One of the biggest problems in teams, communities and networks, whether co-located or virtual, is freeriding (aka freeloading or lurking or loafing) where certain team members do not pull their weight. Here are 5 things you can do about it.

Major Oil Company, Schlumberger, exploits self-organizing virtual communities.

Using Far-Flung Virtual Teams for Managing Knowledge in Global Companies, reports on research into 54 far-flung teams in 31 different companies, including Intel, Textronic and Royal Dutch Shell

Some of the approaches applied to conflict resolution apply equally well to the development of on-line and virtual communities, teams and networks. One of the most interesting is "The Flight of the Flamingos" scenario.

We can learn the secret of rapid evolution from the most evolved non-human species on the planet – but it is not who you think it is!

In 1964 psychiatrist Dr.Eric Berne published a now famous book Games people play in which he identified the different games people play, often unwittingly, in social situations based on his concept of transaction analysis. The advent of the virtual team has created a whole new set of games including Freeloader, Pseudo-engager, Chase-me, Senior Partner, Inquisitor, Stop-Starter, Overcommunicator, Email Fixater and Attachmentitis.

Research published in the Harvard Business Review , Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools and the formation of social networks, (June 2005) shows that when people need help getting a job done, they will usually choose a congenial colleague over a more capable one.

In The Mythical Man Month, Fred Brooks points out that in a team of n members there are n(n-1)/2 potential links, leading to an n-squared scaling with team size.

Your teams are too big: break them up.

Newspapers sometimes run contests to see who can produce the best summary of a epic book in one hundred words or less. Here is my 100-word version of "The maximum team size for effective working" drawing from an excellent article by Christopher Allen entitled The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes.

Virtual Teams Can Thrive Without Adding New Technology - Audio-Visual Presentation Showcases How

Just in case you missed it my esteemed colleague Robin Good and I have now produced a new version of my first bioteams audio presentation.