Course overview
Virtual Team Project
IBM Connections platform
Classroom Session 1, Thu Sept 10
Minna Logemann
Marketta Majapuro
Virtual Team Management 71C06000 – Autumn 2015 Q1
Chile
Welcome
to our
course
on virtual
work!
US
Japan
Mexico
Course overview
England
In this first session we will
•
•
•
Discuss the aim and outcome of this course
Go through the outline structure and content of the course
Introduce you to the key concepts
• Virtual team, online collaboration
• Team project topic: reputation
• Familiarize you with the basic features and how-to-use our
online collaboration platform IBM Connections
• Discuss the assignments
Aim of this course
I.
Provide research based background on distinctive
features and challenges of virtual working
environments.
II. Introduce you into virtual team work in practices.
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4
By the end of this course, you will…
- Understand the differences of working in physically proximate
teams vs. geographically dispersed teams
- Be able to identify critical success factors and challenges of
virtual teams
- Show detailed understanding of the best practices in managing
virtual teams
- Be able to structure, implement and accomplish an international
virtual project
- Have experience of using online collaboration tools
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MyCourses vs. IBM Connections
MyCourses
 Student – Teacher
communication channel
IBM Connections “SocialStudent”
 Team Project Communication
& Collaboration
 Syllabus
 Materials
 Individual Assigments
 Team Project Timetable
 Team Project Assignment
 Team Project Tools: for online
video meetings, document
sharing, and chatting
This course as such, was born in
virtual collaboration between us
teachers from Marshall
College/USC, Eller College/UA, and
AaltoBIZ
Additionally, virtual
team project
founder: Jolanta
Aritz, USC
On team also:
Diza Sauers, AZ.
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What do we mean with virtual teams? (1)
Let’s discuss:
• What is your own experience of ‘virtual
collaboration’?
• What differs a ’virtual’ team from a traditional team?
• What about ’group work’ and ’team’ work?
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What do we mean with virtual teams? (2)
How research literature defines ‘virtual teams’:
• Distributed, dispersed, or global teams (Martins et al, 2004)
• Groups of geographically, organizationally, and/or time
dispersed individuals brought together by information and
telecommunication technologies to accomplish a common
goal (Ahuja and Carley, 1999)
 Distanced and detached-from-each-other work performers
and ways of working in a team consisting of such members.
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What comes along with ‘virtuality’?
• Rethinking of organizational structures (e.g Arnison & Miller,
2002)
• New kinds of
• organizational designs (hierarchies, resource allocation
• ways of doing things (information sharing platforms, less
direct supervision)
• members of teams (culture, language, knowledge skills,
level of commitment)
 Shape the actual team and influence the way it operates.
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Challenges of distant (virtual) work
• Temporal: finding the common working hours despite time-zones
• Physical: different environments, departments, organizations,
professional backgrounds with different professional language,
company speak, and codes of conduct
• Technical: collaboration and communication tools, technical skills,
organizational support
• Sociological: differences in culture, rank, level of
interdependence and lack of pre-existing relationships
Chile
…i.e. this course is
specifically designed to
help you to understand the
nature and challenges of
distanced and detached
work, and to succeed in
working in and leading
virtual teams.
US
Japan
Mexico
Course overview
England
Course outline and
structure in parallel
2 parts
Class room sessions with individual assignments
Virtual Team Project with team assignments
Date and
session
Classroom session topics
Individual Assignment
Team Assignments
 Reaction paper on readings
 Due by Tuesday 23.55
after the classroom
session
 Due by Tuesday 23.55 before
the classroom session
 Detailed instructions and
posting in MyCourses
 Detailed instructions in
IBM Connections
Session 1
Thu,
September
10
Course overview
Virtual team project
IBM Connections
platform
1. Edmondson, A.C. (2012).
Teamwork on the fly: How to
master the new art of teaming?
Harvard Business Review, April,
72–80.
2. Ferrazzi, K. (2014). Getting virtual
teams right. Harvard Business
Review, December.
Establish your profile on
Connections, and connect
with your team mates.
Pre-project survey.
1st virtual team meeting in
Connections: get-to-know.
Meeting summary 1
Session 2
Thu,
September
17
New interactions,
technologies,
commitments
1. Berry, G.R. (2011). Enhancing
effectiveness on virtual teams.
understanding why traditional team
skills are insufficient. Journal of
Business Communication, 48 (2),
186–206.
2. Drouin, N., Bourgault, M. &
Gervais, C. (2010). Effects of
organizational support on
components of virtual project
teams. International Journal of
Managing Projects in Business, 3
(4), 625–641.
Establish team expectations,
rules, roles, communication
channels and meetings.
Identify interesting
companies to research.
2nd virtual team meeting in
Connections.
Meeting summary 2 (Team
Charter)
Session 3
Thu,
September
24
Leadership in global
virtual teams
1. Joshi, A., Lazarova, M.B. & Liao,
H. (2009). Getting everyone on
board: the role of inspirational
leadership in geographically
dispersed teams. Organization
Science, 20, 240–252.
2. Mockaitis, A.I., E.L.Rose &
Zettinig, P. (2012). The power of
individual cultural values in global
virtual teams. International Journal
of Cross-Cultural Management, 12
(2), 193–210.
Describe goals and scope
for your project. Create an
action plan with tasks to
each team member. Discuss
alternative companies in
team, and choose your case
company. Get familiar with
its online presence.
3rd virtual team meeting in
Connections: project plan
Meeting summary 3 (Project
Plan)
(Guest lecture)
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Session 4
Thu,
October 01
Cultural awareness
and effective
communication
(Guest lecture)
Session 5
Thu,
October 8
1. Klitmøller, A. & Lauring, J. (2013).
When global virtual teams share
knowledge: Media richness,
cultural difference and language
commonality. Journal of World
Business, 48, 398–406.
Managing conflicts in
team work
2. Hong, HJ (2010). Bicultural
competence and its impact on
team effectiveness. International
Journal of Cross Cultural
Management, 10 (1), 93–120.
Performance and
productivity
1. Bosch-Sijtsema, P.M., Fruchter,
R., Vartiainen, M. & Ruohomaki,
V. (2011). A Framework to
Analyze Knowledge Work in
Distributed Teams. Group &
Organization Management, 36 (3),
275–307.
2. Gilson, L.L., Maynard, M.T.,
Young, N.C.J., Vartiainen, M. &
Hakonen, M. (2014). Virtual
Teams Research 10 Years, 10
Themes, and 10 Opportunities.
Journal of Management, 41 (5),
1313–1337.
(Guest lecture)
Reviewing virtual team
research
Summarize your individual
assignment progress,
update your action plan.
4th virtual team meeting in
Connections: reporting
progress to team members
Meeting summary 4
(Progress Report)
Finalize and submit your
team project report. Prepare
a (max 10 min) presentation
on results for the last
session.
5th virtual team meeting in
Connections: team
assessment
Meeting summary 5
Write your individual team work
assessment (2 pages) of challenges
you have encountered in the
teamwork, what may have caused
them, identify things that went well,
how you solved conflicts.
Session 6
Thu,
October 15
Final team project
presentations
Present your team’s project in class.
Post-project survey.
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Background to the team
work topic
Corporate reputation and communication
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Virtual Team Project Assignment
•
•
•
You are part of a global team in a consulting company that specializes
in branding/social media management consulting.
Your team chooses a company to analyze. Your team assesses its
external organizational communication practices. Your team provides
recommendations for how the company could improve its public
image and branding as part of its reputation management by
maximizing the use of social media.
You will work with your global team on a virtual collaboration
platform that is used by multinational companies, IBM Connections,
and that way get familiar with an example of social media that the
corporate world uses for their internal virtual work.
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Corporate reputation is ….
• A collective view of all constituencies of the
organization (Forman and Argenti, 2005)
• Stakeholders’ overall evaluation of a company over
time (Gotsi and Wilson, 2001).
• A vital strategic asset for companies
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Corporate reputation & communication
• There is a close link between how a corporate
communicates and its reputation (Forman & Argenti,
2005; Fombrun & Rindova 1998; Burke 1998).
• The overall purpose of corporate communication is
to establish and maintain favorable reputations with
stakeholder groups (Cornelissen, 2014)
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Corporate reputation & strategy
CEOs and senior executives consider linking
communications activities with the corporate strategy
very important.
However, they see lack of professionalism in
communications people and in what communication
practices make difference.
(Murray & White 2005; Van der Jagt 2005)
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Strategy based reputation
• Reveals the viability and effectiveness of the corporate
strategy.
• Forges links to and reinforces other organizational facets that
support the corporate strategy (such as culture).
• Makes the organization’s future behavior more predictable for
stakeholder and competitors.
(Dowling & Moran, 2012)
• Corporate strategy is concerned with the overall purpose and
scope of the organization to meet its various stakeholders’
expectations and needs. (Cornelissen, 2014)
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Strategy is …
• “Top management’s plan for attaining business goals
involving a pattern of consistent behavior over time”
• (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Ampel, 1998)
• Etymology: Strategos – elected head of tribes (Ancient Greek) ~
Sun Tzu Art of War 400 B.Ch.
• Business use: Post-WWII US companies with internationalization
and owner-management separation
• Communicating strategy
• To whom is it important? Why?
Reputation & Strategic Communication
“Purposeful use of communication by an organization will
advance its mission.” (Hallahan et al., 2005)
“The gap between reputation and vision leads to the formulation
of a strategic intent in the communication strategy”
(Cornelissen, 2014)
Mission – Vision – Strategy
Mission
Vision
Why does the
company exist?
How does the
How does the
company want to be company want to
seen by its
get there?
stakeholders?
What’s its purpose
for being?
Strategy
Reputation management in digital era
“Today, anyone armed with a $100 digital camera/ smartphone
and internet connection is a potential Spielberg –”
(Collings & Rohozinski, ‘Bullets and Blogs’ 2009)
•
•
•
•
Cost
Speed
Anonymity
Viral spread
What kind of
challenges do each
of these create for
reputation
management?
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Additional background readings to the
virtual team work topic
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Balmer, John M.T. 2012. Corporate Brand Management Imperatives: Custodianship, Credibility, and
Calibration, California Management Review, Vol. 54, No. 3 (Spring 2012), pp. 6-33.
Dowling, G. and Moran, P. 2012. Corporate Reputations. California Management Review, 54, pp. 2542.
Edelman, D.C. 2010. Branding in the digital era … Harvard Business Review Dec. 2010, pp. 62-69
Forman, J. & Argenti, P. A. 2005. How Corporate Communication Influences Strategy
Implementation, Reputation and the Corporate Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. – Corporate
Reputation Review 8:3, pp. 245-264.
Gaines-Ross, L. 2010, Reputation Warfare, Harvard Business Review, pp. 70-76.
Melewar, T. C. 2008. Facets of corporate identity, communication, and reputation. Abingdon, Oxon,
[UK] ; New York: Routledge
Murray, K. & White, J. 2005. CEOs’ views on reputation management. - Journal of Communication
Management 9:4, pp. 348-358.
Van der Jagt, R. 2005. Senior Business Executives See Communication and Reputation as a Crucial
Part of Their Leadership Role. – Corporate Reputation Review 8:3, pp. 179-186.
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Introducing your
collaboration tool
IBM Connections
“SocialStudent”
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Free apps on my iPhone
• IBM Meetings
• Connections
• IBM Chat
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Assignments and
grading
Individual and team assignments
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Assignments: Reaction papers
You will find instructions in MyCourses to guide you on:
• Choice of articles
• Themes of interest – questions to think about
• Structure of your paper
• Technical instructions for paper
• Evaluation principles
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Virtual Team Project Assignmentss
You will find all instructions in IBM Connections to guide you
on:
• 1_Virtual Team Project Overview
• 2_Virtual Team Project IBM Connections Instructions
• 3_Virtual Team Report Instructions
• 4_Virtual Team Presentation Instructions
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Virtual Team Project Evaluation
• Rubrics
• Aalto Team Work Rubric 2014
• Aalto Business Presentation Rubric 2014
• Shared Aalto_USC_UA virtual team report rubric 2015
• Self-evaluations
• 360° students’ mutual assessment
• Individual Team Work assessment
10.9.2015
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Assignments…
Establish your profile
on Connections, and
connect with your
team mates.
Pre-project survey.
1st virtual team
meeting in
Connections: get-toknow.
Team
assignments
Meeting summary 1
Tue 15.9.
Session 1
10.9.
Individual
assignments
Sun 13.9.
Edmondson
(2012).
Teamwork on the
fly: How to master
the new art of
teaming? Harvard
Business Review,
April 2012
Ferrazzi, K.
(2014). Getting
Virtual Teams
Right. Harvard
Business Review,
December 2014.
Identify interesting
companies to
research.
Describe goals and
scope; create an action
plan with assignments
to each team member.
Discuss alternative
companies in team, and
choose your case
company. Get familiar
with its online presence.
2nd virtual team
meeting in
Connections.
3rd virtual team meeting
in Connections: project
plan
4th virtual team
meeting in
Connections:
reporting progress to
team members
Meeting summary 2
(Team Charter)
Meeting summary 3
(Project Plan)
Meeting summary 4
(Progress Report)
Establish team
expectations, rules,
roles, communication
channels and
meetings.
Tue 22.9.
Session 2
17.9.
Tue 15.9.
Tue 22.9.
Berry, G. R. (2011).
Enhancing
Effectiveness on
Virtual Teams.
Understanding Why
Traditional Team
skills are Insufficient.
Journal of Business
Communication, 48
(2), 186–206.
Drouin, N.,
Bourgault, M. &
Gervais, C. (2010).
Effects of
organizational
support on
components of
virtual project teams.
International Journal
of Managing
Projects in
Business, 3 (4),
625–641.
Joshi, A., Lazarova,
M.B. & Hui, L.
(2009). Getting
everyone on board:
the role of
inspirational
leadership in
geographically
dispersed teams.
Organization
Science, 20, 240252.
Mockaitis, A.I.,
E.L.Rose and
P.Zettinig. (2012).
The Power of
Individual Cultural
Values in Global
Virtual
Teams. International
Journal of CrossCultural
Management, 12 (2),
193–210.
Tue 29.9.
Session 3
24.9.
Tue 29.9.
Klitmøller, A. &
Lauring, J. (2013).
When global virtual
teams share
knowledge: Media
richness, cultural
difference and
language
commonality.
Journal of World
Business, 48, 398–
406.
Hong, HJ (2010).
Bicultural
Competence and its
Impact on Team
Effectiveness.
International Journal
of Cross Cultural
Management, 10
(1), 93–120.
Summarize your
individual
assignment
progress, update
your action plan.
Finalize and submit
your team project
report. Prepare a (max
10 min ) presentation
on results for the last
session.
5th virtual team
meeting in
Connections: team
assessment
Meeting summary 5.
Tue 6.10.
Session 4
1.10.
Tue 13.10.
Session 5
8.10
Tue 6.10.
Bosch-Sijtsema, P. M,
Fruchter, R., Vartiainen, M.
& Ruohomaki, V. (2011). A
Framework to Analyze
Knowledge Work in
Distributed Teams. Group &
Organization Management,
36 (3), 275-307.
Gilson, L.L., Maynard,
M.T., Young, N.C.J.,
Vartiainen, M. & Hakonen,
M. (2014). Virtual Teams
Research 10 Years, 10
Themes, and 10
Opportunities. Journal of
Management, 41(5),1313–
37.
Write your individual team
work assessment (2
pages) of challenges you
have encountered in the
teamwork, what may have
caused them, identify things
that went well, how you
solved conflicts
Session 6
15.10.
t
Final team project
presentations in the
class room
… Schedule
1st reaction paper by Sunday 23:55!
Edmondson (2012). Teamwork on the fly: How to master the new art of teaming?
Harvard Business Review, April 2012 and Ferrazzi, K. (2014). Getting Virtual
Teams Right. Harvard Business Review, December 2014. see MyCourses
Think in particular about the following questions:
-
-
How would you define “project management” and “team leadership”
based on your readings?
What is meant with “hardware” and “software” in these readings?
What are critical factors in “getting the virtual teams right”?
Based on your readings, how could you have avoided some of the
stumbling and pitfalls in the “Watercube project”?
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Pre-project survey – fill in now!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/virtual_teams_Fall_2015
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References 1 (4)
Ahuja, M. and K. Carley (1999). Network Structure in Virtual Organizations, Organization Science, 10, 6, pp. 741-747.
Arnison, L. and Miller, P. (2002). Virtual teams: a virtue for the conventional team, Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 14,
no. 4.
Beaubien, J. M., and D. P. Baker (2004). The Use of Simulation for Training Teamwork Skills in Health Care: How Low
Can You Go?. Quality & Safety in Health Care 13 (Supplement 1): i51–i56.
Cornelissen, J. (2014)
Gotsi, M., Wilson, A.M. (2001). Corporate reputation: seeking a definition, Corporate Communications: An International
Journal, Vol. 6 Iss: 1, pp .24 – 30.
Dowling, G. and Moran, P. 2012. Corporate Reputations. California Management Review, 54, pp. 25-42.
Forman, J. & Argenti, P. A. 2005. How Corporate Communication Influences Strategy Implementation, Reputation and the
Corporate Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. – Corporate Reputation Review 8:3, pp. 245-264.
Murray, K. & White, J. 2005. CEOs’ views on reputation management. - Journal of Communication Management 9:4, pp.
348-358.
Valentine, Melissa A., Ingrid M. Nembhard, and Amy C. Edmondson (April 12, 2012). Measuring Teamwork in Health Care
Settings: A Review of Survey Instruments“. Working Paper 11-116. Harvard Business School. Retrieved April 26, 2012
Van der Jagt, R. 2005. Senior Business Executives See Communication and Reputation as a Crucial Part of Their
Leadership Role. – Corporate Reputation Review 8:3, pp. 179-186.
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