Hallen, BenjaminRhymer, Jennifer2020-08-142020-08-142020-08-142020Rhymer_washington_0250E_21615.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/45870Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2020The design of organizations (an interdependent assembly of multiple elements) and their work systems has been extensively explored in organizational theory and design research (Barley, 1996; Fayol, 1949; Puranam, 2018; Srikanth & Puranam, 2014; Tushman & Nadler, 1978). Multiple streams of research on distributed work, including that of virtual teams, online communities and technology-mediated communication suggests geographical distributing employees and teams creates more challenges; such as limited trust and familiarity, communication rife with misunderstandings, and difficulty in establishing a shared social context (Hinds & Bailey, 2003; Gibson & Gibbs, 2006; O'Leary & Mortensen, 2010; Olson & Olson, 2000). With such negative implications for operating in a distributed manner it is surprising to observe that some organizations have chosen to be fully distributed with no physical location. An inductive multiple-case study exploring the interdependent collaboration of six location-independent organizations – organizations with no physical location – was conducted (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007; Siggelkow, 2007; Yin, 2009). The initial insight of this dissertation is that there are two emergent organizational design patterns within the sample, namely an asynchronous orientation and a real-time orientation. The primary finding is the element of adaptive on-demand collaboration, which is enabled by the three practices of maintaining an open single source of truth, utilizing rich public decision trails, and action first iteration. The first two practices set a foundation, or infrastructure, of both breadth and depth while the third practice captures the authority granting behavior of organizations. The findings contribute to current theory in multiple ways; first to the organizational design literature, the identification and elaboration of the adaptive on-demand collaboration element with its three enabling practices that facilitates asynchronous work. In doing so physical and temporal distance are explicitly separated, an important step in recognizing the tradeoffs for particular organizational designs. The next contribution is to the literature on technology-mediated communication, it is the shift to behavioral principles enabled by and yet not dependent on specific tools. Finally, through the exploration of location-independent organizations this dissertation increases the understanding of the distributed work phenomenon highlighting the potential for related future research focused on other theoretical areas.application/pdfen-USnoneOrganization theoryManagementBusiness administrationThesis