In August, Betsy wrote a post on the potential of virtual worlds for leadership development. In that post she mentioned the benefits and opportunities available for leadership development in game-based virtual worlds, such as World of Warcraft, and non-game virtual worlds. She mentioned visualization in virtual worlds as one aspect that can enable leadership training through behavior change and “stickiness”… Read more →
Although many people utilize virtual worlds for purely recreational purposes, there are a lot of companies trying to think of creative business applications for this new technology. I’m particularly intrigued by the potential uses of virtual worlds in the hiring process. Some organizations are now holding job fairs, recruiting sessions, and interviews in virtual worlds (see articles from WSJ and… Read more →
In Second Life my name is Abi. I am taller than average, wear high-heeled Mary Janes, black pants covered in zippers and a t-shirt with a dragon on it. I have bright pink hair. In real life I am short, never wear high heels, and have light brown hair. The only features my avatar and I have in common are… Read more →
This week I read an interesting research article (Perceived Proximity in Virtual Work: Explaining the Paradox of Far-but-Close) that talked about perceived proximity. The authors (Wilson, O’Leary, Metiu, and Jett) define perceived proximity as two or more individuals having the feeling of being close, regardless of physical distance between them. Often, one assumes that physical proximity and perceived proximity are highly correlated, but the… Read more →
In this post, I would like to get back to a really basic interest of the Leading Virtually group. There are at least a few prominent articles (see, for example, the Seriosity report and an HBR article) that predict multiplayer online games offer us a preview of the future of the business environment and leadership. While this may be true, we are interested primarily in the potential of… Read more →
Author’s note: Project Wonderland has now “forked, ” and the original team led by Nicole Yankelovich has branched off to work on Open Wonderland. Businesses are moving beyond marketing in virtual worlds and are exploring other applications of virtual worlds (see a recent BusinessWeek article & slideshow). Enabling collaboration among remote workers is one such application (see our past posts… Read more →
The unexpected results from our studies comparing virtual team collaboration in virtual worlds to that in instant messaging (see previous post in which we discussed this) have prompted me to rethink the value of virtual worlds for virtual team collaboration. I have so far been focusing on the potential of virtual worlds to add value during the collaboration event itself…. Read more →
I have been thinking about what one can do in virtual team meetings conducted in virtual worlds to make participants feel and react as if they are face-to-face with other participants. Part of me says that this is an “ideal” that we may never reach. At the same time, I am aware of research (more) indicating that it is possible… Read more →
Betsy’s last post on the power of self-efficacy perceptions reminded me of a recent study by Professor Ellen Langer of Harvard University. I am fascinated by Prof. Langer’s ability to conduct provocative research and have used her ideas in my research on the illusion of control in spreadsheet-based decision making. Prof. Langer’s recent study, which showed that perceptions can be… 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 →