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group focuses on management issues versus technical issues. [Fig. 2] provides an overview of this measurement from the
three focal groups in this study. Whereas last year’s group had an almost 50% split in terms of management versus
technical issues, this year’s groups dropped to 44% and 31% in the number of focus discussions on technical issues. This
significant decrease in technical focus must be examined to determine the answer one of two questions: 1) Is the decrease a
result of increasing communications on the roles and responsibilities within the consortia; or 2) is the decrease an indication
of greater friction within the teams which is surfacing through electronic mail messages? This question sets the stage for
the next phase data analysis.
TIMELINE FOCUS
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Grp 1 Grp 2 Base
Grp
Management
Technical
Figure 2: Comparison of Management and Technical
Communications
The final area of focus is a timeline analysis resulting from the management and technical discussions. In an optimum
situation, teams should rapidly decide on a management organization and then focus the majority of their efforts on solving
technical issues [Bounds, et al. 1994]. However, the personalities and individual goals evident within every interdisciplinary
team cannot be overlooked [Katzenbach and Smith 1993]. These external issues constantly create friction within project
teams [Krackhardt and Hanson 1993]. The research team established an hypothesis that the introduction of the Web
communications center would reduce the time required to focus on management issues. [Fig. 3] illustrates the actual results
from the timeline study. As the figure illustrates, the hypothesis did not materialize. In reality, the management
discussions continued throughout the project while the technical discussions dropped off well before the management
discussions ended. This discrepancy represents a notable divergence from the initial project expectations and sets the stage
for critical follow-up study.
10
8
6
4
2
0
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Management
Technical
Figure 3: Analysis of management vs. technical
discussions in virtual team interactions.