Historical Virtual Team Learnings and a View to the New Normal Post-COVID-19

Historical Virtual Team Learnings and a View to the New Normal Post-COVID-19

Virtual Teams (VTs) are not a new working arrangement with the possibility of working virtually existing for several decades; however, since the COVID-19 pandemic, VTs have been thrust into the spotlight. Surprisingly, research into how VTs were impacted by the pandemic is limited within Australian business organizations. With a reduced level of research currently available on VT operations within Australian business organizations, researchers and organizations may approach VT establishment and maintenance with outdated perspectives. This study provides a brief history of VTs through a short narrative literature review. Key findings from the past two years are presented, which highlights that much has changed with VT collaboration technology being more prevalent through organizations as well as societal perspectives of this working arrangement changing. In particular, in many organizations a suite of new corporate sponsored toolsets has been deployed allowing for greater collaboration; however, employees are at times opting for non-traceable communication platforms to allow for private conversations with colleagues. Additionally, employees who would not have traditionally opted to work in a VT have been required to, despite at times it being unsuitable when considering their living situation. One key limitation of this study is that the data analyzed is only from Australian sources, which could present findings not generalizable to other regions. This study provides researchers and organizations with additional avenues of research to continue to develop this critical body of knowledge in a COVID-19 world.

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author.