What: Journal article synthesizing research on effective virtual teams. Citation: Bergiel, B.J., Bergiel, E.B., & Balsmeier, P.W. (2008). Nature of virtual teams: A summary of their advantages and disadvantages. Management Research News, 31(2), 99-110. Post to which it is related: Virtual Teams – Beneficial or Detrimental?, Bottom line: This is a really nice overview article of the research about virtual… Read more →
What: The Scientist article on virtual collaboration among cancer researchers. Bottom line: This article is a little technical, but the part about a virtual collaboration tool is understandable even to someone outside the medical field. The author discusses the creation of an online platform, called as caBIG (pronounced see-a-big), that integrates data worldwide and provides tools for a virtual community… Read more →
What: Denver Post article about use of virtual teams and virtual worlds in education. Post to which it is related: The Future of Virtual Teams: Collaboration in 3D Web, Building Trust in Virtual Teams. Bottom line: Educators are incorporating virtual teamwork in virtual worlds that are designed specifically for student learning. Students find that this kind of learning is more… Read more →
Here are some of the latest news or articles about virtual teams that we have come across. What: CIO Whitepaper: Next-generation Collaboration (Novell sponsored IDG Research Report; registration required; also see PR Press Release). Report based on survey responses of 100 senior IT executives. Bottom line: Though it is critical for individuals in their company to collaborate securely within and… Read more →
Recently the Leading Virtually team came across an article by several academic researchers that broadly discusses whether virtual teams have potential for organizations. Their discussion was based on a research study they conducted. The authors found that virtual teams of short duration have lower performance, lower satisfaction, and a lower results-to-effort ratio. Meanwhile, one can find new articles each week… Read more →
It has been almost impossible in the past year to avoid the media hype about virtual worlds and virtual teams. Virtual worlds such as Second Life have received a lot of press claiming that their existence will revolutionize the way we interact and do business. A number of high-ranked universities, including Harvard, have set up campuses and are conducting classes… Read more →
Last week I read a report called Leadership in Games and at Work: Implications for the Enterprise of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMOGs), put out by an organization called Seriosity (condensed report, full report). Their study investigated the lessons that MMOGs might have for leadership in the workplace, with the suggestion that experience in MMOGs or virtual worlds crosses… Read more →
People in organizations have known for a long time that trust is an important antecedent of effective teamwork. So it would make sense for this to hold true not only in face to face groups, but also for virtual teams. This week the Leading Virtually team came across a posting by Bridge the Distance offering help in building trust in… Read more →
Last week, a friend (I’ll call him Al) was telling me about the challenges he’s facing in his virtual team. This team was assembled for a specific long-term project to reformulate information-sharing processes across groups in his financial services company. Team members were recruited because they are high performers and have expertise in their functional areas, so the official team… Read more →