Situated Coworker Familiarity: How Site Visits Transform Relationships Among Distributed Workers

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hinds, Pamela J.; Cramton, Catherine Durnell
• 署名单位: Stanford University; George Mason University
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2013.0869
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 794-814
• 关键词: computer-supported collaborative work; organization communication and information systems; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; research design and methods; psychological processes; Organizational behavior

摘要

Previous research describes significant benefits from coworker familiarity but has largely assumed proximity and that familiarity accrues simply with the passage of time. Based on a qualitative study of 164 workers on globally distributed teams, we propose that relationships transform as a result of situated coworker familiarity established when people are collocated in a shared space for an extended period of time. Site visits play a pivotal role in enabling coworkers to become more familiar with one another's communication and work styles, capabilities and interests, personalities, work and social roles, and the cultural context in which they are embedded, thus transforming their relationships. After returning home, situated familiarity fosters behaviors reflecting closer ties, which then reinforce those bonds, suggesting that the situated nature of site visits transforms work relationships between distant coworkers in enduring ways. We contribute grounded theory about how situated coworker familiarity comes about and how coworker relationships transform as a result, particularly when workers spend most of their time apart.