<p>Background: As companies are operating more and more globally, the need for increasingly coordinating and cooperating activities are becoming important. One solution to problems associated with work in globally dispersed teams can be to organize business activites, such as product development, virtually. A virtual setting for knowledge transfer is becoming a part of day-to-day activities for globally dispersed organizations such as Autoliv, the company in focus for this study. </p><p>Purpose: To explore to what extent and in what respect companies can, using virtual teams in the product development process, by codifying knowledge, improve communication and transfer of knowledge between business units within and between projects in order to improve and increase cooperation and coordination. </p><p>Method: The approach taken, has been an hermeneutic case study where we have carried out 16 in-depth interviews with a total of 17 respondents. The interviews have been carried out in face-to-face or videoconference settings with Autoliv employees from all over the world. </p><p>Results: Codification should be used as a complementary tool to the personalization strategy within knowledge intensive companies. The fact that Autoliv’s product development teams often are globally dispersed creates an even larger need for codification in order to reach efficiency in the knowledge sharing process. Positive effects from this can occur, such as help creating a common understanding, which will facilitate coordination and cooperation activities.</p>

As increasing number of organizations are using virtual teams, communication scholars have started to pay more attention to these relatively new forms of work. Past studies explored interpersonal (i.e., trust, attraction) and group dynamics (i.e., conformity, subgrouping) in virtual teams. Despite the documented effects of interpersonal behaviors and social categories on virtual group dynamics, there is a substantial gap in how these two factors influence language use in virtual teams. To shed light on this neglected area of research, this dissertation examined how teammates’ interpersonal behaviors and social categories affected language use in virtual team collaborations. 164 participants interacted in four-person teams using a synchronous chat program. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 24. 58% of participants were female and 42% were male. Participants used Windows Live Messenger to complete Straus & McGrath’s (1994) decision making task. Upon completing the task, participants filled out social attraction and social identification scales to be used for manipulation checks. Decision making sessions for each group were saved and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Program (LIWC) was used to examine language use. Linguistic style accommodation was measured using language style matching (LSM) metric. LSM measured the degree to which group members used similar language patterns. It was calculated by averaging the absolute difference scores for nine function word categories generated by LIWC. Similarly, linguistic markers such as word counts, negations, assents, and pronouns were acquired through LIWC output. The results suggested that having a dissenting member in the group was associated with higher linguistic style accommodation compared to having an assenting member. This result contradicted with the assumptions of communication accommodation theory (Giles, Mulac, Bradac, & Johnson, 1987), yet provided evidence for the validity of minority influence theory (Moscovici, Lage, & Naffrechoux, 1969) in virtual teams. Unexpectedly, there was no significant effect of social categories on linguistic style accommodation. The results also showed that negative behaviors were strongly associated with increased word counts, negations and the second person singular pronouns, whereas positive behaviors were associated with increased use of assents, tentative language, first person plural and singular pronouns. / text

The rapid development of information technology has enabled the use of virtual teams, which are teams whose members use IT to coordinate their activities from a dispersed setting. The phenomenon of virtual teams raises questions regarding issues related to this type of work, i.e. organisational identification and other problems related to virtual work. We have investigated how to best manage these teams in order for managers to be successful in the virtual environment by studying the advantages and disadvantages as well as success factors. The study has used a mixed methodology, where we have interviewed 8 managers that are active in virtual work and we have also conducted a survey to investigate how members of virtual teams perceives issues of organisational identification and issues related to virtual work. One of the most important findings of this study is that there was a positive relationship between level of organisational identification and level of virtuality, member involvement, and previous experience. The strongest predictor for organisational identification was although the level of member involvement. We can conclude that the main advantages of virtual work were cost reduction and the access to competence. The main disadvantage of virtual work was identified as lack of interpersonal relations in the workplace. Other disadvantages were found as unorganised meetings, unprioritised work as well as technological issues. The most important success factors were found to be Clear roles and Responsibilities, Pre-agreement/time plan, Defined Strategies. These three factors could be summarised as "What needs to be done, when and by who‟. Moreover, clear and distinct communication within the team in order to avoid misunderstandings, followed by User-friendly technology and to have previous experience of technology used was also identified as important factors in virtual work. Other success factors identified was the use of Face-to-Face meetings.

Globaliseringen har blivit något företag måste ha i åtanke när de opererar på den internationella marknaden. Detta innebär att Transnationella företag i dag är vanligt och dessa arbetar i virtuella team vilka stöter på andra problem än team som arbetar på samma fysiska plats. Denna studie undersökte vilka hinder i överföringsprocessen virtuella team ställs inför och om dessa hinder skiljer sig från de hinder som team som arbetar på samma fysiska plats ställs inför. Detta utfördes genom en fallstudie av två företag, ett i Sverige och ett i USA, som nyligen hade slagits samman till följd av ett uppköp. Företagen agerade som ett Transnationellt företag som arbetade i virtuella team på den globala marknaden. Resultatet av undersökningen visade att de huvudsakliga hindren i kunskapsöverföringsprocessen skilde sig något åt i virtuella team jämfört med team som arbetar på samma fysiska plats. Studien fann att de främsta hindren i kunskapsöverföringsprocessen i virtuella team är kausal tvetydighet, sändarens brist på motivation och komplicerade relationer mellan källan och mottagaren.

Global Software Development (GSD) is based on a geographical distance where teams are spread throughout the world. The related research have for a long time addressed the challenges presented by geographical distances. GSD is basically a necessity for many businesses to use in order to reduce development costs, reduce production time and to maintain high quality. The study aims to investigate the relationship between the reality of a specific maintenance project. Thus, our research question: How do distributed maintenance teams experience temporal, geographical and socio-cultural distances? To achieve the purpose of the study, we chose to perform a case study of a global consulting company which recently started a new system maintenance project. The data collection was done through interviews and observations at the premises of the consulting company. We have confirmed the previous research and come up with our own contributions to the field. The findings of our thesis provides aspects of communication, coordination and control related to the three distances stated in our research question. A new collective term has also emerged, off-shore blackboxing.

Virtualios komandos tapo įprastu reiškiniu šiomis dienomis. Informacinių technologijų naudojimas įgalino žmones, gyvenančius skirtingose pasaulio šalyse dirbti kartu net nepaliekant savo namų. Šio mokslinio darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti virtualių komandų darbo problematiką. Remiantis mokslinės literatūros analize, nustačiau, kokios yra virtualių komandų atsiradimo priežastys, kilmė, savybės bei tokių komandų klasifikavimo ypatumus. Taip pat nustatyta, kad dirbant virtualioje aplinkoje susiduriama su šešiomis probleminėmis sritimis: kultūriniai (geografiniai) skirtumai, pasitikėjimas komandos nariais, bendravimas, bendro tikslo suvokimo trūkumas, darbo koordinavimo problemos, techninės problemos. Remiantis mokslinės literatūros analize ir tradicinių komandų tyrimo modeliais, sukurtas naujas virtualios komandos veikimo tyrimo modelis. Remiantis išskirtomis probleminėmis sritimis, kurios aktualios dirbant virtualioje aplinkoje, iškeltos trys hipotezės H1: virtualios komandos lyderio vaidmuo sąlygoja komandinio pagrindo formavimąsi virtualioje komandoje, H2: darbo koordinavimo problemos virtualioje komandoje sąlygoja atliekamų darbų terminų nesilaikymą ir H3: dažnesnis virtualios komandos narių tarpusavio bendravimas virtualioje aplinkoje sąlygoja galutinio rezultato (siekiamo tikslo) kokybę. Išanalizavus atlikto tyrimo gautus rezultatus nustatyta, kad hipotezė H1 pasitvirtino, hipotezė H2 pasitvirtino tik iš dalies, o hipotezė H3 nepasitvirtino. Tyrimo rezultatų pagalba taip pat... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Virtual teams had become a common appearance in nowadays. The usage of informational technology made it possible for people around the world to work together without even leaving their own houses. The purpose of this research was to analyze the work problematic in virtual teams. With reference to nonfiction literature analysis, in this research I‘ve analyzed the origination of virtual teams, reasons, why such form of teams were created, their features and main peculiarities of their classification. I’ve also determined that there are six problematic areas that occur while working in virtual environment: cultural (geographical) differences, communication, trust, technical problems, work coordination problems and lack of shared goal. I’ve also created a research model of virtual team’s working based on traditional team’s models. Based on problematic areas, those occur while working in virtual environment, I’ve formulated three hypotheses: H1: leader’s part influences the formation of team’s base in virtual teams, H2: work coordination problems in virtual teams influence the teams being late and not being able to finish their work on time and H3: more frequent communication between team members in virtual environment influence the quality of team’s results. According to the results obtained after the performed research, H1 was confirmed, H2 was confirmed only partly and H3 wasn’t confirmed at all. The results of the research also helped to supplement the problematic areas... [to full text]

As the technology develops, the communication infrastructure continues to innovate and increase competitiveness. For companies in a country such as Brazil, communicating virtually may be very beneficial in order to become more efficient, as well as more global. Due to today’s technological development and globalization, virtual teamwork has increased. For virtual teamwork to be successful, the importance of virtual leadership needs to be addressed by the organizations. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate leadership in a virtual context with focus on its effect on teamwork in culturally diverse teams. Furthermore, due to its emerging market and economic relevance, this study will examine virtual leaders of multinational companies in Brazil. From our dialogues we found that there is a lack of technological infrastructure, education, and positive attitude for virtual communication and virtual leadership within multinational companies in Brazil. Brazil as a country, as well as companies in Brazil, needs to provide opportunities and possibilities for excellent virtual communication and leadership. For instance, facetual communication and attication are important concepts on the way for companies of becoming virtualized.

The purpose of this research study is to expand upon the body of knowledge and research regarding the conditions and processes for effective decision-making in virtual team environments. Specifically, this study sought to demonstrate that teams instructed in consensus produce higher quality decisions and attain the assembly effect (synergy) on complex decision tasks. In addition, teams in virtual communication environments will produce higher quality decisions and attain the assembly effect (synergistic decisions) less often than face-to-face teams on complex decision tasks. Mostly undergraduate students from business courses (N = 358) completed the NASA Survival Exercise complex decision task first individually, then as teams. Subjects were randomly assigned to teams; teams were randomly assigned to one of two decision mode conditions: i) instructed in the consensus decision technique; and ii) not-instructed in the consensus decision technique. Subjects were then randomly assigned to one of three communication mode environments: i) face-to-face; ii) instant messaging; and iii) videoconferencing. A 2 X 3 between-subjects factorial design was used to examine the research questions. The hypotheses compared several mean decision performance measures for three and four-person teams (n = 105) differing in decision mode (consensus instructed vs. not-instructed) and differing in communication mode (face-to-face) or one of two virtual communication environments (instant messaging or videoconferencing). Hypotheses for the decision mode main effect, the communication mode main effect and the interaction effect were not statistically significant. However, the decision performance measure means for communication mode and the interaction between communication mode and the decision mode were in the predicted direction. Future research is needed to clarify the influence of consensus instruction and technology-mediated communication environments on virtual teams.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-02T21:42:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rovilson Dias da Silva.pdf: 745174 bytes, checksum: 40122f99adf3c7a22ad34869bbd2b307 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-11 / There is great interest in the optimization of the efficiency of the work force. One of the major aspects is the availability of new technology, and how it interacts with the work force. The leadership has always been considered an essential feature of the administration process, however, how does it develop in virtual teams is not fully understood. Here we present some results on an investigation of the role of the leadership on the behaviour of the virtual teams. Ten subjects from a French company located in Sao Paulo region who work in different areas of Brazil were selected. The subjects received a standardized questionnaire and were then contacted by phone for further clarification. The results demonstrated that the leadership is considered highly relevant by the subjects. It was possible also to detect facilitating and troublesome elements in the relationship between the leader and the virtual team. The major facilitating elements appointed by the virtual team were freedom of action, time flexibility and avoidance of administrative/bureaucratic procedures. On the bad side, lack of discipline and daily routine, inadequate working conditions and a feeling of social isolation were considered major handcups.(AU) / No mundo contemporâneo as formas de atingir desempenho máximo são cruciais, resulta em altos investimentos em tecnologia com o intuito de melhorar, entre outros, o desempenho dos trabalhadores, por serem esses os responsáveis pela produção eficiente ou não de bens e serviços. A tecnologia tem sido essencial neste processo, tais recursos estão à disposição de toda e qualquer empresa. Resta então, otimizar o desempenho dos trabalhadores frente a tal cenário. Neste, a liderança que sempre foi marcante nos processos administrativos, precisa ser reavaliada com o objetivo de conhecer como ela se dá nas equipes virtuais. O trabalho em equipe num mesmo local ganhou força desde a última década e continua sendo propulsora de desempenho na década atual. Contudo, tais equipes ganharam novo papel: o de compartilhar o desenvolvimento de um bem ou serviço em locais distintos. Nasceram, então, as equipes virtuais. Este trabalho objetiva compreender como a liderança estimula a motivação dos integrantes de equipes virtuais. Com intuito de responder ao objetivo do trabalho foi realizado um estudo de caso exploratório em uma empresa multinacional francesa instalada na região metropolitana de São Paulo. O caso é composto por 10 sujeitos que cobrem todo território nacional, para a qual foi realizada entrevista pelos mesmos meios de comunicação utilizado pelos sujeitos. Como resultado obteve-se a idéia de que a liderança é de alta relevância para o caso estudado. Identificou-se que nas equipes virtuais há elementos facilitadores e dificultadores, de ordem pessoal, organizacional e de infra-estrutura.(AU)

Projetos Internacionais são uma conseqüência natural da diversidade de vantagens competitivas entre diversos países. Com o crescente desenvolvimento da Tecnologia de Informação e enorme expansão do mercado global, tais projetos passaram a empregar Equipes Virtuais para permitir a interação entre equipes remotas de projeto. Tal interação é composta por variados aspectos das Interfaces técnica, humana e organizacional. Este estudo pretende investigar as associações entre estes aspectos das interfaces da interação local-remota das equipes virtuais e o Sucesso percebido dos Projetos Internacionais de Tecnologia de Informação (TI) que dependem de tal interface virtual para alcançar seus objetivos. O foco em projetos de TI se baseia no fato de tais empresas disporem dos meios e experiência necessária para serem as pioneiras no uso de Equipes Virtuais, e acreditamos que elas sejam o modelo para que outras empresas empreguem semelhante implementação de projetos em futuro próximo. Foi realizada uma pesquisa junto a empresas de TI brasileiras, que reunissem as caracteristicas do estudo. Os projetos tiveram seus dados coletados através de questionários e tais dados foram analisados através de técnicas estatísticas. Como resultado, várias associações significativas foram determinadas entre os aspectos das interfaces e o sucesso dos projetos considerados. O estudo revelou ainda que elementos clássicos de gerenciamento de projetos estão entre os mais importantes dentre as associações observadas. Também foi feita uma análise do comportamento de variáveis intervenientes, como Porte e Complexidade, e constatou-se um efeito sobre a associação entre Interfaces e Sucesso. Tais resultados geraram recomendações para os gerentes de Projetos Internacionais. / International projects are a natural consequence of the diversity of competitive advantages among different countries. Considering the huge development of Information Tecnology and the overwhelming global market expansion, such projects start employing Virtual Teams in order to make remote project team interaction possible. Such interaction is composed of various technical, human and organizational Interface elements. This study intends to investigate the association between interface elements present on the local-remote interaction of virtual teams and the perceived success of the international Information Technology (IT) projects which depend on those virtual interface in order to achieve their goals. Our focus on IT projects relies on the fact that IT companies have the means and expertise needed to pioneer Virtual Teams usage, and we are confident that they will set the model for other companies to employ similar project implementation in the near future. A field study was done with Brazilian IT companies matching the caracteristics required. Data has been collected thru questionaries and statistic techniques were used on data analysis. As a result, many significant associations have been found between Interface elements and the Project Success. Further, the study find out classic project management elements among the most important associations found. We also considered the effect of control variables, such as Team Size and Project Complexity, and we found some effect into the association between Interfaces and Success. Those results generated recommendations for International Project Managers.