Managing virtual teams: A review of current empirical research

Increasing globalization and advances in communication technology have fuelled the emergence of global virtual teams (GVTs). There is much potential for conflict in GVTs as members work across cultural, geographical, and time boundaries. This study examines the antecedents of GVT conflict and the circumstances under which conflict affects team performance. An in-depth study of GVT conflict episodes was carried out using interviews, observations, communication logs, and documents. Based on findings from the teams under study interpreted in the light of prior literature, propositions are developed about the antecedents and effects of GVT conflict as stated. Within GVTs, cultural diversity is likely to contribute to both task and relationship conflict while functional diversity may result in task conflict. Large volumes of electronic communication and lack of immediacy of feedback in asynchronous media can contribute to task conflict. Moreover, the relationship between task conflict and team performance is likely to be contingent upon task complexity and conflict resolution approach. The influence of relationship conflict on performance may depend on task interdependence and conflict resolution approach. The conflict resolution approach may in turn be determined by the nature of conflict attribution. These propositions have been synthesized into a model to guide future empirical research and GVT practice.

Conflict and Performance in Global Virtual Teams

Virtual team leadership: The effects of leadership style and communication medium on team interaction styles and outcomes

Diversity in the national background and culture of team members is common in virtual teams. An experimental study, with short term teams, was undertaken to examine the effect of cultural diversity on team effectiveness and to examine if this effect changes depending if the team worked face-to-face (F2F) or virtually. Heterogeneous teams were created that had greater diversity than homogeneous teams of individualism/collectivism values, different languages spoken, country of birth, and nationality. The teams worked on a desert survival task either F2F or virtually (via audioconference and electronic chat tools). The overall results indicated that heterogeneous teams were less satisfied and cohesive and had more conflict than the homogeneous teams, although there were no statistical differences in team performance levels. However, examining just the heterogeneous teams found that the performance of the virtual heterogeneous teams was superior to that of the F2F heterogeneous teams. The results support Carte and Chidambaram's (2004) theory that the reductive capabilities of collaborative technologies are beneficial for newly-formed diverse teams.

The Effects of Cultural Diversity in Virtual Teams Versus Face-to-Face Teams

Factors of collaborative working: a framework for a collaboration model.

The virtual team is an increasingly common strategic work unit of many organizations. The virtual team, via various computer-based media (e.g. email, groupware) and noncomputer-based media (e.g. telephone), can interact and collaborate though separated by distance and time. One approach to their study is determining whether factors that drive conventional team performance also exist in the virtual environment. Interaction style has been shown to have a great effect on conventional teams' ability to achieve solution quality and solution acceptance on collaborative decision tasks (Hirokawa, 1985; Watson & Michaelsen 1988; Hirokawa & Gouran, 1989; Cooke & Szumal, 1994). Group interaction styles affect communication and thus team performance by facilitating or hindering the exchange of information among group members. These styles reflect an aggregation of behavioral traits of individual team members, rooted in their individual personalities. The interaction style of conventional teams can be reliably assessed, and from that assessment, performance on collaborative decision tasks can be predicted. This study investigated whether or not virtual teams who collaborate via computer-mediated communication also exhibit similar interaction styles, and whether the styles have the same effects on their decision performance and process outcomes as they do with conventional teams. Members of 42 virtual teams completed an intellective decision first individually and then collaboratively. Post-task measures captured individual and team performance data (e.g. solution quality) as well as process perceptions (individual acceptance of the team solution). An additional post-task tool was able to accurately capture the teams' interaction style. Results show that the interaction styles of virtual teams affect both performance and process outcomes in ways that are directionally consistent with those exhibited by conventional face-to-face teams. Implications include recommending the methodology for virtual team management, and suggestions for future research are offered.

Virtual team interaction styles

This chapter overviews how neuroscience can provide a new lens to understand leadership processes in organizations. We describe how neurological scanning can be applied to leadership research, as well as its potential advantages over more traditional techniques, such as surveys. Research to date is summarized pertaining to how neuroscience can inform such conceptualizations as transformational, complex/adaptive, and ethical forms of leadership. Findings indicate that effective versus not-so-effective leaders can be distinguished neurologically, and such assessment can benefit the prediction of important leadership outcomes. We caution that context needs to be taken into account in that not only can neurological variables associated with leaders affect organizational behavior and outcomes, but it is equally important to understand how the context can affect neurological qualities of individuals. Finally, we describe how it may be possible to use neurofeedback techniques to help develop leadership qualities of people in industry and in education programs, such as those in business schools.

Neuroscience of Leadership

Drawing from several years of empirical research, in this chapter, we look at the impact of the personalities of individual team members on the performance and process outcomes of virtual teams. Our studies showed that both too few and too many extroverts in a virtual team may result in low performance. While conventional wisdom says that teams should be set up on the basis of expertise, we argue that the resulting interaction styles of the members must be considered when establishing a virtual team. We offer suggestions for managers on assessing the potential for constructive interaction styles. INTRODUCTION The virtual team is an increasingly common strategic work unit of many organizations. Though research is still developing, at this stage, it is not clear whether virtual teams deliver the level of performance that their face-to-face (F2F) counterparts typically do. Do factors that drive conventional team This chapter appears in the book, Virtual and Collaborative Teams: Process, Technologies and Practice, edited by Susan H. Godar and Sharmila Pixy Ferris. Copyright © 2004, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING 36 Potter and Balthazard Copyright © 2004, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. performance also exist in the virtual environment? Rooted in the personalities of individual team members, a team’s interaction style was shown to have a great effect on a conventional teams’ ability to achieve solution quality and solution acceptance when faced with problem-solving and decision tasks (Hirokawa, 1985; Hirokawa & Gouran, 1989; Watson & Michaelsen, 1988; Cooke & Szumal, 1993). Group interaction styles affect communication and thus team performance by facilitating or hindering the exchange of information among group members. The interaction style of conventional teams can be reliably assessed, and from that assessment, performance problems can be identified. In addition, when forming new teams, managers can identify constellations of personality types that are likely to yield a constructive group interaction style and perform well together. Methodologies and instruments originally developed at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research are commercially available to organization development professionals, consultants, and researchers, who wish to assess a number of vital dynamics of groups and teams. These include group interaction style, influence and leadership, and organizational culture. The authors recreated a variety of these instruments for use with virtual teams, with rigorous validation on hundreds of real-life teams (e.g., Balthazard, 1999). Results show that the dynamics of F2F group interaction styles are also evident in virtual teams. In addition, the effects of the interaction styles are similar to those in conventional F2F teams. However, there are a number of interesting and powerful effects that are a result of the communication mode. Our research is now at the level of the personalities of the individual team members. Many studies documented the existence of five basic personality types. Our more recent studies focused on one of these, extroversion. Extroversion is considered the most robust and stable of the five types and also received previous attention from information systems and communications researchers. Our novel approach documents the effects not only of the relative amount of extroverted team members but also of the effects stemming from the ratio of extroverts to nonextroverts in the team’s composition. These two measures of the personality trait have profound and different effects that drive the formation of the team’s ultimate characterization of its interaction style, with the styles’ resulting effects on performance and process outcomes. This chapter draws from several years of empirical research by the authors and their colleagues, much of it presented at academic and consultant conferences and published in a number of information systems, team management, and international management academic journals. Our aim is to introduce readers to this fascinating research and to illustrate how virtual team composition by personality and interaction style drives performance and process outcomes. Common managerial wisdom, along with expense and convenience consideration, dictates that virtual teams be composed strictly on the basis of complimen12 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/chapter/understanding-compositionconflict-virtual-teams/30796?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Books, InfoSci-Social Technologies, Business-Technology-Solution, Communications, Social Science, and Healthcare, InfoSciMedia and Communications, InfoSci-Select, InfoSci-Select. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=1

Understanding Composition and Conflict in Virtual Teams

While reiterating the benefits of applications of neuroscience to both research and practice, we also acknowledge in this concluding chapter the potential issues that will continually need to be addressed. Specifically, we overview ontological and epistemological concerns, such as the potential for excessive reductionism. We also address ethical issues that could come into play for both researchers and practitioners. Finally, we conclude with a look forward to the future by suggesting that the “approach,” rather than the “avoidance,” of organizational neuroscience is likely to grow over time. One exciting possibility is how an examination of the human brain in work and organizational settings is likely to be a prime example of the “big data” trends that the future will bring.

Conclusions and a look forward

Recent advances in neurophysiological methods are providing IS researchers with new research opportunities. We deployed electroencephalograms (EEG) analyses to compare learning within two organizational forms: computer-mediated and face-to-face decision teams. We collected demographic, psychometric, simultaneous parallel EEG, and performance data from 118 undergraduate students who performed the Ethical Decision Challenge© as part of a face-to-face or a computer-mediated team. Organizational learning was derived from performance data registered at three points during the experiment: (1) individually prior to group discussion, (2) collectively as a group consensus, and (3) individually following the group discussion. The results revealed a significant difference between learning ability between face-to-face and computer-mediated team members, thus supporting propositions of media richness theory. Further, a comparison of brain patterns between face-to-face team members and computer-mediated team members revealed a significant difference in neural activity. Our findings also confirm the role of the left temporal lobe in learning and performance.

/pdf/neurophysiologic-patterns-of-learning-in-decision-groups-3zdjdbq9dh.pdf

Pierre A. Balthazard

Papers

Virtual team interaction styles

Neuroscience of Leadership

Understanding Composition and Conflict in Virtual Teams

Conclusions and a look forward

Neurophysiologic Patterns of Learning in Decision Groups