DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS:MANAGING AND ENABLING VIRTUAL TEAMS

摘要

Virtual teams have a number of potential benefits, including cost savings, increased speed of decision making,rnand effective knowledge management. However, the benefits of virtual teams are often not realized. Costs canrnescalate, decision-making can slow down, and knowledge can be lost. Reasons for the ineffectiveness of virtualrnteams are unclear, because research has yielded mixed results on the question. A complex combination ofrnfactors appears to be involved, although which combination and the relative extent of individual factors isrnuncertain. The purpose of the present research is to provide a framework of the key factors that result in virtualrnteam success. In particular, this research is focused on understanding how virtual teams can quickly resolvernconflicts, increase their speed of decision making, and minimize travel requirements to increase team diversity,rnquality, and specialized expertise. Our main proposition is that when technology, task, knowledge-sharingrnpractices, and team composition have been specifically designed to support each other, the VT will succeed.rnWe propose to test this proposition by examining a number of virtual teams in a variety of industries, providingrnsignificant contributions to both the theory and practice of virtual teams.