A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Face-to-Face and Virtual Communication: Overcoming the Challenges

Virtual communication has become the norm for many organizations (Baltes, Dickson, Sherman, Bauer, & LaGanke, 2002; Bergiel, Bergiel, & Balsmeier, 2008; Hertel, Geister, & Konradt, 2005). As technology has evolved, time and distance barriers have dissolved, allowing for access to experts worldwide. The reality of business today demands the use of virtual communication for at least some work, and many professionals will sit on a virtual team at some point (Dewar, 2006). Although virtual communication offers many advantages, it is not without challenges. This article examines the costs and benefits associated with virtual and face-to-face communication, and identifies strategies to overcome virtual communication\u27s challenges

Diverse virtual social networks: Implications for remote software testing teams

This paper evaluates offshore outsourcing in the IT testing industry and determines what conditions determine its success. There is particular focus on the influence of diversity in teams on group relationships. Two studies are described: the first, investigated the perceptions of professional software testers on the critical factors of offshore outsourcing; and the second study looked at the ability for diverse teams to form close working relationships through virtual networks. We find that overt diversity factors inhibit interaction across nationality boundaries. The limitations of virtual networks for fostering personal communications is apparent in preventing group members from overcoming the initial aversion to mix with out-group members, which could be achieved with closer and more personal communications between members with different diversity factors in normal face to face communications. Where software testing teams are outsourced globaly, and must rely on virtual communications, there seems potential for significant difficulties in developing close working relationships, which on the one hand, can be negative for group cohesion, but one the other hand, can be positive for encouraging imparitality

Testing Hollnagel's contextual control mod

Please contact publisher for further reprinting or re-useThis article sets out to test the hypothetical COtext and COntrol Model (COCOM) developed by Hollnagel (1993). Essentially, Hollnagel develops the argument that team behavior should be analyzed at a macro, rather than micro, level. He proposes 4 principal models of team activity: strategic, tactical, opportunistic, and scrambled. These modes of team behavior vary in terms of the degree of forward planning (highest in the strategic mode) and reactivity to the environment (highest in the scrambled mode). He further hypothesizes a linear progression through the modes from strategic to tactical to opportunistic to scrambled, depending on context, and vice versa. To test the COCOM model, we placed teams of people in a simulated energy distribution system. Our results confirm Hollnagel's hypothesized model in 2 main ways. First, we show that the team behavior could be categorized reliably into the 4 control modes and this provided a useful way of distinguishing between experimental conditions. Second, the progression between control modes conformed to the linear progression as predicted. This research provided the first independent test of the COCOM model and lends empirical support to the hypotheses

Distributed Leadership: A Review of Literature

A review of empirical research studies of distributed leadership from public and private sector settings completed since 1995

Innovation Process is Facilitated in Virtual Environment of R&D Teams

Innovation is becoming the most important key issue for company's success in the 21st century. In the competitive environment it is necessary for the enterprises to put together different capabilities and services with the goal. It is widely accepted that innovation can be better achieved by working in team particularly in the virtual environments. The employed web services technology, although very popular nowadays but it is still not mature enough, so dealing with it can bring new findings. Virtual teams base on information technology are formed to facilitate transnational innovation processes and it should be noted that innovation has a positive impact on corporate performance if it is well guided. This has the pronounced effect when it comes to the learning issues as the virtual preconditions persist. In this environment the possibility of getting closer to the interest of learner from the new environment raise as the barriers being imposed by the service provider is reduced and the freedom of what is require to learn is improved. Information and communication technology has brought about significant changes in organizations and produced important benefits, including in the areas of innovation which is recognized as a prime source of national competitive advantage. This contribution proposes a conceptual model for understanding and analyzing the process of virtual R&D team as an innovation and technology assimilation facilitator when it comes to the issue of conveying innovative message for learning by individuals. The context of the knowledge-based economy introduces a major shift from serial to simultaneous R&D in the way of idea conception to technology creation is conceived. This paper briefly reviews the existing perspectives on virtual teams and their effect on innovation and technology regarding the learning capability which is being altered. It also discusses the main characteristics of virtual teams and clarifies the different aspects of virtual team application in the topic. To support the theoretical analysis, this paper provides a comprehensive review based on authentic and reputed publications. We argue that scanty research has been conducted to facilitate understanding the problem of systematically governing creative innovation toward a technology through virtual R&D teams in the atmosphere of educating individuals based on what they interest them to learn.Virtual team; e-learning; Innovation; Research and development, Learning

Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on construction projects

The changing face of construction projects has resulted in a movement towards the use of technology as a primary means of communication. The consequences of this rise in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) is a loss of interpersonal communication skills. A number of resulting issues within the human – electronic and human – human interfaces are identified in an attempt to define the efficiency of communication in projects. The research shows how ICT effects the social environment of construction project teams and the project outcome. The study seeks to confirm the need for further work in order to develop new forms of communication protocols and behaviour. An initial literature review was undertaken to develop a theoretical review of the impacts of ICT on construction project teams. This review identified a number of issues that were then tested in the field through an observation and two verification interviews. The research confirms the existence of tensions and conflicts in the human – electronic and human - human communication interfaces within the studies environment. It is proposed that the increasing use of ICT occur at the expense of soft system communication. The principal impact of this is a form of ‘human distraction’ which adversely affects the performance of project teams. There is limited theory exploring these issues that suggests the problems identified are not well understood and consequently indicates a gap in knowledge

An analysis of core-competences of successful multinational team leaders

Copyright @ 2010 The Authors. This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below.Researchers have endeavoured to understand the factors that enable effective functioning of multinational teams (MNTs) but with few exceptions they have ignored studying the competences of MNT leaders. In this paper we present those competences leaders must possess in order to effectively lead MNTs. Our findings are based on 70 problem-centred interviews with MNT leaders and members from five multinational corporations. The competences our interviewees mentioned most frequently for effective leadership were knowledge management and transfer. Results further indicated that a leader must be cross-culturally competent and multilingual in order to motivate MNT members to fully explore, exploit and transfer valuable knowledge within the team and beyond

Detailed empirical studies of student information storing in the context of distributed design team-based project work

This paper presents the findings of six empirical case studies investigating the information stored by engineering design students in distributed team-based Global Design Projects. The aim is to understand better how students store distributed design information in order to prepare them for work in today‟s international and global context. This paper outlines the descriptive element of the work, the qualitative and quantitative research methods used and the results. It discusses the issues around the emergent themes of information storing; information storing systems; information storing patterns; and information strategy, making recommendations; establishing that there is a need for more prescriptive measures to supporting distributed design information management. This work will be of great value to industry also

Identity ambiguity and the promises and practices of hybrid e-HRM project teams

The role of IS project team identity work in the enactment of day-to-day relationships with their internal clients is under-researched. We address this gap by examining the identity work undertaken by an electronic human resource management (e-HRM) 'hybrid' project team engaged in an enterprise-wide IS implementation for their multi-national organisation. Utilising social identity theory, we identify three distinctive, interrelated dimensions of project team identity work (project team management, team 'value propositions' (promises) and the team's 'knowledge practice'). We reveal how dissonance between two perspectives of e-HRM project identity work (clients' expected norms of project team's service and project team's expected norms of themselves) results in identity ambiguity. Our research contributions are to identity studies in the IS project management, HR and hybrid literatures and to managerial practice by challenging the assumption that hybrid experts are the panacea for problems associated with IS projects