Incentives and computing systems for team-based organizations: A mathematical and economic analysis

This paper provides a mathematical and economic analysis of ‘Incentives and Computing Systems for Team-Based Organizations’ by A. Barua, C. H. Sophie Lee, and A. B. Whinston, which was published in Organization Science in 1995. Several points were not adequately stated in the original article and one of the key definitions is not clear, nor is it in keeping with the classical theory of production. Although the Cobb–Douglas production function is often used in the article, it does not comply with the article's definitions. The two main contributions of this paper are (1) to provide a word of caution to other readers who might try to extend Barua et al. (1995) and (2) to suggest alternative formulations and directions for future research.