Tools for Virtual Teams: A Team Fitness Companion
Geographically dispersed work groups–virtual teams–must work well together without the advantage of meeting face-to-face. This leading-edge book provides strategies for effective team leadership, and includes exercises, case studies, and models to give readers a jump-start on the future of teamwork…. More >>
Tools for Virtual Teams: A Team Fitness Companion
This book does a great job of providing tools and methods that are grounded in solid theory.
I found Hartzler & Henry’s book to be a very good set of tools for leaders and members of virtual project teams. The content and exercises it includes are forthright and practical, and flow from good grounded theory and practical experience. It is published by the American Society for Quality, and so has a practical, quality & numbers bent.
The drawback to the book, as I read it, was that it is a specialized book. It addresses project teams. It does not address leadership issues, technology, or ongoing (versus project-based) virtual teaming in any great detail. My partner found the text to be a little simplistic, but I felt that the writing level was clear and appropriate for technical project managers. I would not recommend it as a primer on virtual teams for executives.
Recommendation: Buy it for your tool kit, but don’t make it the only book on virtual teams you use. The authors have done a very good job on the topic they wanted to cover.