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The impact of electronic communication technology on teamwork

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 LATEST TRENDS on COMPUTERS (Volume II)

The impact of electronic communication technology on teamwork

CRISTINA RAULEA, CIPRIAN RAULEA
Department of Informatics, Department of Sociology
“Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu
5-7, Ioan Ratiu Street, Sibiu
ROMANIA
cristina.raulea@ulbsibiu.ro, ciprian.raulea@ulbsibiu.ro

Abstract: - This paper aims to present the paradigms of virtual teams in the communication process and the impact of
communication technologies on teamwork. Virtual teams use information and communication technology to
communicate, collaborate, share information and coordinate their efforts. Working predominantly through information
and communication technology represents the key factor that distinguishes virtual teams from traditional ones.

Key-Words: - Virtual team, Computer-mediated communication, Information technology (IT)

1 Introduction considered to be insignificant barriers, easy to be

Nowadays, globalization and the development of the removed.
informational technology are forcing many organizations
to reassess their business strategies in order to be more
productive and efficient in their operations. One of the 2 Virtual Teams
most revolutionary approaches to achieve such outcomes A virtual team is a group of people that uses electronics
has been the development of virtual teams in means to communicate with each other more often than
organizations. Virtual teams are formed to exploit in face-to-face meetings. Virtual team can work across
complementay skills in the pursuit of common strategic space, time and organizational boundaries with links
objectives, operating remotely from each other and from strengthened by webs of communication technologies
managers, and relying heavily on communication [9]. Virtual team members use the internet, intranets, and
technology to accomplish organizational tasks [3]. The other networks to communicate, coordinate and
main purpose of virtual teams is to increase collaborative collaborate with each other on tasks and projects even
work across organizational, spatial, and political borders. though they may work in different geographical
Virtual teams allow business organizations to maximize locations and for different organizations.
and effectively utilize manpower separated by Virtual teams primarily rely on information and
geographical barriers, different time zones, and communication technologies to support many of the
organizational boundaries. Individual talents and communicative and collaborative processes that
abilities are no longer constrained to organizations’ traditional teams take for granted. Communication links
branches, divisions, or offices, but can be mutually are what distinguishes virtual teams from traditional
employed for the benefit of the entire organization. collocated organizations. These links define the ‘virtual’
Through the use of computer-mediated communication part of the team. It is the degree of online
technologies, virtual teams can collaborate communications not the dispersion or displacement of
instantaneously and continuously by making the most of the team that primarily characterizes a team as virtual.
hidden manpower dispersed throughout an organization. This means that a collocated group that still conducts the
As the cost of modern networking technologies falls and majority of their business online may be considered a
the reality of globalization transforms business practices, virtual team. Virtual team members use electronic
virtual teams are becoming increasingly more appealing communication to interact with the rest of the team.
to organizations. Consequently, virtual teams have
begun to emerge as the best alternative to meet the 2.1 Virtual Teams in Systems Theory
challenges of a new work context surrounded by The principles of people, purpose and links form a
sophisticated information and communication simple systems model of inputs, processes and produced
technologies [8]. outputs. People make up the virtual teams, purpose is the
In the era of technology, the virtual teams become more task that holds teams together and links are the
and more popular, and their limits, especially those interactions and channels that weave the fabric of the
related to the formal and informal communication, the team. The nature and variety of these links are the most
acceptance of the organizational change, leadership, are distinguishing factor between virtual and traditional

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 LATEST TRENDS on COMPUTERS (Volume II)

teams [10]. Table 1 displays the principles that provide or traits in common. They suggest that ‘‘team
an integrated framework for understanding and working performance, be it virtual or not, is primarily about
in virtual teams. discipline – leader, peer and selfimposed’’. Trust,
Inputs Processes Produced communication, leadership, goal setting and technology
outputs all emerge as factors vital to the formation of a
People Independent Shared Integrated successful virtual team. [2].
Members Leadership Levels
Purpose Cooperative Interdependent Concrete 2.2.1 Trust
Goals Tasks Results Trust is at the foundation of all successful relationships
Links Multiple Boundary-crossing Trusting and inn order for virtual teams to succeed, they need to
media interactions Relationships build and foster their relationship carefully and
Table 1 (from Virtual teams, Lipnack and Stamps, 1997) intentionally [5]. Trust is often the result of team
members knowing that all people in a team can be
The inputs needed to develop virtual teams include counted on to complete their assigned tasks.
independent members, cooperative goals, and multiple Furthermore, trust is an important factor that must exist
media [10] Throughout the development process, the in all successful personal and team relationships. This
members share leadership and engage in interdependent trust factor is especially vital for virtual teams because of
tasks, which involve boundary-crossing interactions. The the lack of personal face-to-face interaction.
generated outputs include integrated levels of
organizations, concrete results and trusting relationships. 2.2.2 Communications
Virtual teams are composed of individual members with Although both virtual and traditional teams share the
certain areas of expertise. Because of this diversity, common characteristic of communication, one element
members typically share leadership by assuming of communication, which almost unanimously separates
leadership positions at some point in the process. And them, is the increased amount of asynchronous
because teams are also embedded in organizations, they communication required in virtual teams. Individuals
themselves are parts of larger systems. Therefore, they from different national cultures vary in terms of their
must integrate both the level of the members and the communication styles and group behaviours, which
level of the group. include the motivation to seek and disclose individuating
Three elements of virtual teams allow them to achieve information and the need to engage in self-
their purpose: cooperative goals, interdependent tasks categorization. Even in a virtual team, where a team chat
and concrete results. Virtual teams rely upon a clear room exists or frequent meetings occur, virtual teams
purpose because of their cross-boundary work. simply do not have the frequency of synchronous real-
Cooperative goals define the outputs desired, while time communication characteristic of traditional team
interdependent tasks connect those desired outcomes to structures.
those achieved. When a team has completed its process, Virtual team members must learn to excel as active
it expresses its purpose as concrete results. communicators. The success of the team depends on the
Links are what give virtual teams their distinction from ability of team members to exchange information in face
in-the-same-place organizations. Multiple media (wires, of the challenge of time and place. In building a culture
phones, computers, etc.) are the channels by which the of familiarity relationships, trust is key to enhancing the
members make the physical connection. These quality of communication.
connections allow communication and boundary-
crossing interaction that make virtual teams truly 2.2.3 Leadership
different. Through interactions, people develop trusting Leadership is another quality that engenders success in
relationships in their patterns of behavior that persist and both traditional and virtual teams [6]. It is important for
feed back into subsequent interactions. While it can be leaders to create coherence when attempting to blend the
argued that trusting relationships are needed by all work processes of a virtual team member’s home
teams, they are even more important to virtual teams organization [11]. Conflict resolution also requires
because of a lack of face-to-face time. This trust may significant leadership expertise. For Snyder [16], one of
even have to replace hierarchical structures and the responsibility of the team leader is ‘‘to be hyper
bureaucratic controls [10]. vigilant, to keep these (conflicts) from spiraling out of
control”.
2.2 Factors in a successful virtual team Effective team leaders can also demonstrate the
Many of the best practices for traditional teams are capability to deal with paradoxical situations and
similar to those for virtual teams. Successful and contradictions by performing multiple leadership roles
satisfying team experiences have certain characteristics simultaneously [8]. In this sense, team leaders must

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 LATEST TRENDS on COMPUTERS (Volume II)

remember to recognize the contributions of individuals. • Reduce travel time and cost.
If a team leader recognizes a person’s contribution to the • Increasing the work-life balance – by removing fixed
team goals, that person will generally respond office hours and the need to travel work can be
appropriately to that recognition. accomplished around the other things that life is
supposed to be about.
2.2.4 Goals • Lower costs base – smaller premises – for many
While goals are important for all teams, they are critical owner/managers just starting out the cost of premises
for those team members who do not see or meet each is just one more headache that can best be avoided.
other frequently. In these circumstances, the team’s • The ability to work smarter and more flexibly. People
goals effectively become a unifying force, which can still contribute even if they are on the other side
incorporates the organization’s strategy, the objectives of of the world.
the various team members and the needs of team • Wider groups or networks can be involved – meaning
members [4]. a greater number of brains applied to the problem.
It is vital for all team members to participate in the • Being more competitive and responsive to the market
goalsetting phase of a project. Virtual team members – Virtual working can mean 24/7 working – not just
should actively engage in constructive dialogue to ensure the eight hours at the office.
that clarity exists at all levels within the team concerning Virtual teams operating across boundaries of time and
performance measures and the types of individual efforts geography are fast becoming necessities of the everyday
required to produce positive performance outcomes. This business world [7]. Although virtual teams can be highly
strategy prompts team members to work successful units, it is also important to be aware of their
interdependently with a shared purpose in mind. Goals drawbacks. Some of the main downsides of virtual teams
should be referred to frequently by team leaders to include the following:
encourage virtual teams to stay on course in the pursuit • Loneliness and isolation. If not properly managed
of their team goals [12]. people may have a tendency to feel forgotten and
even deserted by the organisations they work for.
2.2.5 Technologies Some people have a high level of need for social
Virtual teams could not exist in their current guise interaction to stay engaged and motivated.
without the advanced technological tools available
• Dangers of overwork leading to burn out. New
today. Some of these tools are synchronous in nature,
entrants to virtual working often have a sense that
requiring people to be available at the same time,
they are ‘not doing enough’. This leads to attempts to
independent of geography. For example, the telephone,
work longer hours to justify still being valued by the
teleconferencing, video conferencing, chat rooms and
company.
other tools including voice-mail, email, faxes and
• Loss of opportunity to network and transfer
computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) are all
knowledge informally. We all transfer and absorb
technologies employed in this context. CMC is an
knowledge differently. Many companies are unaware
important development in computer-related
of the importance of informal learning until the
technological applications in virtual teaming because
opportunity for it is removed.
they allow people who are not co-located to structure
and engage in a real-time dialogue about a project or • Actions get overlooked because team members
task.The work of virtual teams can also be enhanced by assume someone else is responsible.
use of a designated Web site [6]. • Managing people you’ve never met can be
Advances in technology generally are at the heart of the challenging.
increased use of virtual teams in organizations.
However, for sustained success, virtual teams must
continue to expand their means of electronic 3 Computer-mediated communication
collaboration. Computer-mediated communication systems (CMCS)
are sociotechnical systems that support and enhance the
2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of virtual communication-related activities of team members
teams engaged in computer-supported cooperative work. The
Virtual teams allow employees to work and communication and coordination activities of team
communicate in real-time around the globe. These members are facilitated by technologies that can be
technologically driven teams have several advantages characterized along the three continua of time, space,
that have allowed them to grow in popularity. Some of and level of group support. Teams can communicate
the main reasons for this increased popularity include synchronously or asynchronously; they may be located
opportunities to: together or remotely; and the technology can provide

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task support primarily for the individual team member or meeting information report more effective
for the group’s activities. These computer-based communication during the meeting.
communication technologies are utilized to overcome Computer conferencing, which is a “structured form of
space and time constraints that burden face-to-face electronic mail in which messages are organized by topic
meetings, to increase the range and depth of information and dialogues are often mediated” [1], can be
access, and to improve group task performance asynchronous (such as bulletin board systems and
effectiveness, especially by overcoming “process Internet Usenet newsgroups) or synchronous (such as
losses”. “chat rooms” and the IRC).

3.1 Technology for Virtual Teams 3.2 Software Tools used by Virtual Teams
Different communication technologies can be used to Many software tools are used by virtual teams. Majority
support different purpose and participants. One objective of the tools are used to leverage communication and
of using these technologies is to create comparable collaboration among virtual team members. Hundreds of
levels of communication speed and effectiveness as tools exist for different types of activities, ranging from
those achieved at traditional meetings. Table 2 presents open source to highly specialized applications. In the
meetings different categories create by information reminder of this section types of tools shall be briefly
technology. described.

Same place Different place 3.2.1 Group Support Systems/Group Decision

“Co-located” “Distributed” Support Systems
Same time Face-to-face meetings Audio (telephone) Group Support Systems (GSS) can be defined as an
“Synchronous” Computer-supported conferencing information technology-based environment that uses
meetings Video conferencing computer-mediated communications to support the work
Different time Library Voice mail of groups that maybe geographically dispersed. GSS
“Asynchronous” “War” Room Electronic mail software offers organizations a range of applications
Computer conferencing
from brainstorming to categorizing to analyzing
Groupware
alternatives. These systems allow people to share,
Table2 (from Mittleman & Briggs, 1999)
organize, evaluate, make decisions, and plan for action.
GSS tools are mostly used for the purpose of decision
Computer-mediated communication systems provide
making, and then they are known as Group Decision
support for either synchronous or asynchronous
Support Systems (GDSS). GroupSystem’s ThinkTank is
meetings. Synchronous meetings are spontaneous, where
an example of GSS/GDSS.
ideas are exchanged with little structure. Participants
communicate with each other in such a way that it is
3.2.2 Chat and Meeting Tools
some- times difficult to attribute an idea to one
Meeting tools provide ways to communicate in real-time
participant or to establish the reason behind a particular
with other team members by typing, voice, or video (or
decision.
all three). Some tools include chat rooms, whiteboards,
Asynchronous meetings are more structured than
and more. Typically, all participants must have
synchronous meetings. These meetings rely more on
compatible software installed, and optionally, may need
documents exchanged among participants. Compared to
a headset, microphone, and video camera. Some
synchronous meetings, asynchronous meeting partici-
common chat programs include GTalk, MSN, Yahoo,
pants have longer to compose their messages and,
Skype and ICQ.
therefore, it is easy to attribute an idea to its originator
Web-based programs like WebEx, Microsoft Office Live
and establish the reason behind a particular decision.
Meeting, Adobe Breeze, and Hewlett Packard Virtual
However, asynchronous meetings require more time than
Meeting Room let users hold online meetings,
synchronous meetings because information exchange
conferences, and training sessions.
takes longer. Asynchronous meetings are frequently used
by groups in which at least one participant is in a remote
3.2.3 Information Broadcasting
location. CMCS technologies that facilitate
Applications in this category are used to distribute
asynchronous meetings include electronic mail (email),
information to team members and others with blogs,
Electronic Document Management, bulletin board
podcasts, presentations, and Webinars.
systems, and Internet Usenet newsgroups. One study
Blogs (short for weblog) are online diaries that combine
indicated that email (the most popular medium of
text, images, and hyperlinks. Blogs allow the author to
communication in the workplace) users who share pre-
categorize the entries, which lets visitors limit posts to a
specific topic.

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 LATEST TRENDS on COMPUTERS (Volume II)

Unlike presentations and Webinars (which are typically interaction support is an important component for
scheduled), podcasts let team members retrieve collaborative project management tools. Interactions
information on demand. Podcasts are used to deliver include negotiation of the goals, task allocations,
audio files, while vodcasts are used for video files. scheduling, resources allocation, and co-work on the
same document or same task. Without effective
3.2.4 Information Sharing interaction support, project members can work very hard
Virtual teams need to share information or the concept of and find they are working toward a misunderstanding
"teamwork" disappears. Many collaboration software goal. Concerted level software allows project members
suites include calendars, file galleries, forums, bulletin to coauthor an artifacts in a parallel manner, and the
boards, application sharing, content management, and software supports synchronous and asynchronous group
workflow management, all of which can be used to share problem solving and decision making.
information. Microsoft SharePoint is an example of
application from this category.
4 Research
3.2.5 Information Gathering Purpose of our research is to explore the peculiarities of
Surveys, project management and scheduling, feedback, virtual teamwork. To highlight these features were
and time tracking let team members collaborate on the included in research face-to face teams just to make
current deliverables. comparisons between the two possible types of work
Surveys are used to collect information, usually without organization in a project.
verification, about a specific activity or concept. Surveys
help to better understand the activity or concept, identify 4.1 Research objectives
areas of concern, and see if more information needs to be 1. Analysis of the impact of new communication techno-
gathered. logies on team work;
Project management and scheduling are used primarily 2. Study of peculiarities in virtual teams;
by project manager to monitor progress on specific tasks 3. Comparison of aspects of generating ideas and making
and those assigned to the task. Project management and decisions typical virtual teams and teams that face to
scheduling tools identify both strengths and weaknesses face.
of the project and team working on it.
Feedback further identifies areas of strength and
4.2 Research results
weakness. Feedback is used to adjust project plan and
This project comprises three major stages:
identify topics for future surveys.
1. Brainstorming stage (in this phase were generated
Time tracking is sometimes part of project management.
advertisingt ideas, discussed and analyzed these
Time tracking is used to see how much time is being
ideas);
spent on a specific task.
2. Decision making stage (in this stage the team decided
which is the product which will be advertise)
3.2.6 Wikis 3. Implementation stage (in this stage the teams have
Wikis are collaborative web sites that allow users to add
developed the slogan and has negotiate how to be
and edit content. Wikis are similar to word processors,
made advertise, details, images and music).
but use specific codes to add or modify the content. All
In each of this stages were found characteristic of certain
work is done through a browser in real-time.
aspects of work in virtual teams and face-to-face teams.
Before that we have made a few mentions. As a form of
3.2.7 RSS Feeds and Other "Push" Technologies communication face-to-face teams used only STSP
"Push" technologies deliver information from a server to
(Same Time Same Place) strategies, while virtual teams
users. Users may initially request the information, but it
used three type of information communication: DTDP
is delivered when ready. Users have no control over
(Different Time Different Place) (e-mail), DTSP
when the information arrives. Push technologies include
(Different Time Same Place) (site announcements),
emails, faxes, voice mails, newsletters, and RSS feeds.
STDP (Same Time Different Place) (meeting on yahoo
Tools can be divided in groups according to level of
messenger).
collaboration they support. According to Romano et al.
Another aspect is that traditional teams have an average
[13] there are communicative, collective, cooperative,
4-5 meetings for to realize the project. Members of
coordinated and concerted collaboration levels. Lower
virtual teams sent each average 6-7 e-mails. This number
levels of collaboration focus mainly on information
is relative because, for example, first team change about
sharing. Information sharing is important, but
50 messages, while second team stored about 25
information sharing alone is not sufficient. The
messages.
interaction between project members is essential, and

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Some members of virtual teams participated more in the opportunity to “meet” (phone, chat and face-to-face if is
early stages, weeks of the event of the project, almost possible), because the e-mails system is not efficient in
abandoning the project , others members were involved the moment when the arguments must be negociated.
in the project only in debating stage, when the finally
details of the project was discussed.
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