| 摘要: | 網際網路的普遍及資訊科技的進步，使得全球性的公司愈來愈需要虛擬團隊來執行短期或長期的計畫，而供應鏈規畫及決策制定的整合亦促使協同商業的形成，同時網路協同技術也導致企業工作環境的改變並可與國際市場競爭，然而以網際網路為基礎的協同合作才剛發展，2003年SARS 肆虐也使得企業亟需網上溝通與聯絡的管道，這些因素使得虛擬團隊相關的研究相形重要與不可或缺。 除了虛擬團隊的研究才剛發軔，過去GDSS相關的研究亦多為同時同地面對面的環境，網際網路讓虛擬團隊的研究可於不同時不同地的情境下實行; 已有的研究結果，出現互相矛盾的情況所在多有，或是針對不同任務型態的工作，虛擬團隊的工作績效亦少有與傳統面對面小組並駕齊驅。基於此，本研究利用一個網際網路平台上的群體協同軟體工具，在實驗室模擬虛擬團隊的工作環境，來觀察不同溝通模式對虛擬團隊工作績效及程序有無影響？何種影響？同時也觀察團隊成員間的互動情形是否對溝通模式與團隊績效的關係有影響？何種影響？ 研究結果顯示，團隊成員的溝通模式與團隊成員的互動關係有正相關，而團隊成員的互動關係與團隊績效則有部份相關，團隊成員的互動關係對溝通模式與團隊績效的關係中則無顯著的中介效果。然而，實驗結果亦顯示虛擬團隊的工作績效或工作成果滿意度有時會優於傳統面對面的小組，表示使用合適的群體協同工具及適度的訓練，可使得虛擬團隊的工作績效至少和傳統面對面小組不相上下，同時可增加團隊成員對工作成果的滿意度，這對企業在面臨環境上、市場上或國際化的壓力，都可有替代方案來解決時間與空間所造成的困境。 在學術的貢獻上，虛擬團隊工作績效並不必然不如傳統面對面小組，只要有合適的群體協同軟體工具與支援，因此未來可將相關研究擴展至企業環境及不同的工作任務型態、以及探討不同的團隊績效模型變數間的關係；在管理的貢獻上，在電子商務至協同商務的演進中，虛擬團隊與網路群體協同軟體工具的角色將舉足輕重；在技術層面的貢獻上，則導入相關領域的觀念或邏輯，可獲得較佳的研究結果，在本研究裡，軟體工具引用了創造性問題解決（CPS）的概念。 Technological advances have an ever-increasing impact on society. Globalization and the changing structures of organizations have created virtual work groups that are distributed across space and time. Collaboration among workers is vital to ongoing organizational activities and project-based activities. Not only do global companies increasingly rely on virtual teams to conduct short- and long-term projects, but supply-chain planning and collaborative decision making rely heavily on collaborative commerce. Internet collaboration technologies have changed the work environment and there is more competition in the international marketplace. However, Internet-based collaboration is still in its infancy. The 2003 SARS epidemic also underscores why it is important for companies to seek a non face-to-face communication channel and environment. Most past research results did not find significant evidence to conclude the effectiveness of virtual teams. In addition, most research was conducted in a traditional face-to-face meeting environment. However, a Web-based collaborative tool lets virtual teams work anytime and anywhere. There were also conflicts or contradiction of research results from past research. The performance of virtual teams was rarely seen to be better than that of traditional face-to-face groups. A recent study on virtual teamwork revealed satisfactory results on virtual team performance in terms of creativity. Based on these aforementioned reasons, we used the same Web-based collaborative tool, TeamSpirit, to simulate the virtual environments for virtual teams to work on a decision-making task. Our study identified and explored the relationship between communication mode and team performance, the relationship between communication style and team interaction, the relationship between team interaction and team performance, and the effect of team interaction on the relationship between communication mode and team performance. Research results revealed that communication style is positively related to the team interaction, team interaction is partially positively related to team performance, and there is no significant evidence to conclude the mediation effect of team interaction on the relationship between communication style and team performance. Yet, results showed that, in certain circumstances, the performance and outcome satisfaction of virtual teams were better than that of traditional face-to-face teams. This indicated that use of an appropriate collaboration tool and proper support for the group process might have a positive influence on virtual team performance, making it at least the same as that of face-to-face teams. The outcome satisfaction of virtual team members could also be increased. These findings can be applied to real cases so that companies can overcome the problems or limits caused by time and location, allowing them to compete in the international marketplace and cope with environmental difficulties. In terms of academic contribution, we concluded that the performance, process satisfaction, and outcome satisfaction of virtual teams could be as good as those of traditional face-to-face teams as long as there was an appropriate Web-based collaboration tool and proper support for the group process. This finding can be applied to real cases with different types of assigned tasks and further studies can focus on exploring relationships among various variables in the team effectiveness model. In terms of managerial contribution, we concluded that the introduction of virtual teams, virtual teamwork, and the Web-based collaboration tool would be of paramount importance in the evolution from electronic commerce to collaborative commerce. In terms of technical contribution, we concluded that the application of ideas or concepts from other disciplines could lead to more satisfactory research results since, in our study, we embedded the CPS (creative problem solving) technique into the development of the collaboration tool used in our research. Feedback from meeting participants and observations made during the experimental process can contribute to the development of new features for the collaboration tool, such as ink-input. |
