The use of Virtual Teams has become substantially more common place as the “global economy” has grown. Technology has enabled teams to collaborate across time and space, but can these teams perform as well or better than their co-located peers? The answer to this question is critical for companies considering offshoring or near shoring specific job functions. This question is also important for companies that require specialized resources that are unavailable in the local market place. The cost of relocating and centralizing specialized resources can be high and can be altogether avoided if virtual team performance is high. This paper addresses the performance question, discusses contingency factors impacting performance, and provides recommendations based both on the research and real world experience of the author / text

p. 1 - 156 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-01-31T19:02:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 888888.pdf: 1714463 bytes, checksum: 53a6f8ba90712a2ef47a359f632b6156 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Fatima Cleômenis Botelho Maria (botelho@ufba.br) on 2013-02-04T15:44:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 888888.pdf: 1714463 bytes, checksum: 53a6f8ba90712a2ef47a359f632b6156 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-02-04T15:44:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 888888.pdf: 1714463 bytes, checksum: 53a6f8ba90712a2ef47a359f632b6156 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Neste estudo, foram examinados fatores que influenciam o estado potencial para virtualização de um escritório de projetos, também conhecido como PMO, na percepção dos profissionais de gerenciamento de projetos filiados a dois dos principais fóruns eletrônicos de discussão sobre o tema no Brasil. O estudo empírico foi conduzido através da utilização de instrumentos desenvolvidos pelo próprio autor da pesquisa, que permitiram quantificar percepções como: contribuição da estrutura organizacional para gerenciar projetos, grau de maturidade da metodologia de gestão de projetos, performance atual da organização, papel estratégico da Tecnologia da Informação (TI), importância dada pelos clientes à estrutura organizacional responsável pelos projetos, uso de ferramentas e software colaborativos, além dos ganhos obtidos com a implementação de um PMO virtual. A identificação destas percepções foi definida a partir dos estudos do PMI (2004), Kerzner (2002), Takahashi (2000), Garfein (2005), Rabechini Júnior e Pessôa (2005), Ferreira (1994) e Vargas (2004), que fundamentaram a criação de tais instrumentos de pesquisa e também do modelo de análise. Além dessas percepções, foram coletados dados demográficos dos participantes e do segmento de atuação da organização em que ele atua. Obteve-se 162 questionários respondidos, que foram aplicados através da Internet. A partir dos resultados obtidos, buscouse estabelecer relações entre as sete percepções anteriormente citadas, sendo ainda gerado um segundo questionário, também aplicado através da Internet, porém numa amostra diferente, para verificação do modelo conceitual proposto, que obteve 73 respondentes. O foco dominante consistiu na percepção da contribuição da estrutura organizacional para gerenciar projetos, ao contrário da hipótese formulada. A amostra apresentou altos índices de correlação entre tais percepções e foi possível observar o equilíbrio obtido como fruto da validação do modelo, onde a diferença percentual entre a percepção com maior influência no estado potencial para virtualização de um PMO (uso de ferramentas potencializadoras do PMO virtual) e aquela com a menor influência (importância dada pelos clientes à estrutura organizacional), foi de apenas, aproximadamente 4%. Tal equilíbrio destoou daqueles obtidos a partir do modelo inicialmente proposto, através dos quais se verificou uma clara preponderância da percepção no tocante à contribuição da estrutura organizacional para gerenciar projetos. Estudos posteriores, de maior abrangência, devem ser conduzidos para aprofundar tais diferenças encontradas entre as percepções, quando argüidas de forma direta, daquelas obtidas indiretamente. Foi conduzida análise de regressão simples e múltipla, demonstrando a influência da maturidade da metodologia de gestão de projetos mediada por outras percepções que compõem o modelo de análise, como a percepção da performance atual da organização, e da contribuição da estrutura organizacional para gerenciar projetos. / Salvador

Selten wird Software nur an einem Standort entwickelt. Teams oder Teammitglieder können auf der ganzen Welt verstreut sein, um gemeinsam an einem Produkt oder einer Aufgabe zu arbeiten. Gleichzeitig werden agile Vorgehen bei der Entwicklung neuer Software zunehmend populär, die aber einen hohen Kommunikationsaufwand zwischen allen Beteiligten erfordern. Wo anfänglich ein Widerspruch zu vermuten ist, zeigen die Erfahrungen der Saxonia Systems AG, dass die agilen Werte und Prinzipien die verteilte Entwicklung positiv beeinflussen können. Mit der Zeit haben die Teams Erfahrungen gesammelt und Best Practices definiert. Daraus entstand das Konzept „Ein Team Ein Office“ (ETEO), welches heute einen virtuellen Projektraum, ausgewählte Kollaborationswerkzeuge, angepasste Prozesse und Rollen und ein motiviertes Team umfasst. In diesem Artikel werden wir anhand des VIST-Modells zeigen, dass agile und verteilte Arbeit kein Widerspruch ist und wie wir mit ETEO die agile und verteilte Softwareentwicklung unterstützen.

<p>As the world is becoming more and more globalized, business has to take the global marketplace into serious consideration. This is not just about new markets to sell products in, but also where to locate production and where to source resources from. With the launch of new communication technology it has also become easier and easier to cooperate across national borders without having to meet face-to-face. This has led to an increased demand on project managers concerning how to manage the communication within their project teams since they now can have members located in different geographical locations.</p><p>The main purpose of this research was to develop a deeper understanding about how project managers are managing communication within virtual teams. This was firstly done by through a literature review of the present knowledge in the field identifying five sub topics of interest.</p><ul><li>Communication channels<strong></strong></li><li>Skills for effective communication <strong></strong></li><li>Dealing with technology<strong></strong></li><li>Dealing with differences in culture and language<strong></strong></li><li>Managing trust and relationships<strong></strong></li></ul><p>These sub topics were used through the rest of the thesis as the structure of the argumentation. The empirical research consisted of a deductive interview study of four respondents within the ICT sectors in Sweden and Denmark.</p><p>Through the analysis and the conclusions all the topics were discussed in detail, where we got to know more about how they can be used to manage communication in virtual project teams. Something that came up in the analysis was the role of corporate culture in dealing with challenges in virtual communication, which in the end was suggested as a main topic for future research.</p><p>Different communication channels showed to be good for different things, both in terms of the efficiency of the communication but also for things such as facilitating engagement and accountability. There seem to be no clear understanding of what skills are required for efficient work in virtual teams, both in the present knowledge in the field and among the respondents. For managing technology it showed to be important to make sure that the technology works, that the team members know how to use it and why, and to find ways to warm up the media by making it more personal. Differences in culture and language were found to best be dealt with by building trust within the team and creating an understanding of the existing differences. Asynchronous communication showed to be effective for dealing with bigger language problems. The solutions for managing trust and relationships mainly revolved around social communication and getting to know each other better in the beginning, and around regular and predictable communication in the long run.</p>

As global markets transcend nationalities in search for key advantages in cost,quality and flexibility, the once unbridgeable limit of geographical location isovercome by faster Internet speed lines, online services and tools that allowindividuals and businesses to interact regardless of space and time. This thesis studies the transition from traditional project management to virtualenvironments and the impact that this new paradigm has over dispersed teamsand their interactions among themselves and the project manager. The focus of the study lays on the concept of motivation within virtual projectmanagement and the role of the project manager to overcome the specificchallenges of this new working scenario. Additionally, parallels are drawn on themotivation features that virtual project management systems offer to projectmanagers as well as team members. This study shows the importance of bridging the difficulties of motivatingdispersed teams and how traditional techniques of motivation have a muchlesser impact on team members. The idea of progress and self accomplishmentare brought forth as the strongest motivators for dispersed teams. Finally, this study exposes the shortcomings of current projectware as a tool tomotivate teams and explores the idea of applying gamification techniques tothese software packages to lift the motivation responsibilities off the shoulders ofproject managers.

As the world is becoming more and more globalized, business has to take the global marketplace into serious consideration. This is not just about new markets to sell products in, but also where to locate production and where to source resources from. With the launch of new communication technology it has also become easier and easier to cooperate across national borders without having to meet face-to-face. This has led to an increased demand on project managers concerning how to manage the communication within their project teams since they now can have members located in different geographical locations. The main purpose of this research was to develop a deeper understanding about how project managers are managing communication within virtual teams. This was firstly done by through a literature review of the present knowledge in the field identifying five sub topics of interest. Communication channels Skills for effective communication Dealing with technology Dealing with differences in culture and language Managing trust and relationships These sub topics were used through the rest of the thesis as the structure of the argumentation. The empirical research consisted of a deductive interview study of four respondents within the ICT sectors in Sweden and Denmark. Through the analysis and the conclusions all the topics were discussed in detail, where we got to know more about how they can be used to manage communication in virtual project teams. Something that came up in the analysis was the role of corporate culture in dealing with challenges in virtual communication, which in the end was suggested as a main topic for future research. Different communication channels showed to be good for different things, both in terms of the efficiency of the communication but also for things such as facilitating engagement and accountability. There seem to be no clear understanding of what skills are required for efficient work in virtual teams, both in the present knowledge in the field and among the respondents. For managing technology it showed to be important to make sure that the technology works, that the team members know how to use it and why, and to find ways to warm up the media by making it more personal. Differences in culture and language were found to best be dealt with by building trust within the team and creating an understanding of the existing differences. Asynchronous communication showed to be effective for dealing with bigger language problems. The solutions for managing trust and relationships mainly revolved around social communication and getting to know each other better in the beginning, and around regular and predictable communication in the long run.

Informationsteknologins utveckling under de senaste decennierna har möjliggjort en utveckling mot en allt mer global värld. Marknaden internationaliseras och geografiskt avstånd väger inte längre lika tungt när ett samarbete ska etableras. Genom att lösningar för elektronisk kommunikation blir mer spridda, lättillgängliga och billiga, och i takt med att teknikmognaden i organisationer och hos medarbetare ökar, har inte bara den teoretiska organisationsbilden utan även vardagen i många företag börjat präglas av en ny geografisk bredd. Den här studien fokuserar på hur projektledare arbetar med lag- eller teamkänsla i projektgrupper som verkar i en miljö där de fysiska mötena är få eller helt saknas. Undersökningen fokuserar på de praktiska verktyg och arbetssätt som projekt­ledaren har och kan använda i projektet för att skapa lag- eller teamkänsla. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med åtta projektledare i Sverige. De representerar olika branscher inom offentlig och privat verksamhet och arbetar med distribuerade team av olika typ och storlek. Materialet analyserades baserat på sju teman identifierade i tidigare forskning. De projektledare som intervjuas arbetar alla med att stärka teamkänslan gruppen men väljer att fokusera på olika aspekter och verktyg. Kommunikation och tydlighet löper som röda trådar genom de strategier som tillämpas. Trots att projekten är virtuella uppfattar respondenterna i undersökningen att gruppens fysiska möte är betydelsefullt för att teamkänsla ska skapas. Grundläggande är också en välfungerande teknisk plattform med stöd för synkron kommunikation. / The development of information technology during the recent decades has enabled a shift towards an increasingly global world. The market becomes international and the geographical distance is of less importance when a new partnership is to be established. As solutions for electronic communication becomes more widespread, accessible and cheap and the technology maturity in organizations and among its employees increase, not only the theoretical organizational image, but also the everyday life of many companies has started to be characterized by a new geographic spread. This study focuses on project teams operating in an environment where the physical meetings are few or non-existent. So-called virtual project teams. The study examines how a project manager for a virtual project works with team cohesiveness within his virtual project team. The study focuses on the practical tools and approaches that the project manager has and can use in the project to create team cohesiveness. The survey is conducted by qualitative interviews with eight project managers working with distributed teams in Sweden, representing various industries in both the public and private sectors. The material is analyzed based on seven themes identified in previous research and in responses. The result shows that the project leaders in the study all are working to strengthen the team cohesiveness. The project managers chose to focus on different aspects and tools in the process. Communication and clarity are common themes in the strategies that the project managers apply. Even though the projects are virtual the physical meeting is pointed out as important in shaping team cohesiveness. Well-functioning technical platforms that support synchronous communication are part of the foundation for the team cohesiveness in a virtual team.

Les équipes virtuelles deviennent de plus en plus courantes dans les organisations actuelles pour la conception de produit, service, système ou processus organisationnel. Etant donné que des partenaires potentiels de ces projets de conception peuvent être répartis dans de nombreux pays, ces organisations doivent accéder à des modes de communication dynamiques qui permettent cette mondialisation. De nombreuses organisations ont répondu aux contraintes d’un tel environnement dynamique par l’introduction d’équipes virtuelles. Celles-ci ont des caractéristiques particulières incluant la distance géographique, temporelle et des différences organisationnelles et culturelles. Dans notre travail, nous proposons une conception préliminaire d’un outil d’aide au montage d’équipes virtuelles dénommé Virtual Team Building Support System (VTB Support System). Le VTB Support System fonctionne comme un outil d’analyse, communication et planification du montage d’équipes virtuelles dans le domaine de développement de nouveaux produits. Cet outil est un support qui facilite la constitution d’une équipe virtuelle non seulement dans des organisations mais aussi dans des projets sans réelle structure organisationnelle. Le VTB Support System identifie des besoins et apporte des recommandations et des solutions techniques adaptables permettant la constitution d’une équipe virtuelle. Dans un environnement virtuel, les membres d’une équipe projet peuvent changer fréquemment, ceci nécessite d’identifier les exigences d’un système de support d’aide au montage de telles équipes. Le processus de constitution d’une équipe virtuelle ne se limite pas uniquement au développement du groupe et aux aspects ressources humaines ou des interactions humaines, mais prend également en compte l’organisation des processus de travail. Les recommandations pour la constitution d’équipes virtuelles sont considérées sous trois domaines qui sont précisément présentés dans notre travail par management de projet virtuel (VPM), management de compétence (CM) et l’interaction d’équipe virtuelle (VTI). Dans le but d’élaborer le VTB Support System, nous choisissons l’approche globale de l’analyse fonctionnelle. Cela nous permet d’identifier toutes les fonctions du VTB Support System qui décrivent les exigences d’un tel système. Ensuite, nous utilisons le Quality Function Deployment (QFD), en particulier la «maison de qualité», pour déduire des recommandations sur les fonctions les plus importantes détectées par l’analyse fonctionnelle. La maison de qualité permet de représenter dans une matrice les recommandations ou solutions techniques et les fonctions (issues d’une analyse fonctionnelle) et d’évaluer si une recommandation/ solution satisfait une ou plusieurs fonctions. Le VTB Support System est appliqué dans trois cas différents qui soulignent l’aspect générique du modèle. / Virtual teams become more and more courant in today’s organisations for New Product Development (NPD) of a new product, service, system or organisational process. As potential partners of those projects are spread out over countries, organisations need access to a dynamic communication to increase de-centralisation and globalisation of work processes. Many organisations have responded to this dynamic environment by introducing virtual teams. These virtual teams have specific characteristics including distance of geography or time and cultural or organisational differences. In this PhD thesis we provide a preliminary design of a tool of support to build virtual teams, named Virtual Team Building Support System (VTB Support System). The VTB Support System functions as tool of analysis, communication and planning for virtual team building in the domain of NPD. This tool is a support that facilitates the constitution of a virtual team not only in organisations but also in projects without a real organisational structure. The VTB Support System identifies requirements and provides recommendations and adaptable technical solutions that permit to build a virtual team. In a virtual environment, project members can change frequently, which necessitates to identify the requirements of a VTB Support System to build those virtual teams. The process of virtual team building is not just limited to team development under the aspect of human resources or human interactions but takes also the organisation of working processes into account. The recommendations for virtual team building take into consideration three domains that are precisely presented in this work as Virtual Project Management (VPM), Competence Management (CM) and Virtual Team Interaction (VTI). In order to provide the VTB Support System, we choose the holistic approach of the functional analysis. This allows us to identify all the functions of the VTB Support System that describe the requirements of such a system. Then, we use the tool of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), especially the “house of quality”, to deduce substantiated recommendations of the most important functions that are detected by the functional analysis. The house of quality allows representing the recommendations or technical solutions and the functions (issues of a functional analysis) in a matrix and to evaluate if a recommendation or a technical solution satisfies the demand of one or multiple functions. The VTB Support System is applied in three different cases, which underlines the generic aspect of the model.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The South African financial services sector has experienced phenomenal growth over the past two decades, and financial institutions that were previously regional are now operating nationally. To enhance operations and meet customer expectations, financial institutions have turned to technology and virtual project teams. There is mounting evidence of the use of virtual project teams throughout the financial services sector; however, the effectiveness of virtual project teams in South Africa, and the support they receive, is yet to be determined. This case study aims to investigate the effectiveness of virtual project teams by focusing on the organisational systems and group dynamics of the virtual project teams at one of South Africa's leading financial institutions. The study involves a cross -sectional survey conducted by means of a Lickert-scale questionnaire distributed among all 23 project team members (10 in Cape Town and 13 in Johannesburg). The findings are predicted to indicate the support provided by this particular financial institution to the virtual project teams’ operations, while also identifying the organisational systems in place and measuring the effectiveness of the virtual project teams. The financial institution on which this case study is based gave consent for the case study to be conducted, on condition of anonymity.

Selten wird Software nur an einem Standort entwickelt. Teams oder Teammitglieder können auf der ganzen Welt verstreut sein, um gemeinsam an einem Produkt oder einer Aufgabe zu arbeiten. Gleichzeitig werden agile Vorgehen bei der Entwicklung neuer Software zunehmend populär, die aber einen hohen Kommunikationsaufwand zwischen allen Beteiligten erfordern. Wo anfänglich ein Widerspruch zu vermuten ist, zeigen die Erfahrungen der Saxonia Systems AG, dass die agilen Werte und Prinzipien die verteilte Entwicklung positiv beeinflussen können. Mit der Zeit haben die Teams Erfahrungen gesammelt und Best Practices definiert. Daraus entstand das Konzept „Ein Team Ein Office“ (ETEO), welches heute einen virtuellen Projektraum, ausgewählte Kollaborationswerkzeuge, angepasste Prozesse und Rollen und ein motiviertes Team umfasst. In diesem Artikel werden wir anhand des VIST-Modells zeigen, dass agile und verteilte Arbeit kein Widerspruch ist und wie wir mit ETEO die agile und verteilte Softwareentwicklung unterstützen.