Advanced technologies, globalization, the competitiveness of business, flexible working practices, and other rapid changes in the nature of work have all led to the booming of “virtual teams. ” This paper will provide an overview of virtual teams, including a description of their emergence, a definition and typology of the term “virtual team, ” an examination of their benefits and pitfalls, and suggestions both for overcoming the challenges and for incorporating business strategies in virtual team building.

cha ce chn cate that time zone and cultural differences in particular, affected communication and team relations. Other barriers included more ‘con-ventional ’ issues such as management agenda and leadership style, requirements creep, asymmetry in processes and unclear roles and through cross-boundary internal and external collaborative working [2–4]. The trend for virtual teaming has fuelled mance management and team development. Lee-Kelley et al. [7] discern two main themes: (1) how teams evolve, whether virtual teams differ from traditional teams in their of ‘soft ’ relational issues. Alternative strategies and tactics are necessary to compensate for that which occurs sponta-ysis’. In responding to their call for systematic research, we argue for the imperative to focus on the fundamentals of global virtual teaming to identify how they might add value and help successful project outcomes. Accordingly, this qualitative study takes a post-implementation review and lessons learned approach to elicit the experiences of two