IT Service and Support: What To Do With Geographically Distributed Teams?

Organizations relied on geographically distributed teams to manage all functional aspects of their business. Two different firms that were successfully providing IT support for such complex environments were studied. The two case studies made it apparent that team cohesion, well-defined group norms, and effective feedback contributed to the firms’ abilities to provide effective IT support in a culturally diverse and distributed environment. The concept of a team was challenged and re-defined to include additional players. In addition, factors related to outsourcing, staff burnout, and the shortage of IT professionals were discussed. This study aimed to increase our understanding of current work practices in distributed teams. Managers and human resource professionals as well as team leaders who supported the distributed teams can use the results of this investigation to develop implementation strategies and interventions for individuals, teams, and organizations to attract and retain their manpower.