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The aim of this paper is to examine whether team-members' psychological proximity affects the degree of teamwork quality and therefore affecting the team performance.

A survey instrument was developed based on extant literature reviews, and administered among information technology professionals. Collected data were analysed using partial least square (PLS) method.

Team-members' psychological proximity is found to be significantly related to teamwork quality. The magnitude of relational coefficients between sub-dimensions of psychological proximity and those of teamwork quality turned out to be different from each other.

Psychological proximity is found to critically influence teamwork and performance in IT teams. Also, the four-factor model developed from previous literature is validated for further use. Snowball sampling using IT professionals is the major limitation of this study.

Studies on teamwork quality that employs psychological proximity are scarce. Socialising in workplaces is sometimes viewed as an unproductive activity, however, socialising decreases psychological proximity among team-members, increasing teamwork quality. In addition, examining the psychological proximity in team-members adds to the growing literature on teamwork quality.

Using social categorization perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of global identity, perceived proximity, and team interdependence on relational conflict in multicultural distributed teams.

Participants were 317 MBA students in 83 multicultural distributed project teams. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap methods were used to test the study model.

The results demonstrate that the indirect effect of global identity on relational conflict, through the pathway of perceived proximity, is moderated by team interdependence. More specifically, global identity leads to higher perceived proximity and lower relational conflict levels under low, rather than high, interdependence levels.

The particular study context (multicultural distributed MBA student project teams) may limit the extent of the generalization of the findings.

The findings presented here can help practitioners in global organizations to defuse relational conflicts in multicultural distributed teams by embracing a global cultural approach and relying on shared global identity in team building, personnel selection, and development. Additionally, managers should be conscientious when they use the practice of facilitating interdependence between team members and assess the need for other interventions.

This study advances multicultural distributed team research by highlighting the role of global identity in reducing relational conflict, identifying the mediation mechanism of perceived proximity, and the boundary conditions of team interdependence levels under which this attenuation effect prevails.

Technology-based incubators depend on high-level knowledge to constantly meet the demands of the market. Incubators offer a variety of specialized services to help startups increase the chances of crossing the valley of death. These services include infrastructure, access to a professional network of mentors and an intensive support of a consultant team to help with managerial and legal challenges. Therefore, it is critical to incubators to develop both highly skilled teams of consultants and social environment that facilitates communication. The purpose of this paper is to understand how innovation-oriented social networks created within technology-based incubators are shaped.

Data were collected in five incubators participating connected to federal universities from the state of Minas Gerais. The network attributes collected in the survey were placed in a matrix form. The mapping and measurement of the relationships between individuals were developed using the Ucinet software. Ucinet enables the analysis of attributes (attitudes, behaviors and characteristics) characterized as relational (contacts, ties and relationships). The software also includes the Netdraw network visualization tool, which enables the creation of matrices and graphical network maps. The measurements of centrality, closeness and intermediation were analyzed to assess the intra-organizational social network.

The results indicate that although the flow of communication does not follow the formal hierarchy, the interaction between team members to spontaneously exchange ideas, information and experiences is rare. The workers are so concerned about their timely tasks, that they have few opportunities to exchange information and knowledge. The coordination is carried out by university professors, who also perform other tasks (e.g. teaching, research and administration activities) besides those related to the incubators. The results also suggest that in the technology-based incubators studied, besides dealing in an innovative environment, the distribution of tasks and responsibilities are still rigid and traditional.

By analyzing the degree of the relationship between team members, the proximity and the level of intermediation of co-workers, it is possible to see how the incubators workers interact, thereby identifying the flow of information. This study offers implications for theory and practice. To the theory, this study adds to the discussion of intra-organizational social network of technology-based companies in the Brazilian context. To practitioners, this research sheds light on the importance of the social network built within the organization to promote effective communication and knowledge sharing.

This paper synthesizes the extant geographically distributed work literature, focusing on how geographic distribution affects coordination and communication, knowledge sharing, work design, and social identity. Geographically distributed audit arrangements, such as group audits and offshoring, are becoming increasingly prevalent in audit practice. However, little empirically is known about how working across cities, countries, and continents affects auditors, the audit process, or audit quality. To this end, the synthesis seeks to stimulate research investigating the implications of geographically distributed work arrangements in auditing, by surveying the extant literature within the management and social psychology disciplines and developing eighteen research questions for future audit research to consider. The synthesis reveals that geographically distributed audit work is likely to be very different from work performed in more traditional arrangements and therefore cannot be treated by audit researchers, practitioners, or standard setters as replications of domestic processes abroad. As a result, the synthesis focuses on building a greater understanding of the changes in day-to-day auditing, the consequences of such changes, and interventions that may moderate the challenges encountered in geographically distributed audit arrangements.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasise the importance of high levels of trust and collaboration for increasing the likelihood of project management (PM) success. However, the link between these three constructs remains unclear.

In this study, the authors use structural equation modelling (SEM) based on the findings from an international survey of 151 project practitioners to demonstrate the significance of project team trust and collaboration for increasing the likelihood of PM success.

The results indicate that PM success becomes more likely as the degree of collaboration improves which, in turn, is influenced by an increase in the level of trust between team members. The two factors of PM success are project performance and knowledge integration and innovation. The six factors of the degree of collaboration that were studied are physical proximity, commitment, conflict, coordination, relationships and incentives. The three factors of the level of trust investigated are expectations, knowledge exchange and imported trust.

The results of the study are expected to provide insight for project practitioners to increase the likelihood of PM success by taking cognisance of the factors that influence collaboration and trust. The results of the study may also provide insight into teaching and learning in tertiary education, in terms of professionalism and integrity issues.

This paper presents a new perspective for investigating PM success. SEM techniques are used to determine the likelihood of PM success by promoting trust and collaboration in the project team. This unique approach highlights the “human factors” that influence perceived PM success which should benefit both researchers and practitioners.

This chapter examines some of the challenges and emerging strategies for authoring, distributing, managing, and evaluating Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) to support computer-based adaptive instruction for teams of learners. Several concepts related to team tutoring are defined along with team processes, and fundamental tutoring concepts are provided including a description of the learning effect model (LEM), an exemplar describing interaction between learners and ITSs with the goal of realizing optimal tutor decisions. The challenges noted herein are closely related to the LEM and range from acquisition of learner data, synthesis of individual learner and team state models based on available data, and tutor decisions which center on optimizing strategies (recommendations) and tactics (actions) given the state of the learner, the team, and the conditions under which they are being instructed, the environment. Finally, we end this chapter with recommendations on how to use this book to understand and design effective ITSs for teams.

This study investigates the relationships between team dynamics and performance in healthcare operations. Specifically, it explores, through wearable sensors, how team coordination mechanisms can influence the likelihood of surgical glitches during routine surgery.

Breast surgeries of a large Italian university hospital were monitored using Sociometric Badges – wearable sensors developed at MIT Media Lab – for collecting objective and systematic measures of individual and group behaviors in real time. Data retrieved were used to analyze team coordination mechanisms, as it evolved in the real settings, and finally to test the research hypotheses.

Findings highlight that a relevant portion of glitches in routine surgery is caused by improper team coordination practices. In particular, results show that the likelihood of glitches decreases when practitioners adopt implicit coordination mechanisms rather than explicit ones. In addition, team cohesion appears to be positively related with the surgical performance.

For the first time, direct, objective and real time measurements of team behaviors have enabled an in-depth evaluation of the team coordination mechanisms in surgery and the impact on surgical glitches. From a methodological perspective, this research also represents an early attempt to investigate coordination behaviors in dynamic and complex operating environments using wearable sensor tools.

Virtual assignments, in which the virtual assignees do not relocate to host locations, but work remotely, have several advantages compared to traditional international assignments, such as enhanced flexibility, cost-efficiency and the possibility that virtual assignees can stay in their home communities. However, it is open to question whether virtual assignments are as effective as traditional assignments. The purpose of this study is to compare the ability of virtual vs traditional assignees to bridge the distance between headquarters and subsidiaries.

Based on a survey among virtual and traditional assignees, the ability to bridge multiple facets of distance is examined.

The results indicate that virtual and traditional assignees have similar abilities to bridge geographic, cultural, functional and language distance. However, traditional assignees have a higher ability to bridge emotional and temporal distance.

By applying the distance framework to virtual assignments, a new theoretical perspective is introduced and the importance of clearly disentangling distance-bridging abilities is highlighted. One practical recommendation is that, due to lower costs and reduced coordination efforts required for virtual assignments, this assignment type is preferable if the cultural, language, functional and geographic distances are the most problematic ones during international assignments.

Advances in information technology have revolutionised the working environment. The concept of working in virtual teams was in existence in the developed part of the globe since 1960s. In developing economies, it emerged in the recent decades and gained impetus during the ongoing pandemic. This paper aims to propose examining the relationship between team cohesion and virtual team performance with the help of meta-analysis.

On published research, combined random effect meta-analysis and moderator analysis were done with the aid of Meta-essential 1.5 software. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses was designed for systematic meta-analysis.

The meta-analysis shows significant effect of cohesion on virtual team performance (r = 0.40, p < 0.000). Study outcomes indicate a positive relationship between team cohesion and virtual team performance. High heterogeneity was found and moderator analysis was performed to examine the heterogeneity.

According to the findings, the performance of teams of different sizes, tenure and occupation should not be viewed as equivalent. Results of the study can be generalised to business (employees), education (students) and online gaming teams.

Managers should be aware of cohesion concerns in work process because they may foreshadow future performance challenges or reflect other organisational issues affecting virtual team performance. The relationship between team cohesion and team performance is predicted by team occupation, size and time.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is a first attempt to undertake meta-analysis to study the relationship between team cohesion and virtual team performance.

The aim of this study is to understand how virtual teams experience perceived proximity. Existing literature suggests that perceived proximity can be achieved through quality communication and increased identification. However, not much is known as to how these two may be achieved within the context of virtual teams.

The authors address their research question through a comparative case study, with the help of two virtual teams of software developers and the authors adopt a subset from the Constructivist Grounded Theory Method procedures for the purposes of coding to understand the potential explanations regarding the two teams' differences in perceptions of perceived proximity.

The authors’ study shows that shared mental models support quality communication and team members to identify with the shared values of their team. Quality communication is easier achieved when the team shares a dynamic and evolving understanding of the tools for communication and collaboration. The authors also draw attention to the importance of how work is organised and the influence of the temporal dimension on virtual teams beyond the temporal organisation of collaborative work.

The value of this study is found in its contribution towards the development of a formal connection between perceived proximity and shared mental models, that is empirically grounded, and which holds an explanatory value in addressing how perceived proximity can be supported rather than compromised.