Can Process Facilitation Improve Globally Distributed Collaboration? An Action Design Research

Distributed collaborators still face problems to organize, to coordinate, and to build consensus. Collaboration tools still have difficulty to configure, to use, and to help facilitate collaboration management. In this study, we conducted an action design research on Company A that relies on distributed collaboration for their business activities. Based on the design theory of collaboration engineering, we designed a process facilitation support application to address the problems identified from Company A with real organizational problems. After rounds of iteration, we proposed two artifacts including facilitated collaboration process and collaborative tools for applications of process guidance. Findings suggest the benefits of facilitated process guidance on globally distributed collaboration. The results of survey show consistently high satisfaction towards the tool and process guidance from the employees. Our research serves as an exploratory investigation in the field of distributed collaboration, and provides evidence regarding the organizational challenges in a business context

Investigating the Relationship among Characteristics of Social Commerce, Consumers’ Trust and Trust Performance

Social commerce as a subset of e-commerce, popularizes rapidly with an increasing number of users, and consumers’ trust has become a crucial factor in the success of social commerce firms, and impacts on their decision on purchasing. In this regard, the study tries to research the characteristics of social commerce (transaction safety, concentration and enjoyment, communication and information quality) that influence consumers’ trust and assess the effects of trust on trust performance (purchase and word-of-mouth intentions), and trust performance will provides a basis for consumers to decide to purchase, and put forward feasible suggestions to social commerce firms. The results of an empirical analysis based on a sample of 133 users indicate that all the characteristics of social commerce involved had significant effects on trust, and then will positively influence trust performance

How Text Mining Algorithms for Crowdsourcing Can Help Us to Identify Today's Pressing Societal Issues

Crowdsourcing is increasingly applied in the area of open development with the goal to find solutions for today’s pressing societal issues. To solve such wicked problems, manifold solutions need to be found and applied. In contrast to this, most recent research in crowdsourcing focuses on the few winning ideas, ignoring the sheer amount of content created by the community. In this study we address this issue by applying an automated text mining technique to analyze the ideas contributed by the crowd in an initiative tackling plastic pollution. We show that automated text mining approaches reveal numerous possibilities to make use of the so far unused content of IT enabled collaboration projects. We further add insights into how our findings can help researchers and practitioners to accelerate the solution process for today’s pressing societal issues

The role of information exchange in supply chain collaboration : a case study of a Vietnam ship parts supplier

This research paper examines collaborative supply chain strategies of an anonymized company in a developing region, hereafter called Ship Parts (SP) Vietnam, a pipes and valves supplier for the shipbuilding industry. Our research applies descriptive analysis approach to examine the question; what is the role of information exchange in customer collaboration practices in management of the supply chain. We examine the practice of Vendor Managed Inventory in these relationships. The units of analysis are different types of relationships that SP Vietnam has with its key customer stakeholders in its network. The names of all key stakeholders are all anonymized. In this paper we investigate SP Vietnam’s relationship only with its customers. These include longtime international partner WAKE, the newly acquired Japanese customer Chūbu Shipyard (Chūbu), and the growing potential customer VESSELS Group in Vietnam.publishedVersio

Challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing in project management virtual teams: a review

Technological advancements, globalization, and the COVID-19 pandemic have transformed digital communication into a central tenet of many project management virtual teams (VTs). However, successful VTs are dependent on communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members. Through a systematic literature review, this study investigates the challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing in project management VTs. As a result, eight key common themes were identified - trust, cultural diversity, collaboration tools and technology, communication and knowledge hoarding, leadership, psychological safety, communication guidelines and training, and resource planning. Furthermore, given the geographically dispersed nature of VTs, they face additional challenges than teams that interact face-to-face (in-person). Therefore, mitigating the challenges by focusing on the identified themes could lead to project success

Challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing in project management virtual teams: a review

Technological advancements, globalization, and the COVID-19 pandemic have transformed digital communication into a central tenet of many project management virtual teams (VTs). However, successful VTs are dependent on communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members. Through a systematic literature review, this study investigates the challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing in project management VTs. As a result, eight key common themes were identified - trust, cultural diversity, collaboration tools and technology, communication and knowledge hoarding, leadership, psychological safety, communication guidelines and training, and resource planning. Furthermore, given the geographically dispersed nature of VTs, they face additional challenges than teams that interact face-to-face (in-person). Therefore, mitigating the challenges by focusing on the identified themes could lead to project success

Microsoft Teams and team performance in the COVID-19 pandemic within an NHS Trust Community Service in North-West England

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the impact the introduction of Microsoft Teams has had on team performance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic within a National Health Service (NHS) Community Service. Design/methodology/approach Microsoft Teams was rolled out across the NHS over a period of four days, partly in response to the need for social distancing. This case study reviews how becoming a virtual team affected team performance, the role Microsoft Teams had played in supporting staff to work in higher virtuality, understand what elements underpin a successful virtual team and how these results correlate to the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1985). Findings The findings indicate that Teams made a positive impact to the team at a time of heightened clinical pressures and working in unfamiliar environments without the supportive benefits of face-to-face contact with colleagues in terms of incidental knowledge sharing and health and well-being. Originality/value Further developments were needed to make virtual meetings more accessible for introverted colleagues, support asynchronous communication, address training needs and support leaders to adapt and operate in higher virtuality

People’s Trust in a Virtual Project Team: Results of a Game Experiment

This study aims to: (1) find out the variables that influence people’s trust in the virtual team in a project, (2) find out the relationship of these variables with people trust in the virtual team in a project, and (3) the relationship between the presence of experienced members on a virtual team in leading an organization to determine the success of a project. The experiment was conducted using online Werewolf game and collected questionnaires from 30 respondents that divided into 3 groups, i.e., (1) having experience of being leaders, (2) a combination of having and having no experience of being leaders, and (3) having no experience of being leaders. A correlation test and a comparative test were used to analyze the result. The results found four variables that could influence people’s trust, i.e., (1) ability, (2) benevolence, (3) integrity, and (4) task faithfulness. All variables had a positive effect, except for task faithfulness. There is a relationship between the presence of leaders in a virtual team to the success of the project

A conceptual framework of virtual team effectiveness from the socio-technical perspective

In the era of globalization and technologization, virtual teamwork has become a routine part of professional activity in the software industry and other industries. Understanding virtual team effectiveness helps the management to improve the overall effectiveness of organizations. In this paper, we conduct a literature review of team research to set up a conceptual framework of virtual team effectiveness based on the socio-technical perspective and Inputs-Mediators- Outputs-Inputs model. Our framework includes some salient inputs, mediators and outputs of virtual team life-cycle; specifically, technology readiness and intention to explore are two technical antecedents; team learning and transactive memory system are two social antecedents; and team performance is a socio-technical output representing virtual team effectiveness. After that, a 27-item measuring instrument of aforesaid concepts is proposed after a qualitative survey of 19 virtual team leaders and a quantitative survey of 151 virtual team members from 19 companies locating in Vietnam. The results are references for those interested in improving virtual team effectiveness