| Foreword | p. ix |
| Preface | p. xi |
| Reader's Guide to Working Virtually: Challenges of Virtual Teams | p. xvii |
| Virtual Team Myths | |
| Eight Myths of Virtual Teams | p. 1 |
| Myth #1 | p. 1 |
| Myth #2 | p. 2 |
| Myth #3 | p. 2 |
| Myth #4 | p. 3 |
| Myth #5 | p. 3 |
| Myth #6 | p. 4 |
| Myth #7 | p. 4 |
| Myth #8 | p. 5 |
| Look Them Straight Between the Eyes | p. 6 |
| Myth #1 | p. 7 |
| Myth #2 | p. 9 |
| Myth #3 | p. 11 |
| Final Thoughts | p. 12 |
| Out of Sight, Out of Mind | p. 13 |
| Myth #4 | p. 14 |
| Myth #6 | p. 14 |
| Myth #5 | p. 18 |
| Final Thoughts | p. 21 |
| It's the Exception, Not the Norm | p. 22 |
| Myth #7 | p. 24 |
| Myth #8 | p. 24 |
| Final Thoughts | p. 25 |
| Establishing Trust | p. 26 |
| Consensus and Agreement | p. 27 |
| The Virtual Handshake | p. 28 |
| Business Case | |
| Show Me the Money | p. 33 |
| Company Moves | p. 33 |
| Travel Avoidance | p. 35 |
| Savings on Real Estate | p. 36 |
| Human Resources Advantages | p. 38 |
| Getting the Right Person for the Job Regardless of Location | p. 38 |
| Safety and Security | p. 39 |
| Providing Work/Life Balance | p. 40 |
| Improving the Quality of Life | p. 42 |
| Blurring Work and Personal Time | p. 43 |
| Impact on Leisure Time | p. 43 |
| Organizational Advantages | p. 45 |
| Tying Together a Decentralized Environment | p. 45 |
| Mergers and Acquisitions | p. 49 |
| Getting Sales Representatives Out of the Office and in Front of Customers | p. 52 |
| Regional Representatives | p. 53 |
| Innovation | p. 56 |
| Other Virtual Team Drivers | p. 57 |
| Why Some Companies Don't Get It | p. 58 |
| Virtual Team Models | |
| Mostly Co-Located | p. 61 |
| One Primary Location, Several Remote Team Members | p. 61 |
| Several Locations of Concentration | p. 63 |
| Challenges to These Models | p. 65 |
| Mostly Virtual | p. 66 |
| Advantages of a Mostly Virtual Team | p. 67 |
| Challenges of a Completely Virtual Team | p. 67 |
| Case Study: A Mostly Virtual Team Hosts a Summer Intern | p. 69 |
| How Teams Work Virtually | p. 73 |
| The Needs | p. 74 |
| The Skills | p. 75 |
| The Tools | p. 76 |
| Role of Video (Desktop and Room-Based) | p. 78 |
| Virtual Teams Don't Play Putt-Putt Golf | p. 79 |
| Case Studies Illustrating Creative Ways to Address Working Together Within Virtual Teams | p. 81 |
| Organizational "Celebration and Farewell" | p. 82 |
| Periodic Organizational Get-Togethers/Team Building | p. 87 |
| Determining What Projects an Organization Will Pursue | p. 87 |
| Substituting for a Multi-Day, Face-to-Face Meeting | p. 88 |
| Getting Quick, Routine Decisions Made | p. 88 |
| Facilitating Informal Interaction Among an Entire Virtual Team | p. 89 |
| International Issues | p. 91 |
| Australia | p. 91 |
| Europe | p. 95 |
| Japan | p. 97 |
| The Internet as a Unifying Language | p. 98 |
| Virtual Team Maturity Curve | p. 99 |
| Avoid | p. 100 |
| Tolerate | p. 101 |
| Operate | p. 102 |
| Capitalize | p. 102 |
| Organizations and the Virtual Team Maturity Scale | p. 103 |
| Where is Your Company or Organization on the Virtual Team Continuum? | p. 104 |
| Comments on Our Scoring | p. 108 |
| Managing a Virtual Team | p. 114 |
| Be an Example | p. 114 |
| Get Off to a Great Start | p. 115 |
| Standardize | p. 115 |
| Time Zone Considerations | p. 116 |
| Be Visible | p. 117 |
| A Note for People Managers | p. 118 |
| Rewards System | p. 119 |
| Managing a Virtual Organization | p. 120 |
| Announcements | p. 121 |
| Motivation | p. 121 |
| Setting Up Your Organization for Success | p. 122 |
| Best Practices for Virtual Teams | |
| Impact of Culture, Affiliation, and Shared Goals | p. 125 |
| Team Culture | p. 125 |
| Virtual Out of Necessity | p. 126 |
| How Many Different Hats Can You Wear? | p. 127 |
| Shared Goals Strengthen Virtual Teams | p. 127 |
| The Top Leaders Set the Tone | p. 128 |
| Changing the Culture | p. 128 |
| Evolution of the Groupware Concept | p. 130 |
| Applying Tools for Maximum Impact | p. 133 |
| Let's Talk | p. 134 |
| Virtual Filing Cabinet | p. 140 |
| Show and Tell | p. 141 |
| Brainstorming | p. 142 |
| Voting | p. 143 |
| Markup | p. 143 |
| Are You There? | p. 144 |
| Sharing Information in Virtual Teams | p. 145 |
| Team Building | p. 149 |
| Photographs | p. 149 |
| Sometimes, Face-to-Face Doesn't Matter | p. 150 |
| Virtual Pictionary | p. 150 |
| Everquest | p. 151 |
| The Challenges of Virtual Teams | p. 153 |
| Continuums | p. 153 |
| Meetings | p. 154 |
| People Management | p. 155 |
| Culture | p. 155 |
| Tools | p. 156 |
| The Argument Against Virtual Meetings | p. 156 |
| Moving Forward with Virtual Teams | |
| The Virtual Organization | p. 160 |
| Possibility Number One | p. 160 |
| Possibility Number Two | p. 161 |
| Possibility Number Three | p. 161 |
| Virtual Team Case Study | p. 163 |
| A Virtual Ecosystem | p. 167 |
| Success in a Virtual Ecosystem | p. 168 |
| E-Lancing | p. 169 |
| Working with MIT | p. 169 |
| Supply and Demand | p. 170 |
| Challenges | p. 171 |
| Best Practices | p. 172 |
| Extreme E-Lancing | p. 172 |
| Kids of the Internet Generation | p. 174 |
| Technology Still Doesn't Solve All Problems | p. 174 |
| Staying in Touch with the Family | p. 175 |
| Virtual Meeting Five-Year Vision/Narrative | p. 176 |
| On the Road | p. 177 |
| In a Conference Room | p. 177 |
| From a Home (Telecommuting) | p. 178 |
| Hiking | p. 179 |
| Do Virtual Teams Ever Need to Meet Face-to-Face? | p. 180 |
| Tools Appendix | p. 182 |
| Glossary of Terms | p. 186 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
