Individual performance in distributed design groups

Abstract

Today’s organizations face a dynamic and turbulent environment which imposes a requirement for flexible and fast responses to changing business needs. Many organizations have responded by becoming decentralized, team-based and distributed (DeSanctis and Jackson, 1994; Drucker, 1988). These distributed organizations have also been described in recent literature as virtual, network, or cluster organizations, employing selfmanaging teams and autonomous business units (Goldman, 1995; Beyerlein and Johnson, 1994; Camillus, 1993; Mills, 1991; Drucker, 1988). Advances in communication technologies have enabled organizations to acquire and retain such distributed structure by supporting interaction among people coordinating their efforts from different locations.