University of Twente Student Theses
Problems working in semi and full-time virtual teams: Comparison of virtual team problems pre and post-Covid 19 epidemic
Winter, Aaron (2020) Problems working in semi and full-time virtual teams: Comparison of virtual team problems pre and post-Covid 19 epidemic.
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| Abstract: | Worldwide companies are continually changing due to dynamic market conditions and technological progress. Respectively, traditional workplaces comprising of collocated employees and face to face communication become replaced by virtual teams. As 15 semi-structured interviews revealed, before the COVID 19 outbreak, most individuals worked in semi-virtual teams construct, using face to face communication and electronic communication mediums to collaborate. Notably, in the recent corona times, where strict hygiene rules and contact prohibitions split working teams, managers perceived the advantages of virtual teams and transit teamwork to full-time virtual setting. Even before the COVID 19 outbreak, experts emphasized that more than half of the transitions to virtual teams fail do not meet their strategic objectives. Additionally, neither does recent literature adequately describe what challenges employees in semi and full-time virtual teams face and how the transition to entirely virtual ones, evoke new problems. Nor does business executives have clear expectations. To tackle this literature gap and shape executive expectations on the issues in full-time virtual teams this study presents a two-folded methodology. Firstly, a literature review of 53 articles, identifies issues in semi-virtual teams before the COVID 19 outbreak. On this basis, 15 semi-structured interviews with individuals of different full-time virtual teams are conducted to investigate what problems due to the transition to full-time virtual settings. At the final stage, both outputs are combined to reveal how existing problems in semi-virtual teams develop due to the development of full-time virtual team constructs. In the results part, propositions are presented that emphasize the improvement, deterioration, and newly emerging problems in full-time virtual teams. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 85 business administration, organizational science |
| Programme: | International Business Administration BSc (50952) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/81932 |
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