Abstract
Organizations pursing global opportunities find advantage in requiring the use of e-collaboration. While organizations employ e-groups strategically to accomplish tasks, empirical reports indicate a large number of group failures (Levi, 2001). E-collaboration groups may experience an increased chance of failure since establishing trust (Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1999) and instituting shared work practices (Chudoba, Wynn, Lu,& Watson-Manheim, 2005) is often difficult.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Virtual Group: A group whose communication practices do not include copresent f2f methods.
Psychological Contract: A mental model held by a group member of the perceived obligations they owe the group and the obligations they perceive the group owes them.
Group: A set of between 3 to 25 interdependent individuals that share a common task or goal.
Media Richness: The level of information available in the channel of communication.
Relationships: Tthe development of emotional, psychological, and personal connections among members of a group.
E-Collaboration: The use of electronic mediated communication to coordinate a group.
Identity: The membership a person feels or expresses with some larger group or culture.