I takt med att det blir vanligare att arbeta i team inom organisationer, utförs allt mer forskning om teamprocesser som påverkar teamens resultat och prestanda. Teamkommunikation är en teamprocess som vid upprepade tillfällen har identifierats som en av de teamprocesser som har en stor inverkan på teamens arbetsresultat. Även användandet av agila mjukvaruutvecklingsmetoder och distribuerad mjukvaruutveckling ökar och det råder delade meningar om hur väl egentligen distribuerat arbete och agila metoder fungerar i kombination. Å ena sidan bygger agila metoder på att utvecklarna har kontrollen själva, å andra sidan blir teamkommunikationen mer omständlig, eftersom den elektroniska kommunikationen kan verka begränsande. Uppsatsens syfte är att identifiera faktorer som påverkar virtuella teams kommunikationsprocesser inom agila mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt. Fallstudiemetoden har tillämpats för att samla in relevant empiri och det valda fallföretaget är konsultföretaget Altran. Altran har ett konsultuppdrag hos en stor aktör inom fordonsindustrin och arbetar i distribuerade team inom ett agilt mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt. Studien har utförts med hjälp av flera kvalitativa metoder; ostrukturerade observationer, en sonderande intervju och sex semi-semistrukturerade intervjuer med konsulter från utvecklingsteamen på Altran. Slutsatserna av studien är att flera faktorer påverkar virtuella teams kommunikationsprocesser. Några faktorer har dock varit mer framträdande än andra: Mångfald i teamet, som har en tydlig inverkan på kommunikationsprocesserna, eftersom Mångfalden i teamet sätter förutsättningarna för vilken grad teammedlemmarna är engagerade i kommunikationsprocesserna. Även Teamkommunikation i relation till Tillit mellan teammedlemmarna är viktig. Teamkommunikationen har en tydlig positiv inverkan på Tillit och Tillit har i sin tur en viktig funktion, eftersom det är den som avgör hur väl samarbetet mellan teammedlemmarna inom teamet fungerar. En tredje faktor som identifierats under studien är Teamkommunikationen i relation till Mentala modeller. Mentala modeller skapas med hjälp av Teamkommunikation och är en förutsättning för att teammedlemmarna ska kunna arbeta mot gemensamma mål och få ett bra arbetsresultat.

Uppsatsen presenterar vilka faktorer som bidrar till effektivitet inom distribuerade team som arbetar med mjukvaruutveckling och hur dessa faktorer påverkar effektiviteten i arbetsprocessen. Det utgör en utmaning att arbeta effektivt inom mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt och den distribuerade faktorn, att projektmedlemmarna är utspridda över mer än ett kontor, bidrar med ytterligare komplexitet. Genom studien vill vi bidra till att göra denna komplexitet mer hanterlig. Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ fallstudie där vi har studerat ett utvalt distribuerat projekt vid ett mjukvaruutvecklingsföretag. Det empiriska underlaget har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyserats utifrån identifierade teman. Vi har huvudsakligen identifierat sociala faktorer, men även några tekniska faktorer, som bidrar till en effektiv arbetsprocess. Faktorerna innefattar kommunikation, gruppidentitet, stämning, kultur och normer samt ledarskap. De innefattar bland annat att genomföra väl anpassad kommunikation och dokumentation, hålla frekventa möten, ha få grupperingar, gemensamma IT-verktyg, att främja social kommunikation, ha transparent ledarskap och att teammedlemmarna är ansvarstagande. Utöver att lista faktorerna beskriver vi i slutsatsen även hur de bidrar till att effektiva arbetsprocesser uppnås. / This thesis presents which factors contribute to efficiency in distributed teams working with software development, and how these factors affect the efficiency of the work process. Working effectively in software development projects is a challenge and the distributed factor, that project members are distributed across more than one office, brings additional complexity. Through the study, we want to help make this complexity more manageable. We have carried out a qualitative case study where we have studied a selected distributed project at a software development company. The empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed based on identified themes. We have mainly identified social factors, but also some technical factors that contribute to an efficient work process. The factors comprise communication, group identity, mood, culture and norms as well as leadership. They include, among other things, implementing well-adapted communication and documentation, holding frequent meetings, few groupings, common IT tools, promoting social communication, having transparent leadership and the team members having a high level of responsibility. In the conclusion we also describe how the listed factors help to achieve an efficient work processes.

Globalization, time to market, and customer responsiveness present continuous challenges for achieving market innovation across cultures. A cross-cultural and networked business environment has created increased demand for knowledge-sharing within the multinational corporation (MNC). The inability of geographically distributed team members to effectively share and communicate ideas and solutions can result in a lack of product innovation, delayed product introductions, and reduced sales and market opportunities. This requires managers to leverage cross-cultural team knowledge in order to improve the design and delivery of innovative customer solutions worldwide. This dissertation thus intends to examine and identify organizational mechanisms that facilitate cross-cultural collaboration and knowledge-sharing for geographically distributed teams responsible for the front end of innovation.The resource-based and knowledge-based views of the firm inform this dissertation where integrated cognitive and social practices serve an important role for innovation. Through qualitative research, I will examine organizational mechanisms that influence interactions between the project leader and the geographically distributed team during global product launches, from product concept to market introduction. Since there is a lack of empirical research conducted with organizations on cross-cultural collaboration and global innovation, there is a significant opportunity to advance research within innovation management while assisting organizations in the development of knowledge-sharing capabilities that serve as competitive advantage in conceiving and introducing new products to international markets.The purpose of this dissertation research is to investigate and demonstrate how MNCs can facilitate the cross-cultural collaboration process in order to effectively conceive and execute innovation strategies for new products. The research intends to develop a framework and model for cross-cultural team collaboration in exploring and responding to the following research question: How can MNCs optimize cross-cultural team collaboration in order to strengthen the planning and execution of global innovation strategies? This research responds to organizational needs for sharing knowledge amongst cross-cultural teams in order to accelerate responsiveness to international market opportunities.

This qualitative study is of the interpretivist nature and it aims to examine how knowledge workers perceive their interaction with a knowledge management system when used for knowledge sharing purposes. The purpose is to offer answers to two research questions: How do knowledge workers perceive their interaction with knowledge management technology in relation to knowledge sharing? What are the benefits and challenges that knowledge workers experience in relation to knowledge managing and sharing when using a KMS system? The data was collected by applying qualitative research methods and by conducting five interviews with participants of an IT organization that has its head office in Sweden, but additional offices in other geographical locations. To be able to study the participants´ perception and the benefits of the use on both local and international levels, the interviewees were chosen from different sites in which their organization was operating. To provide the answers to these questions and to establish the foundation of this research, an extensive literature review on the problem area was carried out, and a theoretical framework has been employed to study the different aspects of this model in the context of knowledge management systems in relation to knowledge sharing among knowledge workers. As a result, additional derived attributes came from the findings and it is shown that users tend to relate knowledge quality with the completeness, frequency of update, and validity of the knowledge content that they are exposed to in the KMS. Similarly, they relate KMS quality to administrability and maintenance easiness, whereas organizational service providing quality in relation to knowledge sharing is more related to the aspects of organizational commitment and reliability. Moreover, the findings show that participants relate their intention to use the KMS to the attributes of convenience and practicality, and the levels of user satisfaction were in this case mainly related to the user´s perception of usefulness. Lastly, the perception of the benefits and reciprocal value-creating for both the organization and the individual was examined and the findings show that the users tend to relate these to the aspect of relevance, or in other words that the benefits are only perceived as useful by the user if they are identifiable, respectively the user being aware of the benefits and perceiving them as relevant.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify how uncertainties affect a partially distributed team. To do this, the thesis goes into the details of the different types of uncertainties and how they are handled. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research uses a multiple case study with interviews and observations as data gathering methods. The two cases study are first analyzed separately and then a cross case analysis is conducted. Findings: This study showed that uncertainties are mostly correlated to threats and therefor focus lies on mitigating them. Using agile practices allows for a greater flexibility and makes uncertainties more manageable. Practical implications: This study shows the value of following agile principles. It also shows that when choosing to have a partially distributed team one needs to weigh the negative aspects with the positive ones. Originality/Value: This study combines research conducted on partially distributed teams and uncertainties. / Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera hur osäkerheter påverkar ett delvis distribuerat team. För att göra detta går uppsatsen in i detalj om olika typer av osäkerheter och hur de kan hanteras. Design/Metodologi/Ansats: Denna studie använder sig av fallstudier med intervjuer och observationer som datainsamlingsmetoder. Två fallstudier analyseras först separat och därefter genomförs en korsfallsanalys. Resultat: Denna studie visade att osäkerheter mestadels är korrelerade med hot och därför ligger fokus på att förhindra dem. Genom att använda agila metoder möjliggörs större flexibilitet och gör osäkerheter mer hanterbara. Praktisk betydelse: Denna studie visar värdet av att följa agila principer. Det visar också att när man väljer att ha ett delvis distribuerat team måste man väga de negativa aspekterna med de positiva. Orginalitet/Värde: Denna studie kombinerar forskning som utförs på delvis distribuerade team och osäkerheter.

La mondialisation, l’introduction d’un produit sur le marché, l’adaptation au consommateur représentent des défis permanents pour réussir l’innovation sur le marché à travers les cultures. Un environnement commercial interculturel et interconnecté a créé une demande croissante pour le partage des connaissances dans les entreprises multinationales (EMN). L’incapacité des membres d’une équipe dispersés géographiquement à partager et communiquer efficacement les idées et solutions peut entraîner un manque d’innovation des produits, un retard dans leur introduction, et réduire les ventes et opportunités de marchés. Cela nécessite de la part des dirigeants d’optimiser les connaissances interculturelles de l’équipe afin d’améliorer le design et la livraison de solutions innovantes pour les clients à l’échelle mondiale. Par conséquent cette thèse cherche à examiner et identifier les mécanismes organisationnels qui favorisent la collaboration interculturelle et le partage de connaissances au sein d’équipes dispersées géographiquement, dans l’élaboration d’un processus d’innovation (du front end of innovation). Cette thèse se base sur l’approche par les ressources et par les connaissances de la firme, où les pratiques cognitives et sociales intégrées jouent un rôle important pour l’innovation. A travers une recherche qualitative j’examinerai les mécanismes organisationnels qui influencent les interactions entre le responsable de projet et l’équipe interculturelle durant les lancements globaux de produit, de la conception du produit jusqu’à sa mise sur le marché. Dans la mesure où il y a peu de recherche empirique sur la collaboration interculturelle et l’innovation globale, c’est une opportunité considérable de contribuer à la recherche en management de l’innovation, et d’aider des organisations à développer leurs capacités de partage de connaissances, véritable avantage concurrentiel dans la conception et l’introduction de nouveaux produits sur les marchés internationaux. L’objectif de cette thèse et d’étudier et démontrer comment les EMN peuvent faciliter le processus de collaboration interculturelle afin de concevoir et de mettre en oeuvre efficacement des stratégies d’innovation pour de nouveaux produits. Cette recherche vise à développer un cadre et un modèle théorique pour la collaboration des équipes interculturelles en répondant à la question suivante : Comment les EMN optimisent la collaboration des équipes interculturelles afin d’améliorer le planning et la mise en oeuvre de stratégie globale d’innovation ? Ceci répond aux besoins des organisations de partager les connaissances du marché local entre les équipes interculturelles afin d’accélérer la réactivité aux opportunités du marché à l’international. / Globalization, time to market, and customer responsiveness present continuous challenges for achieving market innovation across cultures. A cross-cultural and networked business environment has created increased demand for knowledge-sharing within the multinational corporation (MNC). The inability of geographically distributed team members to effectively share and communicate ideas and solutions can result in a lack of product innovation, delayed product introductions, and reduced sales and market opportunities. This requires managers to leverage cross-cultural team knowledge in order to improve the design and delivery of innovative customer solutions worldwide. This dissertation thus intends to examine and identify organizational mechanisms that facilitate cross-cultural collaboration and knowledge-sharing for geographically distributed teams responsible for the front end of innovation.The resource-based and knowledge-based views of the firm inform this dissertation where integrated cognitive and social practices serve an important role for innovation. Through qualitative research, I will examine organizational mechanisms that influence interactions between the project leader and the geographically distributed team during global product launches, from product concept to market introduction. Since there is a lack of empirical research conducted with organizations on cross-cultural collaboration and global innovation, there is a significant opportunity to advance research within innovation management while assisting organizations in the development of knowledge-sharing capabilities that serve as competitive advantage in conceiving and introducing new products to international markets.The purpose of this dissertation research is to investigate and demonstrate how MNCs can facilitate the cross-cultural collaboration process in order to effectively conceive and execute innovation strategies for new products. The research intends to develop a framework and model for cross-cultural team collaboration in exploring and responding to the following research question: How can MNCs optimize cross-cultural team collaboration in order to strengthen the planning and execution of global innovation strategies? This research responds to organizational needs for sharing knowledge amongst cross-cultural teams in order to accelerate responsiveness to international market opportunities.