologies of dis/ambiguation that have evolved over centuries: writing and
money as examples of disambiguating technologies, the doctrinal traditions of the Roman
Catholic Church, and the creation of constitutional government as examples of ambiguating
technologies.
The management of distance is an ancient art. Hunter-gatherers moved ever outward
to forage what nature provided. Herders moved their flocks among pastures. Fixed
agriculture eliminated the need to chase after food, and when done successfully, it
created sufficient surplus to allow for more complex social orders of specialization.
Growing the crops was only part of the necessity; getting them to market was the
other. Trade in agricultural commodities and other goods dates back at least four
thousand years, and trade hinges on the management of distance. The industrial
revolution altered the management of distance yet again, moving people from their
households to factories. Some, like the farm girls of New England who labored in
the textile mills along the fall lines of rivers, literally moved from home to work.
Countless others in cities commuted from their homes to the manufactories that
employed them daily. The industrial revolution also spawned advances in transportation that enabled large-scale sourcing of raw materials for mass production
and corollary systems of mass distribution. There has never been a time since
humans became human when the management of distance was far from a daily
concern.
4
History of Distributed Work
New technologies are changing important aspects of how we live and work and,
among them, the ways we manage distance. However, the management of distance
has always required far more than technical artifacts. It has required as well techniques, social conventions and norms, folkways and mores, organizational structures, and institutions. All of these are technologies in the broad sense of methods
or mechanisms of management. If contemporary efforts to reconceptualize the management of distance in the information age are to be fruitful, it pays to reflect on
the underlying nature of past strategies for managing distance.
In this chapter, we argue that approaches to the management of distance
have been built largely around the need to handle ambiguity across temporal, geographic and social distance. Handling ambiguity is a complex and nuanced matter.
Current research on the social aspects of technology (see, for example, chapters 5,
6, and 10) emphasizes disambiguation, making clear what is meant and intended
across distance. Less attention has been paid to ambiguation—the effort to keep
meaning and intent vague across distance. We use historical analysis to demonstrate
that both facets of ambiguity management have been key challenges to managing
distance.
Our argument begins with the discussion of ambiguity—why in some cases it is
a problem and why in others it is a solution. We then examine the mechanisms for
managing ambiguity that enabled the first true collaborations over long distance—
regional trade and empire. These show that careful handling of ambiguity is required
to balance the local and the global. To illustrate technologies of disambiguation, we
discuss the development of writing and the establishment of money. To illustrate
technologies of ambiguation, we examine the doctrinal practices of the evangelical
arm of the Roman Catholic Church and the creation of constitutional government.
We close with some observations that might be of use to contemporary students of
the problem of managing distance.
The Construction of Ambiguity
It is tempting to assume that the primary objective in improving the management
of distance is to improve the precision and veracity of communication: to “get it
right.” We acknowledge the importance getting it right in many cases, as when
exchange students going to another country are coached to modify their behavior
so as not to give offense in their host culture. Much trouble in work across distance
could be avoided if simple mistakes in understanding and interpretation were
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