IEEE Xplore - Why do many firms still miss the competitive advantage of virtual teams?

Davidson, Philippe L. ; CRIFP Laboratory, IAE-Nice, University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France 

Organizations that embrace a virtual team organizational model involving distributed remote teamwork may develop an effective competitive advantage. Technologies allowing virtual team-members to seamlessly work together are widely available, and the operational issues related to their proper management have been extensively studied. However, there are still many organizations that fail to exploit this model or to capitalize on it fully. The goal of this study is to identify the critical factors holding them back. The hypothesis was that getting co-located team members to collaborate with their remote colleagues in earnest required them first to understand the strategic significance of the model for the organization and then to sign on to developing it as a core competency. Also, distributed remote teamwork may address issues related to organizational changes. The research methodology involved the comparative analysis of two organizations, one in which the model was widely adopted, the other in which it was not; the researcher spent over two years embedded in each organization in similar roles. The study showed that, in the successful case, the model was ingrained into the organization's ‘genes’, while, in the other case, it was simply viewed as a tactical technical enabler. Recommendations on how to train teams to overcome these obstacles are proposed.