CAIRO: a concurrent engineering meeting environment for virtual design teams

This paper presents the software architecture for a next generation concurrent engineering environment that helps geographically separated designers and engineers to collaborate effectively. The paper highlights research in computer-supported collaboration work (CSCW) based on various models of group interaction, social communication theory, negotiation theory and distributed artificial intelligence concepts. The paper describes CAIRO (Collaborative Agent Interaction and synchROnization) system, a distributed conferencing architecture for managing designers and engineers in a distributed design meeting. The CAIRO system allows designers and engineers to work together in virtual teams by supporting multi-media interactions over computer networks. CAIRO aids the concurrent engineering effort by relaxing the physical, temporal and organizational constraints experienced in traditional design meeting environments. CAIRO provides both media synchronization, i.e. ensuring that all information exchanged between users is synchronized, and agent synchronization, i.e. ensuring effective structuring and control of a distributed conference. This paper also details the prototype CAIRO system with a detailed example, illustrating its use in concurrent design settings.     

Hose workload based exact algorithm for the optimal design of virtual private networks

The Virtual Private Networks (VPN) optimal bandwidth allocation problem with tree topology has been widely discussed in the literature. Most of the algorithms proposed by researchers to solve this problem use approximation schemes. In this paper, we propose an exact and efficient Branch-and-Cut algorithm for the problem in the context of a hose workload model. In particular, we consider the case when the ingress and egress traffic at VPN endpoints are asymmetric and the links of the network have unbounded capacities. The algorithm proposed here is based on a linear integer programming formulation for the problem introduced by Kumar et al. (2002) [2]. Using this and a deep investigation of the polyhedral structure of that formulation, our algorithm permits to solve large instances of the problem having up to 120 nodes and 10 terminals.     

Institutional boundaries and trust of virtual teams in collaborative design: An experimental study in a virtual world environment

Members of virtual teams often collaborate within and across institutional boundaries. This research investigates the effects of boundary spanning conditions on the development of team trust and team satisfaction. Two hundred and eighty-two participants carried out a collaborative design task over several weeks in a virtual world, Second Life. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to examine our research model, which compares individual level measurement between two boundary spanning team conditions. The results indicate that trusting beliefs have a positive impact on team trust, which in turn, influences team satisfaction. Further, we found that, compared to cross-boundary teams, within-boundary teams exhibited not only higher trusting beliefs and higher satisfaction with the collaboration process but also a stronger relationship between team trust and team satisfaction. These results suggest that trust and group theories need to be interpreted in light of institutional affiliation and contextual variables. An important practical implication is that trust can be fostered in a virtual world environment and collaboration on complex tasks can be carried out effectively in virtual worlds. However, within-boundary virtual teams are preferred over cross-boundary virtual teams if satisfaction with the collaboration process is of the highest priority.     

From pattern to practice: Evaluation of a design pattern fostering trust in virtual teams

This article describes the implementation and evaluation of a design pattern that fosters trust in mediated collaborative settings. The pattern proposed here should provide a profile with static and/or dynamic information about the participants of a collaborative environment. It aims to foster initial (in the first two to three weeks) trust in situations in which people do not know each other and do not have a chance to meet, but need to collaborate. A simple and low cost implementation of this pattern was realized by conducting a case study with participants of the European Virtual Seminar on Sustainable Development (EVS). They were asked to fill in a template with personal information about themselves. In the EVS, students collaboratively have to address sustainable development problems. Afterwards, students were questioned on the use of this template, called PEXPI, and their impressions of each other during and after the EVS; questionnaires and a semi-structured interview were used. The results show that the implementation of the static profile, derived from the pattern, initially helped students to form an impression of each other. After this initial period, however, students base their impression on factors such as the quality of work-related contributions, behaviour during collaboration (e.g. responsiveness), and communication style. This case study also shows that the pattern could easily be applied and transferred to a new context, as long as the conditions described in the ‘context’-section of the pattern, were met. The case study provided a means for evaluation of the pattern and a source for its refinement.     

Dynamic nature of trust in virtual teams

We empirically examine the dynamic nature of trust and the differences between high- and low-performing virtual teams in the changing patterns in cognition- and affect-based trust over time (early, middle, and late stages of project). Using data from 36, four-person MBA student teams from six universities competing in a web-based business simulation game over an 8-week period, we found that both high- and low-performing teams started with similar levels of trust in both cognitive and affective dimensions. However, high-performing teams were better at developing and maintaining the trust level throughout the project life. Moreover, virtual teams relied more on a cognitive than an affective element of trust. These findings provide a preliminary step toward understanding the dynamic nature and relative importance of cognition- and affect-based trust over time.     

Realizing the benefits of virtual teams

Looks at how virtual group collaboration, properly managed and supported by the right technology, offers considerable payoffs.     

Fostering trust in virtual project teams: Towards a design framework grounded in a TrustWorthiness ANtecedents (TWAN) schema

Several collaboration problems in virtual project teams that work in knowledge-intensive contexts can be attributed to a hampered process of interpersonal trust formation. Solutions to trust formation problems need to be based on an understanding of how interpersonal trust forms in face-to-face project teams as well as on insight into how this process differs in virtual teams. Synthesizing literature from various disciplines, we propose a model for the formation of interpersonal trust between project team members. Taking this model as a starting point, we analyse how virtual settings may alter or even obstruct the process of trust formation. One method to improve the formation of interpersonal trust in virtual settings is to facilitate the assessment of trustworthiness. This can be done by making information available about individual virtual project team members. Previous research in virtual project teams focussed principally on the medium by which information is spread, for example, by phone, mail, or videoconferencing. Most researchers failed to take the specific content of the information into account, although there is general agreement that personal, non-task-related information is important to foster trust. For this, we propose to use the antecedents of trustworthiness, which until now have mainly been used as a framework to measure trust, as a design framework instead. This framework of antecedents can also be used to determine which type of information is relevant to assess each other’s trustworthiness. We review existing literature on the antecedents of trustworthiness and extend the well-accepted antecedents of ‘ability’, ‘benevolence’ and ‘integrity’ with several other antecedents, such as ‘communality’ and ‘accountability’. Together, these form the TrustWorthiness ANtecedents (TWAN) schema. We describe how these antecedents can be used to determine which information is relevant for team members assessing others’ trustworthiness. In future research we will first verify this extended cognitive schema of trustworthiness (TWAN) empirically and then apply it to the design of artefacts or guidelines, such as a personal identity profile to support the assessment of trustworthiness in virtual project teams.     

A model to measure QoE for virtual personal assistant

Until now the virtual assistants (like Siri, Google Now and Cortana) have primarily been confined to voice input and output only. Is there a justification for voice only confinement or can we enhance the user experience by adding a visual output? We hypothesized that providing a higher level of visual/auditory immersion would enhance the quality of user experience. In order to test this hypothesis, we first developed 4 variants of virtual assistant, each with a different audio/visual level of immersion. Developed virtual assistant systems were the following; audio only, audio and 2D visual display, audio and 3D visual display and audio and immersive 3D visual display. We developed a plan for usability testing of all 4 variants. The usability testing was conducted with 30 subjects against eight (8) dependent variables included presence, involvement, attention, reliability, dependency, easiness, satisfaction and expectations. Each subject rated these dependent variables based on a scale of 1–5, 5 being the highest value. The raw data collected from usability testing was then analyzed through several tools in order to determine the factors contributing towards the quality of experience for each of the 4 variants. The significant factors were then used develop a model that measures the quality of user experience. It was found that each variant had a different set of significant variables. Hence, in order to rate each system there is a need to develop a scale that is dependent upon the unique set of variables for the respective variant. Furthermore, it was found that variant 4 scored the highest rate for Quality of Experience (QoE). Lastly several other qualitative conclusions were also drawn from this research that will guide future work in the field of virtual assistants.     

Preparing undergraduate students for work in virtual product development teams

The development of innovative and competitive products and mastery of IT&T technologies are crucial for a company's long-term success in the global market. The main flag bearers for development are product developers, but it is questionable whether the existing systems are appropriate for the education of such professionals. For example, one study found large deficiencies concerning their skills in group interaction and ability to translate thoughts into action. Based on these and similar findings, a decision was made to organize an international course that would help students become competent members of product development teams. Integrated product development is a demanding and complex activity as it is, and its level of difficulty is additionally increased by the ever-changing business environment, primarily by functional associating of geographically disperse human resources. The paper describes the E-GPR (European Global Product Realization) course program, the used IT&T technologies, the way international teams were formed and the experiences and findings of the students, company representatives and lecturers who participated in this course. The authors believe that realism is the main strength of the course. Based on positive responses of all participants, the organizers decided to continue and further improve the E-GPR course.     

Discrete PSO-based workload optimization in virtual machine placement

Virtual machine placement has great potential to significantly improve the efficiency of resource utilization in a cloud center. Focusing on CPU and memory resource, this paper presents SOWO—a discrete particle swarm optimization-based workload optimization approach to minimize the number of active physical machines in virtual machine placement. The experiment results show the usability and superiority of SOWO. Compared with the OpenStack native scheduler, SOWO decreases the physical machine consumption by at least 50% and increases the memory utilization of physical machine by more than two times.     

Team member selection decisions for virtual versus face-to-face teams

We compared the importance placed on task skills and four personal characteristics when selecting members of virtual and face-to-face teams. We expected that task skills would be most important in selection decisions for virtual teams due to the lack of physical proximity and visibility, whereas personal characteristics would be more important for face-to-face team selection. In a policy capturing study, 100 undergraduates’ decision policies indicated that task skills had a greater impact on selection decisions for virtual teams. Gender also influenced selection decisions, with women choosing more female than male applicants for both types of teams. Applicants’ race, physical attractiveness, and attitudinal similarity to participants did not influence selection decisions for either type of team; however, when assessed by self-report evaluations, these characteristics and gender, had a greater influence for face-to-face teams.     

Toward the measure of virtual teams effectiveness

Virtual teams can be an alternative to colocated teams and they are inevitable when the members of team are significantly dispersed. Quite often when team members are dispersed there is a necessity to arrange either face‐to‐face (FTF) meetings or their substitute—videoconferencing sessions. Such cases take place in multinational corporations. In one of them from the automotive industry, we examined the cost‐effectiveness of arranging meetings of team members in the form of FTF or videoconferencing sessions. For this purpose, a mathematical model has been elaborated. This model can be a useful tool for choosing between creating a colocated or virtual team as well as about the form of meeting of virtual team members. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Process and technology challenges in swift-starting virtual teams

Virtual teams often face tight schedules and a need to start quickly and perform instantly. The goal of our study was to enhance understanding of the challenges faced by such teams. We used time–interaction–performance theory as the framework for following the processes and functions within virtual teams working on a systems development task. Our study provided a detailed examination of the group process, applied to virtual teams working under time pressure. The challenges faced by virtual teams in such settings showed that teams must work to enhance their effectiveness in multiple dimensions.     

The design of design teams in high-technology industries

Every design enterprise in high-technology involves a large multi-disciplinary team. In the context of man-machine interaction there are two related issues concerning the design system. Firstly, the team must be divided into sub-teams which can complete separate tasks within the context of the total system concept. Secondly, there are human factors design issues which often run across the work of the sub-teams. The division of a design effort into separate tasks is a considerable art but there are some general principles such as the minimisation of communication across interfaces and the standardisation of procedures for consolidating, communicating and recording design decisions. A human factors service must be available on a wide range of issues, including coding and storage of information concerning progress to date, the man-machine interfaces, work space and working environment design, and the design of instruction manuals. The ergonomist cannot confine his solutions within design. There are complementary issues of training which are usually organisationally separated. The ergonomist must cooperate with personnel specialists responsible for staffing levels and training. In recent years useful bridges have developed in the form of common interests in task analysis and simulation.     

Understanding user behavior of virtual personal assistant devices

Information Systems and e-Business Management - With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the market for virtual personal assistant (VPA) devices is emerging as a new battleground...     

ACCELERE: a case-based design assistant for closed cell rubber industry

The paper describes a knowledge-based system called ACCELERE, which was developed in order to aid in designing closed cell rubber. Designing a closed cell rubber is a complex activity. The complexity comes from the high number of design variables and the interaction between them. Consequently, the available knowledge is incomplete and does not permit to solve a problem at the first attempt. Then a design episode is an iterative process that can last up to 24 months. ACCELERE was developed to reduce this time, and to help the designers in synthesis as well as in evaluation phases of the design cycle. As a result of the lack of knowledge, ACCELERE uses Case-Based Reasoning as main problem solving method.     

Group development in virtual teams: An experimental reexamination

Virtual teams are thought to be experienced differently and to have poor outcomes because there is little or no face-to-face interaction and a tendency for virtual team members to use different communication techniques for forming relationships. However, the expanding use of virtual teams in organizations suggests that virtual teams in real world contexts are able to overcome these barriers and be experienced in much the same way as face-to-face teams. This paper reports the result of an experiment in which virtual teams participated in an exercise where they completed an information-sharing task ten times as a team. The results suggest that, contrary to one-shot, ad hoc virtual teams, longer-lived virtual teams follow a sequential group development process. Virtual team development appears to differ from face-to-face teams because the use of computer-mediated communication heightens pressure to conform when a virtual team is first formed, meaning trust is most strongly linked with feeling that the team was accomplishing the task appropriately. As the virtual teams developed, trust in peers was more strongly linked with goal commitment. Once the teams were working together effectively, accomplishing the task appropriately was the strongest link with trust in peers. I suggest that virtual team managers should cultivate virtual workspaces that are similar to those proven to work in face-to-face contexts: (1) teams should have clear, specific goals, (2) members should be encouraged or even required to communicate with each other, and (3) team members should feel that they might work with the other team members again.     

Knowledge processes in virtual teams: consolidating the evidence

This article takes stock of the current state of research on knowledge processes in virtual teams (VTs) and consolidates the extent research findings. Virtual teams, on the one hand, constitute important organisational entities that facilitate the integration of diverse and distributed knowledge resources. On the other hand, collaborating in a virtual environment creates particular challenges for the knowledge processes. The article seeks to consolidate the diverse evidence on knowledge processes in VTs with a specific focus on identifying the factors that influence the effectiveness of these knowledge processes. The article draws on the four basic knowledge processes outlined by Alavi and Leidner (2001 Alavi, M.Leidner, D.E., 2001. Review: knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues. MIS Quarterly, 25 (1), 107–136. doi: 10.2307/3250961[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) (i.e. creation, transferring, storage/retrieval and application) to frame the investigation and discuss the extent research. The consolidation of the existing research findings allows us to recognise the gaps in the understanding of knowledge processes in VTs and identify the important avenues for future research.