CHALLENGES TO THE COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT

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Factors inside the model

Structure

Referring to our model, the first category that brings a distributed team together is structure, the category was mentioned in different forms throughout the interviews that were conducted, and therefore, we are starting broad with describing the organizational structure of the company. Among the interviewees, the company was referred to as global. Yngve position the company; “Previously, the company was local but now it is much more global”. This was something that Zara explained to us as well that the company has incrementally become more global over the last years through acquisitions. Some (Marianne, Mats) interviewees believed that it is an advantage since; Marianne pointed out “it is good to be closer to where the product is being produced”. Furthermore, Mats explained to us that within the company they are trying to do some reorganization, he gave us one example of aligning certain departments to make it more efficient, however it is a challenge to “enable people to see the different departments as one, it’s a cultural thing and it takes time”.
Mats said that there has been very little focus on the operational updates and structural updates hence, “there is no benchmarking in this company”, Mats believed that the company chose other focus areas instead. Also, Yngve told us that he believes that the operational process needs to be updated in order to reach process excellence.
The company at such has a long history, Zara said, “the engineering culture of the company has led to that processes are emphasized in the company”, further she explained that if one set a process it is a form of standardizing a way of achieving goals and becoming more efficient and hopefully more profitable as an organization. Yngve emphasized that “we follow a process and it is already fixed and we can’t change it, so culture doesn’t matter in that case, however efficiency might differ among culture”. This was also brought up by Astrid, “It is important that everyone work in the same way, a form of standardize the operations”. Mats explained that his responsibility is to make sure that everyone and everything is aligned regarding ways of working, processes and best practices. Silvia also talks about following the company’s standard process while leading a project, “In our process it says kickoff”, referring namely to how they are supposed to start every new project. A kick off session is normally something that one should have in the beginning of the project (Pär, Yngve, Zara). Workshops is another part of the working process, the way of meeting all the members of a team (and a department) in order discuss and improve their way of working (Pär). According to Mats, he wants to organize 3‐4 workshops per year for his team. Christine, Mattias and Carl mentioned workshops as well, as part of the project development. Flexibility, beside processes, was also brought up as a positive organizational structure feature regarding getting experience in new markets. Many of the interviewees brought up that the company was rather generous with offering relocation options for their employees. Astrid told us that relocation to get insights in new markets is appreciated in the company, and something that she was attracted by. In addition, Mats told us that within his team this is one of the energizers that he has emphasized, he wants to start with the job rotations very soon, in order for people to get to know each other.
Furthermore, the managers talked about the structure they have regarding how often to communicate and what tools to use. Silvia told us about fixed biweekly meetings with team members from UK, these meetings being done using videoconferences. She also mentioned the communication with members in Stockholm through emails or skype, while daily interaction relies heavily on emails, adding that the communication intensity also depends on the project phase. Peter, on his turn, explained the schedule of meetings within his distributed team, by mentioning two yearly meetings in person with the entire team, monthly individual meeting via skype with video and sharing of the screen, and daily communication through phone and emails.
Pär, he or his team members travel to Sweden from the UK every 4‐6 weeks to discuss projects and attend meetings. If daily communication is not performed live, then it is usually via phone or email said Pär. While, on a weekly basis communication is via Skype or video conferencing (Pär, Yngve), or live meetings (Marianne). Both Silvia and Peter stated that the interaction with team members located at the company site, is rather unstructured, “With team located here I can meet and talk any time” (Peter), “Not very strict how we communicate, when things pop up we take time and we discuss that” (Silvia).
Peter said that having a structure is more important in case of distributed teams than in collocated teams, “because if something is not right, with the people located here, we can get together easily and discuss, it takes longer to correct in distributed teams”. Steven supported the same opinion emphasizing that as long as one works with people on the same floor, structure is not important since people talk daily, but, “this does not work at all when you have people in different locations”.
Further the interviewees highlighted the importance of having very well structured virtual meetings. Marianne said that it is essential to be organized, have an agenda for the meeting, time slots for each topic on it and have a proper Internet connection and rooms when attending a virtual meeting. In addition, it is crucial that the organization facilitate for managers to be able to lead in a virtual setting (Pär).
Pär explained that what he believes works good in a virtual context is sharing tools, templates and presentations. Astrid gave us an example of how a large monthly meeting could be organized in a virtual setting. She highlighted that agenda is important that it was communicate on beforehand, this can be connected to Marianne and Alex, who told us that they had stopped going to meetings that does not have an agenda. In the meeting 5‐10 min is usually given to each project to present their progress, a template where participants can highlight the critical points and timeline. Further, action notes are put down that needs to be accomplished until next meeting and then follow up at the next meeting. Astrid explained that her manager is always moderating the meeting, and after the meeting she stores it at the agreed platform so that everyone can take part of it, in addition she sends them an email reminder regarding it after the meeting. Astrid said that she thinks, “people are being kept well informed”. Silvia and Peter mentioned the approximate same structure of the meeting, with Silvia choosing to have also an excel project board with tasks and deadlines for each team member, whom she asks to update the board regarding the work progress, before the actual meeting.
Lastly, the interviewees mentioned the need of having a structure in storing all the data, and for this matter Silvia and her team talked especially about having Project Management tool as a storing platform, with its specific guidelines of naming the folders and what information should go, where, and for how long. Others as Peter and Mats talked about developing a common structure of storing and sharing the documents on Sharepoint, “We are working on the structure on Share Point, but I am hesitant if proper structure will be kept” (Peter).

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Leadership

Zara defined leadership in distributed teams as “managing people in distance, in different location, with different culture and languages”. Zara explained to us that the profile of the leader they are looking for is always created specifically for the leadership position, but later it might be standardized. Further, Zara clarified that the potential candidate goes through a very complex interview process to assure that they have the right person for the position. Leaders are often the driver of performance, the type of culture and expectations, according to Zara the leader sets “what is expected and what is not excepted and values within the team”.
The company wants to develop their leaders, Zara said that “we do offer some trainings for leaders for example within PM, communication skills, how to lead teams, presentation skills, engage and motivate people”, however no trainings for specifically leading distributed teams. Yngve said that he doesn’t know the manager skills from before and that his manager has helped him to develop new skills, his manager has introduced some efficient tools that he can use within the Asia team as well as for the personal level. “They are very experienced so there is a lot we could learn from them”, here Yngve refers to the team based in Sweden. Zara told us that when identifying candidates for a leadership position, they value candidates with experience of leading team members in different locations. Marianne told us that her manager brings in a lot of valuable experience from different cultures and working abroad. Christine, Steven, Mattias mentioned that their manager brought very good management, structure and efficient communication skills into the project.
When talking about leadership in distributed teams, Zara pointed out that she believes that there are different styles that the leader needs to apply, and start thinking of how one communicates and how it is understood by the team members, if that is the way the leader wanted it to be understood. Both Marianne and Astrid described their manager as a very communicative and he/she set up a clear vision for their team. Yngve said that his manager coaches him, he/she thought me how I can lead others in a good way. Astrid explained to us that her manager does not only think in the deliverables, her manager is very focused on the actual person and the personal development of that individual. Further, Astrid said, “I feel that my manager sees me” and she added that that can often be a problem in a large company, that one become forgotten.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 PROBLEM DISCUSSION
1.2 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
1.3 OUTLOOK OF THE THESIS
2. FRAME OF REFERENCE
2.1. DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
2.2 LEADERSHIP IN DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
2.3 COLLABORATION
2.3.1 COMMUNICATION
2.3.2 TRUST
2.3.3 SHARED PURPOSE AND IDENTITY
2.3.4 STRUCTURE
2.4 CHALLENGES WITH DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES
3.2 RESEARCH PROCESS
3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.3.1 RESEARCH STRATEGY
3.4 DATA COLLECTION
3.4.1 CASE BACKGROUND
3.4.2 SAMPLING
3.4.3 RESEARCH ETHICS
3.4.4 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE
3.4.5 INTERVIEW GUIDE
3.4.6 INTERVIEW RESPONDENTS
3.5 DATA ANALYSIS
3.6 RESEARCH QUALITY
4. EMPIRICAL PRESENTATION
4.1 MODEL DERIVED FROM EMPIRICAL DATA
4.2 EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
4.2.1 FACTORS INSIDE THE MODEL
4.2.2 FACTORS OUTSIDE THE MODEL
5. DISCUSSION
5.1 PART ONE: THE COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT
5.2 PART TWO: CHALLENGES TO THE COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT
5.3 SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION
6. CONCLUSION
6.1 IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE
6.2 LIMITATIONS OF OUR STUDY
6.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
REFERENCE LIST
APPENDICES