Work

Flubber teams: The emergence of dynamic platform-enabled teams in business organizations

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: • Introduces “flubber teams” as a new form of platform-enabled collaboration. • Explores how proprietary crowdsourcing platforms reshape team structure and boundaries. • Compares flubber teams with flash and fluid teams across four key dimensions. • Shows how flubber teams balance flexibility with deep organizational embedding. • Discusses implications for leadership, HR policy, and the future of work. Digitalization is changing how organizations do business and organize their activities. New digital technologies have transformed sales, marketing, human resource management and other organizational processes. In this study, we examine the effect of digital transformation and the introduction of platform-enabled collaboration on the functioning of teams in organizations. Through a qualitative case study of a leading gas and oil company, which has introduced a proprietary freelance platform, we demonstrate a novel approach to project and teamwork management resulting in the formation of a new form of collaboration, which we call flubber teaming . Such teams have the ability to dynamically change their shape, form, hierarchy, and other properties, making these structures an attractive approach to teaming for large organizations. However, their emergence introduces additional pressures on organizational structures and culture.

Source: Journal of Business Research

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115795

Authors: Mike Szymanski, Ivan Smagin, Evgeny Kaganer

Institutions: Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, IESE Business School, ESE Business School

Language: English

Topic: Digital Economy and Work Transformation

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,440