Ebook Relationship Building in Virtual Teams
Virtual teams are “groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed workers brought together by information and telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more organisational tasks” (Powell, Piccoli & Blake, 2004,), or as Grundy (2004) states working virtual means working together apart.
Organisational change employing virtual working enables industries to be globally competitive, provide flexible workspace, and just in time responses (Howard 2004; Powell, Piccoli & Blake, 2004). Enabling students to draw from their own reflective experiences within virtual team environments supports their transition into this community. The focus on the communication and collaboration for virtual interaction has been built on technological usage, with limited attention to importance of social relationships in teamwork (Henttonen & Blomqvist, 2005) Loughran (2004) notes that obstacles include cultural differences, lack of shared goals, communication problems and lack of trust. The key, therefore for successful virtual team working, Henttonen and Blomqvist suggest, is interaction that develops “trust through actions and communicating individual roles and shared goals” (Henttonen & Blomqvist, 2005,).
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