Leadership Roles, Socioemotional Communication Strategies, and Technology Use of Irish and US Students in Virtual Teams

Abstract

Abstract-Global virtual teams provide numerous benefits both for corporations employing virtual organizational forms and for individual teams and team members.However, virtual collaboration also presents some well-recognized challenges. A growing body of research has examined the process of virtual teaming and the challenges inherent in that process. This study seeks to address some of the gaps in the existing literature. Specifically, it examines leadership roles, socio-emotional Development to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has given presentations at international conferences and workshops and her current research interests include the community of inquiry framework, online collaboration for on-campus and distance learning students, and the analysis of financial documents using computational techniques. 3Over the past decade a great deal of research has been conducted on virtual teams.Much of the research has compared the functioning of face-to-face teams with virtual teams. However, in the modern workplace nearly all teams rely on some virtual communication to accomplish their goals. Therefore, instead of comparing face-toface and virtual teams, we need to recognize that all teams are virtual to some degree.In order to understand the functioning of virtual teams, we should focus on the "extent of virtualness" of teams.Martins et al. define virtual teams as "teams whose members use technology to varying degrees in working across locational, temporal, and relational boundaries to accomplish an interdependent task" [1, p. 808]. They point out the fact that recent definitions emphasize virtual teams as teams first and treat virtualness as one team characteristic. In addition to examining the extent of virtualness, there are many other aspects of team functioning that require further investigation.This paper presents a qualitative study of three key aspects of virtual teaming: leadership roles, socio-emotional communication strategies, and technology use.Although many studies of virtual teams have already focused on student participants, leadership roles and socio-emotional communication strategies are issues that have not yet been fully examined. Therefore, the findings of this qualitative study have implications for virtual teams addressing challenges related to leadership and media selection in the workplace. LITERATURE REVIEWA significant portion of the research to date has focused on understanding the process of virtual teaming and on addressing the challenges inherent in the process.Kayworth and Leidner suggest that the challenges faced by global virtual teams can be divided into four major areas: project management, communication, culture, and technology [2]. These areas may interact with one another; for example, communication challenges may be related to cultural differences or to the use of computer-mediated communication technologies. In the sections that follow, we discuss each of these areas; however, we discuss communication and culture together, as they are very closely related. time t...

Managing Complexity: A Technical Communication Translation Case Study in Multilateral International Collaboration

“…An increasing body of research has demonstrated the benefits of having students learn international professional communication by working in CCVTs, linked through the Internet (Flammia, 2005(Flammia, , 2012Flammia, Cleary, & Slattery, 2010;Gerritsen & Verckens, 2006;Goby, 2007;Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1999;Stärke-Meyerring, Duin, & Palvetzian, 2007). Our own publications have depicted the basics of international collaborations between students in technical communication courses in North America and students in translation courses in Europe (Humbley et al, 2005;Mousten et al, 68 MAYLATH ET AL. 2008; Mousten, Humbley, Maylath, & Vandepitte, 2012;Mousten, Maylath, Humbley, Scarpa, Livesey, & Vandepitte, 2010a;Mousten, Maylath, Vandepitte, & Humbley, 2010b).…”

Experiential Learning with Global Virtual Teams: Developing Intercultural and Virtual Competencies

“…Second, it specifically measured perceptions of difficulty directly related with the virtual aspect -distant coordination and administration. Students rated, on a scale of 1 (minimal level) to 5 (maximum level), their perceptions of difficulty arising from 1) coordination of time zones (Sutanto, Kankanhalli & Tan, 2011), 2) differences in personal abilities (Liu, Magjuka & Lee, 2008), 3) coordination of work (Flammia, Cleary & Slattery, 2010;Liu, Magjuka & Lee, 2008), 4) electronic-virtual means of communication (Sutanto, Kankanhalli & Tan, 2011), 5) lack of authority and clear leadership (Caligiuri & Tarique, 2012;Flammia, Cleary & Slattery, 2010;Jonsen & Maznevski, 2010;Maznevski & DiStefano, 2000), and 6) differences in motivation of members (Liu, Magjuka & Lee, 2008). It was hypothesized that the experimental group, after completing the X-Culture project, would report higher levels of perceived difficulties related with these aspects of the GVT.…”

The Role of Undergraduate Students in Internationalizing the Curriculum

“…Students have ample opportunities for experiential learning when participating in study abroad and when engaged in international service-learning. However, students who are unable to study abroad can benefit from assignments requiring them to collaborate with diverse others (Flammia, Cleary, & Slattery, 2010;Patterson, Carrillo, & Salinas, 2012;Sklad, Friedman, Park, & Oomen, 2016). This paper describes a semester-long project undertaken by a technical communication class to write a guide to international research for undergraduate students at the UCF.…”