CASE ANALYSIS OF ADVANCED COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY: PROS AND CONS OF GLOBAL SHARED ELECTRONIC SPACE IN A 21^ST CENTURY MULTINATIONAL
Elisabeth Rossen[1], University of Oslo, Norway

Abstract

This paper explores and speculates about the following broad research question:  What opportunities and constraints does advanced collaborative technology provide in multinational corporations?   Moreover, this paper explores the phenomenon of “there”, a nowhere place on a global and shared electronic platform of advanced collaborative technology, ACT.  “There” is predominated by multi-media capabilities in cyberspace linking together a network of globally distributed workers and learners in the multinational corporation, which is the object of this empirical study of advanced collaborative technology.

The researcher started this study in 2000, with the working hypothesis that face-to-face, F2F, communication is critical in ongoing relationships primarily connected through advanced collaborative technology.  Much of the literature supported this working hypothesis (Lipnack & Stamps, 2000; Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1998; Daft & Lengel, 1987; Handy, 1995). However, the author concluded this study finding that working in global shared electronic space of ACT in a multinational under certain conditions is preferable to working face to face in global business. 

This qualitative field study of the enterprise wide ACT platform of a Scandinavian multinational distinguishes between the local and physical space of corporate headquarters versus the global and electronic space of the advanced collaborative technology platform.  For the purpose of the study, the multinational studied is referred to by the pseudonym, SI.  The findings of the SI study support Giddens’ (2003) notion that local physical space is embedded in tradition and its associated issues of power, status, and inequality.  Collaborating through ACT was found to have the potential to overcome budgetary concerns and security issues of foreign travel in 21^st century global business.   Moreover, in the study, the ACT platform, the global shared electronic space at SI, was found to enable the creation of a plethora of global business opportunities for women and others who have traditionally been a minority in international business. 

Keywords:  Advanced Collaborative Technology, ACT, Globalization, Multinational, “Global Shared Electronic Space”, “Compensatory Adaptation”, Scandinavia. 

Background

The empirical basis of this paper is limited to one multinational corporation and one specific platform of advanced collaborative technology. For the purpose of confidentiality, the multinational corporation that was the field site of the empirical investigation is referred to throughout this paper as SI, Scandinavian International.  SI is a highly geographically distributed manufacturing firm headquartered in Scandinavia.  The headquarters of SI is located in a company town in a rural area of Scandinavia, 1 hour flight or an over 4-hour train ride from the closest major city.  Almost 75% of its workforce is based overseas in over 100 foreign locations.  

A virtual ethnographic case study was performed by the author of this paper “there” between June 2002 and March 2003.  “There” the venue of this case study is defined as the electronic space between the East Coast of the United States and Scandinavia, where this study was primarily conducted over the Internet.  Aside from two in-person visits to the headquarters of SI, this investigation was conducted entirely on-line with occasional follow-up phone calls.

1.       Introduction

Up until a decade ago (Saunders, 2000) collaborative technology was too rudimentary to enable globally distributed teams to collaborate around the world through sophisticated multi-media platforms.  However, in our 21^st century contemporary context of security consciousness and increased globalization, working through collaborative technology has become an increasingly viable alternative to face-to-face work arrangements.  While a wide body of literature (Handy, 1995) supports that F2F is the preferred work arrangement, a scanty stream of literature supports the claim that working through advanced collaborative technology platform may be preferable to working face-to-face (Kock, 1998, 2001).  An attempt to understand this new phenomenon of working and learning in shared electronic space on a platform of ACT drove the motivation for conducting this field study.

2.       Conceptual Framework

Underlying this paper are a number of theoretical issues discussed in the literature including globalization, and the study of time and space otherwise known as proxemics (Hall, 1969).  Another important concept is that of corporate hierarchy which is inherently embedded with power and authority (Leavitt, 2003).  Moreover, the author’s insights as both a practitioner and researcher in international business over the last 20 years further illuminate her perspective.

2.1.    Proxemics

Proxemics is a term coined by the anthropologist Edward Hall (1969) to identify the study of the construct of time and space.  Time-space is a topic of importance in IT and global business research.  An extensive discussion of time-space is outside the limitations of this paper.  However, the notion of “time-space compression” (Giddens, 1990) is relevant within the context of “the global shared virtual workspace” of advanced collaborative technology.  Moreover, the notion of “territorialism” (Hall, 1969) is germane within the context of analyzing the local place in which SI is headquartered in rural Scandinavia.

2.2.    Hierarchy

Despite all the forecasts that business structures will become flatter, the organizational structure of  hierarchy is prevalent throughout the world.  Closely associated with hierarchy is the phenomenon of “authority” (Leavitt, 2003, p. 98).  Moreover, “authority” is highly interrelated to the notion or “territorialism” (Hall, 1969).    “Hierarchies’ authoritarianism shows up in all kinds of ways, perhaps most obviously in communication” (Leavitt, 2003, p. 102).  Power is displayed in physical space by symbols and associated status.    This concept can best be understood by examining the flip side of it.  In virtual workspace, such as “there” where collaboration on ACT is carried out, the “reduced social cues” model for understanding that computer mediated communication is a status equalizer (Hine, 2000). 

2.3.    Globalization

Amidst the plethora of literature about the trend towards globalization (Giddens, 2003; Marquardt, 2002), a recent empirical study published in the Sloan Management Review, has shown that very few multinationals are truly globalized.  Moreover, while the topic of “globalization” has been designated as an area of important inquiry in the context of IT and global business (Barrett, Jarvenpaa, Silva & Walsham, 2003), this area of research is highly unexplored.  A contribution is being made to the study of globalization through the examination of  the globalized setting, the “shared electronic place” in which SI operates on ACT.

Giddens’ social theories play an important role in IS research.  However, it is noteworthy that Runaway World is the first book Giddens has written which includes his perspectives on the Internet. Giddens asserts that “Globalization has something to do with the thesis that we now all live in one world and that is influenced above all by developments in systems of communication, dating back only to the late 1960’s” (Giddens, 2003, p. 10). However, “Instantaneous electronic communication isn’t just a way in which news or information is conveyed more quickly.   Its existence alters the very texture of our lives, rich and poor alike.  (p. 11).  The “global shared electronic space” of advanced collaborative technology is a dimension that synchronous instaneous electronic communication has brought to fruition in the 21^st century multinational. 

Globalization is a phenomenon influencing both intimate and personal as well as distant aspects of our lives.   In particular, the crossroads of corporate technological infrastructure and globalization have brought opportunities to integrating family life with professional endeavors in global business.  Giddens (2003, p. 12) asserts, “There has never been a society as far as we know from the historical record, in which women have been even approximately equal to men.  This is a truly global revolution in everyday life, whose consequences are being felt around the world in spheres from work to politics”.  In the context of this study, the implications of globalization and its underlying IT infrastructure mean that a parent can be in a physical environment nearby their regular activities of family life while also collaborating throughout the world.  Never before has such flexibility been available to integrate family and professional life in international business endeavors.

Scandinavia is a geographic region progressive in integrating family and professional life in international business.  A unique feature of the physical landscape of Scandinavia versus much of the rest of the industrialized world is the absence of dense populations in major metropolitan areas. With sophisticated IT and telecommunication infrastructures this highly rural geographic region have been able to globalize.  Scandinavia’s high level of globalization has been ranked  among the top three globalized regions in the world.  This is based upon a globalization index developed by A.T. Kearney in 2001 to measure and rank the top 50 developed countries and key emerging markets worldwide.  Scandinavian countries along with the United States and Canada have the highest rankings on the Kearney globalization index.   

3.       Empirical Investigation: SI Case Study

3.1.    Field site

The multinational, SI, is an industrial firm.  SI is among the most highly ranked firms in its industry group in industrial manufacturing. The headquarters of SI is located in a rural area of Scandinavia in a company town.  The majority of the 20,000 SI employees work outside the home country where the multinational is domiciled.  The company is decentralized into three major divisions uniformly identified throughout the world by different colors.

Historically, SI has been very rooted to the town where its headquarters is located.  Numerous times the possibility of relocating to a more centrally located venue for conducting international business activities has been considered and ruled out.  Moreover, SI chooses to remain highly decentralized in terms of its three industry groups, which are represented by the three divisions.  However, globalization was a major strategy at SI in the 1990’s.   SI wishes to retain and develop its employees.  An extremely flexible workforce is a necessity if we are to meet new challenges in a changing world.  The individual must be aware of the qualifications necessary in present and future work.  The goal is for each employee to be qualified for more than one job.

Moving into the 21^st century, the initiative for using ACT at SI was introduced by the middle management of one of the three divisions in 2001 for sales training.  Support for this initiative is demonstrated in   SI’s vision statement for 2002 which reflects its global business and IT orientation: Our vision is for SI to become a worldwide learning environment where managers, employees, and business partners can easily learn what they need, when they need it, and apply their competencies for their own and SI’s benefits.

The 10 sequential phases of the SI study alternated among the territorial (Hall, 1969) space of headquarters, the neutral physical space that was not the territory of any of the parties in the study, and the “global shared electronic space” of the advanced collaborative technology platform, “there”. The ten sequential phases of the study are described in Table 1 in the appendix.

3.1.1.    “There”, Global Shared Electronic Space on the ACT Platform

ACT is used in a virtual workspace, referred to in this paper as “there” or global shared electronic space.  At SI, the ACT platform is hosted on an Internet server.  Moreover, each of the three training functions that share the platform has its own portal customized to its end users.  The operations of the platform and technical services for it are outsourced to a communication service provider that represents the manufacturer of the ACT software.

The platform provides the venue for SI employees to collaborate in real time with colleagues in over 100 different geographic locations around the globe.  Thus, the ACT enables electronic collaborators to see their colleagues if Webcam is used and hear them through speakers or headphones while mutually sharing documents in a shared virtual workspace.  The ACT platform is highly responsive to broadband Internet connections.   With the exception of the Webcam, which takes up extensive bandwidth, the rest of the platform is accessible even through a dial up Internet connection.  Aside from the software that needs to be installed on the desktop, the only other requirement other than an Internet connection is a microphone with headset or speakers.  A certain level of technical expertise is required to work on the ACT platform.  Successful use of ACT is a skill that is contingent upon good training at the start up.  The level of technical expertise required to use ACT successfully and interact well in global shared electronic space is within the realm of ability for most multinational employees.   SI employees are provided with superb skilled training by the service provider of the ACT. 

3.1.2.    Physical Territorial Space, SI Headquarters

SI headquarters is located in a rural area of Scandinavia on an island, about 1-hour flight and several hours by train from the closest major city.  There are no hotels in the town.  Visitors to the company who stay for short stays are generally housed in one of the company’s two guesthouses.  Dining service, direct dial telephones and Internet access are among the amenities provided in the guesthouse.  The guesthouses operate at a high standard of comfort compatible with international business travel standards. On the other hand, researchers and employees who maintain residences elsewhere are provided with basic accommodations in the company dormitory.  Telecommunication infrastructure and the amenities of international business travel standards are not provided in the dormitory.  The town where SI is located can be likened to a medium-size municipality with its own emergency and medical services.

3.1.3.    Neutral Space

The two phases of the field study conducted in neutral space were venues of conferences where international business standards were more than adequately met by available telecommunications infrastructure and lodging options. 

3.2.    Research Design and Methodology

This qualitative inductive case study was conducted in several distinct phases and venues with a particular methodology associated with each phase or venue.  However, the overall method comes under the umbrella of “naturalistic inquiry” (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).  This research design of naturalistic inquiry was guided by the discipline of following the phenomenon of study, the advanced collaborative technology and the interactions surrounding it.

The bulk of the SI study was conducted in shared electronic space where the methodology could be described more specifically as virtual ethnography (Hine, 2000).  Marcus and Fischer (1986) alluded to something missing in ethnographic research in capturing transnational political, economic and cultural forces of globalization.  This study has tried to provide that missing link which the researcher defines as shared electronic space in the closed and exclusive context of a multinational ACT platform.  A sophisticated advanced collaborative technology platform was both the research medium and primary field site. 

The data for the SI case study stem from multiple sources.   These include observations of 8—12 training sessions and virtual meetings on a particular advanced collaborative technology in which the author was a participant--observer, over 200 e-mail exchanges between the company and the author, and ongoing review of the corporate website and both internal and external corporate documents.  Moreover, it included an industry—academic collaboration at the World Computer Conference in August 2002 in Montreal in which SI participated remotely, and two on-site field visits conducted by the researcher.  During the first field visit, the researcher was accompanied by two Scandinavian researchers. The second field site visit was conducted by the researcher independently.

Part of the empirical study was conducted “there” on the shared workspace of the advanced collaborative technology, primarily between actors in North America and Scandinavia. The research method of the portions of this study conducted in global shared electronic space was “virtual ethnography” (Hine, 2000).  Access to the study of SI “there” was made possibly only by invitation onto the space and technical training in how to use the space.  In virtual ethnographies, the definition of boundaries through an iterative approach is the norm (Hine, 2000) and includes knowing when to stop the field study.  In the SI case study, after two iterations at the territorial space of headquarters, the researcher chose to conclude the study on March 6, 2003. 

3.3.    Data Presentation and Analysis:

This case study was conducted in several distinct phases and venues of time-space events. These events occurred synchronously, moving between shared physical space and shared electronic space of the ACT.    In this study, the physical span of these events ranged from Florida to Montreal to Paris to locations in urban and rural Scandinavia.   Moreover, throughout the study there were asynchronous events inter-dispersed consisting of e-mails sent by SI and its outsourced technical support group. 

The data collection periods have been coded to correspond to 10 events representing sequential phases of the study. The 10 events are detailed in Table 1 attached in the appendix.   Each of the ten sequential units of the study corresponds to one of three categories defined as follows:

global shared electronic space,

face-to-face “territorial space”, which in this case was SI headquarters,

F2F in non-territorial, neutral space, which in this study was in a conference venue.

Table 2 shows the classification of the three typologies of synchronous time-place events in the SI case and is attached in the appendix.  The focus of this paper is on the “global shared electronic space” of the ACT platform, particularly synchronous activities. 

At SI, the ACT platform facilitates both synchronous (live) communication and asynchronous (delayed) communication. Aside from the function of sales training for the ACT, which is used by the division that introduced the platform to SI, another division at SI actively uses the ACT, primarily for training purposes of technicians.   While the ACT has video conferencing, virtual meeting and virtual conferencing functionalities, SI has chosen to use it primarily for virtual training.  In addition, the ACT has been used for virtual meetings primarily limited to mid-level managers in the strategy area and for coordination among the several key users of the ACT.

The synchronous platform enabled SI employees throughout the world to simultaneously have a live conversation with colleagues anywhere in the world on-line while sharing power point presentations Word and Excel documents and Internet pages.  Moreover, the platform enabled participants to send each other notes or drawings during on-line meetings.  Training sessions (e-learning), interactive virtual meetings, and management broadcasts can be channeled through the ACT platform.  In addition to the live session, because all of these sessions can be recorded and kept in the archives accessible on the platform of the ACT, both a knowledge repository is created and the potential for rich asynchronous tools.  The recording capability of the ACT was found to have both positive and negative implications at SI.  Because employees were self-conscious about being recorded, at times they hesitated to speak in on-line activities. One manager also commented about the knowledge sharing and global decision-making opportunities presented by the ACT the communication platform facilitates knowledge sharing and involves participants in business decisions around the world.  Managers who were very comfortable with the platform grew to prefer it, everything is there—you can see it, you can hear it and you can share it.  One SI manager who was less than completely satisfied in using the ACT commented the live communication platform is definitely an interesting facility for the future.  As the technical standards around the world improve, it will be an efficient way of communicating. 

While the researcher yearned for F2F contact during the early phases of the study, the second iteration at the field site produced the finding that meeting face to face might actually be counterproductive to maintaining good communication in globally distributed collaboration in multinational business.  Not only is F2F potentially destructive to an established flow of interaction in global shared electronic space but it is also both costly and time consuming. Interviews from the early phase of the study at SI supported the finding that   face-to face business is too costly and time consuming.   Across the board, SI managers commented about the cost effective attributes of the ACT, Using the Live Communication Platform to hold a conference is very cost-effective, since the traditional way of conferencing through phone lines is very expensive in countries like Mexico.  

The SI study also showed  that senior management at SI used the ACT differently than middle management and technicians. Specifically, the use of the ACT by senior management appeared to be limited to broadcast speeches to a wide audience throughout the world.  Thus, ACT at SI was found to provide a synchronous broadcasting tool for senior management to communicate throughout the world and a permanent record of the presentation that could be shared afterwards by asynchronous communication.  An example of the activity of senior management is captured in a special issue of SI’s in-house newsletter on the ACT platform; the CFO holds a presentation that participants of the Postgraduate Rotational Program worldwide follow through the Live Communication Platform. 

4.       Implications for Practitioners

A summary of implications for practitioners of the SI study are presented below in Table 3, categorized into opportunities and constraints for practitioners in multinationals adopting ACT.  Other implications are discussed in the concluding remarks section of this paper, section five.   

Table 3. Opportunities vs. Constraints of ACT for Multinationals

5.       Discussion and Conclusion

In summer 2002 during the early phase of data collection, which was conducted entirely by telephone and over the advanced collaborative technology platform, the researcher yearned for face-to-face contact.   However, the first visit to headquarters did not take place until almost 6 months later, early December 2002.  By that time, about a dozen sessions had already transpired over shared electronic space from the geographically distributed locations of Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the United States and the company town of SI in rural Scandinavia.  The researcher was surprised by the unanticipated finding late in the study that under certain circumstances global shared electronic space is preferable to F2F communication.  This discovery was made March 2003, during a second iteration at the physical field site.

The finding that F2F communication may be counterproductive to effective collaboration is both counter intuitive and counter to a wide body of literature including that on media-richness  (Handy, 1995; Daft & Lengel, 1996 ).  However, the researcher is not the first scholar to make this observation.  Kock (1998, 2001) identified the construct of “compensatory adaptation” while conducting quasi-experiments with student process groups that were assigned a task to complete.   The research in “compensatory adaptation” showed that human beings could compensate for the lack of social cues in electronic space by working harder.  This happened in situations where participants felt motivated to use computer-mediated communication.  Kock’s research was conducted as quasi-experiments with student participants and has all the inherent weaknesses associated with student experiments and artificial conditions.  However, his research is supported by a wide body of literature on human evolution and anthropology supporting the evolutionary and adaptation process of the animal kingdom. 

The SI research study confirms the existence of both strengths and weaknesses of using advanced collaborative technologies in multinationals.  Advantages exist for using ACT, not only in rural areas but also when security issues restrict international travel.  Some of the advantages of ACT shown by this research include the ability to:

·         commute and travel to work (by Internet and broadband);

·         have enormous options in labor market choices (telecommuters, office workers, road warriors);

·         move between real time (synchronous) and delayed time (asynchronous);

·         transcend the normal barriers of personal and professional space.

The opportunities of ACT in multinationals are juxtaposed, however, against a backdrop of constraints. 

The dark side of ACT is manifested by the polarity of the above opportunities.  The SI study suggests the following constraints hinder the multinational workplace:  1. While employees can commute and travel to work (by Internet and broadband), the lack of a shared physical space can make finding someone more difficult;  2. While having enormous options in labor market choices (telecommuters, office workers, road warriors), these choices can be overwhelming, and the work patterns of the different workers demand intricate synchronization;  3.  Moving between real time (synchronous) and delayed time (asynchronous) can sometimes be effortless or other times can be a major technical barrier; and  4.  Transcending the normal barriers of personal and professional space can increase stress by introducing a high level of distraction, and assumes that everyone is willing to transcend tradition cultural barriers of personal and professional life (which differ greatly in different cultures).

A noteworthy element of the SI research design is that in the 10 phases that it was conducted it alternated between iterations of “interstitial” ethnographic activity, phases A, B, C, E, and G to total immersion ethnography activity while the researcher was physically present at the multinational headquarters in phases F, H, and J. Thus, the researcher was able to draw conclusions about the polarities of working from the context of being able to maintain all the activities of her normal life as compared to traveling 18 hours to the multinational’s headquarters and being a part of the fabric there.  This polarity enabled the researcher to draw conclusions about the advantages of working on shared global space rather than face-to-face – especially under certain conditions where traveling is accompanied by numerous obstacles.

In previous virtual ethnographies, researchers’ interaction with the technology of computer-mediated communication has been found to provide valuable insights (Hine, 2000).  “The shaping of the ethnographic object as it is made possible by the available technologies is the ethnography” (Hine, 2000, p. 65).  Thus, the research conducted on the advanced collaborative technology platform brings with it a pioneer context and one that the researcher finds to contain the potential to rapidly accelerate globalization.  The ACT enables persons with the invited access and specialized training necessary to use the platform, the opportunity to work and learn globally without ever leaving their habitual domains.  Thus, working on the “global shared electronic space” of “there” enables a new force of globalized workers to not have to have to deal with crossing national borders nor adapting to local foreign customs, thus minimizing the incidents of culture shock (Hofstede, 2000). 

Globalization and overcoming the digital divide may both be propelled by the healthy creation and development of “there”, global shared electronic space on ACT in multinationals.  The notion of globalization has traditionally been reserved for a privileged group of elite international scholars, business people and resourceful individuals. However, ACT not only is a tool towards overcoming the digital divide at an organizational level but it is a social equalizer that creates a “privileged democracy” (Rossen, 2003) where information and communication is available and shared at the middle management and technical staff levels. 

This exploratory study of SI is a step towards understanding the complexities of shared electronic space operating on an advanced collaborative technology platform in a contemporary multinational corporation.   Further development of this research agenda includes studying global shared electronic space through the lens of adult learning theories.  The rationale underlying delving into adult learning theories is to investigate the multi-media and repetitive nature of  interactions in global shared electronic space, which appears to meet the need of adults to learn both through repetition and in different ways.  Such a study would further illuminate the finding that working on the virtual workspace “there” of the advanced collaborative technology, may be more productive than working in physical space for certain activities in global business.  Moreover, such a study could provide valuable insights to developing training programs for wider and more effective use of global shared electronic space in multinationals.

References

Barrett, M., Jarvenpaa, S., Silva, L. & Walsham, G. (April 2003).  ICT’s, Globalization and Local Diversity.   Communications of the Association for Information Systems, (11) 27.

Daft, R. & Lengel, R. (1996).  Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design.  Management Science.  Volume 32, Number 5, pp. 554-571.  

Daft, R, Lengel, R. & Trevino, L. K. (1987).  Message Equivocally, Media Selection, and Manger Performance:  Implications for Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, pp. 355-366.

Giddens, Anthony (1990).  The Consequences of Modernity.  Stanford, California:  Stanford University Press. 

Giddens, Anthony (2003).  Runaway World:  How Globalisation is Reshaping Our Lives.  Routledge:  London. 

Hall, Edward (1969).    The Hidden Dimension.  New York:  Anchor. 

Handy, Charles (1995).Trust and the Virtual Organization.   Harvard Business Review. May-June.

Hine, Christine (2000).  Virtual Ethnography.  London:  Sage Publications. 

Hofstede, Gerte (1991).  Cultures and Organizations:  Software of the Mind.  McGraw Hill:  Berkshire, England.

Jarvenpaa, S.L, Knoll, K., & Leidner, D.E. (June 1998).  Communication and trust in global virtual teams. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,  3 (4).

Jarvenpaa, S.L. & Leidner, D. E. (1998).  Is anybody out there?  Antecedents of trust in global virtual teams.  Journal of MIS, 14, (4), pp. 29-64.

Kock, N. (1998). Can a Leaner Medium Foster Better Group Outcomes? A Study of Computer-Supported Process Improvement Groups. In  Khosrowpour, M. (ed.), Effective Utilization and Management of Emerging Information Technologies. Hershey, PA:  Idea Publishing, pp. 22-31.

Kock, Ned (2001).  Compensatory Adaptation to a Lean Medium:  An Action Research Investigation of Electronic Communication in Process Improvement Groups.  IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.  Vol 44, No.4.

Leavitt, Harold J.  Why Hierarchies Thrive.  (2003). Harvard Business Review.  March 2003. 

pp.  96-102.

Lincoln, Y. & Guba, E. (1985).  Naturalistic Inquiry.  Newbury, CA:  Sage Publications. 

Lipnack, J. & Stamps, J. (1997).  Virtual Teams:  Reaching Across Space, Time and Organizations with Technology.  New York:  John Wiley.

Marcus, G. & Fisher, M.J. (1986).  Anthropology as Cultural Critique.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press.   

Marquardt, Michael (2002).  Building the Learning Organization.  Palo Alto, CA:  Davies-Black. 

Rossen, Elisabeth (2003).  Personal communication. 

Rossen, Elisabeth (2002).  Trust and Virtual Organizations.  In Roland Traunmuller (ed).  Information Systems:  The e-Business Challenge.  Kluwer Academic Publishers:  Norwell, Massachusetts, pp.77-88.     

Saunders, Carole. (2000). Virtual Teams:  Piecing Together the Puzzle.  In R. Zmud (ed.) Framing the Domains of IT Management.  Cinncinnati, Ohio:  Pinnaflex Educational Resources. 

Appendix

Table 1. Phases of SI Study

Table 2:  Classification of 3 Typologies of “Synchronous Time-Place” in SI Case