Comparative Study of the Usefulness of Online Technologies in a Global Virtual Business Project Team Environment

Abstract

Lifelong learning is quickly becoming an integrated part of todays working life because of the demand for keeping up to date with latest developments due to rapid change in technology and business. To maintain flexibility and quality, online technology is often used as a medium of educational service delivery. In this chapter, we examine a case where online technology has been used to coordinate virtual project teams (in an educational setting) around the world. The experience from the case study is that although online technology promises to offer an independent learning environment anytime and anywhere, only some aspects of the technology are useful depending on the nature of the task. In addition, there are behavioural and cultural issues, which can be exacerbated by underdeveloped personal relationships due to constraints imposed by online technology. The case study also shows that synchronous communication is not necessarily a better means to coordinate than its asynchronous counterpart. A challenge faced by online education providers is to find the right mix and how to come up with a framework that will provide optimal results.