Journal
INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Volume 25, Issue 1, Pages 33-44Publisher
AUERBACH PUBLICATIONS
DOI: 10.1080/10580530701777131
Keywords
collaboration; collaboration technology; information systems development; information technology; electronic collaboration; distributed teams; task management; information flow
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Despite their rising popularity, distributed teams face a number of collaboration challenges that may potentially hinder their ability to productively coordinate their resources, activities, and information, often in dynamic and uncertain task environments. In this paper, we focus principally on the criticality of information alignment for supporting coordinated task performance in complex operational environments. As organizations become more expertise, geographically, and temporally distributed, appropriate alignment and coordination among distributed team members becomes more critical for minimizing the occurrence of information flow failures, poor decision-making, and degraded team performance. We first describe these coordination processes using the metaphor of an 'information clutch' that allows for smooth transitions of task priorities and activities in expert teams. We then present two case study examples that illustrate the potentially significant impact of information sharing and information alignment on productivity and coordination in organizations. We conclude with a discussion of future directions in this area.
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