Developing Real Skills for Virtual Teams [White Paper]

September 16th, 2011 by Harrison Kratz 2
Filed Under: business, HR, management, white paper
Masters in Business Administration, MBA@UNC Blog, White Papers

This white paper was co-authored by Meena Dorr, Director of Corporate Relations for MBA@UNC, and Kip Kelly, Director of Marketing and Business Development at UNC Executive Development. In this paper, Meena and Kip explore the advantages, characteristics and challenges inherent in the virtual team concept, and they also propose three important steps for HR and talent management professionals to follow to ensure the success of virtual teams within their organizations.

Developing Real Skills for Virtual Teams [White Paper]

The Relation Between Self-Leadership and Transformational Leadership: Competing Models and the Moderating Role of Virtuality

1. Panja Andressen panja.andressen@dlr.de
   1. German Aerospace Center, Hamburg, Germany

1. Udo Konradt
   1. University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

1. Christopher P. Neck
   1. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

Abstract

This study aims to integrate self-leadership into a more comprehensive leadership model. Therefore, it examines the relationship between self-leadership, transformational leadership, and work motivation (i.e., self-efficacy and instrumentality) relative to job performance and affective commitment. In addition, the influence of the work environment is of interest for a more comprehensive leadership model. Thus, the moderating role of virtuality was examined. Three competing models of self-leadership, which are theoretically plausible, are compared in this study: self-leadership acting (a) as a process factor mediating the relation between transformational leadership and employee motivation; (b) as an input factor, simultaneously with transformational leadership; and (c) as a process factor mediating the relation between work motivation and job performance/affective commitment. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that self-leadership is a process factor that mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employee motivation. Results further suggest that self-leadership has a higher influence on motivation in virtual work structures compared with colocated work structures. Limitations, implications for management, and suggestions for future research are discussed

The Relation Between Self-Leadership and Transformational Leadership: Competing Models and the Moderating Role of Virtuality

TOP 10 Papers for Journal of ORG: Contemporary Organizational Structures (Topic)

Rank	Downloads	Paper Title
1	437	Internationalisation as a Determining Factor of HRM Outsourcing Eleanna Galanaki, Nancy Papalexandris, Athens University of Economics and Business , Athens University of Economics and Business, Date posted to database: September 25, 2007 Last Revised: September 13, 2010
2	339	Information Technology on Management Information Systems Cezar L. Mihalcescu, Ionel Iacob, Romanian-American University, Unaffiliated Authors - affiliation not provided to SSRN, Date posted to database: January 17, 2008 Last Revised: January 17, 2008
3	293	Virtual R&D Teams in Small and Medium Enterprises: A Literature Review Nader Ale Ebrahim, Shamsuddin Ahmed, Zahari Taha, University of Malaya - Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya (UM), University of Malaya (UM), Date posted to database: January 5, 2010 Last Revised: February 2, 2010

SSRN Top Downloads

Critical factors for new product developments in SMEs virtual team

Year:	2010
Abstract:	Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered as an engine for economic growth all over the world and especially for developing countries. During the past decade, new product development (NPD) has increasingly been recognized as a critical factor in ... [more] Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered as an engine for economic growth all over the world and especially for developing countries. During the past decade, new product development (NPD) has increasingly been recognized as a critical factor in ensuring the continued survival of SMEs. On the other hand, the rapid rate of market and technological changes has accelerated in the past decade, so this turbulent environment requires new methods and techniques to bring successful new products to the marketplace. Virtual team can be a solution to answer the requested demand. However, literature have shown no significant differences between traditional NPD and virtual NPD in general, whereas NPD in SME’s virtual team has not been systematically investigated in developing countries. This paper aims to bridge this gap by first reviewing the NPD and its relationship with virtuality and then identifies the critical factors of NPD in virtual teams. The statistical method was utilized to perform the required analysis of data from the survey. The results were achieved through factor analysis at the perspective of NPD in some Malaysian and Iranian manufacturing firms (N = 191). The 20 new product development factors were grouped into five higher level constructs. It gives valuable insight and guidelines, which hopefully will help managers of firms in developing countries to consider the main factors in NPD. [less]
Person:	Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Ahmed, Shamsuddin; Taha, Zahari
Institution:	Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Series:	MPRA Paper
Subject:	Survey findings; new product development; factor analysis; virtual team
Classification:	jel-O1
Type of publication:	Buch / Working Paper
Note:	Published in African Journal of Business Management 11.4(2010): pp. 2247-2257
Title record from database:	RePEc - Research Papers in Economics
Link to database:	http://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:26936

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Virtual R&D teams and SMEs growth: A comparative study between Iranian and Malaysian SMEs

Year:	2010-07-01
Abstract:	This paper explores potential advantages of using virtual teams for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a comprehensive review on various aspects of virtual teams. Based on the standing of the pertinent literature, attempt has been made to stud ... [more] This paper explores potential advantages of using virtual teams for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a comprehensive review on various aspects of virtual teams. Based on the standing of the pertinent literature, attempt has been made to study the aspects by online survey method in Iran and Malaysia. In both countries, SMEs play an important role in their economies, employments, and capacity building. Virtual R&D team can be one of the means to increase SMEs efficiency and competitiveness in their local as well as global markets. In this context, surveys have been conducted to evaluate the effects of virtuality to the growth of SMEs. The study addresses some differences between two countries in engaging virtual research and development (R&D) teams in their SMEs. It is observed that there is a significant difference between the SMEs turnover that employed virtual team and that did not employ the virtual team. The way for further studies and recommend improvements are proposed. [less]
Person:	Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Ahmed, Shamsuddin; Taha, Zahari
Institution:	Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Series:	MPRA Paper
Subject:	Virtual R&D team; small and medium enterprises; survey; developing countries
Classification:	jel-O47
Type of publication:	Buch / Working Paper
Note:	Published in African Journal of Business Management 11.4(2010): pp. 2368-2379
Title record from database:	RePEc - Research Papers in Economics
Link to database:	http://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:26983

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Virtual R&D Teams: A potential growth of education-industry collaboration

Year:	2010-06
Abstract:	In this paper, we present our more than two years research experiences on virtual R&D teams in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and draws conclusions, giving special attention to the structure of virtual teams required to support education-indust ... [more] In this paper, we present our more than two years research experiences on virtual R&D teams in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and draws conclusions, giving special attention to the structure of virtual teams required to support education-industry collaboration. We report the relevant results of an online survey study. The online questionnaire was emailed by using a simple random sampling method to 947 manufacturing SMEs. The findings of this study show that SMEs in Malaysia and Iran are willing to use virtual teams for collaboration and the platform for industry-education collaboration is ready and distance between team members or differences in time zones, are not barriers to industry-education collaborations. [less]
Person:	Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Ahmed, Shamsuddin; Rashid, Abdul; Hanim, Salwa; Taha, Zahari
Institution:	Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Series:	MPRA Paper
Subject:	Collaboration; virtual teams; SMEs; Education
Classification:	jel-M12
Type of publication:	Buch / Working Paper
Title record from database:	RePEc - Research Papers in Economics
Link to database:	http://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:27414

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Virtual Collaborative R&D Teams in Malaysia Manufacturing SMEs

Year:	2010-11-11
Abstract:	This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during March to September 2009. The study focused on the influence of virtual research and development (R&D) teams within Malaysian manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Th ... [more] This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during March to September 2009. The study focused on the influence of virtual research and development (R&D) teams within Malaysian manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The specific objective of the study is better understanding of the application of collaborative technologies in business, to find the effective factors to assist SMEs to remain competitive in the future. The paper stresses to find an answer for a question “Is there any relationship between company size, Internet connection facility and virtuality?”. The survey data shows SMEs are now technologically capable of performing the virtual collaborative team, but the infrastructure usage is less. SMEs now have the necessary technology to begin the implementation process of collaboration tools to reduce research and development (R&D) time, costs and increase productivity. So, the manager of R&D should take the potentials of virtual teams into account. [less]
Person:	Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Ahmed, Shamsuddin; Rashid, Abdul; Hanim, Salwa; Taha, Zahari
Institution:	Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Series:	MPRA Paper
Subject:	Small and medium enterprises; Collaborative tools; Questionnaires; Virtual teams
Classification:	jel-O32
Type of publication:	Buch / Working Paper
Title record from database:	RePEc - Research Papers in Economics
Link to database:	http://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:29177

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