Bridge the gap or mind the gap? The role of leader coaching and communication technologies in configurationally dispersed teams

Configurational dispersion describes the distribution of team members across sites. Two of its dimensions include how unevenly members are distributed—i.e., configurational imbalance—and the extent to which members work in isolation from other team members—i.e., configurational isolation. We examine the combined influence of configurational dispersion, information and communication technologies (ICTs) use, and leader coaching on team performance mediated by interpersonal process asymmetry. The model is tested via a year-long field study of 88 teams and their leaders with members dispersed across China, India, and the United States. Results show that leaders should minimize their coaching when configurationally isolated teams use synchronous ICTs and when configurationally imbalanced teams use asynchronous ICTs.