Virtual Teams versus Face-to-Face Teams: An Exploratory Study of a Web-based Conference System*

Many organizations are forming “virtual teams” of geographically distributed knowledge workers to collaborate on a variety of workplace tasks. But how effective are these virtual teams compared to traditional face-to-face groups? Do they create similar teamwork and is information exchanged as effectively? An exploratory study of a World Wide Web-based asynchronous computer conference system known as MeetingWebTM is presented and discussed. It was found that teams using this computer-mediated communication system (CMCS) could not outperform traditional (face-to-face) teams under otherwise comparable circumstances. Further, relational links among team members were found to be a significant contributor to the effectiveness of information exchange. Though virtual and face-to-face teams exhibit similar levels of communication effectiveness, face-to-face team members report higher levels of satisfaction. Therefore, the paper presents steps that can be taken to improve the interaction experience of virtual teams. Finally, guidelines for creating and managing virtual teams are suggested, based on the findings of this research and other authoritative sources. Subject Areas: Collaboration, Computer Conference, Computer-mediated Communication Systems (CMCS), Internet, Virtual Teams, and World Wide Web. *The authors wish to thank the Special Focus Editor and the reviewers for their thoughtful critique of the earlier versions of this paper. We also wish to acknowledge the contributions of the Northeastern University College of Business Administration and its staff, which provided the web server and the MeetingWebTM software used in these experiments.