Abstract: Social media has changed the way many team members “meet” for the first time. Due to the increased use of virtual environments, it is now common for team members to examine each other’s profile on a firm’s enterprise social networking site (ESNS) in lieu of an initial face-to-face meeting. This study examines how the information provided in an ESNS impacts impression formation at the initial formation of a virtual team, specifically perceptions of social capital (i.e., relational, structural, and cognitive). To examine social capital perceptions, the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is utilized to understand how not only information impacts these perceptions but the way in which the user processes information to form the perceptions. Toulmin’s model of argumentation is used in conjunction with ELM to understand the strength of the argument presented. Results suggest that users evaluate ESNS information differently depending on the type of processing (heuristic or systematic) and that these social capital perceptions influence preferences for different team members.

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of human dimensions, team climates, and technological features on Global Virtual Team (GVT) performance in the Malaysian Global Business Services (GBS) industry Attention has also been paid to examine the moderating effect of team diversity and the extent of virtuality on GVT performance Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using structured questionnaire and tested using partial least square – structural equation modelling The authors collected 263 sample and the assessment of reflective measurement models, structural model, reliability and validity were conducted subsequently Findings This paper found that team climates like team cohesion, team confidence, and team knowledge, skills, and abilities demonstrated different impact on the human dimensions which include trust and creativity It will then subsequently affect GVTs’ performance Besides, team diversity which comprised of three major components that include age diversity, functional diversity, and attitudes/values diversity was found to moderate the relationships between the antecedents and consequent In spite of that, the extent of virtuality was found to have no moderating effects on the relationships between the team creativity and trust and perceived team performance Originality/value As nowadays an increasing number of firms are becoming global, inquiring into GVTs efficient management is of crucial importance for successful implementation of open innovation practices, while GBS companies could represent the most suitable setting to examine the GVT’s underlying principles This paper integrates adaptive structuration theory with input-mediator-output-input model to provide a holistic study on GVTs’ performance In addition, this study also illustrated how the extent of virtually can be measured quantitatively

Abstract: The global product development is done by global teams being physical, Virtual Teams or blend in-between. Millennials are the new engineers and designers that conform Virtual Teams. Virtual Teams members interact through various electronic media. Even the social collaboration platforms such as Facebook, Skype, Whatsapp, etc are software tools or apps designed to enable social interaction of a group of people; these tools facilitate communication, transfer and share images, videos and files, organize events or meetings. Furthermore these tools are available in smartphones, tablets and/or personal computers in many different operating systems, so they are well known for Millennials generation. This article presents case studies of global projects where social collaboration platforms solve the communication constraints between students from different countries generating good results.

Abstract: In this study we examine the influence of group atmosphere on perceived team conflict and the development of shared understanding in short duration virtual teams. We conducted a laboratory experiment with 24 short duration virtual teams that were engaged in data model development task. The findings of the study suggest that group atmosphere has strong influence on both development of shared understanding and perceived team conflict. In addition, we also find that national cultural diversity facilitates the development of shared understanding in virtual teams.

Abstract: The use of virtual teams continues to rise due to various factors such as increased pressure from competing forces, globalization, the need for improved efficiency, and technological advances. Despite the various benefits associated with high performing virtual teams, these specialized groups also experience extremely high failure rates. The increased failure can come as a result of various challenges including a lack of knowledge-sharing, limited communication, team members who lack self-managed and virtual teaming experience, and social loafing. While increased challenges are prevalent during virtual teaming arrangements, there seems to be evidence supporting that virtual team performance can be improved when team members have higher emotional quotients. This paper explores the potential benefits of emotionally intelligent virtual team members to understand how those with higher emotional quotients can potentially improve project success. The research involved analyzing a phenomenological study that interviewed 31 self-managed virtual team members via electronic questionnaires and surveys. This study follows up the original empirical research with an interpretative analytical review of the phenomenological findings pertaining to emotional intelligence and virtual teams. A thorough discussion regarding the findings and recommendations are provided.

Abstract: Traditional approaches are still dominant in virtually all construction projects in Malaysia. This was highlighted as the main barrier for further developing the Industrialised Building System (IBS) construction process. Indeed, traditional approaches implemented in IBS have been recognised by several studies as failing to support effective work teams when team processes are disconnected from each other (fragmented), thus failing to produce an effective communication process. Additionally, IBS construction involves large numbers of teams with different expertise and from different organisations, all of which are handled by different numbers of management processes, for instance in planning, manufacturing, transportation, positioning and assembling the structures that involve minimal additional site work. With the increasing demand in building bigger and better buildings and structures, construction projects are becoming more complex to manage by project managers, as they have to manage every single phase by coordinating and monitoring the entire project while at the same time, consider different values and interests from every project team members. Hence, high intensity levels of communication processes involving project team members are importance in order to produce high quality information in decision-making process and conveying instructions to all team members. Regarding the issues of communication practices inside construction projects, this paper explores how communication is applied by the project team management in managing different construction stages inside an IBS construction project with several of stakeholders from diverse locations, and different cultural and organisational backgrounds. Even though a few studies had highlighted communication barriers in the construction field, only a few investigated virtual team practices in the IBS construction industry, especially in Malaysian construction. In this context, preliminary interviews were conducted on several project managers with vast experience in managing IBS construction projects. The content analysis method was used as the technique to ensure the gathered data were comprehensively and accurately analysed. The results showed that most project teams communicated virtually within and among teams for the duration of the project implementation, which the phenomenon is resulting from modern organisational form. There are five categories associated with virtual team work environment, namely distributed area, open discussion, team attitude, communication technology, and reliability of task, all of which are exceptionally pertinent in virtual team, compared to traditional team, work interaction practices.

Abstract: This research attempted to connect the links between leadership styles and virtual team effectiveness. Linking leadership styles with virtual team effectiveness can result in virtual esprit de corp...

Abstract: iii Acknowledgements v Table of

Abstract: We summarized other researchers work and summarized some challenges in virtual teams. Due to the time and resource limitation, although we covered the common challenges in a virtual environment; we might still miss some. Virtual leaders need to notice that those challenges are interrelated with each other. It‘s not wise to just focus on some of them and ignore others. Getting familiar with the relationships among those challenges and how they affect each other will be very helpful for leadership effectiveness in virtual teams. Team leaders will need more training, specifically in delegation. Given that, team members need to be able to share leadership responsibilities and training programs ought to be developed in recognition and support of that. A contribution to this problem is that few companies have extensive expertise in how to operate and engage in virtual teams, and they create them without understanding how they differ from regular team.

Abstract: E-tourism combines e-commerce and Information Technology (IT) in the tourism industry. It can be defined as the investigation, strategy, application and implementation of e-commerce solutions and IT in the travel, leisure, and tourism industry. Training is required to update the skills and knowledge of employees. This learning is mandatory for performance enhancement of job-related tasks. Training and development also strives to increase organisational commitment, which can be defined as an effective connection with the organisation that encourages the employee to work productively as well as to continue to work with the organisation. Organisational commitment can be characterised by the willingness of employees to contribute to the objectives of the organisation. Previous works in the literature have investigated e-training and development and its correlation with e-tourism performance. However, the impact of organisational commitment on the relationship between e-training and development and e-tourism performance, particularly in a virtual team setting, is not well understood. Therefore, this paper investigates the mediatory role of organisational commitment on e-training and IT project performance for virtual teams working in the e-tourism field. The primary objective of this paper is to prove that improvement in e-training and development and organisational commitment of e-tourism virtual teams will also improve the job performance of the virtual teams. This work is justified from the needs of current organisations that are embracing a more virtual working environment, with the aim of catering to detached workforces—internally and externally—that communicate through IT and thus further improve organisational performance. The results help determine whether or not e-training and development helps employee participation in training programs and their perceptions towards it. The findings also prove that organisational commitment is a crucial factor affecting the productivity and efficiency of employees in the workplace.

Abstract: Many organizations that have the global software development (GSD) projects use communication technologies to connect their virtual teams. However, the virtual team faces various challenges and issues in the process of the GSD. One of the significant challenges is obtaining an efficient communication among team members. This study focuses on the communication factors among the virtual teams highlighted in the literature. The communication factors are related to the temporal distances, geographical distances, socio-cultural, access to training, technological problems that hindering communications, the communication within the status of development process, personal communication skills and language differences. The objective of this study is to examine the communication factors and identify the related issues which are commonly occurring between the virtual teams in the global software development. A survey was conducted in different sectors. The findings indicate that some of important points related to the communication factors contribute to the success of the GSD.

Abstract: Leadership Communications Strategies for Enhancing Virtual Team Performance by

Abstract: Team identification is an important predictor of team success. As teams become more virtual, team identification is expected to become more important. Yet, the dimensions of virtuality such as geographic dispersion, reliance on electronic communications and diversity in team membership can undermine team identification. To better understand the impact of virtuality, the authors conducted a study with 248 employees in 55 teams to examine the complex and codependent effects of virtuality. Results indicate that although geographic dispersion and perceived differences can undermine team identification, reliance on electronic communications increases team identification and weakens the negative relationship between perceived differences and team identification.

Abstract: Numerous educational institutions made efforts to provide their students opportunities to benefit from cross-cultural experiences in order to take advantages of multicultural and international interactions [1, 2, 3, 4]. This study is looking at the specific challenge that is represented by the selection and use of the appropriate technology for Global Virtual Team (GVT) and virtual communication. This specific study evaluates the impact of GVT based experiential learning in business education at Arnhem Business School, the Netherlands. It tries to identify the major challenges global virtual teams face and existing frameworks for successful global virtual teams. It provides also evidence for the usefulness of GVT-based approaches and facilitates a better understanding of the challenges (use of technology and virtual communication in particular) and learning opportunities in using this type of experiential learning activity at Arnhem Business School.

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between relationship communication and knowledge sharing by exploring the mediating effect of interpersonal trust in a virtual team environment. A multiple-mediation model was developed to examine this relationship, where cognitive trust and affective trust are defined as mediation variables between relationship communication and knowledge sharing. The main results of this study demonstrated significant positive correlations between relationship communication, trust, and knowledge sharing. Furthermore, this study identified interpersonal trust as playing an important role in mediating the relationship between task communication and knowledge sharing. However, only the rational aspect of trust has an impact, unlike that of the emotional aspect. Thus, only cognitive trust was found to be a mediator for knowledge sharing. This research model can help virtual teams resolve some of the emerging organizational challenges by increasing knowledge sharing.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and programs are presented for finding a virtual team in a company based on the skills identified in a job posting, such that the virtual team has similar skills to the job posting skills. One method includes operations for generating member skill metrics for members of a social network, and for detecting a request for information about a company's job posting. Further, the method includes operations for determining job skill metrics associated with the job posting, and for calculating a similarity value between the job posting and employees of the company who are members of the social network, the similarity value being based on a comparison of the job skill metrics with the member skill metrics of each employee. The method further includes identifying a virtual team of employees having similarity values above a predetermined threshold and presenting the virtual team in a user interface.

Abstract: Summary The necessity of customer oriented approach, the ability of quick adapting to changing demand and the expectations of reducing project costs have recently resulted in a strong development of cooperation between various organizations implementing joint ventures. Projects-oriented organizations, creating virtual project teams, have become more and more popular. Dissemination of this organizational form has induced the authors to consider the real benefits achieved by enterprises using virtual project teams to implement projects. The purpose of the article was to try to calculate the benefits that companies can obtain when implementing projects, by replacing traditional project teams with virtual project teams (ceteris paribus). The presented research results show the possibility of achieving significant financial benefits due to the use of virtual project teams to carry out the projects implemented in many units with a large geographical dispersion.

Abstract: ............................................................................................................................................................ IV CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND .................................................................................................. 1 1.

Abstract: Recruitment is the process of finding, assessing and selecting new personnel, which many organisations does manually or use a standalone system. As the requirements or functionalities such as classification of skill-sets and mapping of profile with job specification increases, it become difficult to achieving the objectives through the current systems, manual or standalone. This has become a problem for many Universities, and hampers central coordination of recruitment activities, such as search for appropriateness and assessments of students and faculty members’ skill-sets and capabilities to undertake roles and responsibilities. The challenge gets worst when students and faculty members are spread across universities or countries, in that, other factors, such as culture and language, which can be of influence, have to be considered. Therefore, a collaboration between universities in different countries need to develop a system that can address the factors of influence in a recruitment system. Thus, the objectives of the study were to examine and understand the factors that influences recruitment system, and develop a web-based recruitment system using virtual team. The use of virtual team was primarily to imbibe culture from different countries. In achieving the objectives of the study, the qualitative methods was followed, in which a case (virtual team), which consisted of participants from three countries were employed. Thus, qualitative data were collected using open-questionnaire, and the data was interpretively analysed. Based on the analysis of the data, three factors, technology, culture and governance were found to be of critical influence to the development of software, by using a virtual team. Each of these factors has a fundamental contribution to the success or failure of collaborative software development, as they manifests through various elements.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for finding a virtual team in a company based on the skills of a member in the social network, such that the virtual team members have similar skills to the member One method includes an operation for generating skill metrics for members of a social network A request by a first member is detected for presentation of information about a company, and a similarity value between the first member and employees of the company that are members of the social network is calculated The similarity value is based on a comparison of the skill metrics of the first member with the skill metrics of each employee A virtual team of a plurality of employees having the similarity value above a predetermined threshold is identified, and the virtual team is presented in a user interface of the first member

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for finding virtual teams for a member according to a company's organizational hierarchy and the member's professional skills One method includes operations for generating skill metrics for members, detecting a request by a member for information about a company, and identifying divisions within the company and employees of each division Further, the method calculates a similarity value, between the member and employees of each division, that is based on a comparison of the skill metrics of the member with the skill metrics of each employee Further, the method includes operations for identifying a virtual team for each division that includes employees of the respective division, ranking the virtual teams based on the similarity values between the member and the employees in each virtual team, and presenting one or more of the virtual teams, selected based on the ranking, in a user interface

Abstract: Virtual Worker Perceptions of Retention in the Financial Services Industry by Shelly D. Zaldivar MBA, University of Dallas, 2010 BS, Southwestern Assemblies of God University, 2007 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Management, Leadership, and Organizational Change Walden University August 2018 Abstract As the need for cost-efficient, talented teams continues to grow, leaders often consider the use of globally dispersed teams, also defined as virtual teams. Despite the apparent benefits, the unique needs of virtual team members are often overlooked in general leadership, change management, and retention discussions. Leaders need to understand contributing factors to the attrition of virtual workers. The foundation for this research included theories of employee retention and change management. The research question for this qualitative phenomenological study focused on the lived experiences of current or former virtual financial services workers regarding job retention. Participants were chosen using purposeful sampling resulting in the selection of 15 individuals who had worked on a virtual financial services team within the past 3 years. The researcher used open-ended interview questions to report the lived experiences of virtual team members related to attrition, retention, and change. The researcher used the phenomenological descriptive approach for the analysis. A combination of hand coding and coding software revealed recurring themes. Themes from the results of the study included challenges of the virtual environment, leadership improvements, productivity impacts resulting from disengagement of the leader, and improvement of communication strategies. Suggestions for further research include frequency of communication, leadership training, team member selection, and further theory development for virtual leaders. The impact to positive social change occurs when virtual workers are satisfied in their role, thus impacting their ability to provide for their family, engage more frequently in activities within their community, and contribute to the success of the company.As the need for cost-efficient, talented teams continues to grow, leaders often consider the use of globally dispersed teams, also defined as virtual teams. Despite the apparent benefits, the unique needs of virtual team members are often overlooked in general leadership, change management, and retention discussions. Leaders need to understand contributing factors to the attrition of virtual workers. The foundation for this research included theories of employee retention and change management. The research question for this qualitative phenomenological study focused on the lived experiences of current or former virtual financial services workers regarding job retention. Participants were chosen using purposeful sampling resulting in the selection of 15 individuals who had worked on a virtual financial services team within the past 3 years. The researcher used open-ended interview questions to report the lived experiences of virtual team members related to attrition, retention, and change. The researcher used the phenomenological descriptive approach for the analysis. A combination of hand coding and coding software revealed recurring themes. Themes from the results of the study included challenges of the virtual environment, leadership improvements, productivity impacts resulting from disengagement of the leader, and improvement of communication strategies. Suggestions for further research include frequency of communication, leadership training, team member selection, and further theory development for virtual leaders. The impact to positive social change occurs when virtual workers are satisfied in their role, thus impacting their ability to provide for their family, engage more frequently in activities within their community, and contribute to the success of the company. Virtual Worker Perceptions of Retention in the Financial Services Industry by Shelly D. Zaldivar MBA, University of Dallas, 2010 BS, Southwestern Assemblies of God University, 2007 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Management, Leadership, and Organizational Change Walden University August 2018 Dedication First, I would like to dedicate this work to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My life is built on your foundation and would be meaningless without the dreams and goals you have put in my heart. I also dedicate this work to my husband, Avito, who daily reminded me that I could finish. You are the best friend and husband anyone could have. You are my hero. To my children, Aaron, Micah, Christian, Jordan, Arabella, and Isaac, you are my life and love. Finally, to my sister, Debbie, remember you can do anything, never stop dreaming. Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge my chair, Dr. Rich Schuttler. You not only pushed me further than I often believed I could be stretched, but you did it in a way that spurred me on to success. Thank you to my committee member, Dr. Daphne Halkias and URR, Dr. Anton Camarota for your guidance and encouragement. Dr. Halkias, your reminder that my topic was important was so often just what I needed to hear. I am also grateful for the many friends and colleagues such as Dr. LaShera McElhany, Dr. Kristy Strange, Dr. Charity Kurz, Dr. Sue Taylor, and Dr. Danón Carter who regularly provided an encouraging word and became my cheering section every week. I am also forever grateful to all those who I may not have mentioned by name who contributed in some way to the successful completion of this dissertation. Lastly, I want to thank Southwestern Assemblies of God University as a whole for the support and encouragement on this journey.

Abstract: Living in a world where technology has evolved in an alarming pace, the working structures have become more diverse adapting to this trend, and giving birth to virtual teams, thanks to the ITC tools that have broken the physical boundaries, allowing coworkers to connect from all corners of the world and construct together. The aim of the article is to enrich the effectiveness of virtual teams but also acknowledge the difficulties they may run into throughout their project completions. Mixed methodology was chosen for the study case, having the Romanian Tourism Heritage Federation members as the sample of the survey. The quantitative method was used to quantify the data offered by the surveyed candidates and offer a deeper insight, by collecting data regarding certain aspects of the candidate such as: age, education and experience level, online “literacy”, size and role of the team member etc. and presented in a well-structured figure table. Whereas, the qualitative method concentrated on obtaining beneficial data regarding aspects as: cultural and technological barriers, trust and team commitment barriers along with social interaction ones, as well as leadership and team dynamics perspective. The findings of the research were gathered, interpreted and presented briefly, giving a comprehensive image of the “virtual team” nowadays, facing both fruitful and challenging traces in their working style.

Abstract: Teams that are managed by an organization and its members are located at remote places, connected by modern communication technologies are gaining popularity day by day. The main purpose of this research work is to develop a model of Virtual Team Management Challenges mitigation (VTMCMM), to assist virtual team members for their team management. This model will be useful for outsourcing vendor industries in addressing the problems in virtual team management for offshore software development. The method which we have used in development of Virtual team management challenges mitigation model (VTMCMM) is Systematic literature review and empirical methods. We will use SLR for identifying the challenges faced by outsourcing vendors in virtual team management and practices to handle the identified challenges. We will conduct questionnaire survey in software industry for validation of the SLR findings and tried to identify some new ones apart from the identified ones. We will also conduct case study in outsourcing software industry for evaluation of our developed model through some industry experts. The expected outcome of this project is a model for virtual team management challenges that will assist virtual team members in proper management of outsourcing software development activities.