Virtual R&D Teams

Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S. & Taha, Z. in their recent (2009)

Ale Ebrahim, N.

as cited in Ebrahim, Ahmen, & Taha (2009), stated, “Virtual teams may allow people to collaborate more productively at a distance, but the trip to coffee corner or across the hallway to a trusted colleague is still the most reliable and effective way to review and revise a new idea” (p.2656). Although some may see it as a negative or ineffective progression to the way team members interact with one another, the popularity and growing acceptance of virtual teaming is undeniable. The increasing amount of research that is being conducted indicates virtual teaming’s wide approval rate. Further research should continue to focus on the elements that make a virtual team successful, as improving such components will encourage the use and popularity of virtual teams.

The flexibility of virtual teaming allows organizations to choose from any number of possible participants, which creates diversity and allows for many different viewpoints to be incorporated into the team (Ebrihim, Ahmen, & Taha, 2009).

Utilization of a virtual team to accomplish a specific goal or end product requires an equal distribution of participation and cooperation from every member of the team. Furthermore, a virtual team can only thrive and be effective if trust develops within the team, and the team has a specified facilitator (Panteli & Tucker, 2009, and Ebrahim, Ahmen & Taha, 2009).

" Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S. & Taha, Z. in their recent (2009) literature review paper, added two key issues to definition of a virtual team “as small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally and/ or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their work predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization

26983: Virtual R&D teams and SMEs growth: A comparative study between Iranian and Malaysian SMEs Nader Ale Ebrahim, Shamsuddin Ahmed and Zahari Taha

Critical factors for new product developments in SMEs virtual team (Critical factors for new product developments in SMEs virtual team)

: Virtual Teams: A New Opportunity to Develop a Business (Virtual Teams: A New Opportunity to Develop a Business) Nader Ale Ebrahim, Shamsuddin Ahmed, Salwa Hanim Abdul Rashid and Zahari Taha

If on one side ECOLEAD is important for ICT companies, on the other side it is of vital importance for the single Small Medium Enterprise: actually the global market pushes the SMEs into cooperation with other SMEs and also with big companies in the collaborative network paradigm. But collaboration requires, very frequently, a preparedness that usually is missing in actual SMEs, in fact the need for cooperation is new and not already compatible with the traditional mindset of SMEs and their patrons. Facts like insufficient preparedness of people or resources and the inability to have a quick access to monetary resources, frequently force the SMEs to do not grasp business opportunities which require the rapid establishment of a collaboration framework among them. ECOLEAD will provide a complete cooperation kit for SMEs which will speed up, enable and support the building of VOs between SMEs and thus secure the successful existence of the most important economic entity in. All this keeping in mind that SMEs might be ready to pay just for applicative services which could either cut expenses or increase revenues, not to directly pay for infrastructures and invasive ICT solutions, and keeping in mind that for sure a smooth ‘entrance’ in the VBEs is a key success factor.