Corporations across the world are making investments in internal communications and networks and virtual teams supported by such infrastructure are on the rise. Teams of people who rarely meet in person face severe collaboration challenges. The biggest challenges are long distance and time zone differences making frequent communication difficult and cultural miscues causing frequent misunderstanding. A recent study of virtual teams of various sizes at big multination companies analyzed why some teams are on the constant danger of breaking up while others are high performers and a virtual hotsop of innovation and energy. A research team at London Business School surveyed more than 1,500 virtual-team members and leaders from 55 teams across 15 European and U.S. multinational companies. BP PLC, Nokia Corp. and Ogilvy & Mather were among the companies where detailed case studies of successful virtual teams were conducted. The findings are published in this WSJ article http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118165895540732559.html as 10 golden rules for making virtual teams more productive. Some of the key practices common to successful teams are – online resources where members can learn about one another, choosing a few members who already know each other, cultivate boundary spanners (which appears to be a very T-shaped role), assigning tasks that are challenging, interesting and meaningful to the team and company, and soliciting volunteers (people whose proof of commitment is their willingness to join the team on their own). The article cites examples of Wikipedia and Linux as two successful virtual teams that illustrate the last point,
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