Incorporating Virtually Immersive Environments as a Collaborative Medium for Virtual Teaming
Abstract
Virtually immersive environments incorporate the use of various computer modelling and simulation techniques enabling geographically dispersed virtual project teams to interact within an artificially projected three-dimensional space online. This study focused on adoption of virtually immersive technologies as a collaborative media to support virtual teaming of both graduate and undergraduate-level project management students. The data and information from this study has implications for educators using virtually immersive environments in the classroom. In this study, we specifically evaluated two key components in this paper: 1) students’ level of trust and; 2) students’ willingness to use the technology, along with their belief about the virtual environment’s ability to extend and improve knowledge sharing in their team work environment. We learned that while students did find the environment a positive add on for working collaboratively, there were students who were neither more nor less likely to use the technology for future collaborative ventures. Most of the students who were not very positive about the environment were “fence sitters” likely indicating needs related to additional training to improve communication skills. Finally, based on the full study results we have provided basic recommendations designed to support team trust building in the system along with interpersonal trust building to facilitate knowledge transfer and better strategic us of the technology.
References
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Chang, K.-c. (2011). The Companies We Keep: Effects of Relational Embeddedness on Organizational Performance. Sociological Forum, Volume 26, Issue 3, 527-555.
Chiu, C. M., Hsu, M. H., & Yi, H. (2006). Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: an integration of social capital and social cognitive theories. Decision Support Systems, Volume 42, 1872–1888.
Clouder, L. (2009). ‘Being responsible’: Students’ perspectives on trust, risk and work-based learning. Teaching in Higher Education. Volume 14, Issue 3, 289-301.
Czaja, R., & Blair, J. (1995). Designing Surveys: A Guide to Decisions and Procedures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
de Freitas, S., & Neumann, T. (February 2009). The use of ‘exploratory learning’ for supporting immersive learning in virtual environments. 52(2).
Dede, C. (2009). Immersive Interfaces for Engagement and Learning. Science, Volume 323, No. 5910, 2(5910), 66-69.
Fang, Y. H., & Chiu, C. M. (2010). In justice we trust: Exploring knowledge-sharing continuance intentions in virtual communities of practice. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 26, 235–246.
Garrison, D. R., & Vaughan, N. D. (2008). Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines . San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Heiphetz, A., & Woodill, G. (2010). Training and Collaboration with Virtual Worlds: How to Create Cost-Saving, Efficient, and Engaging Programs. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Hsu, M. H. (2007). Knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities: The relationship between trust, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations. . International Journal Human-Computer Studies, Volume 65 , 153–169.
Hsu, M.-H. C., Chang, C.-M., & Yen, C.-H. (2011). Exploring the antecedents of trust in virtual communities. Behavior and Information Technology, Volume 30, Issue 5 , 587-605.
Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Leidner, D. E. (2006). Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Volume 3, Issue 4, 0.
Kanawattanachai, P., & Yoo, Y. (2002). Dynamic nature of trust in virtual teams. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Volume 11, Issue 3–4, 187–213.
Korsgaard, M. A., Picot, A., Wigand, R. T., Welpe, I. M., & Assmann, J. J. (2010). Cooperation, Coordination, and Trust in Virtual Teams: Insights from Virtual Games. In W. S. Bainbridge, Online Worlds: Convergence of the Real and the Virtual (pp. 253-264). London, England: Springer-Verlag.
Krejci, G. P. (2009). Project management with virtual teams? Gruppendyn Organisationsberat, 40(3), 303-314.
KZero. (2011, October 21). Slideshare Universe presentation, Q1 2011. Retrieved from KZero Worldswide: http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/slideshare-universe-presentation-q1-2011/
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2011). Project Management: The Managerial Process. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Lebedieva, O., Matvijkiv, O., & Lobur, M. (2011). Virtual project management . CAD Systems in Microelectronics (CADSM), 2011 11th International Conference The Experience of Designing and Application of (pp. 364-365). Polyana-Svalyava , Ukraine: CADSM'2011.
Lewicki, R. J., & Bunker, B. B. (1996). Developing and maintaining trust in working relationships. In R. M. Kramer, & T. R. Tyler, Trust in organizatios: Frontiers of theory and research (pp. 114-139). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lewis, J. D., & Weigart, A. (1985). Trust as a social reality. Social Forces, Volume 63, Issue 1, 967-985.
Lin, M. J., Hung, S. W., & Chen, C. J. (2009). Fostering the determinants of knowledge sharing in professional virtual communities. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 25, 929–939.
Lind, D., & Mason, R. (2000). Basic Statistics for Business and Economics. New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Lipnack, J., & Stamps, J. (1997). Virtual teams: Reaching across space, time, and organizations with technology. New York, NY: John WIley & Sons, Inc.
Livingstone, D. (2011). Second Life Is Dead, Long Live Second. EDUCAUSE Review, Volume 46, Issue 2.
McAllister, D. J. (1995). Affect- and cognition based trust as foundations for interpoersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, Volume 38, 24-59.
Nah, F. F.-H., Schiller, S., Mennecke, B. E., Siau, K., & Sattayanuwat, P. (2011). Team Collaboration in Virtual Worlds: The Role of Task Complexity. AMCIS 2011 Proceedings (p. 383). Detroit, MI: AIS Electronic Library.
Nevo, S., Nevo, D., & Carmel, E. (2011, March 23). Unlocking the Business Potential of Virtual Worlds. Retrieved from MITSloan Management Review: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2011-spring/52311/unlocking-the-business-potential-of-virtual-worlds/
Pinsonneault, A., & Caya, O. (2005). Virtual Teams: What We Know and What We Don’t Know. International Journal of Electronic Collaboration, Volume 1, Issue 3, 1-16.
Powell, A., Piccoli, G., & Ives, B. (2004). Virtual teams: a review of current literature and directions for future research. The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, Volume 35, Issue 1.
Rad, P. F., & Levin, G. (2003). Achieving Project Management Success Using Virtual Teams. Boca Raton, FL: J. Ross Publishing.
Reed, A. H., & Knight, L. V. (2010). Effect of a virtual project team environment on communication-related project risk. International Journal of Project Management, Volume 28, Issue 5, 422-427.
Ridings, C. M., Gefen, D., & Arinze, B. (2002). Psychological barriers: Lurker and poster motivation and behavior in online communities. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Volume 18 , 329–354.
Rossett, A., Douglis, F., & Frazee, R. V. (2003, July). Strategies for Building Blended Learning. Retrieved August 21, 2011, from learningcircuits.org: https://files.pbworks.com/download/nStd6zxaHf/ablendedmaricopa/1240589/Strategies%20Building%20Blended%20Learning.pdf
Rusman, E., van Bruggen, J., Sloep, P., & Koper, R. (2010). Fostering trust in virtual project teams: Towards a design framework grounded in a TrustWorthiness ANtecedents (TWAN) schema. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 834-850.
Rusman, E., van Bruggen, J., Valcke, M., & Koper, R. (2010). Can I Trust You?. Profile Elements that Inform First Impressions of Trustworthiness in Virtual Project Teams. International Journal of Information Technology Project Management, 1-19.
Sarker, S., Ahuja, M., Sarker, S., & Kerkeby, S. (2011). The Role of Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams: A Social Network Perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, Volume 28, Number 1, 273-310.
Schouten, A. P., van den Hooff, B., & Feldberg, F. (2010). Real decisions in virtual worlds: Team collaboration and decision making in 3D virtual worlds. ICIS 2010 Proceedings (p. Paper 18). St. Louis, MO: AIS Electronic Library (AISeL).
Schultze, U., & Orlikowski, W. (2010). Research Commentary - Virtual Worlds: A Performative Perspective on Globally Distributed, Immersive Work. Journal of Information Systems Research, Volume 21, Issue 4, pp. 810-821.
Schultze, U., & Rennecker, J. (2007). Reframing Online Games: Synthetic Worlds as Media for Organizational Communication. In K. Crowston, S. Sieber, & E. Wynne, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, Vol 236, Virtuality and Virtualization (pp. 335-351). Boston, MA: Springer.
Sorom, T. (2010, December 31). The Year in Virtual Goods by the Numbers. Retrieved from techcrunch.com: http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/31/the-year-in-virtual-goods-by-the-numbers/
Staples, D., & Webster, J. (2008). Exploring the Effects of Trust, Task Interdependence and Virtualness on Knowledge Sharing in Teams. Information Systems Journal, Volume 18, 617-640.
Sunindijo, R. Y., Hadikusumo, B. H., & Ogunlana, S. (2007). Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Styles in Construction Project Management. Journal of Management Engineering, Volume 23, Issue 4, 166-171.
The Pensylvania State University. (2009). What is Blended Learning? Retrieved December 16, 2010, from http://weblearning.psu.edu/: http://weblearning.psu.edu/blended-learning-initiative/what_is_blended_learning
Traphagan, T., Mayrath, M., & Trivedi, A. (2009). Virtual world teaching, experiential learning, and assessment: An interdisciplinary communication course in Second Life. Computers & Education, Volume 53, Issue 1, 169-182.
Warkentin, M., & Beranek, P. M. (1999). Training to improve virtual team communication. Information Systems Journal, Volume 9, Issue 4, 271-289.
Warren, J. (2007, April 23). Leveraging Virtual Worlds for Real Organizational Communication. Retrieved from cox.smu.edu: http://www.cox.smu.edu/web/guest/faculty-research/-/blogs/leveraging-virtual-worlds-for-real-organizational-communication;jsessionid=3BF67A798DDCDBB54EE2DA7985CCD548?_33_redirect=%2Fweb%2Fguest%2Ffaculty-research
Wasko, M., Teigland, R., Leidner, D., & Jarvenpaa, S. (2011). Stepping into the Internet: New ventures in virtual worlds. MIS Quarterly Vol. 35 No. 3, 645-652.
Weber, L. (2011). Self at the Heart of Trust:The Global Relevance of an Interactionist Understanding of Trust as a Form of Association. Comparative Sociology, Volume 10 , 413-440.
Babbie, E. (1990). Survey Research Methods. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Blythe, A. (2011, May 30). Business Benefits in the Virtual World. Retrieved from Strategic Social Media: http://prosintraining.com/ssm/2011/05/business-benefits-in-the-virtual-world/
Brown, R. A., Recker, J. C., & West, S. (2011). Using virtual worlds for collaborative business process modeling. Journal of Business Process Management, Volume 17, Issue 3, (In Press).
Cahalane, M., Feller, J., & Finnegan, P. (2010). Investigating Collaborative Development Activities in a Virtual World: An Activity Theory Perspective. ICIS 2010 Proceedings (p. 84). St. Louis, MO: AIS Electronic Library.
Casarez, V., Cripe, B., Sini, J., & Weckerle, P. (2009). Reshaping Your Business with Web 2.0: Using the New Collabortive Technologies to Lead Business Transformation. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Chang, K.-c. (2011). The Companies We Keep: Effects of Relational Embeddedness on Organizational Performance. Sociological Forum, Volume 26, Issue 3, 527-555.
Chiu, C. M., Hsu, M. H., & Yi, H. (2006). Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: an integration of social capital and social cognitive theories. Decision Support Systems, Volume 42, 1872–1888.
Clouder, L. (2009). ‘Being responsible’: Students’ perspectives on trust, risk and work-based learning. Teaching in Higher Education. Volume 14, Issue 3, 289-301.
Czaja, R., & Blair, J. (1995). Designing Surveys: A Guide to Decisions and Procedures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
de Freitas, S., & Neumann, T. (February 2009). The use of ‘exploratory learning’ for supporting immersive learning in virtual environments. 52(2).
Dede, C. (2009). Immersive Interfaces for Engagement and Learning. Science, Volume 323, No. 5910, 2(5910), 66-69.
Fang, Y. H., & Chiu, C. M. (2010). In justice we trust: Exploring knowledge-sharing continuance intentions in virtual communities of practice. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 26, 235–246.
Garrison, D. R., & Vaughan, N. D. (2008). Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines . San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Heiphetz, A., & Woodill, G. (2010). Training and Collaboration with Virtual Worlds: How to Create Cost-Saving, Efficient, and Engaging Programs. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Hsu, M. H. (2007). Knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities: The relationship between trust, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations. . International Journal Human-Computer Studies, Volume 65 , 153–169.
Hsu, M.-H. C., Chang, C.-M., & Yen, C.-H. (2011). Exploring the antecedents of trust in virtual communities. Behavior and Information Technology, Volume 30, Issue 5 , 587-605.
Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Leidner, D. E. (2006). Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Volume 3, Issue 4, 0.
Kanawattanachai, P., & Yoo, Y. (2002). Dynamic nature of trust in virtual teams. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Volume 11, Issue 3–4, 187–213.
Korsgaard, M. A., Picot, A., Wigand, R. T., Welpe, I. M., & Assmann, J. J. (2010). Cooperation, Coordination, and Trust in Virtual Teams: Insights from Virtual Games. In W. S. Bainbridge, Online Worlds: Convergence of the Real and the Virtual (pp. 253-264). London, England: Springer-Verlag.
Krejci, G. P. (2009). Project management with virtual teams? Gruppendyn Organisationsberat, 40(3), 303-314.
KZero. (2011, October 21). Slideshare Universe presentation, Q1 2011. Retrieved from KZero Worldswide: http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/slideshare-universe-presentation-q1-2011/
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2011). Project Management: The Managerial Process. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Lebedieva, O., Matvijkiv, O., & Lobur, M. (2011). Virtual project management . CAD Systems in Microelectronics (CADSM), 2011 11th International Conference The Experience of Designing and Application of (pp. 364-365). Polyana-Svalyava , Ukraine: CADSM'2011.
Lewicki, R. J., & Bunker, B. B. (1996). Developing and maintaining trust in working relationships. In R. M. Kramer, & T. R. Tyler, Trust in organizatios: Frontiers of theory and research (pp. 114-139). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lewis, J. D., & Weigart, A. (1985). Trust as a social reality. Social Forces, Volume 63, Issue 1, 967-985.
Lin, M. J., Hung, S. W., & Chen, C. J. (2009). Fostering the determinants of knowledge sharing in professional virtual communities. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 25, 929–939.
Lind, D., & Mason, R. (2000). Basic Statistics for Business and Economics. New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Lipnack, J., & Stamps, J. (1997). Virtual teams: Reaching across space, time, and organizations with technology. New York, NY: John WIley & Sons, Inc.
Livingstone, D. (2011). Second Life Is Dead, Long Live Second. EDUCAUSE Review, Volume 46, Issue 2.
McAllister, D. J. (1995). Affect- and cognition based trust as foundations for interpoersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, Volume 38, 24-59.
Nah, F. F.-H., Schiller, S., Mennecke, B. E., Siau, K., & Sattayanuwat, P. (2011). Team Collaboration in Virtual Worlds: The Role of Task Complexity. AMCIS 2011 Proceedings (p. 383). Detroit, MI: AIS Electronic Library.
Nevo, S., Nevo, D., & Carmel, E. (2011, March 23). Unlocking the Business Potential of Virtual Worlds. Retrieved from MITSloan Management Review: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2011-spring/52311/unlocking-the-business-potential-of-virtual-worlds/
Pinsonneault, A., & Caya, O. (2005). Virtual Teams: What We Know and What We Don’t Know. International Journal of Electronic Collaboration, Volume 1, Issue 3, 1-16.
Powell, A., Piccoli, G., & Ives, B. (2004). Virtual teams: a review of current literature and directions for future research. The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, Volume 35, Issue 1.
Rad, P. F., & Levin, G. (2003). Achieving Project Management Success Using Virtual Teams. Boca Raton, FL: J. Ross Publishing.
Reed, A. H., & Knight, L. V. (2010). Effect of a virtual project team environment on communication-related project risk. International Journal of Project Management, Volume 28, Issue 5, 422-427.
Ridings, C. M., Gefen, D., & Arinze, B. (2002). Psychological barriers: Lurker and poster motivation and behavior in online communities. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Volume 18 , 329–354.
Rossett, A., Douglis, F., & Frazee, R. V. (2003, July). Strategies for Building Blended Learning. Retrieved August 21, 2011, from learningcircuits.org: https://files.pbworks.com/download/nStd6zxaHf/ablendedmaricopa/1240589/Strategies%20Building%20Blended%20Learning.pdf
Rusman, E., van Bruggen, J., Sloep, P., & Koper, R. (2010). Fostering trust in virtual project teams: Towards a design framework grounded in a TrustWorthiness ANtecedents (TWAN) schema. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 834-850.
Rusman, E., van Bruggen, J., Valcke, M., & Koper, R. (2010). Can I Trust You?. Profile Elements that Inform First Impressions of Trustworthiness in Virtual Project Teams. International Journal of Information Technology Project Management, 1-19.
Sarker, S., Ahuja, M., Sarker, S., & Kerkeby, S. (2011). The Role of Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams: A Social Network Perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, Volume 28, Number 1, 273-310.
Schouten, A. P., van den Hooff, B., & Feldberg, F. (2010). Real decisions in virtual worlds: Team collaboration and decision making in 3D virtual worlds. ICIS 2010 Proceedings (p. Paper 18). St. Louis, MO: AIS Electronic Library (AISeL).
Schultze, U., & Orlikowski, W. (2010). Research Commentary - Virtual Worlds: A Performative Perspective on Globally Distributed, Immersive Work. Journal of Information Systems Research, Volume 21, Issue 4, pp. 810-821.
Schultze, U., & Rennecker, J. (2007). Reframing Online Games: Synthetic Worlds as Media for Organizational Communication. In K. Crowston, S. Sieber, & E. Wynne, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, Vol 236, Virtuality and Virtualization (pp. 335-351). Boston, MA: Springer.
Sorom, T. (2010, December 31). The Year in Virtual Goods by the Numbers. Retrieved from techcrunch.com: http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/31/the-year-in-virtual-goods-by-the-numbers/
Staples, D., & Webster, J. (2008). Exploring the Effects of Trust, Task Interdependence and Virtualness on Knowledge Sharing in Teams. Information Systems Journal, Volume 18, 617-640.
Sunindijo, R. Y., Hadikusumo, B. H., & Ogunlana, S. (2007). Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Styles in Construction Project Management. Journal of Management Engineering, Volume 23, Issue 4, 166-171.
The Pensylvania State University. (2009). What is Blended Learning? Retrieved December 16, 2010, from http://weblearning.psu.edu/: http://weblearning.psu.edu/blended-learning-initiative/what_is_blended_learning
Traphagan, T., Mayrath, M., & Trivedi, A. (2009). Virtual world teaching, experiential learning, and assessment: An interdisciplinary communication course in Second Life. Computers & Education, Volume 53, Issue 1, 169-182.
Warkentin, M., & Beranek, P. M. (1999). Training to improve virtual team communication. Information Systems Journal, Volume 9, Issue 4, 271-289.
Warren, J. (2007, April 23). Leveraging Virtual Worlds for Real Organizational Communication. Retrieved from cox.smu.edu: http://www.cox.smu.edu/web/guest/faculty-research/-/blogs/leveraging-virtual-worlds-for-real-organizational-communication;jsessionid=3BF67A798DDCDBB54EE2DA7985CCD548?_33_redirect=%2Fweb%2Fguest%2Ffaculty-research
Wasko, M., Teigland, R., Leidner, D., & Jarvenpaa, S. (2011). Stepping into the Internet: New ventures in virtual worlds. MIS Quarterly Vol. 35 No. 3, 645-652.
Weber, L. (2011). Self at the Heart of Trust:The Global Relevance of an Interactionist Understanding of Trust as a Form of Association. Comparative Sociology, Volume 10 , 413-440.
Incorporating Virtually Immersive Environments as a Collaborative Medium for Virtual Teaming | Lesko, Jr. | Journal of Education and Learning
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