ABSTRACT

Electronic communications with very little face-to-face contact clearly don't easily promote interpersonal connection within a team. The personal profile in Guideline is the first step in sharing personal and social information, but this is a one-off exercise. Improving team relations will require continuous effort from all members, especially the team leader. It is the team leader's responsibility to incorporate informal contact time for the distant members into the workings of the project if it is to be a success. If a distributed team is to produce the highest quality work, their communications should not be allowed to become stale. Be as creative as possible in finding issues for them to discuss that go beyond the administration of work in the team. Successful virtual socializing will build a bond of trust and support between team members and should lead in turn to better collaboration and improved productivity.