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Can absence make a team grow stronger?
Ann Majchrzak1, Arvind Malhotra, Jeffrey Stamps
1Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. majchrza@usc.edu
Harvard Business Review
|May 19, 2004
Summary
Global teams can be more productive when collaborating virtually. Effective management of virtual teams, using online platforms and tele-conferences, overcomes challenges and leverages diversity for competitive advantage.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Behavior
- Team Management
- Global Collaboration
Background:
- Diverse project requirements often necessitate geographically dispersed specialists.
- Traditional co-located teams face psychological and practical obstacles.
- Virtual collaboration presents an alternative for global team integration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the productivity of virtual teams compared to traditional teams.
- To identify factors contributing to the success of virtual team collaboration.
- To explore how to leverage distance and diversity as competitive advantages.
Main Methods:
- An extensive benchmarking study of successful virtual teams.
- Analysis of virtual team work processes and social dynamics.
- Examination of communication tools and decision-making strategies.
Main Results:
- Virtual teams can be more productive than co-located teams.
- Team members in virtual settings feel freer to contribute diverse expertise.
- Virtual teams often make faster decisions by avoiding traditional meeting structures.
- Sophisticated online platforms and structured tele-conferences facilitate effective collaboration.
Conclusions:
- Virtual collaboration, when managed effectively, can overcome geographical barriers.
- Strategic use of online tools and communication fosters productivity and innovation.
- Distance and diversity can be transformed into significant competitive advantages for organizations.