Faculty & Research

Mark Mortensen

Richard S. Leghorn (1939) Career Development Professor in Management of Technological Innovation
Assistant Professor of Organization Studies

Biography | Publications

Mark Mortensen studies the changing structure of team work. His research explores new ways of organizing work and teams that do not fit traditional models of team dynamics, yet are increasingly prevalent in today's globally-dispersed, fast-moving economy. In particular, his research focuses on two such structures: globally distributed and project-based work.

In studying the effects of geographic dispersion and technology mediation on interpersonal interaction, his research moves beyond our traditional understanding of teams as collocated individuals. His research explores the interrelated effects of physical, temporal, technological, configurational and cultural distance on team dynamics. He has studied the differing nature of conflict and its relationship to identity, context, and communication in geographically collocated and distributed teams. He has also examined the impact of dispersed team structure on effectiveness through studies of imbalanced subgroups and geographic isolates as determinants of individual and team dynamics. He is currently researching the relationship between site visits and expatriate assignments on cross-site knowledge in global collaborations.

In examining team dynamics within the context of working in multiple, partially-overlapping, fluidly-shifting projects, he studies a model of work that is increasingly frequent in today's economy. Importantly, this approach to work raises numerous questions about the applicability and relevance of traditional models of team dynamics and processes. Through this research, he has discovered frequent within-team disagreement as to team membership and explored its effects on knowledge-management processes and ultimately performance. He is also conducting research on the effects of multiple team membership on learning and productivity at the individual, team, and organizational level.

Web Site: http://web.mit.edu/markm/www/