1. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Global Virtual Teams Mary Beth Watson-Manheim Associate Professor Information & Decision Sciences University of Illinois, Chicago mbwm@uic.edu

2. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Agenda Framework for Documenting Virtuality and Effects on Performance Boundaries Discontinuities and Continuities Virtuality Index at Intel Corporation Implications for Management and IT

3. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Work is Changing: Becoming More Virtual Increase in work in multiple teams distributed over different geographical locations, major time zone differences, internal business units, and national cultures Dependent on extensive use of ICT Benefits: Access to more expertise, skills regardless of location More flexibility – teams can be formed and disbanded with little cost Dynamic team membership Reduced costs – people can change jobs without changing location

4. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Challenges of Virtuality Communication often becomes more difficult, performance suffers Loss of face-to-face synergies Lack of trust Greater concern with predictability and reliability Lack of social interaction But this is not always the case Some teams are very productive, Some relationships thrive How to get it right?

5. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 What Do We Mean by “Virtual”? Language is imprecise Shorthand for many different situations, e.g., telecommuting, globally distributed teams Difficult to document & measure different conditions Does virtual mean supporting ability to work at home – an HR concern? Does virtual mean supporting an interorganizational alliance for new product development – a more strategic concern? Difficult to understand effects of virtuality on performance and how to manage

6. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Virtual = Spanning Boundaries Virtual is work that spans one or more boundaries Examples of boundaries Geographic Work Location (most common) Time Zone Work Group Membership Organizational Affiliation Functional Area, e.g., marketing, finance, etc. National/Cultural Backgrounds Distributed organizational team may involve members spread across US while inter-organizational alliance may cross many boundaries

7. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Role of ICT Both facilitates and creates new challenges Virtual teams dependent on use for ICT However, use of ICT provides platform for teams to span more boundaries Access to more expertise, additional flexibility But also new challenges – stretched thin? ICT enables connections but the nature of these connections is changing ICT solutions may not provide adequate support

8. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Virtuality and Performance There is often increased effort to accomplish work at the boundary Adding a distant colleague to work group – increases cost of scheduling meeting If distant colleague is from different nationality – scheduling meeting is even more difficult + misunderstandings more likely Team performance may suffer But spanning boundaries does not always lead to performance difficulties

9. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Discontinuity Discontinuity is “jump in the marginal costs of physical flows of products and information across space” where the jump indicates existence of a border

10. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Discontinuities A boundary can be objectively noted as being present Such as individuals cross a boundary of time when they work in different time zones Discontinuities are elements of virtual environment that create a break or gap in the work context, or create lack of continuity A discontinuity exists when the boundary is an impediment to information and communication flows or reduces performance

11. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Continuity Continuities: methods to compensate for or mitigate effort – reducing difficulties spanning boundaries

12. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Example of Continuities Adding a distant colleague to work group – increases cost of scheduling meeting If distant colleague is from different nationality – scheduling meeting is even more difficult + misunderstandings more likely To avoid communication problems – team members often talk more slowly avoid colloquialisms To avoid continual scheduling problems – team members may agree on regularly scheduled meetings Team performance can increase Cost of work at boundary is reduced

13. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Virtuality at Intel Large global corporation with multiple US and international sites Strategic dependence on virtual work Employees not required to change location if job responsibilities change Sharp reduction in travel budgets Remote reporting relationships common (13% overall, much higher in some areas) IT planners question efficacy of current collaboration tools for this environment

14. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Data Collection Web-based survey of 2100 employees 700 from each of 3 regions – Americas, Greater Asia (GAR), Greater Europe (GER) All job categories represented (including factory floor) 1269 responses (62%) Reflected overall regional and job stratification Except: 1) manuf floor under-represented - 37% population, 21% of sample; 2) mgt over-represented, <1% population, 3% of sample

15. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Development of Virtuality Index Eighteen questions on frequency of aspects of virtuality (boundaries) found in collaboration Each of the aspects can be credibly measured and reported, i.e., employees can reliably say whether they work with people at a physical distance, across organizations or national cultures, and how often they experience the boundary Frequency measured on 6-point scale Never, yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily Performance metrics based on “Intel values” Known to all employees through performance reviews

16. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Components of Virtuality Dimensions of Virtuality different than expected Team distribution Degree to which people work on teams with people distributed over different geographies and time zones, relying upon Intel ’ s basic collaboration technologies Workplace mobility Degree to which employees work in environments other than regular offices. Variety of practices degree to which employees experience cultural and work process diversity in collaboration

17. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 How Virtual is Intel: Team distribution Chudoba, Wynn, Lu, Watson-Manheim, M.B., “How Virtual Are We? Measuring Virtuality and Understanding Its Impact in a Global Organization,” Information Systems Journal, Vol. 15 (4), 279-306, 2005

18. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 How Virtual is Intel: Variety of Practices Chudoba, Wynn, Lu, Watson-Manheim, M.B., “How Virtual Are We? Measuring Virtuality and Understanding Its Impact in a Global Organization,” Information Systems Journal, Vol. 15 (4), 279-306, 2005

19. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 How Virtual is Intel: Workplace mobility Chudoba, Wynn, Lu, Watson-Manheim, M.B., “How Virtual Are We? Measuring Virtuality and Understanding Its Impact in a Global Organization,” Information Systems Journal, Vol. 15 (4), 279-306, 2005

20. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Multi-teaming 64% on 3+ teams, half of those on 5+ teams Chudoba, Wynn, Lu, Watson-Manheim, M.B., “How Virtual Are We? Measuring Virtuality and Understanding Its Impact in a Global Organization,” Information Systems Journal, Vol. 15 (4), 279-306, 2005

21. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Findings: Virtuality Index Team Distribution does not have negative effect on performance New Discontinuities - Variety of work practices and Mobile work do have negative effect on performance Multi-teaming seems to be new discontinuity Many formed opportunistically rather than by assignment Increase in multi-tasking during meetings

22. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Implications New Discontinuity - Multi-Teaming Most prior work assumes one intact team Organizing principle for current tools is ‘within-group,’ membership in more than one group means multiples sites, repositories, etc. Difficult to have unified view of work Changing teams leads to increased transactions cost, e.g., different norms of communication, use of technologies within teams, etc.

23. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Implications Discontinuity - Variety of Practices Rate at which multi-teaming occurs and the number of differences that people face contribute to lack of cohesion Increased cultural and work process diversity Working with different tools and processes has the most negative impact People with established and predictable procedures and processes have better perceptions of team performance Management policies could introduce continuities, e.g., consistent usage of tools within the organization, establishment of repeatable processes Develop team etiquette for virtual work

24. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Implications Discontinuity - Mobile Work Describes how much employees move around from home, to different offices, and travel locations Many employees face challenges commonly associated with sales and marketing Tool Design Tools will need to provide a form of continuity that parallels that of workers who stay at one desktop (home or office.)

25. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 IT Solution Areas Tools need expressivity to accommodate sociability & cultural differences Sociability relates positively to productivity Cultural differences have some negative impact Add level of consistency to platform For example, reduce overhead of shifting documents from one team repository to another, maintaining versions, and rolling up three to five team milestones into a single individual timeline BUT also need for increased expressivity (flexibility in expression) People combining media to get increased expressivity Multi-teaming suggests new organizational model for designers IT tools designed to address network not hierarchy Web 2.0, social networking tools may be appropriate

26. © M.B. Watson-Manheim, May 2008 Conclusion Discontinuity/Continuity Framework Helps identify problematic areas and ways to reduce problems Gives insight into process of working virtually In addition to individual and team strategies, other higher level continuities include professional culture, organizational culture and norms Use of Virtuality Index Quantify aspects of virtuality in the organization or work unit and link to performance Identify problematic areas, management and IT solutions Organizational culture and existing processes likely to influence results (Intel)