Making Virtual Teamwork Really Work
“We are witnessing a conscious transformation of the structures, values, and business practices that drive contemporary organizations to encourage and support collaboration on many levels,” so say editors Jill Nemiro, Michael M. Beyerlein, Lori Bradley, and Susan Beyerlein as they introduce their comprehensive new Handbook of High Performance Virtual Teams: A Toolkit for Collaborating Across Boundaries. They point out that while collaboration may involve collective work of individuals, it often takes place in an organizational context. They describe the collaborative organization as one that supports informal and formal forms of collaboration, and collaborative work systems that reflect a conscious effort to create cultures, values, policies and practices which enable individuals and groups to productively work together. The thirty chapters of the book cover virtual teamwork and collaboration from the perspectives of leaders, team members, as well as those who design teams and select, assign, and train team members (Nemiro, Beyerlein, Bradley, & Beyerlein, 2008).
Both scholars and practitioners will want to make room on their bookshelves. It is a valuable resource for scholars who want to understand principles and read case studies, and practitioners who want practical tools. The freely available companion website offers assessment surveys, checklists, worksheets and other tools as well as additional chapters.
Let’s discuss your ideas and experiences with online collaboration and teamwork!
Nemiro, J., Beyerlein, M. M., Bradley, L., & Beyerlein, S. (2008). The handbook of high performance virtual Teams: A toolkit for collaborating across boundaries. San Francisco: Wiley.
