Dec.+3+Discussion+Questions



Based on the Martins, et al. paper:

A) What should the research agenda be for this field?


 * 1) Long term pros& cons of VTs. What happens 10 yrs from now? Logical moves, look @ impact over time.
 * 2) Measure concept of trust and dimensions of trust.
 * 3) Ethnographic research on VTs. Can we better understand organizations, utilize more outside offices? Can we move to activist groups?
 * 4) Look @ VTs and the digital divide. What is the impact of rich media? What has a special role in defining what is virtual, what impact does this have on the team?
 * 5) design of the team, how an we develop a framework for picking the right people? Look at the structure and process issues of creating a team.
 * 6) Relating VTs & organization to other areas. What kind of economic influences do VTs have? Test these claims.
 * 7) Localization vs. globalization. Meta – analysis. The combination is powerful.
 * 8) Multi-cultural/dimensional VTs – how do these dimensions shape collaboration?
 * 9) Identifying games in technologies. Do we under-utilize?
 * 10) VTs & organizations need some good PR – good research about what makes it work. Why are people apprehensive?
 * 11) Task-oriented in team participation & job performances/participation. Getting people on the same page, study use of divided attention/multi-tasking in context.
 * 12) Get at interdependence in terms of people and among variables (trust, culture) learn by looking @ interdependence among variables.
 * 13) Theoretically people need to use theory to get at messiness of virtuality.
 * 14) Creativity in virtual environments. Does virtuality limit creativity? If so, when?
 * 15) Connecting virtual teams & virtual organizations. Relationships – how simple goes to complex.

Identify what would make successful collaboration (expertise, knowledge base, location, etc.) and communications that would create understanding, trust, creativity and innovation. A lot has to do with design, the framework and structure to work from to put together the elements to make a successful team (composition of the team).

B) What do virtual organizations need help with? If you could develop a set of guidelines for virtual teams, what would they be?

1. Only use VTs when appropriate. Does it have to be virtual? Is it heavily interdependent? What are the benefits of virtuality? What are the costs? 2. Identify what works so we know what to train people on. Identify the learning process…what works and what doesn’t work? 3. Understand interdependence of goals. 4. Disciplined and consciousness approach to communication and knowledge sharing. 5. Establish group norms. 6. Provide concrete guidelines for VTs (guidelines for making decisions): ethical, communicative, IP, technological, leadership, etc. 7. Use the structure to your advantage to benefit the team & be successful. Identify structure and focus on this. 8. Know how to choose and use the right tools. Training and knowing the team. Are you using tools to the fullest? 9. How to ensure process of communication will stay open. Have a back-up plan of how to communicate when your system fails? 10. Plan for career development. How do you evaluate contribution? 11. Build trust as early as possible. FTF interactions & non-task interactions needed. 12. Chief Collaboration Officer to oversee the whole process. 13. Plan for failure. 14. Market success and positive experiences. 15. Familiarize yourself with team members. Learn strengths/weaknesses, roles, etc. 16. Think about the duration of the team. Is it a long term/short term team? How long is the duration of the task? 17. Guidelines to deal with conflicts. Create a code of conduct. 18. Shared goals. 19. Connectivity – can you connect? 20. Access your virtual team. 21. Evaluations and assessments: Did you achieve what you set out to do? Are you going to meet your goals at the end based on where you are in the project now?

Define what makes a team virtual and what does not. Decide what aspects are most important regarding the team now and what will be added/changed to keep the team virtual. The learning process is essential to the team and the growth of the project.