Virtual teams that are designed, managed and implemented effectively can harness talent from anywhere in the globe to solve business problems, service customers and create new products. But if little attention is paid to how they are designed, managed or supported, they will fail! Organizations must create the conditions for effective virtual teamwork. How to do so is the subject of a workshop sponsored by the Institute for Information Technology and Culture (IITC) and the Center for International Business Studies at Wayne State University on Friday, Feb. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at WSU's McGregor Memorial Conference Center.

Virtual work can be so much harder than people expect. Making such work pay off requires qualitatively different skills than team members have traditionally learned in collocated local offices. "Team members have to learn about differences in their local work contexts and keep each other informed about changes in local business conditions that could impact the team's work and that other team members may not be aware of. Most team members are not used to doing this explicitly and regularly," says Julia Gluesing, PhD, who is associate director of IITC and will be conducting the workshop. This means team members have to learn not only about each other's professional expertise, but they have to consider and explicitly negotiate the differences in local work practices and culture.

Workshop participants will discuss case vignettes and, using a diagnostic assessment tool, will identify barriers and enablers of success. They will learn about leading virtual teams, bridging differences among team members, developing the competencies needed to work virtually and designing appropriate work processes, as well as planning technology use for virtual teams that takes into account the differing contexts in which work is done. To learn more about the workshop or to register, call (313) 874-7010 or email IITC@wayne.edu. The cost of the workshop is $45 per person.

IITC has developed the workshop from results of a three-year National Science Foundation study of global virtual teams at Ford Motor Company, Procter & Gamble, Motorola, Milliken and Autoliv, led by Gluesing.

IITC is a multidisciplinary group of medical and organizational anthropologists, psychologists, engineers, nurses, social workers, computer experts and doctors collaborating to understand the cultural aspects of technology use. For more information regarding this project or IITC, Allen W. Batteau, director, at (313) 874-7010 or a.batteau@wayne.edu, or visit Institute for Information Technology and Culture.

Wayne State University is a premier institution offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.