INTEGRATING DISTRIBUTED WORK: COMPARING TASK DESIGN, COMMUNICATION, AND TACIT COORDINATION MECHANISMS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Srikanth, Kannan; Puranam, Phanish
• 署名单位: Indian School of Business (ISB); University of Southern Denmark; University of London; London Business School
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.908
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 849-875
• 关键词: coordination; Offshoring; organization design; common ground; virtual organizations; tacit coordination mechanisms

摘要

We investigate coordination strategies in integrating distributed work. In the context of Business Process Offshoring (BPO), we analyze survey data from 126 offshored processes to understand both the sources of difficulty in integrating distributed work as well as how organizations overcome these difficulties. We find that interdependence between offshored and onshore processes can lower offshored process performance, and investing in coordination mechanisms can ameliorate the performance impact of interdependence. In particular, we outline a distinctive set of coordination mechanisms that rely on tacit coordination-and theoretically articulate and empirically show that tacit coordination mechanisms are distinct from the well-known duo of coordination strategies: building communication channels or modularizing processes to minimize the need for communication. We discuss implications for the study of coordination in organizations. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.