Perceptions of Presence: Discursive and Embodied Experiences in Global Collaboration

When working in globally distributed settings, the perception of presence in collaboration and the use of technology directly impact how people are able to act in daily work practices. In this paper, we want to identify new ways to transform the way people think about presence in global collaboration, with the aim of improving the collaborative possibility for working closely with remote colleagues. In particular, we want to experiment with new techniques and approaches for facilitating reflections among the globally distributed participants, directly improving their conditions for work. Based upon previous research on global collaboration, we conducted, an action research study over a period of 20 months, where collaborative partners working within a global engineering company were invited to participate in workshops facilitating improved global collaboration. Through two action cycles we improved the approaches and techniques to make people reflect upon current practices with the aim of transforming their perceptions of presence when working remotely. In this paper, we present the results of this action research arguing that while discursive interventions challenging people’s perceptions are relevant and important, the embodied experience of the activities are essential to be able to transform people’s perceptions on presence and improve the global collaboration.