Title

Are All Distributed Teams The Same?: Differentiating Between Temporary And Ongoing Distributed Teams

Keywords

Collaboration; Computer-mediated communication; Short-and long-term outcomes; Virtual teams

Abstract

Distributed teams, sometimes called virtual teams, are becoming increasingly prevalent as businesses bring geographically dispersed members together to achieve a common goal. A framework for understanding geographically distributed teams based on their time span is yet to be developed. The authors believe that theory building in this area has centered on temporary teams and propose that many distributed teams have ongoing and recurring tasks. Using attention focus and the shadow of the future models, this article presents a framework for understanding the differences between temporary and ongoing distributed teams' structure, processes, and outcomes, suggesting that ongoing distributed teams must tackle more process and structural issues than temporary teams and that findings of virtual teams research thus far may not always apply here. The model also implies that ongoing distributed teams are more difficult to manage and experience greater variance in well-being outcome levels, whereas in temporary teams, members are more focused on task-related (production) outcomes. © 2006 Sage Publications.

Publication Date

12-1-2006

Publication Title

Small Group Research

Volume

37

Issue

6

Number of Pages

662-700

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496406294323

Socpus ID

33750856073 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/33750856073

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