VIRTUAL REALITY

Virtual reality

Abstract

Virtual reality, virtual space, virtual organizations, virtual teams; the word “virtual” is today's organizational buzzword. One of the fastest-growing, high-tech office trends today is “virtual teams”. These teams cross time, space, and cultural boundaries and do so effectively with the use of technology. This paper will look at the changing nature of work, give a definition of virtual teams, discuss the qualities needed for successful virtual team membership, and view the communication challenges existing for virtual teams in the twenty-first century.

Table of Content

CHAPTER ONE4

INTRODUCTION4

Changing nature of work5

Definition of virtual teams7

Why virtual teams?8

Successful team membership10

Communication13

Other challenges16

CHAPTER TWO17

LITERATURE REVIEW17

Successful virtual teams17

Virtual teams20

CHAPTER THREE23

METHODOLOGY23

Literature Selection Criteria23

Search Technique23

Theoretical Framework24

CHAPTER FOUR25

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS25

Conventional team or virtual team?25

Allowing conventional face-to-face teams to work “virtually”29

Benefits of the virtual team that might be sought after by the conventional team30

CHAPTER FIVE35

CONCLUSION35

The transition from a conventional team to a face-to-face team with virtual characteristics52

The future54

REFERENCES57

Chapter One

Introduction

Virtual reality, virtual space, virtual organizations, virtual teams; the word “virtual” is today's organizational buzzword. Virtual is there but not there, and this is exactly what Alice experienced with the Cheshire Cat in Wonderland. So, the virtual world really is not as new an idea as some of us might have thought. One of the fastest-growing, high-tech office trends today is “virtual teams”. These teams cross time, space, and cultural boundaries and do so effectively with the use of technology. When Marshall McLuhan forecasted the “global village” in the 1960s, he was, in fact, speaking of the virtual workplace. This paper will look at the changing nature of work, give a definition of virtual teams, discuss the qualities needed for successful team membership, and view the communication challenges existing for virtual teams in the twenty-first century.

This paper will examine the adoption by conventional face-to-face teams of some of the characteristics of the virtual team. It will be argued that conventional face-to-face teams will remain the dominant organisational form in the mid term and despite conventional team members working in close physical proximity, the conventional team can and should function as a virtual team given appropriate resourcing and organisational support. The paper will also explore the opportunities that virtual team characteristics can bring to a conventional face-to-face team and demonstrate that the current distinction argued in the literature between virtual teams and conventional face-to-face teams may no longer be appropriate.

Changing nature of work

Many organizations have downsized, and there are continuing pressures to implement increasingly flat (or horizontal) organizational structures. While these new organizational structures may achieve gains in efficiency, flat organizational structures, of necessity, disperse employees both geographically and organizationally, which makes it more difficult for those members to collaborate in an effective manner (Townsend and DeMarie, 1998). Not surprisingly, this downsizing has contributed to virtual team growth (Sheffield, 1998).

In addition, an increasing number of employees are opting for telework alternatives. Teleworkers operate from their homes or some other remote location, connected to a home office primarily through telephones, fax machines, computer modems, and electronic mail. Telework provides cost savings to employees by eliminating ...