Backstage Matters: Collective Energy and Information Sharing on Global Teams

It is well documented that information sharing – which is central to team effectiveness – is complicated by cultural and geographical factors. However, little is known about the process of information sharing between subgroups within global teams. Building on Goffman’s (1959) notions of frontstage – for all the world to see – and backstage – for only you (or your subgroup) to see, we explore how backstage (intragroup) dynamics affect frontstage (intergroup/global team) dynamics. In a concurrent ethnographic study of two global teams, each with subgroups in both the US and China, we discover that it is not only what was shared with the global team that matters, but also what is not shared on the frontstage but shared only on the backstage. Backstage dynamics may undermine – but also in some cases improve – global team information sharing, based on the collective energy that emerges among co-located subgroup members. We document the self-reinforcing relationship that exists between collective energy shared among sub-team members in the backstage and the information shared amongst the entire global team on the frontstage. Our findings have both theoretical and practical implications for the study of global teams, intergroup dynamics more generally, and the future of work.