Common Craft Blog
Harvard: Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?
By leelefever on April 29, 2004 - 12:37pm
Harvard Business Online: Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?
I'm going to have to buy this report. This is what I've been working on the "Workspace" of this site- virtual workspaces for teams. If you want to check it out, let me know.
Article Description:
Some projects have such diverse requirements that they need a variety of specialists to work on them. But often the best-qualified specialists are scattered around the globe, perhaps at several companies. Remarkably, an extensive benchmarking study reveals, it isn't necessary to bring team members together to get their best work. In fact, they can be even more productive if they stay separated and do all their collaborating virtually. The scores of successful virtual teams the authors examined didn't have many of the psychological and practical obstacles that plagued their more traditional, face-to-face counterparts. Team members felt freer to contribute--especially outside their established areas of expertise. The fact that such groups could not assemble easily actually made their projects go faster, as people did not wait for meetings to make decisions, and individuals, in the comfort of their own offices, had full access to their files and the complementary knowledge of their local colleagues. Reaping those advantages, though, demanded shrewd management of a virtual team's work processes and social dynamics. Rather than depend on videoconferencing or e-mail, which could be unwieldy or exclusionary, successful virtual teams made extensive use of sophisticated online team rooms, where everyone could easily see the state of the work in progress, talk about the work in ongoing threaded discussions, and be reminded of decisions, rationales, and commitments. Differences were most effectively hashed out in teleconferences, which team leaders also used to foster group identity and solidarity.
Via: Web Communities Yahoo Group
Harvard: Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?
Lee, very interested as we are running a project with a global manufacturer currently, and as part of that project we are implementing a number of social software ideas across several continents!
Harvard: Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?
I would love to read the info you've got together. I'm currently using a web-based groupware solution to keep a project organized, even with all of the people involved on the project in the same room. I believe groupware, when utilized properly, can be an invaluable tool for project management and team productivity.
Harvard: Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?
I'll be in touch via email Travis...
Nice post
Hi. This is really interesting post. Thank You! I have just subscribed to Your rss! Best regards
Nice
Lee, very interested as we are running a project with a global manufacturer currently, and as part of that project we are implementing a number of social software ideas across several continents!