Virtual teams less productive: HR Research Findings
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports in a “Meta Analysis of Virtual Teams” that virtual teams are less productive and demonstrate worse judgement that ‘face to face’ teams but there are ways to improve things.
Top Challenges facing virtual teams
- Virtual teams consistently take longer to complete tasks than face-to-face teams
- Complex judgment tasks resulted in the lowest performance for virtual teams versus face-to-face teams
Top Opportunities for virtual teams
- If team members are familiar with each other prior to becoming part of the team, they are able to perform almost as effectively as face-to-face teams
- Virtual team communication improves when meetings are synchronous allowing a continuous exchange of information
The article also briefly discusses the implications of these challenges and opportunities
It worth noting however that some of findings are at odds with other research I have seen.
The reader will have to decide for themselves which research they choose to trust in these contentious areas.
Perhaps some more research is required!
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Bioteams Books Reviews
Mobile phone users: are we now cyborgs
The term cyborg is used to designate an organism which is a mixture of organic and synthetic parts so designed to enhance its abilities via technology. William Mitchell a professor at MIT Media Lab believes that through our mobile devices we are all becoming mobile cyborgs and its for the better. In his book Me++: The Cyborg Self and the Networked City which he discusses in an interview with James Harkin Mitchell describes how the new communications technologies have overlaid our city spaces with central nervous systems connecting us into the wireless ether via our mobile devices which act as umbilical cords to anchor us into the information society's digital infrastructure.
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