SummaryThe focus of this paper is cognitive convergence in a globally distributed team (GDT), defined as the process by which cognitive structures of distributed team members gradually become more similar over time. To explore the convergence process, we employed a longitudinal, ethnographic research strategy that allowed us to follow a naturally occurring GDT over a 14-month period, producing a rich case study portraying factors and processes that influence convergence. Confirming previous studies, we find that increases in shared cognition alone are not sufficient to account for performance gains on a GDT. Rather, it may be necessary not only to increase the sharing of cognition, but also to reverse a pattern of increasing divergence that can result from rejection of key knowledge domains. We also found that several factors influence the process of cognitive convergence beyond direct knowledge sharing. These include: separate but parallel or similar learning experiences in a common context; the surfacing of hidden knowledge at remote sites by third-party mediators or knowledge brokers; and shifts in agent self-interest that motivate collaboration and trigger the negotiation of task interdependence. Also relevant to cognitive convergence on a GDT is the geographical distribution pattern of people and resources on the ground, and the different ways in which leaders exploit the historical, cultural and linguistic dimensions of such distribution to further their own political agendas. Several propositions related to these observations are suggested. We conclude that GDTs can be effective in bringing together divergent points of view to yield new organizational capabilities, but such benefits require that leaders and members recognize early and explicitly the existence and validity of their differences.
Rates of evolution for cytochrome c over the past one billion years were calculated from a maximum parsimony dendrogram which approximates the phylogeny of 87 lineages. Two periods of evolutionary acceleration and deceleration apparently occurred for the cytochrome c molecule. The tempo of evolutionary change indicated by this analysis was compared to the patterns of acceleration and deceleration in the ancestry of several other proteins. The synchrony of these tempos of molecular change supports the notion that rapid genetic evolution accompanied periods of major adaptive radiations. Rates of change at different time in several structural-functional areas of cytochrome c were also investigated in order to test the Darwinian hypothesis that during periods of rapid evolution, functional sites accumulate proportionately more substitutions than areas with no known functions. Rates of change in four proposed functional groupings of sites were therefore compared to rates in areas of unknown function for several different time periods. This analysis revealed a significant increase in the rate of evolution for sites associated with the regions of cytochrome c oxidase and reductase interaction during the period between the emergence of the eutherian ancestor to the emergence of the anthropoid ancestor.
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