Virtual Teams and its application in New Product Development, R&D and SMEs
Nader Ale Ebrahim, Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya
Abstract
A comprehensive definition of virtual teams may be taken as: small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their work, predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization tasks (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2009). Nowadays, this definition have gained popularity as found in Wikipedia (wikipedia, 2011). Virtual R&D team is a kind of virtual team that concentrate on the R&D tasks and projects (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2011).
Suggested Citation
Nader Ale Ebrahim. Virtual Teams and its application in New Product Development, R&D and SMEs (1 ed). Kuala Lumpur: Academic Collaboration Centre for Publication Promotion, 2013. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/aleebrahim/71
University of Malaya - Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering
April 27, 2013
Asian Social Science, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 176-182, April 2013.
Abstract: Journal impact factor (IF) as a gauge of influence and impact of a particular journal comparing with other journals in the same area of research, reports the mean number of citations to the published articles in particular journal. Although, IF attracts more attention and being used more frequently than other measures, it has been subjected to criticisms, which overcome the advantages of IF. Critically, extensive use of IF may result in destroying editorial and researchers’ behaviour, which could compromise the quality of scientific articles. Therefore, it is the time of the timeliness and importance of a new invention of journal ranking techniques beyond the journal impact factor. Number of Pages in PDF File: 7 Keywords: Impact factor (IF), Journal ranking, Criticism, Praise, SCOPUS, Web of science, Self-citation JEL Classification: L1, L11, L7, M11, M12, M1, M54, Q1, O1, O3, Q31, Q32, P24, P42, P29, L17 Accepted Paper Series
Date posted: April 28, 2013 ; Last revised: May 9, 2013
Suggested Citation
Fooladi, Masood, Salehi, Hadi, Yunus, Melor Md, Farhadi, Maryam, Aghaei Chadegani, Arezoo, Farhadi, Hadi and Ale Ebrahim, Nader, Does Criticisms Overcome the Praises of Journal Impact Factor? (April 27, 2013). Asian Social Science, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 176-182, April 2013.. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2257552
Contact Information
Masood Fooladi
Islamic Azad University, Mobarakeh Branch ( email )
Department of Accounting Mobarakeh Branch Mobarakeh, Isfahan Iran
Hadi Salehi
Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch ( email )
Najafabad, Isfahan Iran
Melor Md Yunus
National University of Malaysia - Faculty of Education
43600 Bandar Baru Bangi Bangi, MS Selangor 06010 Malaysia
Dealing with Virtual R&D Teams in New Product Development| Show Abstract | Download | The 9th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering & Management Systems Conference and the 11th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Foundation for Production Research, December 3-5, 2008, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia Accepted Paper Series
Ale Ebrahim, Nader
University of Malaya - Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering
Process Construct in the Virtual R&D Teams| Show Abstract | Download | in Proceedings of the Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering & Management Systems Conference (APIEMS 2012), Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand, 2012, pp. 1822-1828, December 2012 Accepted Paper Series
Ale Ebrahim, Nader
University of Malaya - Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering
Introduction: The literature related to virtual R&D teams reveals a lack of depth in the definitions (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2010). Although virtual teamwork is a current topic in the literature concerning global organizations, it is problematic to define the meaning of 'virtual teams' across multiple institutional contexts (Chudoba et al., 2005). The concept of a "team" is described as a small number of people with complementary skills who are equally committed to a common purpose, goal, and working approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Zenun et al., 2007). It is worth mentioning that virtual teams (VTs) are often formed to overcome geographical or temporal separations (Cascio and Shurygailo, 2003). VTs work across boundaries of time and space using modern computer-driven technologies (Ebrahim et al., 2010). The term "VTs" is used to cover a wide range of activities and forms of technology-supported working (Anderson et al., 2007).
Item Type:
Article
Creators:
Ale Ebrahim, N.(Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya )
Nader Ale Ebrahim The literature related to virtual R&D teams reveals a lack of depth in the definitions (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2010). Although virtual teamwork is a current topic in the literature concerning global organizations, it is problematic to define the meaning of 'virtual teams' across multiple institutional contexts (Chudoba et al., 2005). The concept of a "team" is described as a small number of people with complementary skills who are equally committed to a common purpose, goal, and working approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Zenun et al., 2007). It is worth mentioning that virtual teams (VTs) are often formed to overcome geographical or temporal separations (Cascio and Shurygailo, 2003). VTs work across boundaries of time and space using modern computer-driven technologies (Ebrahim et al., 2010). The term "VTs" is used to cover a wide range of activities and forms of technology-supported working (Anderson et al., 2007). Gassmann and Von Zedtwitz (2003) defined "virtual team as a group of people and sub-teams who interact through interdependent tasks guided by common purpose and work across links strengthened by information, communication, and transport technologies". Another definition suggests that virtual teams, are distributed work teams whose members are geographically dispersed and coordinate their work, predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies (e-mail, video conferencing, telephone, etc.) (Hertel et al., 2005). From the perspective of Leenders et al. (2003), VTs are groups of individuals collaborating in the execution of a specific project while geographically and often temporally distributed, possibly anywhere within (and beyond) their parent organization. Among the different definitions for virtual teams the following form is one of the most widely accepted definition: ''VTs as groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed workers brought together by information technologies to accomplish one or more organization tasks''(Powell et al., 2004). Therefore, a comprehensive definition of virtual teams may be taken as: small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their work, predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization tasks (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2009). Nowadays, this definition have gained popularity as found in Wikipedia (wikipedia, 2011). Virtual R&D team is a kind of virtual team that concentrate on the R&D tasks and projects (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2011).
ALE EBRAHIM, N., ABDUL RASHID, S. H., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2011. The Effectiveness of Virtual R&D Teams in SMEs: Experiences of Malaysian SMEs. Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, 10, 109-114. ALE EBRAHIM, N., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2009. Virtual R & D teams in small and medium enterprises: A literature review. Scientific Research and Essay, 4, 1575-1590. ALE EBRAHIM, N., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. Year. Benefits and Pitfalls of Virtual R&D Teams: An Empirical Study. In: 6th International Communication & Information Technology Management Conference (ICTM 2010) February. 23-24 2010 Tehran, Iran. 1-5. ANDERSON, A. H., MCEWAN, R., BAL, J. & CARLETTA, J. 2007. Virtual team meetings: An analysis of communication and context. Computers in Human Behavior, 23, 2558-2580. CASCIO, W. F. & SHURYGAILO, S. 2003. E-Leadership and Virtual Teams. Organizational Dynamics, 31, 362-376. CHUDOBA, K. M., WYNN, E., LU, M., WATSON-MANHEIM & BETH, M. 2005. How virtual are we? Measuring virtuality and understanding its impact in a global organization. Information Systems Journal, 15, 279-306. EBRAHIM, N. A., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2010. Virtual R&D teams and SMEs growth: A comparative study between Iranian and Malaysian SMEs. African Journal of Business Management, 4, 2368-2379. GASSMANN, O. & VON ZEDTWITZ, M. 2003. Trends and determinants of managing virtual R&D teams. R&D Management, 33, 243-262. HERTEL, G. T., GEISTER, S. & KONRADT, U. 2005. Managing virtual teams: A review of current empirical research. Human Resource Management Review, 15, 69-95. LEENDERS, R. T. A. J., ENGELEN, J. M. L. V. & KRATZER, J. 2003. Virtuality, communication, and new product team creativity: a social network perspective. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 20, 69-92. POWELL, A., PICCOLI, G. & IVES, B. 2004. Virtual teams: a review of current literature and directions for future research. The Data base for Advances in Information Systems, 35, 6-36. WIKIPEDIA. 2011. Virtual team. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_team [Accessed 10 August]. ZENUN, M. M. N., LOUREIRO, G. & ARAUJO, C. S. 2007. The Effects of Teams' Co-location on Project Performance. In: LOUREIRO, G. & CURRAN, R. (eds.) Complex Systems Concurrent Engineering-Collaboration, Technology Innovation and Sustainability. London: Springer.
Abstract:ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2012. Virtual R&D Teams Definition. Nader Ale Ebrahims White Papers [Online], 1. Available: http://works.bepress.com/aleebrahim/63/
A Comparison between Two Main Academic Literature Collections: Web of Science and Scopus Databases :
« Nowadays, the worlds scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them, which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics. »
Nowadays, the world’s scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them, which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics.
Communication Pattern and Conflict in Agricultural Extension Author(s): Z. Kartika Ekasari | S. Ali M. Saleh | Kamaruzaman Jusoff | Darmawan Salman | Akhsan Akhsan | Andi Kasirang | Muhammad Arsyad | Amrawaty A. Amidah | Letty Fudjaja Volume: 9 Issue: 5 Year: 2013
Evaluation of Malaysian Retail Service Quality Author(s): Zalina Ibrahim | Linda Dana | Ahmad Faisal Mahdi | Mohamad Zaid Mohd Zin | Mohd Anuar Ramli | Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Year: 2013
Islam and Media Author(s): Mohd. Shuhaimi Bin Haji Ishak | Sohirin Mohammad Solihin Volume: 8 Issue: 7 Year: 2012
English Songs as Means of Aiding Students’ Proficiency Development Author(s): Roszainora Setia | Rozlan Abdul Rahim | Gopala Krishnan Sekharan Nair | Aileen Farida binti Mohd Adam | Norhayati Husin | Elangkeeran Sabapathy | Razita Mohamad | Shahidatul Maslina Mat So’od | Nurul Izatee Md Yusoff | Razifa Mohd Razlan | Nur Amalia Abd Jalil | Rozita Mohamed Kassim | Norhafiza Abu Seman Volume: 8 Issue: 7 Year: 2012
Writing Descriptive Essays Using ‘the Tree Diagram’ as a Tool Author(s): Gopala Krishnan Sekharan Nair | Rozlan Abdul Rahim | Roszainora Setia | Aileen Farida binti Mohd Adam | Norhayati Husin | Elangkeeran Sabapathy | Razita Mohamad | Shahidatul Maslina Mat So’od | Nurul Izatee Md Yusoff | Razifa Mohd Razlan | Nur Amalia Abd Jalil | Ab. Aziz Husain | Norhafiza Abu Seman Volume: 8 Issue: 7 Year: 2012
Misbehaviour in Jordanian Secondary Schools Author(s): Ameen Mohammed Mousa Mahasneh | Sharifah Md. Nor | Abdul Rahman bin Md. Aroff | Nur Surayyah M. Abdullah | Bahaman Abu Samah | Ahmad Mohammed Mousa Mahasneh | Mohammed Jaber Sherbib Asiri Volume: 8 Issue: 6 Year: 2012
Nowadays, the world’s scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them, which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics.
Vincze, Szilvia and Harsányi, Gergely (2012): Hungarian higher education and its international comparison. Published in: Crisis Aftermath: Economic policy changes in the EU and its Member States, Conference Proceedings, Szeged, University of Szeged , Vol. ISBN 9, (2012): pp. 496-513.
In the competitive market , virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for fasting time-to- market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual teams enable organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees and non-employees by eliminating time and space barriers . Nowadays, companies are heavily investing in virtual team to enhance their performance and competitiveness. Despite virtual teams growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of team. Hence the study offers an extensive literature review with definitions o f virtual teams and a structured analysis of the present body of knowledge of virtual teams. First, we distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams , different types of virtual teams to identify where current knowledge applies. Second, we distinguish what is needed for effective virtual team considering the people, process and technology point of view and underlying characteristics of virtual teams and challenges they entail. Finally, we have identified an d extended 12 key factors that need to be considered, and describes a methodology focused on supporting virtual team working, with a new approach that has not been specifically addressed in the existing literature and some guide line for future research extracted.
Purpose– Virtual teams, understood as teams with geographically dispersed members communicating primarily by use of information and communication technologies (ICT), have become a viable form for work in innovation projects involving one or several organizations. Knowledge development and creation of a shared understanding among team members are often stressed as fundamental to successful innovation processes. This paper aims to address how use of ICT in team collaboration impacts on the creation of a shared understanding and knowledge development within the teams, and how these factors are important for organizations' innovation capabilities. Design/methodology/approach– Based on a review of the literature, the paper discusses how modern ICT may impact on the organization of innovative activities and organizations' innovation capabilities. Findings– Several important factors related to the use of ICT in teams working on innovation projects are highlighted. A conceptual model and directions for future research based on a literature review are proposed. Practical implications– Based on the discussion, a conceptual model is presented which highlights the need for well-functioning computer-mediated team interaction in order to realize the innovation potential of organizations. Originality/value– The paper emphasizes the reciprocal significance of knowledge access and knowledge exploitation for organizations' innovation capabilities, and discusses how ICT impacts on both aspects.
Created by: Nader Ale Ebrahim, Description: "Virtual teams will became as important as Web to companies" (Nader Ale Ebrahim). Discuss everything about Virtual Teams ...
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BibTeX @MISC{Ebrahim09virtualr&d, author = {Nader Ale Ebrahim and Shamsuddin Ahmed and Zahari Taha}, title = {Virtual R&D Teams: Innovation and Technology ...
Nader Ale Ebrahim discuss about Virtual Teams and its application in New Product Development, R&D and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). "Virtual teams will became ...
Paper Titled Virtual R&D Teams: Innovation and Technology Facilitator Published in Conference of Engineering Education in 2025 by Nader Ale Ebrahim, Shamsuddin Ahmed ...
Virtual R&D Teams Definition Nader Ale Ebrahim The literature related to virtual R&D teams reveals a lack of depth in the definitions (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2010).
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Scientific Research and Essays, Vol. 4, No. 13, pp. 1575–1590, December 2009
Abstract: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Towards that end, research and development (R & D) aspect deserves particular attention to promote and facilitate the operations of SMEs. Virtual R & D team could be a viable option. However, literature shows that virtual R & D teaming in SMEs is still at its infancy. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R & D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the state-of-the-art literature review is to provide an overview on the structure and dynamics of R & D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the foundation and importance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R & D team and SMEs has been examined. It concludes with the identification of the gaps in the existing literatures and calls for future research. It is argued that setting-up an infrastructure for virtual R & D team in SMEs still requires a large amount of engineering efforts and deserves consideration at top level management. Number of Pages in PDF File: 16 Keywords: Virtual teams, small and medium enterprises, literature review JEL Classification: M11, L15, L23, O14, Z Accepted Paper Series
Date posted: January 5, 2010 ; Last revised: February 2, 2010
Suggested Citation
Ale Ebrahim, Nader, Ahmed, Shamsuddin and Taha, Zahari, Virtual R&D Teams in Small and Medium Enterprises: A Literature Review (December 21, 2009). Scientific Research and Essays, Vol. 4, No. 13, pp. 1575–1590, December 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1530904
This article describes new perspectives in virtual teams’ collaboration, to underline the actual trends and to identify their future development. These will be used for product lifecycle projects management and to diminish/avoid risks, to harmonize team members’ competencies (compatibility issues) to attend success in project development. The tools used for communication and real time research-work will increase companies’ competitiveness by optimizing the resources dedicated to different projects, teams and management systems. To improve the productivity and to facilitate the communication between projects team members, the new approach of virtual teams is based on the use of complex software platforms to improve collaborative design, learning and work processes.
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Draghici, A., Matta, N., Molcho, G., Draghici, G.: Networks of Excellence as Virtual Communities. In: Putnik, G.D., Cunha, M.M. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Networks and Virtual Organizations, pp. 1022–1030. Idea Group Publishing, USA (2007)
Draghici, A., Izvercianu, M., Draghici, G.: Managing Intra-national Virtual Team. The Case of Romanian Research Network – INPRO. In: Rusu, C., Badea, N. (eds.) Proceeding of the 5th International Conference Management of Technological Changes, vol. 1, pp. 481–490. Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (2007)
Draghici, A., Izvercianu, M., Draghici, G.: Building Virtual Teams in Research and Development Field of Activity. The Case of INPRO Virtual Network. In: Rusu, C., Badea, N. (eds.) Proceeding of the 5th International Conference Management of Technological Changes, vol. 1, pp. 491–500. Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (2007)
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