Virtual Teams: Effects of Technological Mediation on Team Performance.

Abstract

Recent advances in networking environments and telecommunications have led to the proliferation of teams that do not work face-to-face but interact over a computermediated communications network. Although some have asserted that virtual teams transcend boundaries of time or distance, others have claimed that working remotely in a mediated team environment differs in significant ways from working face-to-face. In this article, the authors examine the effects of technological mediation on team processes such as cohesiveness, status and authority relations, counternormative behavior, and communication. They discuss conditions under which distance matters in virtual team interaction.

A conceptual model to improve performance in virtual teams

“…It improves over time and as virtual project team members interact and exchange project-related information (Chidambaram 1996;Wise 2013 (Rad & Levin 2006;Wise 2013). The study by Driskell, Radtke and Salas (2003) established that performance in both normal and virtual project teams improves with team cooperation, but is most significant in virtual project teams as it has an impact on team commitment. Technological mediation also plays a vital role in team performance.…”

The Effects of Collaborative Technologies on Individual and Team Performance in a Network Centric Warfare (NCW) Environment

“…Driskell and Salas (under review) review the literature associating various components of personality with the likelihood that the individual will be a good team member. Driskell & Salas (2003) found that individuals with low levels of dominance and high levels of affiliation are more likely to be team players and willing to engage in the team processes that are necessary for teams to be effective.…”

“…Previous research has shown that technology acts as a moderator in a typical I-P-O model of team performance (Driskell, Radtke, & Salas, 2003). Therefore, by adding technology to the framework of team performance in Figure 1, we have created a framework for team performance collaborative environments (see Figure 2).…”

Tools for Online Collaboration: Do they contribute to Improve Teamwork?

“…Dispersed members, when faced with a problem, usually contact with local colleagues, because members distributed locally and temporally may lose some communication capabilities, common in face-to-face interaction, such as gestures, observation, facial expressions and visual contact (Driskell, Radtke & Salas, 2003). Other researchers identified six challenges in virtual teams: distance, time, technology, culture, trust and leadership.…”