Abstract
This research ranks effectiveness-related factors of virtual teams. The literature suggests various factors which could motivate or discourage management in using virtual teams versus co-located teams. Forty-eight interviews were done in petrochemical companies in Saudi Arabia. The Echo Method has been employed and eleven factors were identified. Results showed that the participants ranked efficiency and communication as first and second as a motivating factor in adopting the virtual team approach. While, the other three motivating factors which were ranked lower are flexibility, diversity and cooperation. On the other hand, the six discouraging factors (barrier) are miscommunication, scheduling preferences, unreliability of technology, incompetency of staff, varying standards and isolationist tendency. Suggestions were made to counteract the effects of the barrier-inducing factors and enhance the effects of the motivating factors.
Highlights
The drive towards speed, cost rationalization, quality of output and broad reach for dispersed market encourages organizations to consider virtual teams as an approach to organizing tasks and delivering result [32].This paper examines the literature on this issue and performed a validation using social network survey research in identifying key factors which make virtual team deliver its promises.The unique contribution of this work is the attempt to rank various factors as to why management would use virtual teams
By working on the inner thoughts elicited through the Echo Method, ranking them, and coupled with what are already discussed in the literature, this paper suggests a water-tight process of working with virtual teams
After the 48 interviews were conducted based on the Echo Method, all interviews were transcribed
Summary
This paper examines the literature on this issue and performed a validation using social network survey research in identifying key factors which make virtual team deliver its promises. The unique contribution of this work is the attempt to rank various factors as to why management would use virtual teams. Ranking the factors affecting the adoption of virtual teams is important so that the management could utilize more fully the driving factors and avoid (or use counteracting solutions) the discouraging factors. These factors are deeply imbedded into the subconscious of the staff that one of the best ways of eliciting these factors is the use of Echo Method. Through the Echo Method, those staff was able to communicate their inner thoughts to the interviewer [25]
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