The fast-growing trend of using virtual teams comes with challenges including the lack of knowledge by some virtual team leaders for managing virtual teams. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the communication strategies that leaders use to manage virtual teams in real time to enhance team performance. The sample was composed of 4 successful virtual team leaders of a multinational accounting firm whose headquarters is in the northeastern region of the United States of America. The conceptual framework that guided this study was Tuckman's small group developmental model. Data consisted of semistructured interviews and the review of archival company documents. The interview protocol, interview transcription, member checking, and methodological triangulation allowed for data reliability and validity. Five themes emerged regarding completion of the 4 stages (comprehension, synthesizing, theorizing, and recontextualizing) of data analysis: time synchronization, face-to-face interaction, continuous training, communication tools and frequency, and leadership training and development. The findings of this study could contribute to social change enhancing communication strategies used in virtual teams, which could result in higher employee satisfaction, which in turn could benefit the organizations and virtual employees, their families, and communities.

Frontline managers in the banking industry support geographically dispersed employees and face significant obstacles in communicating effectively to motivate their virtual team members. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore communication strategies frontline managers in the banking industry used to motivate virtual team members. Vroom's expectancy theory was the conceptual framework for the study. Participants consisted of 5 frontline banking managers in Michigan who had successfully implemented communication strategies to motivate virtual team members. Data were collected using face-to-face semistructured interviews, a review of company documents, and a review of company websites. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis following Yin's 5-step process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding the data. The 3 emergent themes were a clarification strategy, a technology strategy, and a motivation strategy. Frontline banking managers leading virtual teams might use the findings from this study to improve the clarity of their communications with team members, make effective use of technology in their communication strategy, motivate team members through consistent messaging, and offer adequate rewards and facilitating peer competition among team members. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential for frontline banking managers to improve job satisfaction and motivation among virtual team members, resulting in higher employment rates, improved local economic stability, and enhanced rapport and volunteerism within their local communities.

Nowadays modern organizations move in an incredible speed and have to be flexible and adaptable to constantly changing circumstances. Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) have been proved to be one of the means to handle this challenge. While it is said that GVTs bestow an organization with flexibility and enhanced creativity, research proves that the managing of these teams is quite challenging. The modern work stress factor time pressure is said to be omnipresent in nowadays organizations and therefore undoubtedly connected to this. However time pressure within teams has until now been somewhat “under-researched”. This study therefore aims to explore how time pressure is related to the main challenges of GVTs. The qualitative research is based on empirical data collected through 15 interviews with students who participated in a global virtual competition. The main findings show that time pressure affects GVTs and their functioning on several dimensions as well as the challenges connected to the teams can also cause time pressure.

It is critical to have frequent interactions an important factor in web-based learning in order to achieve better performance. Because it is easier to interact within a smaller group, many web-based classes divide all students into several groups in order to raise the frequencies of interactions. Therefore, web-based learning combined with virtual team has become a new learning model. Based on the observations on a web-based class, it is found that the frequencies and contents of interactions among classmates and among group members are different. However, so far, none of researches have focused on such phenomena. This research tries to explore the relationships between the interactions within the class and interactions within the group, and how these interactions relate to web-based learning performance. The data of this research is collected from a web-based class of NSYSU (http://cu.nsysu.edu.tw). There are 8 groups in the class. Each student is allowed to post articles on Class Discuss Board as well as Group Discuss Board. First, based on content analysis research method, all articles are classified into several types. Then the relationships between interactions within class and interactions within groups are examined by statistical analysis. It results in ten important and interesting findings.

Tourism is thought to be a prominent industry in the twenty-first century. Domestic tourism strives to break through the restriction of shallow-plate market by expanding channels and clients. With the aid of Kanting and the rise of Blue Fin Tuna Cultural Festival, Pingtung County possesses the potential to become an international tourism market. However, the two scenic spots do not fully represent the complete picture of Pingtung¡¦s cultural tourism. In 2008, Cape No. 7 aroused public attention, pushing the cultural tourism of Pingtung to another peak. It is clear that Pingtung harbors more potentials than what is seen. There are still other cultural scenic spots that are worth exploring. In order to upgrade the county¡¦s tourism potentials, this thesis focuses upon four cases of the county- Sun Ti Men, Dapeng Bay National Scenic Area and two religious historic monuments (Tunglung Temple and Wan-Chin Basilica) and adopts qualitative research method. The results and suggestions are as follows. I. With the popularization of internet and the legalization of media, the cost of communication falls in the recent decade, which is beneficial for tourism. Before the government¡¦s policies are enforced, the two industries spontaneously cooperate through strategic alliance. They are inextricably related. II. The cooperation of the two industries results in immediate marketing effects and the rise of fame; however, the tourist industry and the communication industry in Pingtung are micro-enterprises or small and medium sized enterprises. They have the ambition for creativity and transformation, but the shortage of funds and human resources might result in the dissatisfaction of tourists. Moreover, they also confront the restriction of being a local tourism market and the competition of global electronic commerce. To break through marketing bottleneck and maintain long-term prosperity become the primary tasks. III. The rise and spread of network effect makes every proletarian a communication medium, bringing local tourism low cost and high speed dissemination. In facing the competition of globalization, the entrepreneurs could draw support from the communication channels which are both low cost and effective, such as online websites, video sharing websites (YouTube) and mobile marketing (MMS message) to promote competitiveness, explore alternative marketing channels and expand international tourism markets.

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.

Research Aim: The aim of this study is to identify specific challenges impeding effective communication in a Global Virtual Team (GVT) operating in the energy sector. Research Method: This study uses a qualitative method, focusing on a single case study at the energy company Uniper. Data was obtained through 21 semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Results: Despite considerable developments in Information Communication Technology (ICT) over the last three decades, GVT still faces multiple communication challenges. Geographically dispersed teams are struggling to create team coherence and team efficiency. GVT needs additional attention from both corporations and academics in order for companies to successfully implement and reap the benefits of their virtual operations. Research limitations: A multiple case study approach which compares several corporations would be of interest. By extending the research scope, communication challenges can be better understood and awareness of how obstacles can be addressed will be improved. Practical implications: The presented findings acknowledge the existing challenges facing teams which operate in a virtual setting. This will allow corporations to be more aware of GVT challenges whilst minimizing or eliminating existing GVT challenges. Originality: This research aims to complement existing research focusing on extending knowledge about still existing GVT communication challenges.

Aspects such as the growing importance of teamwork and the emergence of new organizational schemes based on information and communication technologies highlight the need for understanding the mechanisms that promote effective leadership. In this sense, this paper analyzes the determinants of perceived risk and trust on a team leader. The research consists of two experiments. The first analyzes the influence of working environment—virtual or traditional—on the two dependent variables considered. The second experiment focuses on the virtual environment and analyzes the importance of the inclusion of a photo on the electronic leader’s profile in order to generate trust. Moreover, it analyzes the impact of perceived leader traits (attractive or expert) on the ability to build trust and the perception of risk. It shouldbe noted that these analyzes are contextualized in the initial stage of team development, poorly studied in the literature. Among others, the results reveal the greater difficulty of building trust in virtual environments, as well as the relevance of including graphical information on the profile and that the leader with expert traits has the greatest potential to buildtrust. These results have interesting managerial implications, which are discussed along with the main future research lines and limitations. / Aspectos como la creciente importancia del trabajo en equipo y la aparición de nuevos esquemas organizativos basados en las tecnologías de la información y de la comunicación ponen de manifiesto la necesidad de comprender los mecanismos que favorecen un liderazgo eficaz. En este sentido, el presente artículo analiza los determinantes del riesgo percibido y de la confianza hacía el líder de un equipo de trabajo. La investigación consta de dos experimentos. En el primero, se analiza la influencia del entorno de trabajo —virtual o tradicional— sobre las dos variables dependientes consideradas. El segundo experimento centra la atención en el entorno virtual, y analiza la importancia de incluir una imagen del líder en su perfil electrónico de cara a generar confianza. Asimismo, se analiza la incidencia de los rasgos percibidos en el líder (atractivo o experto) sobre la capacidad para generar confianza entre sus subordinados y su percepciónde riesgo. Cabe precisar que estos análisis quedan contextualizados en la etapa inicial de desarrollo del equipo, escasamente estudiada en la literatura previa. Entre otros, los resultados constatan la mayor dificultad de generar confianza en entornos virtuales, así como la importancia de presentar información gráfica en el perfil y que es el líder con rasgos de experto el que mayor capacidad de generar confianza posee. Estos resultados tienen interesantes implicaciones para la gestión, que son discutidas junto con las principales líneas de investigación futuras y limitaciones.

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.

This thesis explores issues of virtual teams. This research is running on premise of the University. The aim of this paper is to discover psychological aspects and specifics of University's virtual teams. Also, it should ascertain difference between common team cooperation and Managerial Game's team cooperation. The Managerial Game is some lesson which it has all preconditions for virtual team formation. In theoretical part, I am focused on theory about virtual organizations and virtual teams. In practical part, I am researching aims realization using by questionnaires and moderated interviews.