Distributed work
Studies of innovation and knowledge diffusion in economic geography have traditionally emphasised the importance of proximity to furthering the diffusion of tacit knowledge. Project-based organisational forms, in particular, are thought to require proximity, as workers' competencies are combined for only limited periods in order to deal with increasing levels of complexity.
However, this emphasis on proximity is difficult to reconcile with the growth of many firms' globalised research functions. The growth of global R&D efforts suggests that these organisations are finding ways to transfer knowledge and spur employee creativity without proximity. This paper explores one company's R&D projects which are structured in cross-site teams located in different sites across the globe. We argue that firms have developed a myriad of techniques to allow innovation and knowledge diffusion from a distance and explore how this affects the firm's innovative efforts and their employees' sense of well-being.
Funding from the CMI (Cambridge MIT Institute)
Publications
- Gray, M. Kurihara, T. and Burchell, B. "Seeds, Propagators and Greenhouses: Exploring Innovation without Proximity" Available from author upon request.