Naval Air Warfare Center Training

Recent advances in networking environments and telecommunications have led to the proliferation of teams that do not work face-to-face but interact over a computer-mediated communications network. Although some have asserted that virtual teams transcend boundaries of time or distance, others have claimed that working remotely in a mediated team environment differs in significant ways from working face-to-face. In this article, the authors examine the effects of technological mediation on team processes such as cohesiveness, status and authority relations, counternormative be-havior, and communication. They discuss conditions under which distance matters in virtual team interaction. Recent advances in networking environments and telecommunications have led to the prolif-eration of teams that do not work face-to-face but interact over a computer-mediated commu-nications network. We use the term virtual team to refer to a team or group whose members ar