Virtual Teams

Virtual teams, whereby geographically dispersed individuals work together toward a common goal, developing and establishing effective work protocols and supportive relationships through technologies, have become a major component in today’s organizations. Whether it is for work, learning, or problem solving in general, companies, nonprofit organizations, and schools must leverage collective resources and talents. When the nature of the problem goes beyond the scope of individual effort, educators and organizational leaders frequently form a team to resolve the issue. Although the literature on cooperative learning and collaborative problem solving is rich, extant literature on teams largely focuses on task and social dimensions of group work, paying less attention to managing the process of virtual group work and developing team members. To leverage what virtual teams truly offer, it is critical to understand what teams are, how virtual teams compare with traditional face-to-face teams, and most importantly, how learning, performance, and development should be managed in support of the team goal.

Teams and groups are two related concepts, and virtual teams are specific examples of small groups. Groups vary in size (community being the largest and dyad being the smallest), types (work group versus social group), membership requirements (voluntary versus externally imposed), and group history (previous experiences working together). Teams are often distinguished from groups in that they are largely formed by external individuals and emphasize greater shared responsibilities for accomplishments. Teams are generally considered a form of a work group. However, researchers who study groups working on tasks or work teams also use the term group as a unit of analysis. Here, the terms teams and groups are used interchangeably.

Teams have definable characteristics, sharing membership, goals, and responsibilities and acting as a unit of individuals as well as an individual. Teams are a social system belonging to a larger social system whose members’ interdependence occurs because of the need for collaborative task-related performance. Virtual teams are not exceptions; virtual work or learning teams always operate within a larger system, such as a department, organization, or course community. Therefore, successful task completion is the primary importance of all teams, although the social dimension of member relationships and support cannot be ignored.

This entry begins with a description of virtual teams’ core characteristics. Next, the entry focuses on research, including research into the tasks, technologies, learning performance, and development of virtual teams. This entry concludes with an examination of implications of such research for practice and future research.