Assisting knowledge management in virtual software teams: coping with location, time and cultural differences

Dafoulas, George ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2638-8771 and Macaulay, Linda (2000) Assisting knowledge management in virtual software teams: coping with location, time and cultural differences. In: Proceedings of the Cooperative Internet Computing 2000. . [Conference or Workshop Item]

Abstract

During the last few years revolutionary changes occurred in the way people perform tasks, how they interact with each other during these tasks, their working environment, their limitations, the deadlines, constraints on resources and several related issues. The Internet provided the means for individuals to avoid time, and space limitations, to interact across geographically separated locations, to be involved with projects that otherwise would require their physical presence, and to have access to resources which would be unreachable without this medium. In the future, simple tasks or even entire processes could transform in order to accommodate the new realities, such as available communication tools, cooperative technologies, and management techniques. One of these transformations concerns the way that teams are structured, cooperate, and perform, and more specifically using virtual teams instead of traditionally collocated ones. Frequently such teams are regarded as more efficient and flexible, as costs are reduced, time to market is minimised, and shortage of skills is satisfied. However, there are several significant obstacles to overcome in order to exploit the benefits of such teams while avoiding a potential disaster based on distance, time and cultural differences. Initially, this paper aims to underline some of the benefits of using virtual teams in the software development industry. Also to introduce knowledge management issues related to virtual teams, such as team formation, role allocation, collaboration/coordination, and management. Next it identifies the main requirements for effective operation of virtual teams and the need for support on certain processes. Then it discusses some of the existing methodologies and focuses on inadequacies regarding virtual teams. Finally it proposes a technique for computing the stage of virtual team processes, and provides the foundation for a future framework, which will cover the existing gap in this research area.

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