In this thesis I inquire how an interdependent relationship is perceived to affect virtual team member’s interaction and the process of developing knowledge in the team. In order to explore these issues a qualitative case study was conducted and data gathered through the subjective experiences of team members constituting a virtual team in Statoil through the following research question: How is the interdependent relationship between virtual team members perceived to affect interaction and the process of developing knowledge in the team? In this thesis an interdependent relationship is understood as team members relating to each other as individuals that are mutually dependent on and responsible for the team’s actions. This interdependent relationship is the fundament for interaction in which team members build on and refine each other’s ideas and knowledge in order to reach their common goals and objectives. Principles from dialogue techniques, by the concepts of perspective making and perspective taking, are elaborated as a means to support interdependent interaction and knowledge creation in the virtual team. The empirical findings in this particular case study suggest that the informants perceive their interdependent and technologically mediated relationship to represent both challenges and possibilities in relation to their interaction and the process of developing knowledge within the team. Further, acknowledging this interdependent relationship and having the capacity to take the other’s perspective, seems decisive in order to develop shared understanding, complementary knowledge and high-quality decisions in the virtual team. The main findings in this study are: The interdependent relationship between the virtual team members is perceived characterized by involvement, vulnerability, power and shared responsibility Trust is seen as a vital precondition for interaction between the interdependent virtual team members Developing a shared situational understanding through listening to other’s perspectives seems crucial in order to utilize the potential for developing knowledge in the virtual team

This study confined itself to an exploratory interpretive approach aimed at expanding the understanding of some elements that may affect virtual teams. It highlights the advantage of virtual teams over FTF teams.

This study confined itself to an exploratory interpretive approach aimed at expanding the understanding of some elements that may affect virtual teams. It highlights the advantage of virtual teams over FTF teams.

In this research project composed of multiple case studies, I focused on how bona fide virtual groups appropriated multiple media to facilitate group boundary construction and boundary management, which are preconditions of group identity formation. Specific topics explored in the study included how virtual groups socially constructed their group boundaries through recurring patterns of media use as well as other communication practices, how the group boundaries were preserved and blurred in both internal and external communication, and how bona fide groups managed dialectal tensions in interacting with external groups. To explore those research questions, I conducted four in-depth case studies of real life groups operating in natural contexts. Multiple qualitative methods of data collection were employed in the study and a modified grounded theory method was used in analyzing the collected data. As a result, the study found that the groups studied constructed group boundaries through communication practices such as making sense of common goals, negotiation of task jurisdiction with other interlocking groups, distinguishing patterns of ingroup interaction from those of outgroup interactions, and through developing group specific patterns and norms of media combination and media use. Group boundaries were preserved when the influence of outgroup members were constrained through media use, such as excluding them from team conference calls, filtering messages from external groups or members, and using boundary spanners to interact with external members. Group boundaries were blurred when intergroup communication impacted internal dynamics and when norms and practices were transferred from other contexts into a given group context. The study suggested that technology adaptation and boundary management occurred simultaneously. In addition, the groups experienced dialectical tensions in face of the permeability of group boundaries and developed communication tactics to deal with those tensions. Theoretical implications of the study were also discussed.

Globalisation and advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are contributing to the increased virtualisation of work teams within organisations. Researchers are in agreement that most modern day work teams have some degree of virtualisation (Workman, 2007) and that it is critical for researchers and practitioners alike to understand the impact of virtualisation on the inputs, process and outputs of work teams. Benefits commonly associated with increased team virtualisation such as increased knowledge retention (Dietz-Uhler&Bishop-Clark, 2001), cost savings (Bergiel, Bergiel,&Balsmeier, 2008) and flexibility (Clemons&Kroth, 2011) are proven and well researched. However we know that no benefit can be obtained without incurring some sort of a cost (Colander, 2010) and research showed that virtual teams typically incur additional challenges in the areas of communication, culture, technology and leadership (Kayworth&Leidner, 2000).This research hypothesised that the three levers of organizational structure as defined by Satô (2010) namely the formalization, standardization and centralization of organisational elements can ease the negative effects caused by an increase in team virtualisation. We evaluated the impact that the organisational structure has on the performance of work teams throughout the team virtualisation continuum by conducting a set of interviews, a survey and performing descriptive quantitative analysis on the results. A total of three interviews were conducted which served as confirmation of our research questions and provided guidance to construct the questionnaire. A total of 87 respondents participated in our online survey of which 69 responses were included in the quantitative analysis phase. The responses received were equally distributed between four categories namely: Organic Face-to-face, Mechanistic Face-to-face, Organic Virtual and Mechanistic Virtual.The results revealed that there is no statistically significant relationship between the organisational structure and the performance of virtual teams. We further noticed a higher variance in the performance scores of virtual teams which indicates that the performance of virtual teams are more inconsistent than that of Face-to-face teams. The key finding of the research is that virtual teams perform equally well in both organic and mechanistic organisational structures. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Studiens syfte var att undersöka individens upplevelse gällande samarbete, gruppsammanhållning, förtroende och kollegialt stöd i ett virtuellt team i jämförelse med ett traditionellt team. Studien genomfördes på en rikstäckande myndighet som arbetat med virtuella team i tio år. I studien deltog sju intervjupersoner varav fyra personer var män och tre personer kvinnor som valdes ut genom ett målstyrt urval. Personerna var mellan 28 och 62 år gamla och hade haft en anställning inom vald organisation under minst två år. Personerna ingick i samma team men hade olika platsbundenheter. Data samlades in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer och analyserades med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet bekräftade tidigare teori om utmaningar i utvecklande av samarbete, gruppsammanhållning, förtroende och kollegialt stöd inom virtuella team. Intervjupersonerna upplevde ett starkare samarbete, gruppsammanhållning, förtroende och kollegialt stöd för de kollegor som var samplacerade och såg därmed ingen nytta av det virtuella teamet.

Globalization, global competitive market forces and technological progress have made Geographically Distributed Development (GDD) possible and a necessity for most companies in the world. The software industry has consistently been at the forefront of exploring and implementing this business model. This thesis studies the key drivers of GDD, identifies the major challenges which global virtual teams face and existing frameworks for successful global virtual teams. A case study is used to validate the challenges and concerns of managing a global virtual team and a framework is proposed to help overcome the challenges and enable successful global software development. / text

Interest in the area of virtual work continues to increase with articles being written from different disciplinary perspectives - e.g. information systems (IS), management, psychology and transportation. In this paper, we map research on virtual work to (a) understand the intellectual base from which this field has emerged, (b) explore how this field has evolved over time, and (c) identify clusters of research themes that have emerged over time and the relationships between them. Specifically, we use co-citation analysis of research published in all social science disciplines to map the field at three points in time - 1995, 2000 and 2006. Our results show that the field has grown from nine research clusters in 1995 to sixteen in 2006. A comparison across these maps suggests that research in the cluster of "virtual teams" has gained significance even as research within some earlier clusters such as "urban planning and transportation" has lost ground. Our longitudinal analysis identifies relevant concepts, theories and methodologies that have emerged in the field of virtual work. This analysis can help interested researchers identify how they may want to contribute to the field of virtual work - by adding to popular clusters, enriching emerging smaller clusters or by acting as bridges across clusters. (author's abstract)

The use of virtual teams has increased during recent years due to technological development, and the current Covid-19 pandemic has driven the pace of this growing phenomenon to the next level. This study has looked in-depth at a single company within the Swedish insurance industry, how managerial practices differ between a virtual environment and a co-located environment regarding motivating employees. It has been identified that the managers have adjusted their way of working and employed several new practices to motivate their employees. Motivation is a complex topic, and many potential practices could influence motivation. The managers have carefully taken actions that enables the employees to execute their work tasks. Further, the findings show that the managers, in this case, have employed a lower degree of virtuality, and actively employed solutions that facilitate interactions and structure. Additionally, the employees have been empowered and given the authority to engage in decisions to a greater extent than when they were working co-located. While most employed practices aim to motivate the employees, other practices aim to fulfill other purposes. Hence, these practices could still influence the employees' motivation.

Abstract Background The growing phenomenon of esports during the last decade have sparked the rise of a billion dollar industry. Professional esport teams are now competing in arenas with an audience of millions watching at home. Virtual teams have been used actively since the 1990’s and are now the standard structure in esport organizations. Problem Most of the organizations in esports are based virtually which means that the team members act and communicate in a virtual environment. The explosive growth of esports have resulted in an industry with limited managerial experience. This have resulted in increasing difficulties managing and maintaining teams in esports organizations. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore how an esport organization can manage processes to achieve effective performance. This study is conducted to expand the knowledge on the role of a manager in esports organizations. Method The empirical data in this study was gathered using a qualitative approach. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with a managers and two players in two different esport organizations. The empirical data was complimented and compared with previous literature on virtual team performance. Results The empirical findings together with previous academic literature was analyzed to form several processes and implications that ultimately can lead an esport organization to better performance. The academic literature on virtual teams mostly match the empirical findings with a few important differences. The results offered an insight into the processes that an organization can utilize to achieve better performing teams.