Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams: An exploratory study.

Modern organizations face many significant challenges because of turbulent environments and a competitive global economy. Among these challenges are the use of information and communication technology (ICT), a multicultural workforce, and organizational designs that involve global virtual teams. Ad hoc teams create both opportunities and challenges for organizations and many organizations are trying to understand how the virtual environment affects team effectiveness. Our exploratory study focused on the effects of cultural diversity and ICT on team effectiveness. Interviews with 41 team members from nine countries employed by a Fortune 500 corporation were analyzed. Results suggested that cultural diversity had a positive influence on decision‐making and a negative influence on communication. ICT mitigated the negative impact on intercultural communication and supported the positive impact on decision making. Effective technologies for intercultural communication included e‐mail, teleconferencing combined with e‐Meetings, and team rooms. Cultural diversity influenced selection of the communication media

Answer Reliability on Q&A Sites

Similar to other Web 2.0 platforms, user-created content on question answering (Q&A) sites raises concerns about information quality. However, it is possible that some of these sites provide accurate information while others do not. This paper evaluates and compares answer reliability on four Q&A sites. Content analysis of 1,522 transactions from Yahoo! Answers, Wiki Answers, Askville, and the Wikipedia Reference Desk, reveals significant differences in answer quality among these sites. The most popular Q&A site (that attracts the largest numbers of users, questions, and answers) provides the least accurate, complete, and verifiable information

Media selection theory for global virtual teams

This study proposes a behavioral complexity theory for media selection in global virtual teams. This theory captures multiple contingencies into one holistic approach. Unlike existing linear and mechanistic theories of media selection, this heuristic theory moves away from the universal models that were previously proposed. The behavioral complexity theory assumesambiguity, complexity, and a nonlinear, organic, and holistic process. This theory emphasizes the role of media repertoire,the ability of individuals to differentiate situations according to multiple contingencies, and their flexibility to effectively use multiple media in any particular situation. This theory is examined in a context of exploratory case study of global virtual teams’ media selection in one of the leading fortune 500 corporations

Online Communities of Practice Typology Revisited

This paper outlines a typology for online communities of practice. The typology is based on findings from observations of three online communities of practice, a content analysis of messages, and a review of the existing literature. The three examples of communities of practice are of electronic discussion lists that cover topics of interest to university webmasters, librarians, and educators. This work expands on a typology that consolidated prior research and focused on online communities of practice within organizational settings by extending it to be inclusive of open online communities of practice that are not constrained by any organizational context. Characterizing communities of practice in this manner enables various aspects of them to be analysed, which can illuminate ways to support the implementation of effective online communities of practice for specific purposes

Service Equality in Virtual Reference

Research is divided about the potential of e-service to bridge communication gaps, particularly to diverse user groups. According to the existing body of literature, e-service may either increase or decrease the quality of service received. This study analyzes the level of service received by different genders and ethnic groups when academic and public librarians answer 676 online reference queries. Quality of e-service was evaluated along three dimensions: timely response, reliability, and courtesy. This study found no significant differences among different user groups along any of these dimensions, supporting the argument that the virtual environment facilitates equitable service and may overcome some challenges of diverse user groups

Nationwide Library Consortia Life Cycle

Library consortia development processes were examined from an ecological approach, combining historical perspective, dynamic developmental approach, and social structure, stressing the issues of permeable boundaries in library consortia and the manifestation of inter-organization relationships. A comparative analysis of several nationwide consortia (from Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Italy, Micronesia, Spain and the U.K.) using six criteria enables delineation of a developmental pattern. Additional support for the model is based on a study of U.S. state-wide consortia conducted by Potter in 1997. A four-stage life cycle sequence is outlined: embryonic, early development, development, and maturation. In addition, the ecological approach stresses founding and disbanding processes, suggesting disbanding as a fifth stage. The contribution of this paper to developmental theories at other levels of analysis (individual, group, organization) is in proposal of an inter-organizational life cycle model

Social reference: Toward a unifying theory

This article addresses the need for a theoretical approach to reference research and specifically concentrates on a lacuna in conceptual research on social reference. Social reference refers to online question answering services that are provided by communities of volunteers on question and answer (Q&A) sites. Social reference is similar to library reference, but at the same time, it differs significantly from the traditional (and digital) dyadic reference encounter; it involves a collaborative group effort and uses wikis and other Web 2.0 infrastructure. This article proposes a sociotechnical framework to analyze, evaluate, and understand social reference that relies on a systems approach to the reference encounter, combined with an input-process-output (IPO) approach to virtual group work. The framework also accounts for the collaborative process of question answering and the interplay between technology and users, in their contexts