If you were asked to think of the best leader or supervisor you had ever worked for, or the best team you had ever been a member of, what would be the criteria you would use to make that distinction? How much of your evaluation would be based on the social relationships between you and your boss or your fellow… Read more →
What: IT World article on virtualizing work Posts to which it is related: Leading in Face-to-Face Versus Virtual Teams Bottom line: This is a short article on some of the benefits of virtualizing work, from the perspective that how people do their work is just as important as what people do. The author, Martha Young, suggests this is something that… Read more →
A topic of conversation that has recently become popular is the rapid adoption of video games by casual players. People who never played video games before and are relatively inexperienced gamers are now gaming regularly. We need to look no further than the success of the Nintendo Wii to see how the influx of casual gamers is changing the landscape… Read more →
What: Computerworld article on telecommuting Posts to Which it is Related: Confessions of a Telecommuter, So You Think You’d Like to Telecommute? Bottom Line: This article is about how to be aware of and avoid some possible problems with implementing a plan for telecommuting. In order to avoid sending workers out into the world of telecommuting without the proper tools,… Read more →
A project leader recently asked me how to promote cooperation among members of his virtual team who are at different locations. This is a common issue that virtual team leaders struggle with. Virtual teams often consist of subgroups of team members located in separate locations. This division of team members can give rise to social categorization within the team (i.e., those who… Read more →
What: David Pogue’s NY Times Blog Post on basic technology tips. Posts to Which it is Related: Improving Virtual Team Leadership Using Technology Bottom Line: A significant contributor to a virtual team’s success is members’ familiarity with technology. Many virtual team leaders tend to assume, oftentimes inaccurately, that team members possess basic computer skills which would allow them and the… 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 →
What: Study that showed that people are prone to lying more in email than through written communication Posts to Which It Is Related: The Reason Why Email Should Not Be Used For Collaboration, Freeing Yourself From Email Bottom Line: A study conducted by Rutgers and DePaul Universities studied how email affected communications among 48 graduate students. Students were given… Read more →
The WSJ published an interesting article on Monday (September 29, 2008) about Preston Fosback, a 16-year old, who engaged people all over the world to monitor, via the Internet, the Obama-Biden sign outside his front yard to make sure it wasn’t stolen. The people who monitor the sign essentially form a virtual community or a virtual group who are unlikely to ever… Read more →
What: Information Week article about the evolution of Second Life. Posts To Which It Is Related: Bottom Line: This is a great article for the look it takes at the business side and the evolution of Second Life. Despite the “hype bubble” and its subsequent burst, Second Life is intriguing because of its novelty and potential. Perhaps figuring out how to make… Read more →