As per below, I invited the virtual team "study" author and the person whom I've been corresponding with to respond to my posts. Received this email earlier this evening, reporting that my blog says "it won't accept [their] data." Ironic, given what I've been writing - and, I've never heard of this problem before. I admire Joseph Grenny for replying directly and thank Brittney Maxfield for fielding my queries. My replies to this email are interspersed in bold.
Jessica,
We have tried to respond on your blog. We repeatedly get an error that says “we’re sorry, we cannot accept this data.” Not sure what the issues are.
Here is the author’s response. Perhaps you can post it on the blog:
Our recent study on virtual teams (referenced above) draws attention to some of the challenges associated with working across distances.
Our studies, conducted via the opt-in responses of our 102,000 newsletter subscribers, provide insight and commentary on trends in interpersonal and organizational behavior. Our studies typically validate previously conducted scientific research and simply add to the discussion.
A few other studies that have reached similar conclusions regarding the challenges or [sic] virtual teams include:
· ThoughtLink - research indicates virtual teams are “less cohesive than collocated teams” and “often have cultural differences…that negatively affect the team's ability to develop a sense of trust, impacting the team's ability to accomplish its mission.” (http://www.thoughtlink.com/vteams_benefits.htm)
The sentence above is taken from another company's website under the heading "Virtual Team Pitfalls." It's footnoted by a 1999 paper by Pamela J. Hinds, "Perspective Taken Among Distributed Workers: The effect of distance on shared mental models of work," but I am not able to find the paper itself available online.
· Barbara Geisler - states that when spatial borders separate team members, identity is ambiguous and basic indicators of personality traits and social roles are harder to identify.
(http://www.newfoundations.com/OrgTheory/Geisler721.html)
I'm not familiar with Barbara Geisler's work and this is the only paper I can find by her. The context in which it was written is not clear (a term paper, perhaps, as it's extensively referenced but doesn't present any study or original research of its own)...but I sure like her sources: she quotes us extensively.
· Both studies site a scientific research conducted by Jarvenpaa and Leidner (of the Graduate School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin) that explores the challenges of creating and maintaining trust in a global virtual team whose members transcend time, space, and culture.
(http://hyperion.math.upatras.gr/commorg/jarvenpaa/)
The conclusion to this thoughtful, classic study of trust by two great researchers on virtual teams is: "[o]ur exploratory
suggests that trust can exist in teams built purely on electronic networks."
Our own study builds on these findings and provides a potential solution set. That solution involves improving the way virtual teams communicate in crucial moments. We don’t advocate that our solution is the only one, rather that it can help alleviate some of the difficulties associated with long-distance working relationships.
I agree that our task is to help virtual teams be as
effective as possible, and that encouraging them to have frank
conversations is critical.
We hope the message readers take from our research is not that virtual teams cause trouble.
Then why title your press release this way? "Long Distance Loathing: Telecommuting damages morale and productivity - New research shows working remotely causes 243 percent more problems"
Virtual teams are here to stay. Rather, the question is how to help them be as effective as possible. Based on our findings and more than 30 years working with clients across the globe, we advocate that if teams learn how to communicate better across distances, they will be more effective, productive, and profitable.
I also agree with this.
--Joseph Grenny
I encourage you to think more positively and undertake a real study of the challenges facing virtual teams and the great doors that they open. Much research, including ours, indicates that virtual teams can outperform face-to-face ones. Getting there requires excellent collaborative behaviors - and support with appropriate technology. I also don't think - though I have no numbers to back this up - that most people working in virtual teams loathe them. Most virtual workers I know love them.
Regardless, Mr. Grenny, I appreciate your writing in like this and encourage you to keep posting here.
