Technology and trust in teams

Organisations today are increasingly utilizing technology to enable more time and cost efficient team working across time and space. However, there are some indications from recent research that communicating 'virtually' may affect certain attitudes and behaviors critical to team performance. This paper presents an argument, based on findings from a 'real world' exploratory study of organizational teams integrated with literature in the field, that the media of team communications may shape the kind of trust, cohesiveness and conflict experienced in team collaborations. As these factors have implications for team performance, a model based on these arguments, is proposed for testing in the field. It is argued that such testing would contribute to a fuller understanding of the implications of the increasingly prevalent 'virtual' team working of today, for both team performance and organizational outcomes.