My research centers on issues related to workplace interactions and social dynamics between groups, with the objective of explaining why groups cooperate, and the processes of effective cooperation.  I examine these problems primarily via ethnographic methods of participant-observation and interviews, while also using surveys and secondary data.  Currently I pursue two lines of research:

1 – The process of coordination, communication, control, and the emotional dynamics within and across distant groups ; e.g., dynamics of virtual teams and practices in open source software development communities.

 2 – The role of writing in distant collaboration; e.g., the mechanisms that give writing its three powers: to develop and share knowledge, to express emotions, and to build communities. 

The Limits of Meritocracy: Women and the Free/Open Source Software Community - with Otilia Obodaru.

Organizational Behavior (MSc level)

Written Analysis and Communication (MBA level) 

Qualitative Research Methods (PhD level)

Advanced Topics in Organizational Behavior and Organization Theory (PhD level) 

Wilson, Jeanne, Michael Boyer O’Leary, Anca Metiu and Quintus Jett. “Perceptions of Proximity in Virtual Work: Explaining the Paradox of ‘Far-but-Close’”, Organization Studies 29(7): 979-1002, 2008. Runner-up for the best published paper award in 2008 – in the Organizational Communication & Information Systems division of the Academy of Management. 

Fayard, Anne-Laure and Anca Metiu. “Beyond Orality and Literacy: Letters and Online Interactions.” Winner, Best Presentation Award at the 2007 Davis Conference on Qualitative Research. 

Rosenkopf, Lori, Anca Metiu and Varghese George. “Industry-Wide Technical Organizations as Strategic Antecedents of Alliance Formation”.  Winner, Best Paper Award at the TIM Division of the ASAC-IFSAM (Montreal, Canada).  
  

 “The Role of Writing in Knowledge Sharing and Development: Evidence from Letters,” the European Group of Organizational Studies, Lisbon, July 2010.

 “A Literacy Perspective on Writing and Knowledge Sharing: Evidence from Letters,” Academy of Management Annual Meetings, Chicago, 2009.

 “Expressing Emotions and Building Relationships over Distance,” Academy of Management Annual Meetings, Anaheim, 2008.

 “Women’s Professional Identity Formation in the Free/Open Source Software Community,” Academy of Management Annual Meetings, Anaheim, 2008.

 “Beyond Orality and Literacy: Letters and Online Interactions,” Academy of Management Annual Meetings, Philadelphia 2007.  

“’She’s One of the Boys’: Identity Formation for Women in the Free/Open Source Community,” the European Group of Organizational Studies, Vienna, July 2007.

 “Letters as the Frontier between Private and Public Spheres: Implications for Online Interactions,” Colloque en hommage a Jacques Girin: Autour du langage et des organisations, CRG, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, Nov.13, 2006. 

“Flaming and Identification Processes in a Free/Open Source Community,” Academy of Management Annual Meetings, Atlanta 2006. 

“The experience of dispersion in teams,” (with Jeanne Wilson, Michael Boyer O’Leary, and Quintus Jett), Academy of Management Annual Meetings, New Orleans 2004, and the 4th Congress of Proximity Economics, June 2004.  

“The Open Source Software Community as a Meritocracy,” paper presented in the Symposium “Communities of Practice: Extensions and Limits,” Academy of Management 2003, Seattle, August 2003. 
 
“Engagement in Innovative Work Across Multiple Boundaries”, paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meetings, Denver, August 2002. 
 
“Proximity Revisited: A Closer Look at the Meaning and Effects of Distance in Group Work”, symposium presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meetings 2002 (9-14 August 2002: Denver, USA).
 
“Escalation of Disengagement Across Multiple Boundaries,” paper presented at the European Group of Organizational Studies, Barcelona, July 2002.
 
“Knowledge Creation Across Boundaries: Innovative Work in Software Development”, paper presented at The Third European Conference on Organizational Knowledge, Learning, and Capabilities, Alba University, Athens, April 2002. 
 
“Strategic Participation in Cooperative Technical Organizations: Emergence, Evolution and Effects of Informal Interfirm Networks” (with Lori Rosenkopf and Varghese George), Academy of Management Annual Meetings, Toronto, August 2000.
 
“Strategic Participation in Cooperative Technical organizations: Informal Networks and Alliance Formation” (with Lori Rosenkopf and Varghese George), INFORMS Conference, Philadelphia, November 1999.
 
“Global Software Development and the Emergence of E-Innovation” (with Bruce Kogut), Carnegie Bosch Institute, San Francisco, October 1999.
 
“Exploiting knowledge flow in interorganizational networks: Strategic participation in technical committee activity in the cellular industry” (with Lori Rosenkopf and Varghese George),  Strategic Management Society, Orlando, November 1998.
 
“The dynamics of informal network evolution: An exploratory case study from the cellular industry” (with Lori Rosenkopf and Varghese George), Academy of Management Annual Meetings, San Diego, August 1998.


   INVITED PRESENTATIONS 

“Beyond Orality and Literacy: Letters and Online Interactions,” Workshop on “The practice of communities: Research and applications on work practices and communities,” Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, July 1-3, 2007.  

“Letters and the Orality versus Literacy Debate: Implications for Online Interactions,“ Center for Work, Technology, and Organization, Stanford University, September 29, 2006. 

“Group Engagement as a Step toward Understanding Team Performance“, CERAM, Sophia Antipolis, May 16, 2006.
 
“Status Closure in Distributed Groups,” EM Lyon, February 14, 2006.
 
“Group Engagement as a Step toward Understanding Team Performance”, Wharton OB Mini-Conference, Philadelphia, November 2005.  
 
“Free/Open Source Software Communities as Meritocracies,” paper presented at the INSEAD Qualitative Workshop, Singapore, December 2003. 

 Invited participant to the 7th Annual Conference on Research on Managing Groups and Teams: Status and Groups, Cornell University, Ithaca, May 2003. 

“Group Engagement as a step toward understanding teams,” paper presented at The Davis Conference on Qualitative Research, UC Davis, March 2003. 

Invited Discussant at the CONDOR Seminar, Centre de Recherche en Gestion de l’Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, December 2002.    

“The Open Source Software as a Meritocracy,” George Washington University Open Source Summit, Washington, DC, October 2002. 

“The Open Source Software as a Meritocracy,” The European Union, Bruxelles, October 2002. 

“Escalation of Disengagement Across Multiple Boundaries, and “Models of Knowledge Creation in Software Development,” University of Bologna, April 2002.   

“Owning the Code: Creativity in Global Software Development,” Carnegie Bosch Institute’s 10th Anniversary Conference, Pittsburgh, October 2000. 
 
“Organizational Processes and the Web: What We Know about Knowledge over Distance,” Conference and Symposium on Electronic Commerce and Global Business, Santa Cruz, May 2000.

Professor of Management at ESSEC, 2009-present.

Associate Professor of Management at ESSEC, 2007-2008. 

Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, 2001- 2006.