Collaborative Convergence And Virtual Teamwork For Organizational Transformation

Virtual teams are work arrangements where team members are geographically dispersed and work interdependently using electronic communication media to accomplish one or more organizational tasks. Over the past several decades, there has been an explosive growth in organizational use of virtual teams to organize work. In the competitive market, virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for faster time to market, low cost, and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Organizations are increasingly investing in virtual teams to enhance their performance and competitiveness. However, there are unsolved issues of design and implementation of collaboration technologies for virtual teams and their collaborative convergence. Collaborative Convergence and Virtual Teamwork for Organizational Transformation is an innovative collection of research that analyzes and discusses successful organizational transformation that requires a holistic understanding of the issues linked to team and workplaces, communication and integration, technological barriers, and sociocultural factors. The chapters highlight topics such as collaboration technologies in virtual teamwork, collaboration technologies’ impact on organizational transformation, as well as web-based tools, collaborative learning tools, group decision support systems, workflow automation systems, and more. This book is ideally intended for business professionals, managers and practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students looking for the latest research in virtual teamwork and its impact on organizational transformation.

Virtual and Collaborative Teams is of importance to practitioners and researchers because it brings together in a single accessible source, a variety of current research and practice on the subject of virtual and collaborative teams. Geographic distance, technology, lack of social presence, lack of adequate training and lack of instructional resources are just some of the unique challenges faced by virtual teams. This book is a unique resource in that it provides a variety of research and practice from a wide range of disciplines, nationally and internationally. The essays blends theory and practice, encompassing quantitative and qualitative research, case studies, interview research and theoretical models.

In today’s complex organizations it is not uncommon to have as many as 50 percent of employees working on virtual teams. As the “virtual revolution” continues to spread, how can companies ensure that virtual team collaboration is producing the desired results? Highly practical and easy to navigate, Virtual Team Success leverages the authors’ robust global research study and hands-on experience to provide an immediately usable resource for virtual team members and team leaders. This groundbreaking book is a hands-on, practical toolkit filled with down-to-earth examples and insights that can enhance the virtual team experience for everyone involved. The authors’ research study is one of the most comprehensive applied studies ever conducted on virtual teams, and all of the recommendations outlined are based on these findings as well as the authors’ years of experience helping virtual teams and virtual team leaders effectively lead and collaborate from a distance. To help organizations and leaders enhance virtual team performance, the book includes: Why Virtual Teams Fail—outlines the four pitfalls that frequently derail virtual teams Profile of High Performing Teams—addresses the characteristics of the most effective virtual teams and what makes them successful Virtual Team Launch Kit—provides practical guidelines and tools for successfully launching virtual teams How to RAMP Up Your Team’s Effectiveness—introduces a practical research-based model of virtual team effectiveness to improve team performance Profile of Top Performing Virtual Team Leaders—identifies the practices of the most successful virtual team leaders Facilitating High-Impact Virtual Meetings—includes tips and techniques to effectively lead “v-meetings” Virtual Team Success also includes practical resources for virtual team leaders, quick reference guides for diagnosing virtual team problems, and six lessons for virtual team success.

Necessity is the mother of invention; challenging times can provide new opportunities that must be detected and exploited at the right moments. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that it is not only an issue of healthcare but also a challenge for the global economy, business, and society. Organizations have rapidly deployed technology solutions that enable them to work and service remotely and continue most of their normal operations. The Handbook of Research on Technologies and Systems for E-Collaboration During Global Crises focuses on emerging technologies and systems, strategies, and solutions for e-collaboration. This book assesses the importance of technologies and systems for e-collaboration in dealing with emerging crises such as pandemics. Covering topics such as deep learning processes, machine vision, and profit-sharing models, it is an essential resource for computer scientists, public officials, engineers, students and professors of higher education, healthcare administration, programmers, researchers, and academicians.

To advance in today's workplace requires virtual team skills. Most individuals assume their face-to-face skills will translate, but competency with virtual communication and teamwork requires an entirely new set of skills. This book guides readers down the path to success. Electronic communication is now embedded in our daily experience, as is work involving off-site collaborators. Virtual communication has become an essential job skill that is critical to individual and group success, yet most people just muddle through it without giving it any thought. Drawing on decades of scientific research in the fields of psychology, organizational behavior, and sociology, this book explains how to master the art and science of communicating virtually. The author first analyzes the subtle but significant changes that result when conversations are moved online, providing examples and tips to avoid common pitfalls, then discusses how team behavior and decision making can best be guided in this realm. Readers will fully understand what makes teams "click"—what inspires trust, how to get a team "off on the right foot," and what steps to take in order to make good collaborative decisions—as well as other key topics for virtual teamwork, such as best practices for working in the cross-cultural environment. The book serves as an ideal guide for anyone who participates in or manages a virtual team but is also suitable as a supplemental textbook in a business school course on organizational behavior or business communication.

E-collaboration is a tool that breaks the boundaries of activities within and between organizations. E-collaboration technologies are making it easier than ever for people to work together no matter where they happen to be. Succeeding with collaboration at a level where it represents a competitive advantage requires a broad approach. Internal social networks can circumvent bureaucratic boundaries and facilitate information sharing activities among individuals across hierarchies and divisions or departments. This allows organizations to acquire resources or competencies from external sources that otherwise would be difficult or expensive to access. Accordingly, organizations focus more on their own areas of competence and gain a competitive advantage by acquiring richer content and better solutions in a creative and cost-effective way. Challenging times can provide new opportunities that need to be detected at the right time. There must be many other sources of competitive advantages which should support the main source of competitive value. Competitive advantage may be gained if the organization is able to find sources of competitive advantage in time of economic crises. Organizations have rapidly deployed technology solutions, such as collaboration tools and cloud computing, which enable their employees to work remotely and continue these organizational operations, especially during times of crisis. E-Collaboration Technologies and Strategies for Competitive Advantage Amid Challenging Times focuses on e-collaboration technologies, strategies, and solutions from a perspective of organizational competitive advantage, including e-collaboration technologies’ situation and solutions, innovation systems, competition and strategies, marketing, and growth capabilities. The book presents a full understanding on e-collaboration technologies, strategies, and solutions in organizations, and provides insight for how to develop e-collaboration technologies, strategies, and solutions more generally so as to simultaneously leverage potential benefit and guard against potential risk, promoting organizational competitive advantage amid challenging times. This book is ideally intended for policymakers, government officials, corporate heads of firms, managers, managing directors, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students seeking information on the e-collaboration technologies being employed in businesses in times of crisis.

The Handbook of High-Performance Virtual Teams is an essential resource for leaders, virtual team members, and work group leaders. The editors provide a proved framework based on five principles for working collaboratively across boundaries of time, space, and culture. Written by experts in the field, the contributors offer practical suggestions and tools for virtual team who need to assess their current level of effectiveness and develop strategies for improvement. This important resource also contains an array of illustrative cases as well as practical tools for designing, implementing, and maintaining effective virtual work.

Successful communication can help to prevent health problems, promote healthy behaviors and lifestyles, and overcome health challenges. However, various issues have created obstacles for the promotion of health communication, including low health literacy, the reluctance of patients to admit their lack of understanding, the overestimation by health professionals of a patient’s level of understanding, and insufficient health literacy tools, to name a few. It is thus essential to convey the latest communication models and practices being used to increase health literacy and provide adequate health information to society. Health Communication Models and Practices in Interpersonal and Media Contexts: Emerging Research and Opportunities explores and analyzes the fundamentals, models, and dimensions of health communication and offers practical solutions for better communications with direct outcomes in the optimization of citizens’ health literacy. The book also discusses and proposes more effective health communication models and practices as a tool for the construction of more solid and evident health outcomes. Covering topics such as cancer prevention, health professionals’ communication, and models of health communication, this text is essential for health professionals, communication professionals, professors, teachers, researchers, academicians, and students.