Keeping Virtual R&D Teams Creative

Firms have no choice today but to disperse their new product units in order to access dispersed knowledge and skills. As a result, there is a general movement toward "virtual" R&D teams. Distributed teams have characteristics very similar to those of individuals working in the same bui...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Research technology management 2005-03, Vol.48 (2), p.13-16
Main Authors: Kratzer, Jan, Leenders, Roger Th. A. J., van Engelen, Jo M. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business innovation
Communication
Computer mediated communications
Coordinate systems
Creativity
Forecasts and trends
Industrial research
Information technology
Inventions
MANAGERS AT WORK
R&D
Research & development
Social interaction
Spoken communication
Studies
Technological innovation
Technology
United States
Virtual computer systems
Virtual offices
Virtual teams
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Summary:Firms have no choice today but to disperse their new product units in order to access dispersed knowledge and skills. As a result, there is a general movement toward "virtual" R&D teams. Distributed teams have characteristics very similar to those of individuals working in the same building. For this reason, virtuality is considered to be a matter of degree. Creative performance of the team is defined as the number of new ideas, methods, approaches, inventions, or applications generated by the team members. The vast majority of most variable teams studied are clearly more creative than most of the less variable teams. In addition, the most creative teams in the "most variable" category can truly excel: they have ample room for creative performance. Regardless of the task to be solved, team-level creative performance suffers if team members are always co-located or always dispersed.
ISSN:0895-6308
1930-0166
DOI:10.1080/08956308.2005.11657300