| Individuals often describe work on geographically distributed teams as frustrating, difficult or challenging, even when goals are achieved. To understand the expressed difficulties, this study provides a micro-level examination of emotional engagement challenges facing distributed team members. Through ethnographic observations and interviews, video analysis and conversation analysis, I compare interactions of team members meeting via teleconference with those of team members meeting face-to-face. This micro-analysis of interactions and interaction challenges in various meeting types leads to a theoretical framework for emotional engagement in meetings. The emergent framework suggests that it is a lack of emotional engagement rather than a lack of communication channels that can discourage individuals from exchanging information and participating in team meetings and with the team over time. This study contributes to our understanding of socio-emotional challenges facing workers on distributed teams and indicates how some of these challenges might be addressed by simple meeting interaction devices and through the design of meeting tools that specifically promote emotional engagement. |
