The media equation and team formation: Further evidence for experience as a moderator

This study extends previous media equation research, which showed that interdependence but not identity leads to team affiliation effects with computers. The current study used an identity manipulation that more closely replicated the manipulation used in traditional team and group formation research than the original media equation research in this area. The study also sought further evidence for the relationship between experience with computers and behaviour reflecting a media equation pattern of results. Sixty students from the University of Queensland voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions: control, human team (a team made of only humans) or human-computer team (a team made of computers and humans). Questionnaire measures assessing participants’ affective experience, attitudes and opinions were taken. Participants of high experience, but not low experience, when assigned to either of the team conditions enjoyed the tasks completed on the computer more than participants who worked on their own. When assigned to a team that involved a computer, participants of high experience, but not low experience, reacted negatively towards the computer (in comparison to high experience participants working on their own or on a team without a computer as a team member) – rating the information provided by the computer lower, rating themselves as less influenced by the computer and changing their own ratings and rankings to be less like those of the computer. These results are interpreted in light of the ‘Black Sheep’ literature and recognized as a media equation pattern of results

E-mail and Direct Participation in Decision Making: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of the use of e-mail on direct participation in decision making (PDM) in organisations. After a brief review of the organisational literature on participation the paper distinguishes e-mail theories on direct participation in three different theoretical perspectives. Then the paper focuses the attention on the role of e-mail in affecting task type, vertical and horizontal communication and their consequences for PDM. Finally the paper presents indications and open questions for future research.email, e-mail, decision making, participation in decision making, literature review,

Effects of Team-Based Computer Interaction: The Media Equation and Game Design Considerations

The current paper applies media equation research to video game de-sign. The paper presents a review of the existing media equation research, de-scribes a specific study conducted by the authors, discusses how the findings of the study can be used to inform future game design, and explores how other media equation findings might be incorporated into game design. The specific study, discussed in detail in the paper, explores the notion of team formation between humans and computer team-mates. The results show that while highly experienced users will accept a computer as a team-mate, they tend to react more negatively towards the computer than to human teammates (a ‘Black Sheep’ Effect

Hype or Help? A Longitudinal Field Study of Virtual World Use for Team Collaboration

Despite increasing organizational interest and investment in virtual worlds (VWs), there is a lack of research on the benefits of VWs. When and how does the use of VW systems engender better organizational outcomes than traditional collaborative technologies? This paper investigates the value of VWs for team collaboration. Team collaboration is particularly relevant in studying VWs given the rich interactive nature of VWs and an increasing organizational reliance on virtual teamwork. To understand the value of VW use for team collaboration, we examine the relationship between a team’s disposition toward IT, their general disposition (personality) and VW use in influencing team cohesion and performance. We conducted a field study that compares two collaborative technology systems – one that is based on a traditional desktop metaphor and one that is grounded in the principles of a virtual world. We tracked the use of the systems for one year. We analyzed data at the team level and the results generally support our model, with agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, and computer self-efficacy interacting with time and technology type to positively influence team technology use. We also found that the use of the virtual world system positively influenced the relationship between technology use and team cohesion, which, in turn, predicts team performance. The model explains 57 percent, 21 percent, and 24 percent of the variance in team technology use, team cohesion, and team performance, respectively

Leadership, Trust, and Effectivemess in Virtual Teams

Many organizations are using virtual teams to meet the increasing time and quality expectations of contemporary marketplaces. While virtual teams present advantages for cost control, access to expertise, and serving markets, they also engender practical challenges as a result of the geographic and temporal distribution of members. Previous research has suggested several factors that are critical for the functioning of virtual teams. We build upon this research with an exploration of the relationships between team leader personality, team member trust, and perceived team effectiveness in virtual teamwork. Participants in the study included 873 virtual team members within a combined government and commercial engineering environment. Our findings suggest that multiple facets of a team leader’s personality have a significant impact on team effectiveness, but this effect is largely mediated through team trust. Implications for organizational managers, virtual team leaders, and the research community are discussed

Leader personality and team adaptive performance in virtuality contexts: how extraversion and openness to experience impact virtual teams

At the latest, since a global pandemic has propelled individuals into home office, team virtuality has become the new normality. This thesis examined the mediating mechanisms team perceived virtuality in the relationship between leader personality and team adaptive performance. The model was tested in a sample of 37 teams (163 individuals) with different degrees of team virtuality. While leader extraversion did not predict higher team proximity, leader openness to experience predicted increased communication effectiveness in teams with a high degree of structural virtuality. Differently as assumed by prior findings, extraversion and openness to experience in leaders did not increase team adaptive performance. The findings suggest that the existing big-five personality framework is not sufficient to explain leadership and team performance in virtual teams. They also offer new insights into the mechanisms of team perceived virtuality.Recentemente, desde que uma pandemia a nível mundial impeliu os indivíduos para o trabalho remoto, as equipas virtuais tornaram-se a regra. Esta dissertação examinou os mecanismos de mediação da virtualidade percebida pela equipa na relação entre a personalidade do líder e o desempenho adaptativo da equipa. O modelo foi testado numa amostra de 37 equipas (163 indivíduos) com diferentes graus de virtualidade de equipa. Enquanto que a extraversão do líder não foi preditorade uma maior proximidade da equipa, a abertura à experiência do líder foi preditora da eficácia na comunicação virtual. Contrariamente a conclusões de estudos anteriores, a extraversão e abertura à experiência dos líderes não aumentou o desempenho adaptativo da equipa. As constatações sugerem que o actual modelo de personalidade dos Big-five possa ser insuficiente para explicar a liderança e o desempenho da equipa em equipas virtuais. Também oferece novas perspectivas sobre os mecanismos da virtualidade percebida pela equipa

Stress and Coping Due to Global Virtual Teamwork

Global virtual teams (GVTs), project teams composed of individuals working across time and space via electronic platforms, are becoming increasingly commonplace in most organizations today and in global organizations specifically. The aim of this study was to explore issues employees experienced when working virtually in GVTs in order to develop recommendations for addressing those issues and encouraging solutions to benefit the employees, teams, and organizations as a whole. This paper presents findings from 27 interviews on coping and strain reactions to participation in intercultural computer-mediated communication (CMC). Analyses of the qualitative data suggest that intercultural training were helpful in reducing miscommunication and strains or helping individuals to cope (e.g., using problem-focused coping) with strains, although analyses were not statistically significant. In addition to sample size, tenure, experience, and personality might also contribute to few reported negative emotions and the need to actively cope with intercultural CMC stressor. Implications of the findings are discussed

Sustainable virtual teams: promoting well-being through affect management training and openness to experience configurations

A disruptive digitalization recently occurred that led to the fast adoption of virtual teams. However, membership diversity and team virtuality threaten members’ well-being, especially if faultlines appear (i.e., subgroups). Considering the job demands–resources model and the role of group affect in shaping members’ perceptions of well-being, we test the effectiveness of a short-term affect management training for increasing members’ eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, based on the trait activation theory and the contingent configuration approach, we draw on the personality composition literature to test how different openness to experience configurations of team level and diversity together moderate the effect of the training. Hypotheses were tested using a pre–post design in an online randomized controlled trial in an educational context in Spain, with a sample of 52 virtual teams with faultlines. Results show that affect management training increased eudaimonic well-being. Furthermore, there was a moderation effect (three-way interaction) of openness to experience configurations, so that the training was more effective in teams with high levels and low diversity in openness to experience. We discuss implications for training, well-being, and personality composition literature. This study helps organizations develop sustainable virtual teams with engaged members through affect management training and selection processes based on the openness to experience trait

Group Atmosphere, Shared Understanding, and Perceived Conflict in Virtual Teams: Findings from an Experiment

In this paper, we present a theoretical model on the relationships among group atmosphere, shared understanding, and perceived task conflict in virtual teams. We validate the theoretical model by analyzing data that was collected in a laboratory experiment on virtual teams. We find that cultural diversity of virtual team adversely affects group atmosphere and group atmosphere has a positive influence on the development of shared understanding in these teams. We also find that the development of shared understanding weakens perceived task conflict in virtual teams. However, we do not find a strong support for the moderating effect of avoidance conflict management style on the relationship between shared understanding and perceived task conflict