The Knowledge Advantage of Virtual Teams – Processes Supporting Knowledge Synergy

Abstract

It has been previously argued that virtual teams emerged as a new organisational form of ‘working together apart’. However, their novelty has been attributed to the use of technologically advanced communications rather than to their organisational properties. It remains unclear what makes virtual teams a potentially powerful new organisational form. The paper argues that unravelling the mystery of knowledge creation processes in virtual teams requires an in-depth understanding of the complex interaction processes involved in forming computer mediated business relationships. The focus, therefore, is on the process of collective ‘knowing’, defined as team's actions and interactions embedded in unique social activities in virtual teams rather than on knowledge being a pre-given resource possessed by the team members. The paper presents an initial conceptual framework of knowledge creative processes in virtual partnerships, which builds on recent empirical studies and conceptual developments in virtual team dynamics, knowledge networking and biological phenomenology.