Developing Real Skills for Virtual Teams

(From UNC Kenan-Flagler) -- If estimates from the Telework Research Network are correct, there's a good chance that as you read this paper, you are sitting in your home office, catching up on some reading on your designated telework day. According to the network, regular telecommuting grew by 61 percent between 2005 and 2009, and based on current trends, the organization estimates that the number of telecommuting workers will grow to nearly five million by 2016 - a 69 percent increase (Lister & Harnish, 2011).

With the growth of telework - increasingly called virtual work - is the inevitable growth of virtual teams, groups of people who are geographically dispersed but who work together virtually through the use of technology such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing, e-mails, text messages and telephone. Today, you would be hard pressed to find an organization that doesn't have one or more virtual workers and virtual teams.

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