Communication Ties in Distributed Work

Multinational corporations have IT departments that span the globe to support distributed business ventures. IT staff must provide support for the information systems that these centers of operations depend on, round the clock and around the globe. This provides an opportunity to study the phenomenon of distributed IT support team. This study examined how a distributed IT support team coordinates an IT support event among the team members in different locations, separated by multiple time zones and oceans. The communication pattern of IT support events are described and discussed. The researcher found that with established relationships and ties, IT support personnel may not have to be everywhere, IT support personnel may invoke resources associated with established relationships and ties and the presence of these resources may augment the presence of IT support personnel.