Virtual Team efficiency – Master Project Felix Gellert Presenter Felix Gellert Student of Media Direction at Darmstadt University Presentation about Master

Virtual Team efficiency – Master Project Felix Gellert

Presenter

• Felix Gellert• Student of Media Direction at Darmstadt University

Presentation about

• Master Project

Virtual Team efficiency Which processes can be supported through the right media solution?

• Socio, a conceptual design of a platform for Virtual Teams

Presentation agenda • Introduction to the topic• Demonstration of Socio• Survey invitation

Information


Information

Earn 1 free PDU by:

1. Attendance to this seminar

2. Participating on the survey

3. The PDU-Code will be transmitted at the end of the survey

4. PDUs must be requested until 08/31/2011. Then the code is locked.

Presentation takes 30 min

Survey will take 30 min


Basic facts 1

Virtual teams face a complex work environment

• Geographical, temporal and organisational dispersion of team members• Interaction (communication and collaboration) through technologically mediated

channels• Cultural (National, functional, organizational) differences

• No face-to-face contact

Resulting problems

• Building and maintaining trust • Identification with team

• Isolation of team members• Lacks of commitment, motivation and responsibility

• Misunderstandings/Misinterpretations in communication

Negative impacts on virtual team efficiency


Basic facts 2

Analysis

Relevance of missing face-to-face interaction in virtual teams

Survey about the challenges of working in virtual teams.• The greatest (94%) personal challenges respondents faced

were inability to read non‐verbal cues.Conducted by: RW3 CULTURE WIZARD, Intercultural training consultancy among 600 randomly selected employees of multinational corporations.

Survey about negative impact of virtual team problems, regarding lack of social interaction.

• Building and maintaing trust - 75% Very significant impact

• Cultural differences - 50% Very significant impact

• Identification with the team - 50% significant impact

Conducted by myself among 10 experts for virtual teams

Literature review


Research 3

Research question

What are options for virtual teams to compensate the missing face-to-face interaction?

Existing Approach

Socializing

This process compensates for the missing face-to-face interaction such as coffee breaks during meetings or meeting in the kitchen where important communications take place. (Ralf Friedrich Virtual Team Maturity Model)

Methods

Personal Informations

Personal curiosity

Small talk competencies

Cultural orientations

Improved team performance

Inputs Outputs


Research 4

Exisiting Methods

Social Media and Networks

Social media and networks can include large public social media networks such as facebook, linkedIn, XING and others or company-specific who-is-who installations.

Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds is defined as a simulated world where people communicate through avatars

Collaborative games

Collaborative games is defined as all the games the team members can play together in a virtual environment.


Approach 5

New Method

• Online platform exclusively for virtual teams

• A tool for virtual teams to perform Socializing

• Works with interactive sessions, based on sociometric processes

• Enables virtual teams to compensate the missing face-to-face interaction

• Enabling virtual team efficiency


Method 6

Method of Socio to support Socializing in virtual teams

Sociometric processes• Measuring social relations between team members • Demonstration of similiarities and relations • Interactive process

Sessions • Need to be completed by the whole team together • Are recorded and stored on the platform – accessible only by team

members• Can be viewed at any time again

Sessions inputs• Personal information• Interests• Values• Experiences • Cultural orientations


Method 7

Interactive sociometric process „Who is like me?“

Team member asked a precise question to the team based on the inputs topics:

Personal information

Interests

Values

Experiences

Cultural orientations

Who likes cooking, like me?

Questioner

Team member make a stantpoint to that question

Near by means: I share this interest

Far away means: I don‘t shate this interest

Members near by can place a statement to the question


Method 8

Interactive sociometric process

Share interest

Likely share interest

Share interest

Don‘t share interest

Don‘t share interest


Method 9

Session result

Social relations based on criteria of the question

Socio demonstration

Virtual team members

No Socio account

With Socio account Registering once

Team leader

Sends invitation

Virtual team

Introduction World map Sociometric processes

Socio map

Generate

Socio mapVirtual Team members

Acces

Choose specific project

View

Users in Socio are represented through Vcards

Vcards

• Name of the user

• Video picture from webcam / profile picture (with no webcam)

• Status indicator

Inactive Active

Interaction space

Vcards from Users (1) Session state indicator (2)

Navigation (3) Menue bar (4) (needs to pulled out)

Socio Session

World map

Socio Session

World map

Socio Session

World map

Socio Session

Who is like me

Socio Session

Who is like me

Socio Session

Who is like me

Socio map

Interactive recording of the sessions


1

Thank you

Please answer the survey

Survey link

Documents

Virtual Team efficiency – Master Project Felix Gellert Presenter Felix Gellert Student of Media Direction at Darmstadt University Presentation about Master