Emma Nordbäck | Aalto University (original) (raw)
Papers by Emma Nordbäck
Journal of Management Information Systems, 2019
In this study we investigate how shared leadership is coordinated in global virtual teams and how... more In this study we investigate how shared leadership is coordinated in global virtual teams and how it relates to team effectiveness. Based on 71 interviews with team members and leaders from eight teams from two global software development companies, we found that shared leadership had a more positive effect on team effectiveness when shared leadership was coordinated both implicitly and behaviorally. Implicit leadership coordination is about members sharing same perceptions or cognitive schemas regarding who has leadership over what, and influences whether leadership actions are acted upon. With a mix of national cultures in the team, members are less likely to share the same leadership expectations, which may make shared leadership less effective. In turn, behavioral leadership coordination is associated with the explicit actions aimed at coordinating the leadership activities taking place in the team. This behavioral coordination increases in importance with a higher degree of shared leadership. Our findings contribute to theory and practice by showing that when leadership is highly shared in the team and uncoordinated, it may actually lead to detrimental effects in terms of lower team effectiveness. In contrast, shared leadership may reap its potential benefits if it is well coordinated.
ABSTRACT Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typica... more ABSTRACT Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typical way of organizing work in global organizations. Collaborative technologies, such as 3D virtual worlds (VWs), make it possible for VTs to keep meetings in a shared virtual space. This study investigates VT leadership taking place in a VW. We analyzed VW meeting recordings and member interviews for tracking how leadership functions were shared in a VT. Our study shows that the designated leader played a prominent role in coordinating the team towards the group's common goals. Although leadership functions were to some degree shared, the members wished that the leader had been more determined and their own roles more fluid. This indicates that a balance between leader's control and members' freedom is a challenge that has to be managed by the VT leader. The multiple channels supported by the VW were important for both leader's and members' participation.
Journal of Virtual World Research, 7(3) [online], 2014
This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaborat... more This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaboration. The proliferation of geographically distributed teams, striving towards innovative results, calls for ICT that support team creativity. Three-dimensional virtual worlds represent such an emergent and rapidly developing collaboration tool. A systematic literature review was conducted to reveal the affordances of virtual worlds contributing towards team creativity. The results of the literature review reveal eight proposed affordances relevant for virtual worlds to foster team level creativity. Avatars (1) allow the team members to express themselves and their insights and point out information to others. Changing the users’ frame of reference (2) embraces the virtual world’s potential as a context for creative action. Perceived feeling of co-presence (3) within the team members, and user’s own experience of immersion (4), contributes towards engaging creative team collaboration. Multimodality (5) and rich visual information (6) facilitate communication between team members. Finally, virtual worlds allow teams to modify the collaboration environment to simulate a new kind of reality (7), and offer a selection of supporting tools (8) that can be utilized in the creative collaboration. Departures for further research efforts and insights for practitioners engaged in virtual world collaboration are presented.
Nordbäck, E., Espinosa, A. (2015). Cognitive and Behavioral Leadership Coordination – Linking S... more Nordbäck, E., Espinosa, A. (2015). Cognitive and Behavioral Leadership Coordination – Linking Shared Leadership to High Performance in Global Teams. Proceedings of the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Kauai, HI, USA. (Best paper nomination)
Griffith, T. L., Nordbäck, E., Sawyer, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2015). Back to basics: Facilitating ... more Griffith, T. L., Nordbäck, E., Sawyer, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2015). Back to basics: Facilitating engagement in modern work environments. Proceedings of the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Kauai, HI, USA.
Workplace flexibility has received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners, but wh... more Workplace flexibility has received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners, but what remains contested is how workspace flexibility influences worker productivity and how it affects workers’ ability to coordinate with coworkers. We advance theory by exploring how work behaviors are affected by spatial and temporal workplace flexibility as well as how it affects workers’ coordination and their perceived productivity. Participants (N = 63) were interviewed from two organizations that had with differing degrees of support towards flexible work. Results show that employees adapt their work time and place depending on their personal obligations, but mostly to suit task and work group demands. More flexibility resulted in productive adaptations, but less flexibility made workers adapt based on norms and manager control negatively affecting productivity. Initially, coordination with coworkers who used time-space flexibility required more effort, but coordination was improved after coworkers’ patterns-preferences were recognized. Our findings show how spatial and temporal flexibility bring more opportunities to interact, coordinate and improve productivity. This has implications for management, suggesting less control and more worker autonomy can increase individual, work group and organizational productivity.
One of the key challenges of distributed teams is the lack of social presence resulting from mult... more One of the key challenges of distributed teams is the lack of social presence resulting from multiple work locations. Virtual environments (VEs) have been viewed as a collaboration tool for distributed teams that can enhance social presence via shared collaboration space and avatars. We observed, recorded, and analyzed the VE meetings of a globally distributed team. Data were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Our findings show that in the meetings, social presence was a situational phenomenon that constantly varied in strength. Social presence occurred as either a subgroup or group phenomenon, which at times coexisted at both levels. In particular, 2 of the 3 subdimensions of social presence, psychological involvement and behavioral engagement, were observable in team interaction.
This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaborat... more This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaboration. The proliferation of geographically distributed teams, striving towards innovative results, calls for ICT that support team creativity. Three-dimensional virtual worlds represent such an emergent and rapidly developing collaboration tool. A systematic literature review was conducted to reveal the affordances of virtual worlds contributing towards team creativity. The results of the literature review reveal eight proposed affordances relevant for virtual worlds to foster team level creativity. Avatars (1) allow the team members to express themselves and their insights and point out information to others. Changing the users’ frame of reference (2) embraces the virtual world’s potential as a context for creative action. Perceived feeling of co-presence (3) within the team members, and user’s own experience of immersion (4), contributes towards engaging creative team collaboration. Multimodality (5) and rich visual information (6) facilitate communication between team members. Finally, virtual worlds allow teams to modify the collaboration environment to simulate a new kind of reality (7), and offer a selection of supporting tools (8) that can be utilized in the creative collaboration. Departures for further research efforts and insights for practitioners engaged in virtual world collaboration are presented.
Paper presented (as part of a panel Exploring the role of technological affordances for processes... more Paper presented (as part of a panel Exploring the role of technological affordances for processes of organizing, respondent: Ronald Rice) at the annual convention of the International Communication Association, Seattle, WA.
This study examines the role of technological affordances in shaping processes of organizing in global teams. Drawing on a rich dataset consisting of both team communication data and in-depth interviews with team members from four student and organizational global teams, we examine how various technological affordances of group-based ICTs (email listservs, discussion forums, and conference calls) shape processes of organizing and help structure team interaction. We focus specifically on processes of participation, conflict, and identification and address the following research questions: How does ICT use structure team participation, conflict, and identification? How do team characteristics structure team participation, conflict, and identification? We draw on grounded analysis of interviews and communication data, as well as using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to identify linguistic indicators of participation, conflict, and identification patterns.
Despite the popularity of virtual teams (VTs), little is known about the decision-making process ... more Despite the popularity of virtual teams (VTs), little is known about the decision-making process of VTs collaborating over emergent technologies, such as 3D virtual environments (VEs) with avatars and web-conferencing tools (WCTs) that include audio, text and video. This study explores how these technologies influence the decision-making process of 21 VTs, solving a group task. The group sessions were analyzed qualitatively through open coding of all sequential actions taking place during the 20 minute long sessions. The results indicated that the two technologies supported different stages of VT decision-making process, which is in line with media synchronicity theory (Dennis, Fuller & Valacich 2008). The VE turned out to have shortcomings that were, in MST terms, related to high parallelism, which hindered a successful convergence phase and resulted in impeded decision quality. These results shed new light on the importance of communication process fit of emergent technologies with multiple communication channels.
Leadership behaviors in virtual team meetings taking place in a 3D virtual world
Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typical way of ... more Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typical way of organizing work in global organizations. Collaborative technologies, such as 3D virtual worlds (VWs), make it possible for VTs to keep meetings in a shared virtual space. This study investigates VT leadership taking place in a VW. We analyzed VW meeting recordings and member interviews for tracking how leadership functions were shared in a VT. Our study shows that the designated leader played a prominent role in coordinating the team towards the group’s common goals. Although leadership functions were to some degree shared, the members wished that the leader had been more determined and their own roles more fluid. This indicates that a balance between leader’s control and members’ freedom is a challenge that has to be managed by the VT leader. The multiple channels supported by the VW were important for both leader’s and members’ participation.
inter-disciplinary.net
Virtual teams that work towards a common goal, are dispersed across many locations, and communica... more Virtual teams that work towards a common goal, are dispersed across many locations, and communicate through technology face several challenges in their operation. One of the key challenges is the lack of presence due to different work locations and time zones. 3D virtual environments (VEs) could be seen as a collaboration tool for virtual teams that resolves this challenge as they provide a unique sense of social presence via shared collaboration space and avatars.
Advances in technology have over the last two decades supported the development of virtual teams,... more Advances in technology have over the last two decades supported the development of virtual teams, constituted of geographically distributed members collaborating through technology. Virtual teams are formed to perform complex tasks, and successful decision-making is crucial for their performance. Despite the popularity of virtual teams, little is known about the nature of decision-making in them. There is a need to study this subject in more detail, and take into account the effects of the newest technologies.
Journal of Management Information Systems, 2019
In this study we investigate how shared leadership is coordinated in global virtual teams and how... more In this study we investigate how shared leadership is coordinated in global virtual teams and how it relates to team effectiveness. Based on 71 interviews with team members and leaders from eight teams from two global software development companies, we found that shared leadership had a more positive effect on team effectiveness when shared leadership was coordinated both implicitly and behaviorally. Implicit leadership coordination is about members sharing same perceptions or cognitive schemas regarding who has leadership over what, and influences whether leadership actions are acted upon. With a mix of national cultures in the team, members are less likely to share the same leadership expectations, which may make shared leadership less effective. In turn, behavioral leadership coordination is associated with the explicit actions aimed at coordinating the leadership activities taking place in the team. This behavioral coordination increases in importance with a higher degree of shared leadership. Our findings contribute to theory and practice by showing that when leadership is highly shared in the team and uncoordinated, it may actually lead to detrimental effects in terms of lower team effectiveness. In contrast, shared leadership may reap its potential benefits if it is well coordinated.
ABSTRACT Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typica... more ABSTRACT Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typical way of organizing work in global organizations. Collaborative technologies, such as 3D virtual worlds (VWs), make it possible for VTs to keep meetings in a shared virtual space. This study investigates VT leadership taking place in a VW. We analyzed VW meeting recordings and member interviews for tracking how leadership functions were shared in a VT. Our study shows that the designated leader played a prominent role in coordinating the team towards the group's common goals. Although leadership functions were to some degree shared, the members wished that the leader had been more determined and their own roles more fluid. This indicates that a balance between leader's control and members' freedom is a challenge that has to be managed by the VT leader. The multiple channels supported by the VW were important for both leader's and members' participation.
Journal of Virtual World Research, 7(3) [online], 2014
This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaborat... more This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaboration. The proliferation of geographically distributed teams, striving towards innovative results, calls for ICT that support team creativity. Three-dimensional virtual worlds represent such an emergent and rapidly developing collaboration tool. A systematic literature review was conducted to reveal the affordances of virtual worlds contributing towards team creativity. The results of the literature review reveal eight proposed affordances relevant for virtual worlds to foster team level creativity. Avatars (1) allow the team members to express themselves and their insights and point out information to others. Changing the users’ frame of reference (2) embraces the virtual world’s potential as a context for creative action. Perceived feeling of co-presence (3) within the team members, and user’s own experience of immersion (4), contributes towards engaging creative team collaboration. Multimodality (5) and rich visual information (6) facilitate communication between team members. Finally, virtual worlds allow teams to modify the collaboration environment to simulate a new kind of reality (7), and offer a selection of supporting tools (8) that can be utilized in the creative collaboration. Departures for further research efforts and insights for practitioners engaged in virtual world collaboration are presented.
Nordbäck, E., Espinosa, A. (2015). Cognitive and Behavioral Leadership Coordination – Linking S... more Nordbäck, E., Espinosa, A. (2015). Cognitive and Behavioral Leadership Coordination – Linking Shared Leadership to High Performance in Global Teams. Proceedings of the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Kauai, HI, USA. (Best paper nomination)
Griffith, T. L., Nordbäck, E., Sawyer, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2015). Back to basics: Facilitating ... more Griffith, T. L., Nordbäck, E., Sawyer, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2015). Back to basics: Facilitating engagement in modern work environments. Proceedings of the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Kauai, HI, USA.
Workplace flexibility has received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners, but wh... more Workplace flexibility has received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners, but what remains contested is how workspace flexibility influences worker productivity and how it affects workers’ ability to coordinate with coworkers. We advance theory by exploring how work behaviors are affected by spatial and temporal workplace flexibility as well as how it affects workers’ coordination and their perceived productivity. Participants (N = 63) were interviewed from two organizations that had with differing degrees of support towards flexible work. Results show that employees adapt their work time and place depending on their personal obligations, but mostly to suit task and work group demands. More flexibility resulted in productive adaptations, but less flexibility made workers adapt based on norms and manager control negatively affecting productivity. Initially, coordination with coworkers who used time-space flexibility required more effort, but coordination was improved after coworkers’ patterns-preferences were recognized. Our findings show how spatial and temporal flexibility bring more opportunities to interact, coordinate and improve productivity. This has implications for management, suggesting less control and more worker autonomy can increase individual, work group and organizational productivity.
One of the key challenges of distributed teams is the lack of social presence resulting from mult... more One of the key challenges of distributed teams is the lack of social presence resulting from multiple work locations. Virtual environments (VEs) have been viewed as a collaboration tool for distributed teams that can enhance social presence via shared collaboration space and avatars. We observed, recorded, and analyzed the VE meetings of a globally distributed team. Data were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Our findings show that in the meetings, social presence was a situational phenomenon that constantly varied in strength. Social presence occurred as either a subgroup or group phenomenon, which at times coexisted at both levels. In particular, 2 of the 3 subdimensions of social presence, psychological involvement and behavioral engagement, were observable in team interaction.
This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaborat... more This article addresses the potential of virtual worlds as a platform for creative team collaboration. The proliferation of geographically distributed teams, striving towards innovative results, calls for ICT that support team creativity. Three-dimensional virtual worlds represent such an emergent and rapidly developing collaboration tool. A systematic literature review was conducted to reveal the affordances of virtual worlds contributing towards team creativity. The results of the literature review reveal eight proposed affordances relevant for virtual worlds to foster team level creativity. Avatars (1) allow the team members to express themselves and their insights and point out information to others. Changing the users’ frame of reference (2) embraces the virtual world’s potential as a context for creative action. Perceived feeling of co-presence (3) within the team members, and user’s own experience of immersion (4), contributes towards engaging creative team collaboration. Multimodality (5) and rich visual information (6) facilitate communication between team members. Finally, virtual worlds allow teams to modify the collaboration environment to simulate a new kind of reality (7), and offer a selection of supporting tools (8) that can be utilized in the creative collaboration. Departures for further research efforts and insights for practitioners engaged in virtual world collaboration are presented.
Paper presented (as part of a panel Exploring the role of technological affordances for processes... more Paper presented (as part of a panel Exploring the role of technological affordances for processes of organizing, respondent: Ronald Rice) at the annual convention of the International Communication Association, Seattle, WA.
This study examines the role of technological affordances in shaping processes of organizing in global teams. Drawing on a rich dataset consisting of both team communication data and in-depth interviews with team members from four student and organizational global teams, we examine how various technological affordances of group-based ICTs (email listservs, discussion forums, and conference calls) shape processes of organizing and help structure team interaction. We focus specifically on processes of participation, conflict, and identification and address the following research questions: How does ICT use structure team participation, conflict, and identification? How do team characteristics structure team participation, conflict, and identification? We draw on grounded analysis of interviews and communication data, as well as using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to identify linguistic indicators of participation, conflict, and identification patterns.
Despite the popularity of virtual teams (VTs), little is known about the decision-making process ... more Despite the popularity of virtual teams (VTs), little is known about the decision-making process of VTs collaborating over emergent technologies, such as 3D virtual environments (VEs) with avatars and web-conferencing tools (WCTs) that include audio, text and video. This study explores how these technologies influence the decision-making process of 21 VTs, solving a group task. The group sessions were analyzed qualitatively through open coding of all sequential actions taking place during the 20 minute long sessions. The results indicated that the two technologies supported different stages of VT decision-making process, which is in line with media synchronicity theory (Dennis, Fuller & Valacich 2008). The VE turned out to have shortcomings that were, in MST terms, related to high parallelism, which hindered a successful convergence phase and resulted in impeded decision quality. These results shed new light on the importance of communication process fit of emergent technologies with multiple communication channels.
Leadership behaviors in virtual team meetings taking place in a 3D virtual world
Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typical way of ... more Virtual teams (VTs), collaborating through technology towards common goals, are a typical way of organizing work in global organizations. Collaborative technologies, such as 3D virtual worlds (VWs), make it possible for VTs to keep meetings in a shared virtual space. This study investigates VT leadership taking place in a VW. We analyzed VW meeting recordings and member interviews for tracking how leadership functions were shared in a VT. Our study shows that the designated leader played a prominent role in coordinating the team towards the group’s common goals. Although leadership functions were to some degree shared, the members wished that the leader had been more determined and their own roles more fluid. This indicates that a balance between leader’s control and members’ freedom is a challenge that has to be managed by the VT leader. The multiple channels supported by the VW were important for both leader’s and members’ participation.
inter-disciplinary.net
Virtual teams that work towards a common goal, are dispersed across many locations, and communica... more Virtual teams that work towards a common goal, are dispersed across many locations, and communicate through technology face several challenges in their operation. One of the key challenges is the lack of presence due to different work locations and time zones. 3D virtual environments (VEs) could be seen as a collaboration tool for virtual teams that resolves this challenge as they provide a unique sense of social presence via shared collaboration space and avatars.
Advances in technology have over the last two decades supported the development of virtual teams,... more Advances in technology have over the last two decades supported the development of virtual teams, constituted of geographically distributed members collaborating through technology. Virtual teams are formed to perform complex tasks, and successful decision-making is crucial for their performance. Despite the popularity of virtual teams, little is known about the nature of decision-making in them. There is a need to study this subject in more detail, and take into account the effects of the newest technologies.