Fostering Creativity in Global Virtual Teams

2008 ◽  
pp. 1277-1291
Author(s):  
Margaret Oertig ◽  
Thomas Buergi
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Team Formation ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Global Team ◽  
Fostering Creativity

This chapter presents insights from conversations with global team leaders on how to foster creativity in global virtual project teams in the field of product development. It shows how the leaders pay attention to team formation and managing the group dynamics in order to create a climate in which creativity will flourish. They then harness creativity by balancing the roles of motivating their team members in order to encourage fresh thinking and “putting on the brakes” where necessary in order to create something both new and viable. In particular, risk-averse team members are encouraged to be matter-of-fact about risk, making risk evaluation an intrinsic part of idea generation.

Fostering Creativity in Global Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 123-137
Author(s):  
Margaret Oertig
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Team Formation ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Global Team ◽  
Fostering Creativity

This chapter presents insights from conversations with global team leaders on how to foster creativity in global virtual project teams in the field of product development. It shows how the leaders pay attention to team formation and managing the group dynamics in order to create a climate in which creativity will flourish. They then harness creativity by balancing the roles of motivating their team members in order to encourage fresh thinking and “putting on the brakes” where necessary in order to create something both new and viable. In particular, risk-averse team members are encouraged to be matter-of-fact about risk, making risk evaluation an intrinsic part of idea generation.

The Impact of External Factors on Virtual Teams

Virtual Teams ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Hornett
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Work ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Dynamic Forces ◽  
The Impact

Practitioners and researchers need to pay attention to how corporate organizing structures are impacting and are impacted by virtual work environments. Virtual teams are powerful organizing mechanisms, but they are not without limitations. This chapter reports on two cases in which dynamics outside the virtual project teams powerfully affected the teams. These cases, both based on studies of real project teams operating inside corporations, highlight the desirability of understanding virtual teams in context. While external factors are not unique to teamwork, their role has not been explored in depth in research on virtual teams. Dynamic forces outside teams seem more difficult to anticipate and to identify when team members are working virtually, and these powerful but invisible dynamics can be frustrating to virtual team leaders and members. Concluded in this chapter is that contrary to initial expectations, virtual teams are not replacing traditional forms of organizing. They are coexisting with traditional forms and dynamics, such as business drivers, hierarchies, departments, strategic priorities, and business needs. This coexistence can be fraught with conflict.

E-leadership effectiveness in virtual teams: motivating language perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai-Tang Fan ◽  
Yuan-Ho Chen ◽  
Ching-Wen Wang ◽  
Minder Chen
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Group Decision Support System ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Motivating Language

Purpose – Virtual teams are becoming a norm in current knowledge-based society and offer a wide range of organizational benefits. This paper aims to investigate the effects of leaders’ motivating language (ML) and feedback approach on virtual team members’ creativity performance. Design/methodology/approach – A 2×2 with pre-test and post-test experimental design was employed to explore how to stimulate virtual team members’ creativity performance using a group decision support system. Findings – The results show that leaders’ ML and feedback approach via e-mail instructions have different interaction effects on members’ creativity and idea generation performance. Team members receiving direction-giving instructions generate more ideas under the demanding feedback approach and team member receiving instructions with more empathetic language exhibit higher creativity performance under the encouraging feedback approach. Research limitations/implications – Shortcomings of virtual environment and leadership remain the major factors influencing such findings. Since the results are also restrained by the functionality of the utilized software tool, tools for virtual teams are recommended to include features that can support the effective use of team leaders’ motivational language. Social implications – Virtual team leaders should provide proper guidance to members using understanding and empathetic wording approach. For task-oriented work, leaders should consider giving more specific instructions and provide constant feedback for completed work. For creative work, leaders should give positive encouragement as feedback or even challenge team members to stimulate their creativity. Additionally, facilitation rules can be set up in advance so that the intelligent agent can timely send out follow-up instructions/feedback. Originality/value – The gained insights beneficially help tool developers for virtual teams build/enhance their tools based on the need of team leaders. This paper also usefully offers important implications regarding how to motivate virtual team members’ creative thinking.

Virtual Teams: How to Operate a Project at Distance?

10.12737/7131 ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
���������� ◽  
Ekaterina Kudryavtseva
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Project Success ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Team Formation ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Team Success ◽  
Manager Role

Virtual project teams� features that affect a project success are considered in this paper. Most of authors agree that the virtual team success depends largely on human relationships, solidarity and trust, which construction is virtual teams� main problem, than on team members technical skills. However, there are studies which claim that a communications choice determines the project success. This work purpose is to investigate what factors, skills and qualities should prevail among virtual team members, in particular at the team head, which lead to projects successful implementation. Virtual team formation steps had been formulated based on literature review, interviews and experiments; features of work, trust importance, and project manager role had been defined.

Systems Development by Virtual Project Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 447-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Croasdell ◽  
Andrea Fox ◽  
Suprateek Sarker
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Work ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Virtual Project ◽  
Virtual Project Teams

Business organizations and global partners are increasing their utilization of virtual project teams to enhance competitive advantages in the global market. More than ever, organizations are using virtual teamwork to bridge time zones and geographic distances. The use of virtual work environments has spurred interest in understanding how team members interact and collaborate over the life of a project. Not surprisingly, organizations are trying to understand what factors are determinants of success with respect to virtual teams. Increasing network bandwidth, continuously improving communication technologies, shifting global economies, and changes in social practices have caused business managers to reconsider traditional practices. This paper provides a comparative case study of four cross-cultural virtual project teams as they analyze, design, and develop information systems.

The Glue That Binds Creative Virtual Teams

2000 ◽  
pp. 101-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill E. Nemiro
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Goal Clarity ◽  
Consulting Firms ◽  
Engineering Team ◽  
Full Study ◽  
On Line

This chapter describes an exploratory, qualitative research project that investigated the work environment necessary for virtual teams to be creative. Nine different virtual teams, with a total of 36 virtual team members (33 of which completed the full study), participated in this study. Three teams were organizational consulting firms, two teams were educational consortiums, three teams were on-line service provider teams, and one team was a product design engineering team. One semi-structured, telephone interview was conducted with each participant. Team members also completed a background survey. Grounded theorizing was used to generate an in-depth understanding of the phenomena under investigation. Connection, defined as the elements that need to be in place for a team to develop and maintain identity and a sense of community, emerged as a key category important to the realization of creativity in virtual teams. Connection was further subdivided into task connection (made up of dedication/commitment, and goal clarity); and interpersonal connection (made up of information sharing, trust, and personal bond). Suggestions for how team designers, team leaders, or managers can establish and develop connection in their own virtual teams are offered.

Managing Virtual Teams: Strategies for Team Leaders

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Lyons ◽  
Heather A. Priest ◽  
Jessica L. Wildman ◽  
Eduardo Salas ◽  
David Carnegie
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Team Leadership ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
Virtual Team Leadership ◽  
Collaborative Support ◽  
And Training

Organizations' increasing use of virtual teams has emphasized the importance of effective virtual team leadership. Yet the distribution of team members complicates typical leader functions, such as supervision and support, which the leader must now perform through technology. In this article, we present 10 strategies for managing virtual teams, focusing on the role of technology and training. Our hope is that these strategies will inform designers and guide them in developing collaborative support tools and procedures for these tools and in designing training for the use of these tools.

The Effect of Cultural Dimensions on the Development of Intra-Team Trust in Global Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 64-81
Author(s):  
Kurt D. Kirstein
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Uncertainty Avoidance ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Global Virtual Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Widespread Adoption ◽  
Team Trust

The widespread adoption of global virtual teams has been driven by an unprecedented need to draw upon talents of employees from around the globe in a manner that is both organizationally and financially feasible. The success of these teams depends largely on the levels of intra-team trust and collaboration they are able to establish throughout the life of their projects. Team members on global virtual teams may differ substantially on a number of cultural dimensions including preferences for individualistic versus collective teamwork, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and contextual communication. This chapter will investigate how these four cultural dimensions are likely to impact intra-team trust within a global virtual team. Suggestions that team leaders can utilize to address these cultural dimensions are also presented.

Trust in Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 99-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wray E. Bradley ◽  
George S. Vozikis
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Collaborative Teams ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Team Members ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Or Team ◽  
Prior Experiences ◽  
Different Levels

Discussed in this chapter are the role and importance of trust in virtual teams. It is suggested that the nature and degree of this trust are related to the culture and management philosophies of a firm, the interpersonal skills of management and team leaders, and the psychological characteristics and prior experiences and expectations of the team members. Trust and trust building are examined at three different levels: the firm level, the manager or team leader level, and the individual member level. A better understanding of the dynamics of trust in virtual teams will assist management in developing more efficient and effective virtual collaborative teams.

The project manager and virtual translation teams

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 37-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Rodríguez-Castro
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Virtual Character ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Modern Project ◽  
Geographically Distributed ◽  
Survey Results

The project manager (PM) has become an inevitable and indispensible component of translation workflow due to the rapid industrialization of the translation industry over the last two decades. A PM serves as the mediator between the translator(s), the language service provider (LSP), and the end client. The human resources of language industry projects are increasingly organized into geographically distributed and culturally heterogeneous “virtual teams”. The virtual character of these teams has created new challenges for group dynamics. This paper attempts to define the fluid role of the modern project manager by focusing on translators’ attitudes toward the PM in virtual teamwork situations, as revealed by an online survey. The survey looked at the factors of (a) communication workflow; (b) matching the skills of team members to projects; (c) interpersonal relationships; (d) translator appreciation, and (e) the PM’s level of team support and supervision. Survey results were analyzed via a regression model as a means of exploring the important elements of a PM’s role in virtual translation teams from the perspective of the team members themselves.

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