E-Collaboration in Organizations

Abstract

Organizations are shedding conventional work team structures in favor of virtual team structures that are increasing in popularity (Lee-Kelley, Crossman, & Cannings, 2004). Ecollaboration enables collaboration between individuals not constrained by geographical distance or time. The emergence of the virtual team concept provides organizations with an alternate approach to managing work and individuals that are geographically separated (Gatlin-Watts, Carson, Horton, Maxwell, & Marltby, 2007). An advantage of virtual teams is that organizations can tap into resources rapidly to create a specialized work team that acts like a team, works like a team but doesn’t look like a typical team because team members may not be co-located (Stough, Eom, & Buckenmyer, 2000). E-collaborative technologies such as computer-based conferencing systems are of critical importance to the success of a virtual team (Arnison & Miller, 2002). In the absence of water-cooler philosophizing, virtual teams rely on technology to build trust between team members, resulting in greater synergy and ultimately team success in carrying out work tasks (Arnison & Miller, 2002; Stough et al., 2000). The article focus is on technological and organizational aspects of e-collaboration occurring today and forecasted for tomorrow. The specific topics addressed are e-collaboration in organizations, e-collaboration in organizations of today, specific e-collaboration success factors and future trends of e-collaboration in organizations of tomorrow.