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Lecture 5

Lecture 5. Distance and time. http:// en.wikipedia.org /wiki/ Spacetime. A current story. Is telecommuting a good thing? An Experiment. C t rip – Chinese company on Nasdaq with 17000 employees 249 participants – half were offered possibility to work at home 13% higher productivity

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Lecture 5

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  1. Lecture 5 Distance and time

  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime

  3. A current story

  4. Is telecommuting a good thing? An Experiment • Ctrip– Chinese company on Nasdaqwith 17000 employees • 249 participants – half were offered possibility to work at home • 13% higher productivity • But can we generalize this? • Chinese work ethic? • Work was under surveilance by managers • Simple routinetaskwithoutcollaborative element

  5. Distance matters • The Allen Curve • Distance between engineers’ offices affects the frequency of technical communication between them

  6. Proximity promotes • Coordination through informal chat • Availability bias – we think more about people and things that are “on the top of our minds” • Social capital through networking opportuities • Serendipity - chance encounters that let us discover new insights

  7. Distance is a centrifugal force

  8. Communication breakdown • Delays (need to clarify) • Rework (we need to do a task over again because it was misunderstood) • Conflict (delays and rework creates tension and a blame game that leads to the erosion of social capital)

  9. Coordination breakdown • Small adjustments become hard • A question • A request for clarification • A suggestion for an improvement • An ad hoc solution • Solution to an issue • Bug fixing • Leads to delay or lower quality

  10. Control breakdown • Management By Walking Around becomes impossible which leads to • Difficulty getting a feel for what is happening • Low enforcement of decisions • Attention to those near by • Symptoms are • Wasteful duplication • Discovering problems late • Need for rework

  11. Cohesion barriers • Group cohesion depends on trust • Trust is defined thus: “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something”(Merriam-Webster) • Usually divided into two types: • Thick trust which is acquired through strong, frequent personal relations – correlates with direct reciprocity • Thin trust is generalized trust also to people whom we don’t know. • High trust minimizes coordination costs

  12. Culture clash • Differences in culture may be caused by mis-communication –

  13. Eight principles for overcoming distance

  14. Create a rhythm of interaction • Difficult to secure communication between team members • Forget or too lazy to ask • Solutions: • Status meetings • Retreats • Scheduled visits

  15. Iterate for synchronization • Frequent synchronisationor small batch approach • Addresses coordination problems • Catches problems earlier • Solutions: • Kanban board • Sprints in Scrum • Continuous delivery

  16. Standardize communication protocols • Emails lead to information overload • IM is not stored • Decide on common terminology • Build repository to track communication and changes • Solutions: • PM tools like: Jira/Confluence, Basecamp, redmine

  17. Build an awareness infrastructure • Activity awareness – “Who’s working on what task • Process awareness – “What to do next?” • Availability awareness – “Who’s here to answer that question?” • Environmental awareness – “Is it dark in London now?”

  18. Create protocols for acknowledgment and urgency • “Is anyone working on my problem?” • Is the problem important or cosmetic? • How do I escalate the problem • Solutions: • Escalation procedures • “Service Level Agreement”

  19. Create a cohesive team culture • Distance decreases cohesion • Trust doesn’t come out of thin air • Solutions: • Eating and/or drinking together • An event • Experiencing something together

  20. Encourage interaction via real-time communication • Distance makes communication more difficult • we don’t naturally coordinate when not together • Solution: • Instant messaging: skype, Messenger, Lync, google chat • Enterprise social networks: Yammer, Jam, chatter, tibr

  21. Put warmth into cold e-mail • Working together at a distance may become too impersonal • No lunch time discussions or coffee chatter to break the ice • Solution: • Politeness • Smileys • Or…

  22. Time • Time zones • Work hours • Breaks • Weekends • Holidays

  23. Managing timezone differences

  24. Collaborative technology

  25. Organizational design • By expertise – work that requires similar functional expertise is in the same place • By product – Each site works out all the details of the components they create from star to finish • By phase – entire process in one place. Eg. Design, code or test • Satelite customization – one site owns the core code while satelites customize the code

  26. Why distance matters • Research question: “Does the amount of distance matter with computer mediated interaction?” • Effect of distance on: • Cooperation • Persuasion • Deception

  27. Operationalization • Deception - Paulhus Deception test • Persuasion - Dessert survival • Collaboration - Prisoners dilemma • Problems?

  28. The experimental setup Instant Messaging Video Paulhus Deception Task Irvine Dessert Survival Boston Prisoners Dilemma Dependent variable Independent variable

  29. Execution • Confederate imagined to be in either same city (Irvine) or distant city (Boston) • Video or instant messaging • Problems?

  30. Results • Paulhus deception • More self deceptive if far removed • Dessert survival • Persuasion is higher the closer the person is • Prisoners dilemma • Initial apprehension for distant city, but trust developed • Problems?

  31. Validity • Does the experiment measure what it claims? • Can we generalize the results?

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