Introduction

---

Team-building is important and also necessary when a team faces problems of low production or output, increasing numbers of complaints from team members, more conflicts or hostilities among team members, ineffective team meetings, and decisions that are misunderstood or not carried out properly (Dyer, 1987; Huang et al., 2002; Phillips & Elledge, 1989; Salas et al., 1999; Svyantek et al., 1999). Surveys show that the vast majority of U.S. companies have realized that "team development is important to the success of their organizations...but a significant number of companies tend to neglect team-building, failing to include it as part of the corporate philosophy, objectives, or reward system" (Dyer, 1995, p.9). Teamwork has frequently not been as productive as expected (Dennis, Haley & Vandenberg, 2001; Huang, Wei, & Tan, 1999; Jessup & Valacich, 1993), and one of the main reasons would be that teams are not well developed before performing various specific tasks (Chidabaram & Bostrom, 1996; Larson & LaFasto, 1989; Straus, 1986; Zawacki & Lackow, 1998).

In modern organizations, global virtual teams such as global software development teams or Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacture (CAD/CAM) teams are becoming widespread (Meadows, 1996; Rayport & Sviokla, 1994). Virtual teamwork functions as a central mechanism for emerging virtual organizations (e.g., Davidow & Malone, 1992; Lucas, 1996; Jarvenpaa & Ives, 1994). Although there exists a rich GSS research literature for supporting teamwork, most previous GSS studies have been conducted in face-to-face (FtF) decision room settings (e.g., Briggs, Nunamaker, & Sprague, 1998; Dennis, Haley, & Vandenberg, 2001; Fjermestad and Hiltz, 1999; Huang & Wei, 2000; Huang, Raman, & Wei, 1997; Nunamaker et al., 1997). Virtual teamwork has been inadequately studied in GSS research literature, although some notable exceptions include the studies conducted by Chidambaram (1996), Chidambaram and Jones (1993), and Turoff et al. (1993). Further, even less research on supporting virtual team-building is available in GSS literature.

Virtual team-building would be the precursor of effective teamwork for many virtual teams. In virtual team settings, certain types of social interactions in face-to-face settings, such as informal talks over coffee breaks or in cocktail parties, which can often help enhance interpersonal relationships among team members, hardly exist. As a result, a specific session of team-building, aiming at supporting a team's interpersonal relationship and shared basis, may become even more important for a virtual team. If a virtual team is not well built up, for example, if a team's values and goals are not genuinely shared, team members can hardly collaborate with each other to accomplish a task effectively. Because teamwork largely involves collaborative activities (Huang et al., 2002; Larson & LaFasto, 1989; Turoff et al., 1993), working performance of a virtual team would be consequently dampened. In summary, virtual team-building should be an important research issue that has been largely neglected.

In general, there are two types of research approaches (Ackoff, Gupta, & Minas, 1962; Nunamaker et al., 1991): developmental and empirical research. The former attempts to develop improved work methods whereas the latter evaluates and understands them. A review on GSS literature indicates that much previous GSS research is empirical in nature. More effort is thus needed in developing new group work methods and/or theories in GSS research (Huang, Raman, & Wei, 1997; Nunamaker et al., 1991; Olson et al., 1993). This study adopts a developmental research approach and proposes a theoretical framework that can be embedded into a GSS system and aims to specifically support virtual team-building.

According to the Encyclopedia of Sociology (Borgatta & Borgatta, 1992), a team consists of four basic elements: (1) team common identity or basis-grounded in shared values, experiences, and goals; (2) team structure-interaction patterned in terms of statuses and roles; (3) team interdependence-some degree of members' mutual reliance on each other for needed or valued material and non-material resources; and (4) team history-some regularity or frequency of interaction over time.

The common basis is the fundamental element of these four basic team elements. Without the common basis (of shared goals and values), team members could hardly really understand, and thus trust each other. As a result, team interdependency would be difficult to develop, and the team structure (e.g., team roles and statuses) would be difficult to be genuinely accepted by all team members. Consequently, more frequent team interactions overtime (i.e., the team history) might connote with a waste of time. In summary, the team common basis is the most important element of the four, and it is therefore targeted for our proposed theoretical framework in order to support virtual team-building.

The remaining parts of this chapter are organized as follows. The next section briefly reviews the relevant research literature. Following that, a conceptual team-building framework is derived. Subsequently, the chapter develops a set of research propositions based on the derived framework. Further discussion of the framework is also included.

---