Questions for the day:

1. Are virtual teams doomed?
2. Are some tasks better suited for virtual teams?
3. Do collaborative tools help virtual teams? Why / How?

What do distant teams lack that radically collocated teams have

• Context of what is being said / done
• Same space can lead to more social queues
• Informal Discussion / Impromptu Communication
• Accountability
• Group Identity

What are distance teams missing?

• fluidiy of participation is conducive to timely completion of work
• People move from one subgroup to another;
• Overhearing others’ conversations and/or seeing what someone was working on
• Spatial reference of artifacts using gestures and glances
• Impromptu communication
• Developing common grounds
• Knowing your teammates (likes, dislikes, work habits, expertise, etc.)
• Informal training sessions (through imitating one’s work)
• Immediate feedback and attention

Virtual Teams

• Team
• A collection of individuals who are interdependent in their tasks
• They share responsibility for the outcomes
• They see themselves as a social entity embedded in one or more larger social systems
• Virtual Team
• A group of geographically, organizationally, and/or time dispersed workers brought together by information and telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more tasks

Characteristics of a Virtual Team

• While they can be ongoing, they are often assembled on an as-needed basis to cooperate on specific deliverables
• Flexible composition
• Reliance on IT to communicate with each other
• Ability to traverse traditional organizational boundaries & time constraints
• Can be short-lived (due to the specialized function they can serve)

Socio-Emotional Processes

• Relationship Building
• Vt tends to be more task-focused and less social focused
• Early socialization is key (e.g., regular chat, mandatory F2F)
• Trust
• Trust must be developed quickly
• Short-lived VT are able to develop high trust but they do not do so by following a swift trust model

Task Process
The processes that occur as team members work together to accomplish a task or goal

• Communication
• Challenges: time delays in feedback, lack of common frames of reference for all, limited communication cues
• Solution: Frequency and predictability of communication
• Coordination
• Develop collaborative norms to make it effective
• Technology
• Strive to match tasks with appropriate technology
• F2F meetings/Phone: More ambiguous tasks, managing conflicts, etc.
• Electronic communication: More routine tasks

Outputs

• Perforamnce
• Take longer to reach a decision
• Factors contributing to successful performance:
• Goal setting
• Shared language
• Team cohesiveness
• Team coordination
• Appropriateness of task-technology fit
• Satisfaction
• More communication mechanism and training contribute to satisfied VT members