Building successful virtual teams

✍ Scribed by Francine Gignac

• Publisher: Artech House
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 228
• Series: Technology Management Library
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

What began as telecommuting has rapidly evolved to an exciting new level with the emergence of virtual teams and the technologies and methodologies to implement them. This definitive resource provides professionals with start-to-finish guidelines for building successful virtual teams in any organization. It applies today's best practices in virtual team design, project management, and change management to give readers a full understanding of virtual collaboration and its multitude of advantages. The book features expert advice for selecting the right collaborative technologies and software, and maps out every step of team implementation from identifying ideal participants to measuring team performance. Case studies bring field-tested perspective that further ensure effective transitions from traditional teams to virtual teams in any organizational setting. CD-ROM Included! Equips professionals with over 50 ready-to-use templates, including project plans, logs, checklists, and other tools to support implementation and facilitate the success of virtual team initiatives.

✦ Table of Contents

Building Successful Virtual Teams......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Preface ix......Page 8
Introduction xiii......Page 12
1.1 The Knowledge Era 1......Page 18
1.2 The Knowledge Worker--The New Economic Resource 11......Page 28
1.3 Knowledge Management and Collaboration 16......Page 33
1.4 The Virtual Team--A Promising Investment 20......Page 37
1.5 Building the Business Case 30......Page 47
References......Page 56
2.1 Technologies Overview 41......Page 58
2.2 Selecting the Right Technology 48......Page 65
2.3 Integration Issues 55......Page 72
3.1 The Virtual Challenge--Building Trust 61......Page 78
3.2 Group Dynamics 67......Page 84
3.3 Smart People Getting Smarter 73......Page 90
3.4 Dealing with Cultures 79......Page 96
3.5 Facilitating the Team 84......Page 101
3.6 Measuring Results 90......Page 107
References......Page 111
4.1 A Methodology--A Basic Recipe 97......Page 114
4.2 Resources, Roles, and Responsibilities 100......Page 117
4.3 Plan and Deliverables 109......Page 126
4.4 The Tasks in Detail 112......Page 129
5 Key Success Factors......Page 196
6 Conclusion......Page 204
Appendix A: List of Templates Included on the CD......Page 210
Appendix B: How to Use the CD-ROM......Page 212
List of Acronyms......Page 214
Selected Bibliography......Page 216
About the Author......Page 224
Index......Page 226