TY - JOUR
T1 - Debugging the system
T2 - The impact of dispersion on the identity of software team members
AU - Marks, Abigail
AU - Lockyer, Cliff
PY - 2005/2
Y1 - 2005/2
N2 - This paper looks at the impact of dispersion of groups of software workers on team and organizational identification. The paper examines at two case studies of software organizations operating in Scotland. One case study is drawn from a software division of a large national telecommunications company, the other from a medium-sized indigenous software firm. Within each organization we examined groups of employees based within and outwith their employing organizations. Our results were broadly consistent with established work within other sectors in finding that the team largely replaced the organization as a focus for identification. However, we also found that there was no difference in the salience of organizational identification between dispersed employees and those based within their employing organization. For many employees the focus on the team as opposed to the organization was a way of reducing subjective uncertainty within a changing corporate environment. Finally, we established that it is team identification rather than organizational identification for software workers that is a greater determinant of affective outcomes such as job satisfaction. The results of this study impact upon contemporary theories of HRM, which promote the design of work systems in order to engender commitment to, and identification with, the organization. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.
AB - This paper looks at the impact of dispersion of groups of software workers on team and organizational identification. The paper examines at two case studies of software organizations operating in Scotland. One case study is drawn from a software division of a large national telecommunications company, the other from a medium-sized indigenous software firm. Within each organization we examined groups of employees based within and outwith their employing organizations. Our results were broadly consistent with established work within other sectors in finding that the team largely replaced the organization as a focus for identification. However, we also found that there was no difference in the salience of organizational identification between dispersed employees and those based within their employing organization. For many employees the focus on the team as opposed to the organization was a way of reducing subjective uncertainty within a changing corporate environment. Finally, we established that it is team identification rather than organizational identification for software workers that is a greater determinant of affective outcomes such as job satisfaction. The results of this study impact upon contemporary theories of HRM, which promote the design of work systems in order to engender commitment to, and identification with, the organization. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.
KW - Dispersion
KW - Identification
KW - Knowledge-intensive work
KW - Software work
KW - Teams
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=12844258925&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0958519042000311417
DO - 10.1080/0958519042000311417
M3 - Article
SN - 0958-5192
VL - 16
SP - 219
EP - 237
JO - International Journal of Human Resource Management
JF - International Journal of Human Resource Management
IS - 2
ER -