The virtual environment: the "how-to" of studying collaboration and performance of geographically dispersed teams

Virtual teams are comprised of members who are located in more than one geographic location. This team trait has mandated the need for various forms of computer-conferencing communication (CMC), including video-conferencing systems, collaborative software systems, and internet/intranet systems, in order to coordinate the efforts of each member. The question becomes, given these various CMC's, what is the team members' ability to effectively collaborate internally and to what extent does this ability drive team performance? In this paper, I discuss hypotheses that relate to how variations in internal collaboration and the degree of face-to-face communication can be expected to affect effective communication can be expected to affect effective outcomes such as performance (i.e. quantity, quality, and speed), innovation, and member satisfaction. In addition, a research design is suggested and corresponding measurement scales are developed that can be used to evaluate the significance of the hypotheses.