Attitudes, Behaviors, and Cognition in Distributed Teams: The Effect of Team Opacity on Process and Performance

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the small, but growing, area of distributed teams and emphasize how work characteristics associated with such teams may alter both the processes and the products emerging from distributed interaction. We discuss these factors within the context of a construct we label team opacity and describe how the attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions of team members may be affected by a lack of co-location. We suggest that distributed team performance can best be understood through conceptualization of a coordination space within which distributed interaction occurs over time and space.