Virtual team collaboration: building shared meaning, resolving breakdowns and creating translucence

The use of Messenger for research collaboration: An auto-ethnographic study

The use of social media for the collaboration of academics has been increasing in recent years. However, there are no reported studies on using Messenger as a collaborative platform to write and publish journal articles and apply for research and development grants. We use an auto-ethnography to reflect on our experiences over the last 3 years, using Messenger as our medium for our ongoing collaborative research activities. Our results highlight the benefits and challenges of using social media for this engagement. The capabilities of Messenger, as opposed to traditional correspondence through email, have paved our preference to use this platform. We can engage in dynamic collaboration and focussed discussion with less formal communication conventions through Messenger. In addition, the extra features, including easy phone calls, sending links, resources and screenshots, and using emojis and stickers for more socially cohesive interactions, are valued features of Messenger. We used the activity theory to highlight the interrelationships of factors (i.e., personal, social-emotional, structural, technological, and organisational) contributing to the success of collaborative academic activities, including the successful publication of journal articles and securing research and development grants. The findings of our study significantly contribute to understanding how social media can be effectively used for academic engagement.

Building a 'Virtual Library': continuing a global collaboration to strengthen research capacity within Nepal and other low- and middle-income countries

To fill the gap in health research capacity-building efforts, we created the ‘Virtual Library’ (VL) – a web-based repository of context-relevant resources for health researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper describes the participatory process used to systematically develop the VL, and describes how our interprofessional team – representing both an LMIC (Nepal) and a high-income country (HIC) (USA, US) – engaged in shared meaning-making. A team of researchers and clinicians representing a range of subdisciplines from Nepal and the US created a replicable search strategy and standardized Resource Screening Guide (RSG) to systematically assess resources to be included within the VL. Descriptive methods were used to summarize findings from the RSG and lessons learned from the collaborative process. Collectively, 14 team members reviewed 564 potential resources (mean = 40, SD = 22.7). Mean RSG score was 7.02/10 (SD = 2). More than 76% of resources met each of the four quality criteria (relevant; reputable, accessible; understandable). Within the published VL, 298 resources were included, organized by 15 topics and 45 sub-topics. Of these, 223 resources were evaluated by the RSG; 75 were identified by team member expertise. The collaborative process involved regular meetings, iterative document revisions, and peer review. Resource quality was better than expected, perhaps because best practices/principles related to health research are universally relevant, regardless of context. While the RSG was essential to systematize our search and ensure reproducibility, team member expertise was valuable. Pairing team members during peer-review led to bi-directional knowledge sharing and was particularly successful. This work reflects a highly collaborative global partnership and offers a model for future health research capacity-building efforts. We invite engagement with the Virtual Library <https://lmicresearch.org> as one supportive pillar of infrastructure to develop individual and institutional research capacity.

Designing Digital Participatory Budgeting Platforms: Urban Biking Activism in Madrid

Civic technologies have the potential to support participation and influence decision-making in governmental processes. Digital participatory budgeting platforms are examples of civic technologies designed to support citizens in making proposals and allocating budgets. Investigating the empirical case of urban biking activists in Madrid, we explore how the design of the digital platform Decide Madrid impacted the collaborative practices involved in digital participatory budgeting. We found that the design of the platform made the interaction competitive, where individuals sought to gain votes for their single proposals, rather than consider the relations across proposals and the larger context of the city decisions, even if the institutional process rewarded collective support. In this way, the platforms’ design led to forms of individualistic, competitive, and static participation, therefore limiting the possibilities for empowering citizens in scoping and self-regulating participatory budgeting collaboratively. We argue that for digital participatory budgeting platforms to support cooperative engagements they must be revisable and reviewable while supporting accountability among participants and visibility of proposals and activities.

Virtual team performance: E-leadership roles in the era of COVID-19

Purpose

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation has led to the emergence of virtual teams in all organizations, and the role of leadership has become more pertinent. The current research focuses on understanding the factors for better team performance in virtual teams. Based on the contingency perspective, the behavioral complexity in leadership (BCL) theory is the most appropriate as BCL requires the leader to demonstrate multiple contrasting leadership behaviors according to the situation. Both internal as well external roles were explored, which could facilitate better communication quality and role clarity to increase interpersonal trust and leadership effectiveness in the current crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from employees who have worked in virtual teams during the crisis and who have experience of working in a virtual team environment. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed, and 175 were received. A path model was built applying partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

Communication quality has come as a partial mediator for the relationship between internal and external leadership roles and trust. Role clarity fully mediated the relationship between external leadership roles and conflict. Internal and external leadership roles showed a significant effect on leadership effectiveness, which were further related to team performance in virtual teams. Additionally, synchronous technology was used more by virtual teams.

Research limitations/implications

The study did not examine cultural differences or cultural adaptation in virtual teams. Instead of the BCL theory, future research may apply attribute-based or relational-based theory to examine leadership roles in virtual team performance.

Originality/value

Using the BCL theory, the current study contributes to an understanding of virtual team performance and the internal as well as external role of leaders. This is relevant in an environment of extreme ambiguity such as COVID-19.

de Souza C, Machado L, Perin M, Bjørn P. Crisis Readiness: Revisiting the Distance Framework During the COVID-19 Pandemic

While CSCW researchers have studied collaboration across distance for more than two decades, the scale and context of geographically distributed work during the pandemic is unprecedented. Working from home as the default setting during the COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity for CSCW research to explore and develop new understandings of what it entails to engage in distributed collaborative work during a global crisis. In this paper, we revisit the distance framework, originally developed by Olson and Olson in 2000, through empirical data collected during the critical moments where COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and the world shut down: namely March 2020. We use the data to interrogate the distance framework and to extend it with a new dimension - Crisis Readiness. Crisis Readiness stipulates that for organizations to successfully respond to crises, four factors are required: 1) the ability to respond fast with dramatic measures; 2) the ability to supply adequate infrastructure to their employees; 3) the ability to adapt work practice responding to new work and life conditions; and 4) the ability to handle multiple and diverse interruptions both at the individual and organizational levels. Our contribution to CSCW research is a revised distance framework, which demonstrates that for geographically distributed work to be successful during a global crisis, cooperating actors need to achieve Common Ground, engage in different types of coupled work, be ready for collaboration and collaboration technology - and lastly, work in an organization which demonstrates Crisis Readiness.

Leading Teams in the Digital Age: Four Perspectives on Technology and What They Mean for Leading Teams

Digital technologies are changing the nature of teamwork in ways that have important implications for leadership. Though conceptually rich and multi-disciplinary, much of the burgeoning work on technology has not been fully integrated into the leadership literature. To fill this gap, we organize existing work on leadership and technology, outlining four perspectives: (1) technology as context, (2) technology as sociomaterial, (3) technology as creation medium, and (4) technology as teammate. Each technology perspective makes assumptions about how technologies affect teams and the needs for team leadership. Within each perspective, we detail current work on leading teams. This section takes us from virtual teams to new vistas posed by leading online communities, crowds, peer production groups, flash teams, human-robot teams, and human-artificial intelligence teams. We identify 12 leadership implications arising from the ways digital technologies affect organizing. We then leverage our review to identify directions for future leadership research and practice.

The Role of Leadership in a Digitalized World: A Review

Digital technology has changed organizations in an irreversible way. Like the movable type printing accelerated the evolution of our history, digitalization is shaping organizations, work environment and processes, creating new challenges leaders have to face. Social science scholars have been trying to understand this multifaceted phenomenon, however, findings have accumulated in a fragmented and dispersed fashion across different disciplines, and do not seem to converge within a clear picture. To overcome this shortcoming in the literature and foster clarity and alignment in the academic debate, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the contribution of studies on leadership and digitalization, identifying patterns of thought and findings across various social science disciplines, such as management and psychology. It clarifies key definitions and ideas, highlighting the main theories and findings drawn by scholars. Further, it identifies categories that group papers according to the macro level of analysis (e-leadership and organization, digital tools, ethical issues, and social movements), and micro level of analysis (the role of C-level managers, leader's skills in the digital age, practices for leading virtual teams). Main findings show leaders are key actors in the development of a digital culture: they need to create relationships with multiple and scattered stakeholders, and focus on enabling collaborative processes in complex settings, while attending to pressing ethical concerns. With this research, we contribute to advance theoretically the debate about digital transformation and leadership, offering an extensive and systematic review, and identifying key future research opportunities to advance knowledge in this field.

Testing a Model of User Resistance Towards Technology Adoption in Construction Organizations

Drawing upon diffusion of innovation (DoI) theory, technology acceptance models (TAMs), social network perspective and resistance literature, the study developed and tested a model, named integrated resistance factor model (IRFM), which integrates four key elements i.e. resistance indicators, support network factors, experience and disposition factors and the integration and accessibility factors. The study investigated if the model applies in a selected technology, namely online project information management systems (OPIMS). The IRFM was tested with partial least square (PLS) techniques and results from the [Formula: see text] analysis of the whole PLS structural model were significant and the data were coherence with the proposed model [Formula: see text]. These results indicated that user resistance to technology innovation can be predicted using the IRFM.

Holistic performance management of virtual teams in third-party logistics environments

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of an integrated approach for performance improvement of virtual teams (VTs) in third-party logistics (3PL) through the integration of performance management (PM), visual management (VM) and continuous improvement (CI) initiatives into one coherent system. The paper will also propose a methodological framework to establish such a system. The intended integrated system is called as integrated visual management (IVM) throughout this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is based on a case study that took place in a 3PL context with 19 VTs of different sizes spread across Australia. Many major 3PL companies provide their services either internationally or nationwide and therefore use VTs on a regular basis. The selected company does the same. This case was picked as representative of the many complexities which VTs face in 3PL settings, e.g. geographical and temporal separations; different skill levels within the team and between different team bases; multi-teaming system; high staff turnover; recurring performance problems and firefighting approach to problem-solving; and highly demanding performance requirements from clients. Further, this case study, being of a newly established contract and team, enabled the observation of the team dynamic and complexities from the earliest stages. In addition, as the main author of the paper was part of the managerial layer of the studied VT, this provided it a unique opportunity to escape the usual bureaucracy and rather focus on the research. This study also includes a literature review on VTs along with PM, VM and CI, which comprises IVM.

Findings

It was found that an integrated approach to PM, VM and CI was effective in systematically improving the VT performance. The framework for implementing IVM was productive and enabled to successfully plan and deploy the improvement intentions. Even though the team was highly virtual and encompassed a range of situational challenges, including different skill levels, a multi-teaming system and a high staff turnover, nevertheless, through IVM, the results met and exceeded performance targets on a sustainable base. Inventory record accuracy, dispatch on time, delivery in full on time and dock to stock were improved by 45, 62, 22 and 25 per cent on average, respectively.

Originality/value

The originality of the paper comes from its methodological approach to performance improvement for VTs in 3PL contexts through integrating PM, VM and CI systems into one coherent system, IVM.

COLLABORATION CAPABILITY IN VIRTUAL TEAMS: EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE ON DIVERSITY AND INNOVATION

Virtual teams are being increasingly utilised in industry given their ability to bring together diverse knowledge and experience from individuals who are not geographically proximal. Having a diversity of knowledge within virtual teams is noted to benefit innovation outcomes; however, leveraging the benefits of diversity (both deep and functional-level) is likely to require a capability to facilitate collaboration among team members. In this study, we empirically validate a measure of collaboration capability (CCAP) and examine its role in enhancing the benefits of diversity on innovation within virtual teams. Using a sample of 375 design and software engineers working in virtual teams from a high-tech firm in Silicon Valley, we find that CCAP significantly moderates the relationship between functional-level diversity and innovation, but no significant influence is found for a similar moderating influence on deep-level diversity and innovation. The implications for the study of virtual teams are discussed and recommendations are offered for organisations using virtual teams.

Perceived discontinuities and continuities in transdisciplinary scientific working groups

We examine the DataONE (Data Observation Network for Earth) project, a transdisciplinary organization tasked with creating a cyberinfrastructure platform to ensure preservation of and access to environmental science and biological science data. Its objective was a difficult one to achieve, requiring innovative solutions. The DataONE project used a working group structure to organize its members. We use organizational discontinuity theory as our lens to understand the factors associated with success in such projects. Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from DataONE members, we offer recommendations for the use of working groups in transdisciplinary synthesis. Recommendations include welcome diverse opinions and world views, establish shared communication practices, schedule periodic synchronous face-to-face meetings, and ensure the active participation of bridge builders or knowledge brokers such as librarians who know how to ask questions about disciplines not their own.

Trust tokens in team development

Purpose

– Computer-mediated communication systems (CMCSs) have become the standard for supporting virtual teamwork. However, interpersonal trust formation though CMCSs is impaired due to limited media richness of the communication channels. The aim of this paper is to identify trust forming cues that occur naturally in face-to-face environments and are suitable to include in CMCSs design, to facilitate greater trust in virtual teams.

Design/methodology/approach

– To select cues that had a strong effect on fostering trust behaviour, a non-participatory ethnographic study was conducted. Two student teams at the University of Waterloo were observed for 6-12 months. Researchers identified mechanisms used for building trust and bridging team developmental barriers.

Findings

– The paper identifies five trust tokens that were effective in developing trust and bridging team developmental barriers: expertise, recommendations, social capital, willingness to help/benevolence, and validation of information. These behavioural cues, or behavioural trust tokens, which are present in face-to-face collaborations, carry important trust supporting information that leads to increased trust, improved collaboration, and knowledge integration. These tokens have the potential to improve CMCSs by supplementing the cues necessary for trust formation in virtual environments.

Practical implications

– This study identifies important mechanisms used for fostering trust behaviour in face-to-face collaborations that have the potential to be included in the design of CMCSs (via interface design objects) and have implications for interface designers, team managers, and researchers in the field of teamwork.

Originality/value

– This work presents the first ethnographic study of trust between team members for the purpose of providing improved computer support for virtual collaboration via redesigned interface components.

On Emergence and Forcing in Information Systems Grounded Theory Studies: The Case of Strauss and Corbin

Grounded theory method (GTM), which has been increasingly used in the information systems (IS) field, is a contested method. GTM has even been viewed as a family of methods by Antony Bryant and Kathy Charmaz in the respected ‘Handbook of Grounded Theory’. One debate that is of particular relevance is about the metaphor of ‘emergence’ and the most basic rule of GTM - that researchers should not force preconceived conceptualizations on data. This debate has its origins in a dispute between the two co-founders of grounded theory, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. Glaser criticized Strauss for the introduction of the stage of axial coding and the use of one single coding paradigm. In his view, the paradigm is too rigid, forces data, hinders emergence, and leads to conceptual description instead of grounded theory. It is perhaps surprising then, that this debate has so far been conducted without any empirical evidence in support of the proposition that the Strauss and Corbin version of grounded theory might result in forcing. In this article, we analyse IS studies in top journals where Straussian grounded theory procedures - which have found most adherents in the IS discipline - are utilized. We provide detailed insights into the use and the impact of axial coding and the coding paradigm. We find that the researchers’ use of Straussian coding procedures in the IS field is on a level that is conscious and deliberative. We relate our findings to the broader debate about the contested nature of GTM, and find that axial coding and the coding paradigm are an exemplar that shows that GTM is an evolving method that is subject to idiosyncratic interpretations and flexible deployment. Our findings, we argue, are in line with the more recent development of constructivist grounded theory that holds that grounded theories are not discovered, they are constructed, based on conscious decisions and interpretive acts. We also put forward three propositions, and five guidelines, intended to assist IS researchers in constructing grounded theories using Straussian coding procedures, while adhering to the primacy of avoiding preconceptions.

Language Quality in Requirements Development: Tracing Communication in the Process of Information Systems Development

Knowledge transfer, communication, and shared understanding between project stakeholders are important factors in requirements development and in the information systems development process. Nevertheless, the impact and analysis of language and linguistic communication during requirements development is still an open issue. In our research, we claim that requirements development depends on the ability to deal with language and communication issues in practice and reach shared understanding of requirements. We propose the concept of language quality as a suitable means for analyzing the emergence of coherent and meaningful requirements. By applying the thereby developed dimensions of language quality to a real information systems development project, we are able to obtain practice-grounded propositions to further evaluate the consequences of different actions on the interaction and communication process of stakeholders in requirements development.

Counteracting Free-Riding with Team Morale—An Experimental Study

This study focuses on a behavioral perspective to examine the detrimental effects of free-riding on team performance, and investigates team morale as a key factor that counteracts the tendency of free-riding among team members. Results of the empirical test imply that enhancing team morale can effectively reduce the scale of free-riding behavior in project teams; in addition, controlling team size also provides help to constrain the undesired behavior. The two means can be carefully applied to project management during early stages of project development before the commitment of significant resources. Implications for both research and team practices are discussed.

Knowledge Base Development in Virtual Enterprise Network as Support for Workplace Risk Assessment

The article presents research results based on the concept of collaborative infrastructure (as the virtual enterprise network PREMINV e-platform from “Politehnica” University of Bucharest, Romania), in order to unify existing standards for supply chain management and to provide support in various decision making processes in manufacturing supply networks. The intent is to facilitate and enhance the required knowledge management processes linked with the business process management. The virtual enterprise network expects to reduce small and medium-sized enterprises involvement in networking efforts, enable better and faster decision processes and promote the development of the business services. In addition, the new product development paradigm requires software tools for risk estimation and assessment. For this purpose, the authors describe a knowledge bases method build and use for the professional risk assessment as part of risk management process. The risk level is established based on the probability and severity of its consequences.