include knowledge management, IT enabled organizational forms such as virtual teams and communities,

Abstract not found

Globalization of operations, reduced time to market, increased need to respond quickly to customers ’ needs worldwide and reduced cost of operations have encouraged many business organizations to adopt global virtual teams for their business activities. In this study, we explore a comprehensive model consisting of different variables that impact performance of such global virtual teams and validate it through an exploratory experiment conducted in an academic setting. Preliminary analysis indicates that trust between team members and communication effectiveness of the teams has significant positive correlation with the success of virtual team projects. Moreover, the participants perceived the virtual team project success positively. They also were positively oriented about their learning from participating in such virtual team projects. Motivation of team members is highly correlated with team members’ learning effectiveness. Implications of these findings for businesses and curriculum development are discussed. Key Words: collaborative work, Customer Relationship Management, collocated teams, computer mediated communication, academic experiments, virtual team projects

Advances in information technology, coupled with competitive pressures, have led to the increasing use of virtual teams in organizations. Their growing popularity has attracted the attention of researchers in both information systems and organizational behaviour. Despite the fact that research on this topic is blooming, our understanding of the virtual team phenomenon is still at an embryonic stage and there is much to learn about such teams before we can fully reap their potential benefits. In our view, a preliminary but necessary step is to investigate the multifaceted nature of virtual teams, so as to better define the true object of our investigations. Therefore, this paper first explores a basic definition of what a virtual team truly is and differentiates it from other related concepts such as virtua l group, virtual organization, virtual community, and telecommuting. In a second step, we identify those key characteristics that 1) differentiate virtual teams from conventional ones and 2) distinguish alternative configurations of virtual teams. Lastly, we illustrate how different configurations of virtual teams may raise different challenges and how management strategies must be chosen accordingly to ensure success. Implications for both practice and research are discussed in the conclusion section.

Global software development projects use virtual teams, which are primarily linked through computer and telecommunications technologies across national boundaries. Global Virtual Teams rarely meet in a faceto-face context and thus face challenging problems not associated with traditional co-located teams. To understand the complex issues in a virtual project environment during the requirements definition phase of the software development cycle, we conducted an exploratory research study, involving 24 virtual teams based in Canada and India, working on defining business requirements for software projects, over a period of 5 weeks. The study indicates that ease of use of technology, trust between the teams and well-defined task structure influence positively the efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction level of global virtual teams. 1.

In this paper, we discuss the concept of collaborative IT infrastructure. Based on data from our own research plus case studies from the literature we propose a framework for the implementation of such infrastructure at the level of hardware, software, and protocols or guidelines on how to manage such projects. This framework is applied to a typology of projects including four dimensions: number of sites, number of projects, locus of project (intra versus interorganizational), and level of cultural homogeneity versus heterogeneity. The resulting insights allow us to present considerations on the successful implementation of a collaborative IT infrastructure for different types of virtual projects. A summary of insights obtained and future research suggestions are also offered. I.

Many mission-critical, decision-making situations happen in dynamic, rapidly changing, and often unpredictable distributed environments. Military, governmental, and medical contexts are examples of such situations, which can be characterized by highly decentralized, up-to-date data sets coming from various sources. Unlike other decisionmaking tools, DSSs designed for such situations are challenged by the need to access this decentralized data at any time, from anywhere, under tight time constraints.

With the maturity of information and communication technologies, offshore development of software by outsourcers is a new trend for reshaping IT strategy around the globe. Technological advances have increased the interconnection between different societies, facilitating a continuous software development cycle or follow-the-sun approach by having team members located in different geographical settings. Software development is an iterative process, in which knowledge builds with the progression of software development work and requires an ongoing awareness by team members of all the changing definitions and relationships in the development effort. This poses a bigger challenge in a global environment as the software development processes happen in a dynamic and distributed setting. New Zealand and India are both exemplars of the emerging offshore software producer market, and hence a study of their offshore software development processes forms a basis of this research study. These issues are illustrated using three case studies of offshore software providers in New Zealand and India. The case study data reveals that these firms emphasize on different drivers for success in their work practices as they compete as outsourcing destinations.

Role coordination is an important aspect of task performance in teams. This phenomenon has received little attention in global virtual teams (GVT) with their coordination hurdles. An exploratory study of two GVT was conducted to investigate role coordination. Our findings reveal that role ambiguity may lead to the emergence of individual roles in GVT contingent on task interdependency. In particular, high role ambiguity leads to the emergence of individual roles when GVT task interdependency is low but not so when it is high. These factors form a vicious cycle that hampers GVT role coordination. Another vicious cycle is formed when personal coordination mechanisms result in uneven distribution of information. Virtuous cycles are formed when group coordination mechanisms aid effective role coordination, preventing the emergence of individual roles and building shared team interaction mental models. In addition to vicious and virtuous cycles, we also identified technical roles as being salient in the GVT context.

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