This era is growing popularity for virtual team structures in organizations [1, 5]. Martins et al. [6] in a major review of the literature on
virtual teams, conclude that ‘with rare exceptions all organizational teams are virtual to some extent.’ We have moved away from working
with people who are in our visual proximity to working with people around the globe [7]. Although virtual teamwork is a current topic in the
literature on global organizations, it has been problematic to define what ‘virtual’ means across multiple institutional contexts [8]. It is
worth mentioning that virtual teams are often formed to overcome geographical or temporal separations [9]. Virtual teams work across
boundaries of time and space by utilizing modern computer-driven technologies. The term “virtual team” is used to cover a wide range of
activities and forms of technology-supported working [10]. Virtual teams are comprised of members who are located in more than one
physical location. This team trait has fostered extensive use of a variety of forms of computer-mediated communication that enable
geographically dispersed members to coordinate their individual efforts and inputs [11]. From the perspective of Leenders et al.[12]
virtual teams are groups of individuals collaborating in the execution of a specific project while geographically and often temporally
distributed, possibly anywhere within (and beyond) their parent organization. Amongst the different definitions of the concept of a virtual
team the following from is one of the most widely accepted: [13], ”virtual teams as groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time
dispersed workers brought together by information technologies to accomplish one or more organization tasks”. The degree of
geographic dispersion within a virtual team can vary widely from having one member located in a different location than the rest of the
team to having each member located in a different country [14].
Nader
Ale Ebrahim holds a PhD degree in Technology Management from the Department of
Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of
Malaya. He holds a Master of Science in the Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Tehran with distinguished honors. He also has over 19 years of
experience in the establishment of the R&D departments in different
companies, heading projects as the project director and project coordinator and
implementing knowledge based system in the R&D department. His current
research interest focuses on E-skills, Research Tools, Bibliometrics and
managing virtual NPD teams in SMEs’ R&D centers. His papers/articles have
published and presented in the several journals and conferences.
Virtual Teams Definition
Advantages and Pitfalls of Virtual Teams
Management Challenges
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