IDEAS Search: "Virtual Teams"

1. Virtual teams: A literature review [Virtual Teams: A Literature Review] [65.905%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2008) Downloadable! In the competitive market, virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual teams enable organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees and non-employees by eliminating time and space barriers. Nowadays, companies are heavily investing in virtual team to enhance their performance and competitiveness. Despite virtual teams growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of team. Hence the study offers an extensive literature review with definitions of virtual teams and a structured analysis of the present body of knowledge of virtual teams. First, we distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams, different types of virtual teams to identify where current knowledge applies. Second, we distinguish what is needed for effective virtual team considering the people, process and technology point of view and underlying characteristics of virtual teams and challen

2. Virtual Teams: a Literature Review [65.815%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2009) Downloadable! In the competitive market , virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for fasting time-to- market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual teams enable organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees and non-employees by eliminating time and space barriers . Nowadays, companies are heavily investing in virtual team to enhance their performance and competitiveness. Despite virtual teams growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of team. Hence the study offers an extensive literature review with definitions o f virtual teams and a structured analysis of the present body of knowledge of virtual teams. First, we distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams , different types of virtual teams to identify where current knowledge applies. Second, we distinguish what is needed for effective virtual team considering the people, process and technology point of view and underlying characteristics of virtual teams and ch

3. Virtual Teams and Management Challenges [65.458%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2011) Downloadable! Introduction: Collaboration is becoming increasingly important in creating the knowledge that makes business more competitive. Virtual teams are growing in popularity [1] and many organizations have responded to their dynamic environments by introducing virtual teams. Additionally, the rapid development of new communication technologies such as the Internet has accelerated this trend so that today, most of the larger organization employs virtual teams to some degree [2]. A growing number of flexible and adaptable organizations have explored the virtual environment as one means of achieving increased responsiveness [3]. Howells et al. [4] state that the shift from serial to simultaneous and parallel working has become more commonplace. Based on conventional information technologies and Internet-based platforms virtual environments may be used to sustain companies' progress through virtual interaction and communication.

4. Virtual teams – just a theoretical concept or a widely used practice? [65.436%]

Mihhailova, Gerda (2007) Downloadable! Virtual teams and management processes in them have been researched mainly theoretically. Most of these papers concentrate on presenting the definition and/or on outlining the advantages/disadvantages of virtual teams. Use of virtual teamwork is still relatively new field for academic research and even when researched empirically usually case study, interviewing or some other small sample approach is used. Current paper tries to test on a bigger sample of data, based on a questionnaire type of research, is the use of virtual teams really growing as usually stated in theoretical papers on this subject. As use of ICT is one of the main characteristics of virtual teams the study concentrates on issues related to ICT-mediated communication for co-operation purposes. The empirical results presented in the article are based on a sample of 226 Estonian service sector organizations.

5. Group Style Differences Between Virtual and F2F Teams Theoretical Analysis and Anecdotal Evidence [65.112%]

Leonard Branson & Thomas S. Clausen & Chung-Hsein Sung (2008) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Face-to-face (F2F) teams form and function differently than computer-mediated (virtual) teams. The social processes associated with effective team work are different in F2F and virtual teams. These differences affect the ability of groups of people to successfully form a team that can function effectively. This study found that computer-mediated teams differ significantly from F2F teams along important group style dimensions as measured by the Group Style Inventory (GSI).

6. Human-Human Collaboration in Virtual Teams [65.111%]

Heinz-H. Erbe (2005) Downloadable! Extended and networked enterprises distribute the design of products, planning of the production process, and manufacturing regionally if not globally. Employees are therefore confronted with collaborative work over remote sites. A cost effective collaboration depends highly on the organization maintaining a common understanding for this kind of work and a suitable support with information and communication technology. The usual face to face work is going to be replaced at least partly if not totally by computer mediated collaboration. Creating and maintaining virtual teams is a challenge to work conditions as well as technology. New developments on cost-effective connections are providing not only vision and auditory perception but also haptic perception. Research results for improving remote collaboration are presented. Individual, social and cultural aspects are considered as new requirements on the employees of networked and extended enterprises.

7. The communication process in virtual teams [65.094%]

Adriana SCHIOPOIU BURLEA (2007) Downloadable! The purpose of this paper is to present the paradigms of virtual teams in the communication process in the context of the existing literature in this field. We argue the above issues and we explore the communication process within virtual teams like an interactive, complex and limiting process in connxion with the advantages and disadvantages offered by information technology.

8. Virtual R&D Teams: A potential growth of education-industry collaboration [65.066%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2011) Downloadable! Introduction: With the advent of the global economy and high-speed Internet, online collaboration is fast becoming the norm in education and industry [1]. Information technology (IT) creates many new inter-relationships among businesses, expands the scope of industries in which a company must compete to achieve the competitive advantage. Information systems and technology allow companies to coordinate their activities in distant geographic locations [2]. IT is providing the infrastructure necessary to support the development of new collaboration forms among industry and education. Virtual research and development (R&D) teams represent one such relational form, one that could revolutionize the workplace and provide organizations with unprecedented levels of flexibility and responsiveness [3-4].

9. The Virtual Team Challenge: Is It Time For Training? [64.966%]

Terry Schumacher & Lance Poehler (2009) Downloadable (with restrictions)! There has been considerable growth in the use of Virtual Teams in the past decade, and further growth is broadly assumed. Researchers investigating Virtual Teams describe problems these teams encounter, assert that training for virtual team assignments is necessary, and offer suggestions on the issues that such training should address. Further evidence of the training need is that a fortune 100 company employed the primary author to develop the initial version of a virtual team training simulation for their internal use. The 'Virtual Team Challenge' is being used in the Rose-Hulman Project Management course. Participants manage a simulated project for three hours. To successfully complete the project within schedule, they must avoid or resolve problems typically encountered by virtual teams. Participants receive advice and are guided to adopt best practices as defined by our literature review and those offered by the client.

10. Virtual R&D Teams: A potential growth of education-industry collaboration [64.965%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Abdul Rashid, Salwa Hanim & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! 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.

11. Does Mutual Knowledge Affect Virtual Team Performance? Theoretical Analysis and Anecdotal Evidence [64.907%]

Alanah Davis & Deepak Khazanchi (2007) Downloadable (with restrictions)! This paper describes the concept of mutual knowledge and its potential impact on virtual team performance. Based on an analysis of extant literature, we argue that there is a gap in our understanding of what is known about mutual knowledge as it impacts team dynamics and virtual team performance. Supporting literature, anecdotes, and case studies are used to discuss the importance of mutual knowledge for virtual team performance and the research issues that need to be addressed in the future.

12. Enhancement Of Virtual Teams Through Software Selection: A Proposal [64.900%]

Joiţa Alin-Cristian (2010) Downloadable! The concept of virtual team gains importance in world economy as the process of globalization advances. This article presents the virtual team as a drive force through the improvement of the collaborative work processes. Substantial features are presented here, in regard to the assembly of the virtual team, the stages of its development and an empirical contrast analysis against the traditional team. In the virtual environment, an emphasis is set on trust, management and planning. These three objectives can be mainly acquired through communication and an accurate representation of the information. In an attempt to estimate the general software necessities required by a virtual team, a model is created that reunites a series of applications considered optimal for telework.

13. Toward a General Model of Knowledge Creation in Virtual Teams [64.891%]

Kamphol Wipawayangkool (2009) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Virtual teams have made such an impact on organisations' knowledge management. As a result, the phenomenon of knowledge creation in virtual teams obviously deserves researchers' attention. Nonetheless, literature on virtual teams has not been much theory-grounded. Thus, to explore the influence of virtual teams on knowledge creation and fill the scarcity of theoretical foundation in the literature, this paper firstly proposes a theoretical model of knowledge creation process in virtual teams called Adaptive Social-Externalisation by primarily drawing from Nonaka's Organisational Knowledge Creation theory as well as Adaptive Structuration theory and Agency theory. Secondly, the characteristics of the process are also derived as Adaptiveness, Simultaneity, and Goal Congruency and Information Symmetry and can be used to determine the effectiveness of both knowledge creation and overall performance of a virtual team. Both theoretical and practical implications are then discussed.

14. Effective Virtual Teams for New Product Development [64.869%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Salwa Hanim Abdul Rashid & Zahari Taha (2012) Downloadable! At present, the existing literature shows that the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams for new product development are still ambiguous. To address this problem, a research design was developed, which includes detailed literature review, preliminary model and field survey. From literature review, the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams are identified and these factors are modified using a field survey. The relationship between knowledge workers (people), process and technology in virtual teams is explored in this study. The results of the study suggest that technology and process are tightly correlated and need to be considered early in virtual teams. The use of software as a service, web solution, report generator and tracking system should be incorporated for effectiveness virtual teams.

15. Effective virtual teams for new product development [64.869%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Abdul Rashid, Salwa Hanim & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! At present, the existing literature shows that the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams for new product development are still ambiguous. To address this problem, a research design was developed, which includes detailed literature review, preliminary model and field survey. From literature review, the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams are identified and these factors are modified using a field survey. The relationship between knowledge workers (people), process and technology in virtual teams is explored in this study. The results of the study suggest that technology and process are tightly correlated and need to be considered early in virtual teams. The use of software as a service, web solution, report generator and tracking system should be incorporated for effectiveness virtual teams.

16. Virtual Team Collaboration: A Review of Literature and Perspectives [64.852%]

Myriam Karoui & Ali Gürkan & Aurélie Dudezert (2010) Downloadable! Along with the widespread use of information technologies (IT) and the increasing geographical span of tasks held by various organizations, Virtual Teams (VTs) rose as an alternative organizational form which has the potential to deeply change the workplace. This article provides a review of previously published work on collaboration in VTs. The review is organized around two perspectives adopted by scholars, namely technological and managerial. This analysis underlines two major constructs that leads to an efficient VT collaboration, i.e. the context in which the collaboration is held and the collaboration style. While the former is illustrated by knowledge and team characteristics, the latter is identified by technological media and leadership. Building on this classification, we suggest a model and explore future research directions with a particular attention to the implications for collaboration in organizations.

17. Going international without going international: multinational virtual teams [64.826%]

Van Ryssen, Stefaan & Godar, Susan Hayes (2000) Downloadable (with restrictions)! This case study of a multinational virtual team project tells how students have collaborated to write a paper in country dyads. Spanning our experience over five semesters, the paper shows how students can participate in an actual cross-cultural learning alliance within the normal curriculum. In this project, students are partnered with students from another country and jointly analyze the marketing of a product in the two countries. Communicating by E-mail and the Web, they work together in virtual teams to complete this task. Analyzing the benefits--and the problems--such collaborative efforts present for our students, we offer suggestions for professors who might like to design and administer a similar project. We find that the effectiveness of such projects is dependent on the professor/instructor's ability to help students overcome barriers to successful intercultural communications, not on mastery of technology.

18. Virtual Teams: A New Opportunity to Develop a Business [64.816%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Abdul Rashid, Salwa Hanim & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! Virtual teams give many advantages to organizations, including increased knowledge sharing and improve organizational performance. Virtual teams have altered the expectations and boundaries of knowledge worker’s interactions and make a new opportunity to develop the business. In this paper, we present summary results of an online survey. The online questionnaire was emailed by using a simple random sampling method to 356 Malaysian manufacturing small and medium –sized Enterprises (SMEs). The findings of this study show that SMEs in Malaysia are gaining to use virtual teams, and it can be concluded that virtual teams provide a new platform for developing the business in SMEs. Based on the study, we suggest avenues for future research that are important to advancing our understanding of virtual team effects on business growth.

19. Innovation and R&D Activities in Virtual Team [64.759%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2009) Downloadable! Innovation plays a central role in economic development, at the regional and national level. In the competitive environment companies are obliged to produce more rapidly, more effectively and more efficiently in new product development, which is a result of research and development (R&D) activities. It is necessary for them to put together different capabilities and services with the goal, through cooperation between suppliers and customers, service providers and scientific institutions to achieve innovations of high quality. Depending on the type of industry, the type of business, the type of innovation and the strategic objectives that have been set, firms will regularly have to modify the way in which their R&D and innovation are organized. Nowadays, shift from serial to simultaneous and parallel working in innovation has become more commonplace. Literature's have shown that collaboration is as a meta-capability for innovation. By a comprehensive reviewing of literature this article a

20. Innovation and R&D Activities in Virtual Team [64.759%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! Innovation plays a central role in economic development, at the regional and national level. In the competitive environment companies are obliged to produce more rapidly, more effectively and more efficiently in new product development, which is a result of research and development (R&D) activities. It is necessary for them to put together different capabilities and services with the goal, through cooperation between suppliers and customers, service providers and scientific institutions to achieve innovations of high quality. Depending on the type of industry, the type of business, the type of innovation and the strategic objectives that have been set, firms will regularly have to modify the way in which their R&D and innovation are organized. Nowadays, shift from serial to simultaneous and parallel working in innovation has become more commonplace. Literature's have shown that collaboration is as a meta-capability for innovation. By a comprehensive reviewing of literature this article a

21. Effective Virtual Teams through Communities of Practice [64.749%]

Chris Kimble & Alexis Barlow & Feng Li (2005) Downloadable! This paper examines the nature of virtual teams and their place in the networked economy. It presents a framework for categorising virtual teams and argues that fundamental changes have taken place in the business environment which force people and organisations to operate in 'two spaces' simultaneously: the physical space and the electronic space. It highlights some of the issues of trust and identity that exist in virtual teams and argues that, due to certain barriers, only a small proportion of these teams reach a satisfactory level of performance. Using the evidence from two recent sets of studies, it highlights some of the barriers to effective virtual team working and demonstrates the critical importance of trust and social bonding to the functioning of such teams. It reports on the use of a 'Community of Practice' in a virtual team and argues that this may provide one mechanism for overcoming some of the barriers. Finally, it argues that many of the problems stem from a lack of understand

22. Dealing with Virtual R&D Teams in New Product Development [64.744%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2008) Downloadable! National and global collaboration in research and development (R&D) is becoming increasingly important in creating the knowledge that makes research and business more competitive. Multinational enterprises have increased their research and development (R&D) investment in different countries. These multiple sites encourage the development of more ideas, due to the varied international backgrounds in global networks and the knowledge spillovers. In order to secure the viability of business processes, services and products R&D teams need to access and retrieve information from as many sources as possible. From the other perspective virtual teams are important mechanisms for organizations seeking to control scarce resources across geographic and other boundaries. Moreover, virtual collaboration has become vital for most organizations. This is particularly true in the context of designing new product and innovative services. In this paper all the major aspects of Virtual R&D team are

23. Virtual Collaborative R&D Teams in Malaysia Manufacturing SMEs [64.685%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Abdul Rashid, Salwa Hanim & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! 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 i

24. Critical factors for new product developments in SMEs virtual team [64.637%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! 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 th

25. Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Teams in Malaysia: Its Benefits and Barriers [64.605%]

Manivannan Senthil Velmurugan & Narayanasamy Kogilah & Rasiah Devinaga (2010) Downloadable (with restrictions)! This paper examines the benefits of knowledge sharing in virtual teams of companies in Malaysia. The paper also looks into the barriers that prevent or prohibit the practice of knowledge sharing in virtual teams within an organisation. There are basically three types of barriers discussed in this paper, which restrict knowledge sharing through virtual teams. A questionnaire administered through email was used to collect data. Our sample includes 20 companies operating in Malaysia. The results show how virtual teams encourage all employees in the organisation to participate in knowledge sharing activities. However, some significant findings provided important information on whether companies perceived knowledge sharing as vital to their success. Furthermore, several ideas have been suggested as a way to overcoming some of the barriers to knowledge sharing in virtual teams within organisations in Malaysia.

26. Virtual Teams for New Product Development: An Innovative Experience for R&D Engineers [64.599%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2009) Downloadable! New interaction tools such as internet allow companies to gain valuable input from research and development (R&D) engineers via virtual teams. Consequently, engineers also get more expertise in diminutive timeframes. Virtual R&D teams present the key impetus to the technology acquisition process. The present knowledge-economy era is characterized by short product life-cycles. Virtual R&D teams may reduce time-to-market, make available a large pool of new product know-how and provide greater flexibilities, which are the key success factors in a competitive market. This comprehensive review contains almost 100 references and covers the recent literature with emphasis on the topic. The review has focused on authentic and reputed publications and extracts the results. This article presents the type of virtual teams and their main features and explains how virtual R&D team can play a prominent role in developing new products. The article is evolved future study guideline and also illu

27. Virtual Teams for New Product Development – An Innovative Experience for R&D Engineers [64.598%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! New interaction tools such as internet allow companies to gain valuable input from research and development (R&D) engineers via virtual teams. Consequently, engineers also get more expertise in diminutive time frames. Virtual R&D teams present the key impetus to the technology acquisition process. The present knowledge-economy era is characterized by short product life-cycles. Virtual R&D teams may reduce time-to-market, make available a large pool of new product know-how and provide greater flexibilities, which are the key success factors in a competitive market. This comprehensive review contains almost 100 references and covers the recent literature with emphasis on the topic. The review has focused on authentic and reputed publications and extracts the results. This article presents the type of virtual teams and their main features and explains how virtual R&D team can play a prominent role in developing new products. The article is evolved future study guideline and also ill

28. Virtual R & D teams in small and medium enterprises: A literature review [64.591%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2009) Downloadable! Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Towards that end, research and development (R & D) aspect deserves particular attention to promote and facilitate the operations of SMEs. Virtual R & D team could be a viable option. However, literature shows that virtual R & D teaming in SMEs is still at its infancy. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R & D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the state-of-the-art literature review is to provide an overview on the structure and dynamics of R & D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the foundation and importance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R & D te

29. Virtual R & D teams in small and medium enterprises: A literature review [64.591%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Towards that end, research and development (R & D) aspect deserves particular attention to promote and facilitate the operations of SMEs. Virtual R & D team could be a viable option. However, literature shows that virtual R & D teaming in SMEs is still at its infancy. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R & D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the state-of-the-art literature review is to provide an overview on the structure and dynamics of R & D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the foundation and importance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R & D te

30. Envisages of New Product Developments in Small and Medium Enterprises through Virtual Team [64.589%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! New product development (NPD) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) virtual team has not been systematically investigated in developing countries. Literatures have shown no significant differences between traditional NPD and virtual NPD in general. New product development especially for SMEs virtual team are somewhat lacking in the literature and constitute a research gap. This paper aims to bridge this gap. This study first reviews the NPD and its relationship with virtuality and then identifies the critical factors in definition of NPD in SMEs virtual team. The statistical method was utilized to perform the required analysis of the data from survey. The results are achieved through factor analysis at the perspective of NPD in some of Malaysian and Iranian manufacturing firms. 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 ma

31. Consideration of the virtual team work and disabled citizens, as promising opportunity providers for the e government infrastruc [64.589%]

Shafia, Mohammad Ali & Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! The Information area has revolutionized the workplace. Douglas Kruse, a professor of human resources and the director of the program for disability research at Rutgers University, states that 7% of employed persons with disabilities work 20 hours or more a week from home. While some modern countries have established “virtual teams”, which are said to be comprised of people who are geographically scattered and who work across boundaries of space and time using computer driven communication technologies, it is also true that many developing countries remain structured around conventional face-to-face teams. A motive toward virtual team working may be cost effectiveness. Increasing transport and human resource costs makes face to face contact less attractive unless they are essential. In an environment of urging to move into the direction of governing the activities via electronic moves, consideration of the individuals who deliver their services to the society in the form of virtual teams are

32. The Effectiveness of Virtual R&D Teams in SMEs: Experiences of Malaysian SMEs [64.448%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Abdul Rashid, Salwa Hanim & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those involved with research and development (R&D) programs and employed virtual teams to create the greatest competitive advantage from limited labor are increasing. Global and localized virtual R&D teams are believed to have a high potential for SMEs growth. Due to the fast growing complexity of the new product, coupled with new emerging opportunities of virtual teams, a collaborative approach is believed to be the future trend. This research explores the effectiveness of virtuality in SMEs virtual R&D teams. An online questionnaire emailed to Malaysian manufacturing SMEs and 74 usable questionnaires were received, representing a 20.8 percent return rate. To avoid the bias that may result from pre-suggested answer, a series of open-ended questions asked from expertise. This study based on analyzing an open-ended question; extract four main themes among expertise recommendations on the effectiveness of virtual teams for S

33. Virtual R&D teams and SMEs growth: A comparative study between Iranian and Malaysian SMEs [64.433%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! 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

34. The effectiveness of virtual R&D Teams in SMEs: experiences of Malaysian SMEs [64.428%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Abdul Rashid, Salwa Hanim & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2011) Downloadable! The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those involved with research and development (R&D) programs and employed virtual teams to create the greatest competitive advantage from limited labor are increasing. Global and localized virtual R&D teams are believed to have high potential for the growth of SMEs. Due to the fast-growing complexity of new products coupled with new emerging opportunities of virtual teams, a collaborative approach is believed to be the future trend. This research explores the effectiveness of virtuality in SMEs’ virtual R&D teams. Online questionnaires were emailed to Malaysian manufacturing SMEs and 74 usable questionnaires were received, representing a 20.8 percent return rate. In order to avoid biases which may result from pre-suggested answers, a series of open-ended questions were retrieved from the experts. This study was focused on analyzing an open-ended question, whereby four main themes were extracted from the experts’ recomme

35. Trust in ICT-Based New Product Development - Guidelines for Virtual New Product Development Teams [64.409%]

Haas, Rainer & Meixner, Oliver & Poechtrager, Siegfried (2006) Downloadable! The traditional process of new product development is focusing on an intra-organizational workflow, which should - in its ideal form - be done by virtual interdisciplinary teams. Team members should be from several departments like manufacturing, research & development, sales and marketing. But innovation is happening more and more in networks of companies, clusters or so called network companies. The following article delivers a framework of guidelines for virtual team management in order to improve the success of innovation strategies.

36. Innovation Process is Facilitated in Virtual Environment of R&D Teams [64.403%]

Shafia, Mohammad Ali & Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! Innovation is becoming the most important key issue for company's success in the 21st century. In the competitive environment it is necessary for the enterprises to put together different capabilities and services with the goal. It is widely accepted that innovation can be better achieved by working in team particularly in the virtual environments. The employed web services technology, although very popular nowadays but it is still not mature enough, so dealing with it can bring new findings. Virtual teams base on information technology are formed to facilitate transnational innovation processes and it should be noted that innovation has a positive impact on corporate performance if it is well guided. This has the pronounced effect when it comes to the learning issues as the virtual preconditions persist. In this environment the possibility of getting closer to the interest of learner from the new environment raise as the barriers being imposed by the service provider is reduced and the freedom

37. SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review [64.391%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2010) Downloadable! Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the operations of SMEs. However, literature shows there has not been a great deal of research into the diverse characteristic of virtual R&D teams in SMEs. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R&D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the literature review is to provide an outline on the structure and dynamics of R&D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the rationale and relevance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R&D team for SMEs and new product development (NPD) has been examined. It concludes with identifying the gaps and feebleness in the existing literature and calls for future research in this area. It i

38. Critical Factors for New Product Developments in SMEs Virtual Team [64.386%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2010) Downloadable! 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

39. Virtual R&D Teams and SMEs Growth: A Comparative Study Between Iranian and Malaysian SMEs [64.253%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2010) Downloadable! 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 literatures, 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 propose

40. Anger and happiness in virtual teams: Emotional influences of text and behavior on others' affect in the absence of non-verbal c [64.219%]

Cheshin, Arik & Rafaeli, Anat & Bos, Nathan (2011) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Emotions carry social influence, as evident by emotion contagion - an unconscious process attributed to mimicking of non-verbal cues. We investigate whether emotion contagion can occur in virtual teams; specifically, the emotional influence of text-based and behavior-based cues on participants' emotion in 4-person virtual teams. In a 2 x 2 design a confederate textually communicated anger or happiness, while behaving in a resolute or flexible pattern. The team task required negotiation offering a performance based reward. We demonstrate that emotion contagion occurs in teams even when communication is only text-based. We show that behaviors are perceived as emotionally charged, resolute behavior interpreted as a display of anger, and flexibility as a display of happiness. Moreover, we demonstrate that incongruence between text-based communication of emotion and emotionally charged behaviors elicits negative emotion in fellow teammates. Our findings extend the boundaries o

41. SMEs; Virtual Research and Development (R&D) Teams and New Product Development: A Literature Review [64.216%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2010) Downloadable! Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the operations of SMEs. However, literature shows there has not been a great deal of research into the diverse characteristic of virtual R&D teams in SMEs. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R&D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the literature review is to provide an outline on the structure and dynamics of R&D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the rationale and relevance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R&D team for SMEs and new product development (NPD) has been examined. It concludes with identifying the gaps and feebleness in the existing literatures and calls for future research in this area. It

42. Adaptivenes in Virtual Teams [59.727%]

Qureshi, S. & Vogel, D. (2000) Downloadable! Computer supported teams are capturing the attention of academics and practitioners as organisations increasingly put them into practice as virtual teams. The practical relevance of current research into computer supported teams could be increased if greater attention is paid to organisational challenges as they form the context within which virtual teamwork takes place. A model of organisational challenges mapped against processes of adaptation is developed to highlight principle factors affecting virtual teams. A sample of current research groups studying computer-supported teams is plotted onto this map to reveal the extent to which current research addresses these contextual factors. From this map insights are distilled with respect to what is known and is not known about virtual teams. This paper concludes with specific research needs in the study of virtual teams.

43. New Product Development in Virtual Environment [54.374%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2008) Downloadable! Purpose - The literature on the topic has evolved exponentially since eight years ago. Relaying on a review of studies published in recent years, this article proposes and discusses a framework which incorporates a set of virtual teams involved in a new product development initiative. Design/methodology/approach – A range of academic and practitioner literature related to virtual teams and virtual new product development is reviewed. What is Virtual New Product Development and what determines its development in manufacturing firms? These two questions are answered. Findings - The decision to use a virtual team is often a necessity and not a choice; being ‘virtual’ is in most cases not an alternative but a requirement. Enterprise may benefit from building and maintain the virtual teams in a number of ways such as achieving higher quality, accessing and capturing dispersed knowledge and skills regarding the multifunctional and multi-use components and modules, electronically unite experts in

44. The Future Of Organizational Behavior In Virtual Organizations [53.600%]

Cigdem Kirel (2007) Downloadable! Recently,people and organizations have come into a new restructuring process with information technologies. One of these applications is also the opportunity of peop- le to choose the job they want to do in anytime, in any place. Virtual organizations deve- loping in this process have challenged the organizational behavior scholars. Working style which has been done far from each other in different environments and times has re- quired new working conditions and management styles. When there has been no physical environment to do the job, the questions like how people have been managed, which form of a leadership has been required, how performance evaluation, career planning and de- velopment have been done come to the agenda. Organizational behavior scholars have the answers of these questions. The organizations which have chosen the virtual working style must have determined the behaviors and organizational structure and get people to accept these conditions. The aim of this study is to introd

45. A meta-analytic investigation of virtuality and information sharing in teams [53.533%]

Mesmer-Magnus, Jessica R. & DeChurch, Leslie A. & Jimenez-Rodriguez, Miliani & Wildman, ... (2011) Downloadable (with restrictions)! We uncover new insights on the role of virtuality on team information sharing. A new two-dimensional conceptualization of information sharing (Mesmer-Magnus & DeChurch, 2009) enabled us to reconcile past inconsistencies in the virtual team literature. Recasting the findings of 94 studies (total number of groups = 5596; total N approximately = 19,702) into this framework reveals three key insights. First, virtuality improves the sharing of unique information, but hinders the openness of information sharing. Second, unique information sharing is more important to the performance of face-to-face teams than is open information sharing, whereas open information sharing is more important to the performance of virtual teams than is unique information sharing. Third, the effects of virtuality on information sharing are more curvilinear than linear - such that low levels of virtuality improve information sharing, but high levels hider it. Implications for research and prac

46. Cultural and societal influences on shared leadership in globally dispersed teams [53.469%]

Muethel, Miriam & Hoegl, Martin (2010) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Leading globally dispersed teams poses critical challenges, especially if the team members are not only physically separated, but also culturally diverse and their tasks are dynamic and complex. It has been argued that shared leadership behaviors, such as continuous reflection, anticipation of a team's information needs, and initiating a team's social influence, positively influence virtual team performance. Country-level effects on shared leadership in globally dispersed teams, however, have been neglected. Building on the country institutional profile developed by Kostova (1997), we argue that regulative, cognitive, and normative components influence the likelihood that the individual will engage in shared leadership behaviors. Analyzing the differences between the institutional profiles of team members' home countries as reflected in institutional diversity as a team-level property, we furthermore point to different levels of institutional diversity as an enabling or hinde

47. Impacts of team virtuality on performance : a qualitative study [53.400%]

Kalika, Michel & Jawadi, Nabila (1969) Downloadable! Recent studies on virtual teams reveal that team virtuality varies in a continuum and may take different levels. Different levels of virtuality have considerable impacts on team processes and management as they imply several characteristics concerning communication dynamics and interaction styles, which change when shifting from one level to another. The purpose of this paper is to assess how the variability of team virtuality influences team performance. A multidimensional approach to evaluate virtuality was elaborated to identify changing performance variables at each level. The performance variables retained with relevance to the context study are: output quality, team members` satisfaction, and team processes. A qualitative study was conducted on 6 virtual teams composed of 4 students involved in on-line master degrees at a French university. The results show that performance measures are differently influenced by virtuality level. Although output quality seems not to be related to team virt

48. Faultlines, Communication Media, and Identification in Virtual Teams [52.700%]

Rock, Kevin & Pratt, Michael & Northcraft, Greg (2004) The presence of faultlines (i.e., pre-existing subgroups in a team) may be particularly problematic in light of a critical challenge already facing virtual teams: fostering team identification. We focus on one particular type of subgroup--pre-existing organizational memberships--that may serve to splinter a virtual team. In this paper, we examine how subgroup identification strength, physically distributing subgroup members, and communication technology affect this challenge. Results suggest that for individuals who identify strongly with a subgroup, distributing subgroup members helps overcome barriers to team member identification; but when subgroup identification is weak, using a rich communication medium enhances team identification. Implications for managers and organizations are discussed.

49. Virtual Team Work & Working Together in Abo and Long Beach [52.637%]

Walden, Pirkko & Turban, Efraim (1999) Downloadable! Turban, E. & Walden, P.: "Virtual Team Work ? Working Together in Abo and Long Beach", Research Report10/1999, Institute for Advanced Management Systems Research, 16pp.

50. Creating the Virtual Team: Application to Diabetes Mellitus Disease Management [52.459%]

Roger Mazze (2008) Downloadable (with restrictions)! The increased reliance on patient self-generated data has had a major impact on the development of the virtual team in the management of diabetes mellitus. Only recently has the concept of the virtual team been taken seriously in the management of the individual with diabetes, in part due to the availability of large amounts of patient self-generated data. Team development, especially for a virtual team, is a careful process, in which self-assessment, team building, and identification of roles and responsibilities take place before the team performs. This process has been termed `forming, storming, norming, and performing' in recognition of the stages of team development and the importance of passing through each stage before initiating the next. Research has identified four additional factors that need to be addressed for the virtual team to complete its development and to assure improved clinical outcomes: organizational support, a common approach to diabetes care based on 

 

51. Assessing Human and Technological Dimensions in Virtual Team's Operational Competences [52.448%]

Sampaio, José & Moniz, António (2007) Downloadable! Cognitive task automation may lead to over trust, complacency and loss of the necessary work environment situation awareness. This is a major constraint in complex work organizations teamwork, ending up into an operational gap, between system developments and its understanding and usability, by operators. This document presents a summary of the main results of author’s research on operational decision processes and occupational competences, applied to the air traffic control operational reality. Introducing a human/technological complementary approach to virtual team’s conceptualisation, the results show there is a dimension to be followed in human/machine integration, which stands beyond interface design, and calls for a deeper human comprehension of technological agent’s structure and functionalities, which will, ultimately, require the development of an operational cognitive framework, where work processes and technological behaviour are integrated in professional competences, as he two

52. Facilitating knowledge transfer in virtual teams through a social network approach [52.445%]

Bosch-Sijtsema, Petra M. & Rispens, Sonja (2003) Downloadable! Due to geographical dispersion and high use of information technology in virtual settings, face-to-face communication and therefore transfer of knowledge is made more difficult in virtual teams. Virtual teams (VT) are characterized by geographical dispersion, use of IT for communication, members have little history, members have organizational and cultural heterogeneity and members have lateral and weak relationships (Wong & Burton, 2000). We developed a theoretical framework with the use of one case study (a virtual team) description, in which a social network approach was applied in order to stimulate communication, and hence the transfer of knowledge concerning different knowledge areas. We found that by applying a social network approach and evaluating and re-using the data with the VT members the communication structure within the dispersed team became clearer. Furthermore, two types of knowledge transfer were stimulated: organizational knowledge transfer (how to organize a virtual team

53. Analysis of Software Requirements Engineering Exercises in a Global Virtual Team Setup [52.439%]

H. Keith Edwards & Varadharajan Sridhar (2005) Downloadable! Businesses that are involved in offshore software development often operate in a virtual project environment in which peer teams located at customer premise exchange project specifications with the offshore software development facility. To understand the complex issues in such 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 five weeks. The study indicates that trust between the teams and well-defined task structure positively influence the efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction level of global virtual teams.

54. Information Processing in Traditional, Hybrid, and Virtual Teams: From Nascent Knowledge to Transactive Memory [52.385%]

Neale, Margaret A. & Griffith, Terri (1999) Downloadable! Virtual teams are increasingly common in organizations, yet explicit theory and research on virtual team processes and outcomes is relatively rare. In this chapter, we first place virtual teams in context and provide a two dimensional framework for understanding the range of virtualness. We then build from foundations of diversity, psychological safety, social identity, conflict, and transactive memory to provide a coherent model of traditional, hybrid, and virtual team outcomes. Fourteen propositions are derived from these foundations - covering knowledge availability, sharing, refinement, and storage. Teams whose members are separated by geographical or temporal distance can have considerable positive outcomes for organizations, if they are effectively managed and supported.

55. Effects of Social Identity Processes on Coordination and Knowledge Sharing in Geographically Distributed Software Teams [51.861%]

Raghavendra Gokakkar (2007) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Distributed work environment suffers issues such as lack of mutual knowledge, ineffective knowledge sharing, lack of trust and coordination and interpersonal conflicts. The author conducted an empirical investigation in two projects each employing a hybrid offshore software development model to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying issues. The case study approach allowed for the study of phenomenon in a real-work context. Open-ended semi-structured interviews were conducted as a primary means of data collection. An interpretive analysis using a framework of social identity theory revealed that the in-group/out-group effect generated by a geographical faultline was further severed or diluted by two factors: individual mobility — a realistic opportunity to become a member of other group and the common expertise between two sub-teams. The study concluded with an observation that the absence of these factors resulted in strong group stereotypes, which in turn caused str

56. Explaining leadership in virtual teams: The case of open source software [51.421%]

Giuri, Paola & Rullani, Francesco & Torrisi, Salvatore (2008) Downloadable (with restrictions)! This paper contributes to the open source software (OSS) literature by investigating the likelihood that a participant becomes a project leader. Project leaders are key actors in a virtual community and are crucial to the success of the OSS model. Knowledge of the forces that lead to the emergence of project managers among the multitude of participants is still limited. We aim to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the association between the roles played by an individual who is registered with a project, and a set of individual-level and project-level characteristics. In line with the theory of occupational choice elaborated by (Lazear, E.P., 2002. Entrepreneurship. NBER Working Paper No. 9109, Cambridge, Mass; Lazear, E.P., 2004. Balanced skills and entrepreneurship, American Economic Review 94, pp. 208-211), we find that OSS project leaders possess diversified skill sets which are needed to select the inputs provided by various participants, motivate contributors,

57. Teaching Globalization, Globally: A 7-Year Case Study of South Africa-U.S. Virtual Teams [50.971%]

Derrick L. Cogburn & Nanette S. Levinson (2008) Downloadable (with restrictions)! This article reports on a project conducted from 1999-2006 that involved a substantial collaboration between South African and U.S. universities to build human capacity for the knowledge-intensive global economy through geographically distributed collaborative learning. The project used a highly interactive, rich media, synchronous and asynchronous learning environment to foster U.S.-South Africa student team learning. Particular attention was paid to the use of commercially available Web-based collaboration technologies that work well in both developed and developing country university settings. The study had one overarching research question: Can universities in developing as well as developed countries use a suite of commercially available Web-based collaboration technologies to successfully deliver an advanced global graduate seminar? Data for the study came from narrative evaluations and post-hoc surveys of student participants. Focusing on providing a model that can be

58. Project Quality of Off-Shore Virtual Teams Engaged in Software Requirements Analysis: An Exploratory Comparative Study [50.912%]

Dhruv Nath & Varadharajan Sridhar & Monica Adya & Amit Malik (2008) Downloadable! The off-shore software development companies in countries such as India use a global delivery model in which initial requirement analysis phase of software projects get executed at client locations to leverage frequent and deep interaction between user and developer teams. Subsequent phases such as design, coding and testing are completed at off-shore locations. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in off-shoring even requirements analysis phase using computer mediated communication. We conducted an exploratory research study involving students from Management Development Institute (MDI), India and Marquette University (MU), U.S.A. to determine quality of such off-shored requirements analysis projects. Our findings suggest that project quality of teams engaged in pure off-shore mode is comparable to that of teams engaged in collocated mode. However, the effect of controls such as user project monitoring on the quality of off-shored projects needs to be studied further.

59. Creating and sustaining trust in virtual teams [50.646%]

Greenberg, Penelope Sue & Greenberg, Ralph H. & Antonucci, Yvonne Lederer (2007) Downloadable (with restrictions)! No abstract is available for this item.

60. Physical or virtual team collocation: Does it matter? [50.517%]

Pawar, Kulwant S. & Sharifi, Sudi (1997) Downloadable (with restrictions)! No abstract is available for this item.

61. Wired international teams: Experiments in strategic decision making by multi-cultural virtual teams [50.384%]

Vermunt, A.H. & Smits, M.T. & Noorderhaven, N.G. & Hofstede, G.J. (1997) Downloadable! No abstract is available for this item.

62. Communication in virtual teams: 10 years of experience in education [50.328%]

Rutkowski, A.F. & Vogel, D. & Genuchten, M. van & Saunders, C. (2008) Downloadable! No abstract is available for this item.

63. Virtual team leadership: The effects of leadership style and communication medium on team interaction styles and outcomes [50.180%]

Hambley, Laura A. & O'Neill, Thomas A. & Kline, Theresa J.B. (2007) Downloadable (with restrictions)! No abstract is available for this item.

64. Developing virtual cooperation in virtual world [48.364%]

Jaroslava Kubátová (2008) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Thanks to the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) contemporary companies are able to organize their work in an innovative way. One of them is use of virtual work (also called remote work, dispersed work or telework) when the workers are remote from each other and communicate through ICT. For more complex projects virtual teams are built-up. In the light of theory and practice of human capital management, job performance management of virtual teams is a new area with many differences from management of traditional teams. This paper deals with one of the newest methods of virtual teams building which also utilize virtual environment. This method consists in team gaming of specially designed games in the virtual world Second Life. Subsekvently we give several examples of the use of virtal world for virtual cooperation development. Research of this methods is on its very beginning, but the results are more than encouraging.

65. Virtual Organizations: Beyond Network Organization [47.876%]

Liviu Gabriel CRETU (2006) Downloadable! One of the most used buzz-words in (e-)business literature of the last decade is virtual organization. The term "virtual" can be identified in all sorts of combinations regarding the business world. From virtual products to virtual processes or virtual teams, everything that is “touched†by the computer’s processing power instantly becomes virtual. Moreover, most of the literature treats virtual and network organizations as being synonyms. This paper aims to draw a much more distinctive line between the two concepts. Providing a more coherent description of what virtual organization might be is also one of our intentions.

66. A conceptual model of virtual product development process [A Conceptual Model of Virtual Product Development Process] [47.639%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! In today’s dynamic marketplace, companies are under strong pressure to introduce new products for long-term survival with their competitors. Besides, every company cannot cope up progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being experienced in competitive milieu. Increased competition and reduced product life cycles put force upon companies to develop new products faster. In response to this pressing need there should be some new approach compatible in flexible circumstances. This paper presents a solution based on the Stage-Gate system, which is closely linked with virtual team approach. Virtual teams can provide a platform to advance the knowledge-base in a company and thus to reduce time-to-market. This article introduces conceptual product development architecture under a virtual-team umbrella. The paper describes all the major aspects of new product development (NPD), NPD process and its relationship with virtual team, Stage-Gate system and finally

67. The impact of virtual technologies on knowledge-based processes: An empirical study [47.591%]

Vaccaro, Antonino & Veloso, Francisco & Brusoni, Stefano (2009) Downloadable (with restrictions)! This study examines the organizational knowledge creation processes in two highly virtual teams involved in new product development projects in the automotive industry. Using Nonaka's model of knowledge creation, we explore how the virtualization of knowledge-based processes, i.e. the intensive exploitation of information and communication technologies (ICTs), has led to new forms of knowledge creation at both the individual and organizational levels. In contrast to previous studies that identify knowledge codification as the main contribution of ICTs, this study provides detailed micro-level evidence about the ability of virtual technologies to support the transfer and the creation of new knowledge - both explicit and tacit - and offers some implications for scholars and practitioners.

68. Modified Stage-Gate: A Conceptual Model of Virtual Product Development Process [47.537%]

Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha (2009) Downloadable! In today's dynamic marketplace, manufacturing companies are under strong pressure to introduce new products for long-term survival with their competitors. Nevertheless, every company cannot cope up progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being experienced in the competitive milieu. Increased competition and reduced product life cycles put force upon companies to develop new products faster. In response to these pressing needs, there should be some new approach compatible in flexible circumstances. This paper presents a solution based on the popular Stage-Gate system, which is closely linked with virtual team approach. Virtual teams can provide a platform to advance the knowledge-base in a company and thus to reduce time-to-market. This article introduces conceptual product development architecture under a virtual team umbrella. The paper describes all the major aspects of new product development (NPD), NPD process and its relationship with virtual team

69. Modified stage-gate: A conceptual model of virtual product development process [47.537%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2009) Downloadable! In today’s dynamic marketplace, manufacturing companies are under strong pressure to introduce new products for long-term survival with their competitors. Nevertheless, every company cannot cope up progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being experienced in the competitive milieu. Increased competition and reduced product life cycles put force upon companies to develop new products faster. In response to these pressing needs, there should be some new approach compatible in flexible circumstances. This paper presents a solution based on the popular Stage-Gate system, which is closely linked with virtual team approach. Virtual teams can provide a platform to advance the knowledge-base in a company and thus to reduce time-to-market. This article introduces conceptual product development architecture under a virtual team umbrella. The paper describes all the major aspects of new product development (NPD), NPD process and its relationship with virtual te

70. Virtuality, Innovation and R&D Activities [41.080%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2008) Downloadable! Innovation plays a central role in economic development, at regional and national level. In the competitive environment companies are obliged to produce more rapidly, more effectively and more efficiently in new product development which is a result of research and development (R&D) activities. It is necessary for them to put together different capabilities and services with the goal, through cooperation between suppliers and customers, service providers and scientific institutions to achieve innovations of high quality. Depending on the type of industry, the type of business, the type of innovation and the strategic objectives that have been set, firms will regularly have to modify the way in which their R&D and innovation is organized. Nowadays shift from serial to simultaneous and parallel working in innovation has become more commonplace. Literature's have shown that collaboration is as a meta-capability for innovation. By a comprehensive reviewing of literature this article after de

71. Loafing in the 21st century: Enhanced opportunities--and remedies--for withholding job effort in the new workplace [40.765%]

Kidwell, Roland E. (2010) Downloadable (with restrictions)! The electronic workplace, a greater emphasis on knowledge work and teams, and the increased relevance of managing impressions of work performance are among factors that relate to higher levels of withholding effort among problem employees in the 21st century. This article considers these three factors in the context of dominant organizational forms--low-cost operators, global competitor corporations, and high-involvement firms--and how each can lead to lower on-the-job effort. Remedies are offered for new forms of withholding effort such as cyberloafing, as well as hiding lack of effort in virtual teams and through impression management. In addition, a different way of considering the problem of lower job effort is proposed through examination of how a work ethic and a leisure ethic can be synthesized to enhance organizational creativity, innovation, and performance.

72. The global virtual manager: a prescription for success [39.177%]

Kayworth, Timothy & Leidner, Dorothy (2000) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Global virtual teams have emerged in response to the growing demands placed upon organizations to rapidly coordinate individuals located in geographically dispersed locations. Virtual teams promise to improve cycle time, reduce travel costs, and reduce redundancies across organizational units. Moreover, the use of global virtual teams provides an opportunity to coordinate complex business tasks across a potentially far-flung confederation of organizations. However, virtual teams are beset with a range of challenges inherent to their dispersed, and often impersonal, nature. While all teamwork involves challenges to be managed, the tools at the disposal of virtual teams limits the options they have for addressing the difficulties of coordination. This field-based research study was undertaken to assess the core issues and challenges faced by a group of twelve culturally diverse global virtual teams with members from Europe, Mexico, and the United States. Our findings suggest th

73. Using a GSS to Support Virtual Teambuilding: A Theoretical Framework [39.156%]

Wayne Huang & Kwok-Kee Wei & John Lim (2003) Downloadable! This paper deals with the use of a group support system (GSS) to support virtual team-building. Literature review on Group Support Systems (GSS) indicates that most prior GSS research focuses on supporting face-to-face teamwork, and few studies were conducted in supporting virtual teamwork and team-building. When virtual teamwork becomes more common in modern organizations, how GSS can be used to enhance virtual team-building is becoming an important research issue. This paper proposes a conceptual team-building framework. By embedding this conceptual framework into a GSS, the GSS may have the potential to support virtual team-building. Based on the framework, a set of testable research propositions is formulated, and some suggestions for future GSS research are discussed.

74. Impact of Structures on Knowledge Contribution in Virtual Organizations: The Asian Case [39.088%]

Xi Zhang (2011) Downloadable! As multi-culture virtual teams become more prevalent in organizations, it becomes increasingly imperative to understand knowledge sharing dynamics. This paper uses Adaptive Structuration Theory extended to address proactive structuration as a foundation from which a model is developed to include aspects of knowledge sharing. Propositions are established, and evidence is provided based on a project involving 119 participants comprising 13 teams of nominally nine members. Each team was composed of three sub-teams of nominally three participants from three locations: The Netherlands, Hong Kong and Beijing. The discussion focuses on managing conflict and maximizing contribution.

75. Exploring Multimedia Web Conferencing [39.067%]

Ana-Maria SUDUC & Mihai BIZOI & Florin Gheorghe FILIP (2009) Downloadable! Internet changed the perspective on meetings and also on decision making processes. Virtualization of meetings has become a common way for collaboration among employees, customers, partners, trainees and trainers, etc. Web conferencing allows the collaboration between teams' members to achieve common goals. Without the need of travelling and meeting organization, the web conferencing applications permit the participation of people from different location. Web conferencing applications are multimedia systems that allow various remote collaborations with multiple types of resources. The paper presents an exploratory study on multimedia web conferencing systems, its advantages and disadvantages and also a use case, meant to highlight several of this technology benefits and problems.

76. Concurrent Collaboration in Research and Development [38.349%]

Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari (2008) Downloadable! Integration is the essence of current research and development (R&D) activity in many organizations. Integration can be established in various ways depending on the type, size and intricacy in organizational functions and products. Nevertheless, research and development (R&D) has become an inevitable function in most manufacturing companies in order to develop their own product niches for their survival in the prevailing highly completive market environment. Research and development functions are fundamental drivers of value creation in technologybased enterprises. Of creating and maintaining a vibrant R&D environment, organizations individually or collectively need to incorporate virtual R&D team. A virtual R&D team can introduce new product in less lead time than by conventional R&D working. Therefore, how to increase the possibility of having more successful R&D is a critical issue for enterprises. This paper examines the current approach of collaboration in R

77. Managing The Leadership Challenges [38.133%]

Anca Tutulea (2010) Downloadable! Even if since ancient times wealth and power have been associated with having physical resources, and the traditional production factors were predominantly physical, knowledge revolution is the shift from physical-based economy to predominantly knowledge-based economy. Experts have lately noticed the increase of economic importance of technologies, information, economic processes, human capital, the organisation’s abilities and skills, each of these factors having a significant importance to the knowledge management. It is expected that future wealth and power shall mainly be derived from intangible intellectual resources, from the knowledge capital. This is why we considered it of absolute current interest to approach this theme and especially on managing staff`s challenges.

78. Organising R&D in a global environment, Increasing dispersed co-operation versus continuos centralisation [38.133%]

Rognes, Jon (2002) Downloadable! Theories on R&D organisation draw on globalisation literature as well as on communication theories. This mixed discourse is a problem, since mixing levels of logic sometimes cause faulty conclusions. How is this double logic handled in organisations, and what is the effect on R&D organisation? This study investigates R&D activities in multinational companies with several production sites and markets, focusing what reasons and forces are mentioned in relation to the geographical structure of the R&D activities. We assume that there are opposing forces, both dispersing and contracting the R&D activities geographically. The purpose of the paper is to investigate perceived geographically dispersing and contracting forces on R&D activities, and how a possible conflict between these is handled. This is done by studying how the level of dispersion has come to be, what events or decision has caused the dispersion of R&D. We show that trends in R&D dispersion are active in

79. Learning in Online Forums [38.009%]

DeSanctis, Gerardine & Fayard, Anne-Laure & Roach, Michael & Jiang, Lu (2003) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Information and communication technologies afford different levels and types of support for learning networks. We draw on our studies of video-conferenced classrooms, group discussion spaces, and online communities to suggest a framework for understanding how learning networks can benefit from various e-learning venues. We show how the design of computer-mediated environments influence the kinds of learning processes that are likely to unfold as business professionals interact with one another across time and space barriers. The extent to which participants experience these types of learning depends upon how the electronic environments are structured and, more importantly, on how participants manage their interaction processes. Though all venues provide access to distributed social resources, some settings are more effective than others in addressing the specific learning needs of knowledge workers.

80. Lessons Learned Crossing Boundaries in an ICT-Supported Distributed Team [37.884%]

David J. Pauleen (2003) Downloadable! Most so-called virtual teams are virtual by degree only. The dichotomy of face-to-face versus virtual teams is a research-led phenomenon. Many teams are using combinations of face-to-face communication and ICT, and can be considered transitional or semi-virtual teams. Many of these teams cross multiple boundaries, including those of time, distance, organization and culture. This paper takes an in-depth look at one such ICT-supported distributed team and investigates some of the key issues that arose as it operated across multiple boundaries, in particular ethnic cultural boundaries. This paper answers recent calls for more in-depth and creative cross-culturally framed information systems research, and the findings suggest that while traditional notions of culture are still valuable for lending insight into team member behavior, team culture may also be seen as emergent and negotiated based on a wide range of contextual elements. The paper concludes with an analysis of the important practical les

81. To be or not to be trusted: The influence of media richness on defection and deception [37.665%]

Rockmann, Kevin W. & Northcraft, Gregory B. (2008) Downloadable (with restrictions)! When business transactions take place between strangers, individuals rely on the cues during communication to determine whether they can trust others' intentions. How that process occurs in the context of computer-mediated, video-mediated, and face-to-face interactions is still somewhat unknown. We examine how media richness influences both affective-based and cognitive-based trust in the context of two studies with two different social dilemma scenarios. Further, we explore how these two types of trust influence not only non-cooperative behavior (defection) but also lying (deception). Results from the first study suggest cognitive-based trust mediates the relationship between media richness and defection, while results from both studies suggest that affective-based trust mediates the relationship between media richness and deception. Video-mediated communication solves some, but not all, of the problems inherent when interacting via communication technology.

82. The Illusion of Trust and Performance [31.190%]

Benoit A. Aubert & Barbara L. Kelsey (2000) Downloadable! Trust has been deemed to be critical in ensuring the efficient operation of virtual teams and organizations. This study empirically verified ability and integrity as being antecedents of trust formation in virtual teams. However, effective team performance was found to be independent of the formation of trust. <P>La confiance a régulièrement été considérée comme un facteur clef lié au bon fonctionnement des équipes ou des organisations virtuelles. Cette étude démontre que le niveau de compétence et l'intégrité sont des pré-requis à la confiance. Elle démontre toutefois que la performance des groupes de travail n'est pas reliée directement à l'établissement de la confiance.

83. Conversational Coherence in Instant Messaging and Getting Work Done [15.561%]

Woerner, Stephanie L. & Yates, JoAnne & Orlikowski, Wanda J. (2007) Downloadable! This paper explores the critical role conversational coherence plays in facilitating the ongoing, distributed work of one virtual team as they engage in instant messaging (IM) conversations to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate. In studying the IM conversations of team members over the course of a month, a number of challenges to coherence emerged as they communicated with each other and worked together. These challenges include two previously identified challenges€Ԭack of simultaneous feedback, and disrupted turn adjacency€ԡnd two additional challenges: multi-tasking, and authority. We describe the team€ٳ responses to these challenges and conclude by discussing implications for research.

84. A Grounded Theory Analysis of E-Collaboration Effects for Distributed Project Management [15.540%]

Qureshi, S. & Liu, M. & Vogel, D. (2004) Downloadable! The emergence and widespread use of collaborative technologies for distributed project management has brought opened up a myriad of opportunities for business. While the opportunities for off-shore outsourcing and collaborative development are enticing, most tools and techniques for project management focus on on-site, long term relationships and sourcing strategies at a time when inter-organizational relationships are becoming dynamic and temporary. This paper uses grounded theory to analyze data on virtual teams. The analysis uncovers “effects†in the way distributed projects are managed. These effects relate to coordination, communication and adaptation to distributed electronic work environments. Following an analysis of these eCollaboration “effectsâ€, a model for distributed project management is presented.

85. Disclosure, leaks, and slips: Issues and strategies for prohibiting employee communication [15.535%]

Sussman, Lyle (2008) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Both popular and social science literature are replete with recommendations for enhancing communication effectiveness, typically defined as improving the clarity and impact of the spoken and written word. However, managing internal organizational processes and external market competitiveness often requires a different communication strategy, specifically silence and non-disclosure, while adhering to statutory regulations. This article summarizes the rationale for communication prohibitions, highlights counter forces mitigating their intended effects, and offers recommendations for successful implementation. The three major counter forces are: employee motivation and perception, changing socio-cultural norms, and organizational structures reflecting virtual teams and project teams. The eight recommendations for combating these forces are subsumed under one of two categories: creating an organizational culture supporting prohibitions, and executing the prohibitions with a minim

86. The Creation Of Novel And Marketable Service Ideas [15.480%]

C. M. Chang (2011) Downloadable (with restrictions)! Novel and marketable service ideas are useful to most service enterprises. However, the literature has identified several reasons for innovations in services as lagging behind those in manufacturing. Some service enterprises believe that service ideas and innovations are readily imitated by competitors. Others view the impact of service innovations on profitability difficult to assess because specific innovative service elements are typically bundled with many other service elements when delivered to or used by customers. Some service enterprises do not have in-house groups specifically dedicated to innovative pursuits, making it difficult for them to systematically produce new service ideas. Furthermore, because services are usually produced and consumed concurrently, any failure tends to expose the service enterprise immediately, unlike the manufacturing companies which can minimize such risks of exposure by conducting pilot testing away from the marketplace. As a result, m

 

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