Now that global industry generates products in every corner of the world, employees must be skilled, not only interacting with co-workers in an office down the hall, or at a neighboring facility, but often they must collaborate with team members in other states, other countries, and in ever more distant time zones.
Virtual Teams, to be published by John Wiley & Sons next year, shows how faculty in universities and leaders in industry can effectively exploit the fast-growing adoption of virtual teaming in online classrooms, in R&D labs, and on the factory floor. It is edited by the leading international online learning expert, Robert Ubell at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Just as the Internet gives millions of workers incredible ease in collaborating around the globe, online learning opens education to millions who might not be able to attend class because of demands at home or at work or because they are too far from campus. More than 3.5 million college students now take courses online, translating to nearly one in five of all university enrollments and growing at a rapid rate.
Contributors to Virtual Teams are drawn from faculty who teach online at Stevens' award-winning WebCampus and by scholars at other schools and companies. Based on best practices generated over the last decade, Virtual Teams reveals how to manage teams successfully, with chapters on how to build intimate virtual relationships and how to communicate creatively online. Other chapters cover international virtual teams, competition, mentoring, psychology, and how to handle conflict.
