Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances

Despite the dynamic nature of knowledge-related activities and the availability of a variety of communication technologies, many global teams habitually use technology in the same way across activities. However, as teams move through cycles of accumulating, integrating, and implementing knowledge, t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gibson, Cristina, Dunlop, Patrick, Majchrzak, Ann, Chia, Terence
Format: Journal Article
Published: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP110201117
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86828
_version_ 1848764870734905344
author Gibson, Cristina
Dunlop, Patrick
Majchrzak, Ann
Chia, Terence
author_facet Gibson, Cristina
Dunlop, Patrick
Majchrzak, Ann
Chia, Terence
author_sort Gibson, Cristina
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Despite the dynamic nature of knowledge-related activities and the availability of a variety of communication technologies, many global teams habitually use technology in the same way across activities. However, as teams move through cycles of accumulating, integrating, and implementing knowledge, the purposes for communication technologies change. Current theorizing and empirical work on team knowledge management has yet to develop a dynamic theory that incorporates these changes. By conducting a multiwave, mixed method analysis of 48 global teams, we develop a theory of how global teams sustain effectiveness through technology affordance processes. We found that effective teams are those that recognize cues indicating change is necessary and coevolve a symbiosis between new activities, new purposes for interaction, and new uses of communication technologies. This coevolution of purpose with technology use forms new affordances, which enable the team to move on to new knowledge management activities and sustain effectiveness. Our theory more realistically models the dynamics of staying connected while sharing, combining, and implementing knowledge across the globe.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:26:14Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-86828
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:26:14Z
publishDate 2021
publisher Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-868282021-12-10T06:38:28Z Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances Gibson, Cristina Dunlop, Patrick Majchrzak, Ann Chia, Terence 3507 - Strategy, management and organisational behaviour Despite the dynamic nature of knowledge-related activities and the availability of a variety of communication technologies, many global teams habitually use technology in the same way across activities. However, as teams move through cycles of accumulating, integrating, and implementing knowledge, the purposes for communication technologies change. Current theorizing and empirical work on team knowledge management has yet to develop a dynamic theory that incorporates these changes. By conducting a multiwave, mixed method analysis of 48 global teams, we develop a theory of how global teams sustain effectiveness through technology affordance processes. We found that effective teams are those that recognize cues indicating change is necessary and coevolve a symbiosis between new activities, new purposes for interaction, and new uses of communication technologies. This coevolution of purpose with technology use forms new affordances, which enable the team to move on to new knowledge management activities and sustain effectiveness. Our theory more realistically models the dynamics of staying connected while sharing, combining, and implementing knowledge across the globe. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86828 10.1287/orsc.2021.1478 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP110201117 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences fulltext
spellingShingle 3507 - Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
Gibson, Cristina
Dunlop, Patrick
Majchrzak, Ann
Chia, Terence
Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances
title Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances
title_full Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances
title_fullStr Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances
title_full_unstemmed Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances
title_short Sustaining effectiveness in global teams: The co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances
title_sort sustaining effectiveness in global teams: the co-evolution of knowledge management activities and technology affordances
topic 3507 - Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP110201117
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86828