Towards an integrated framework for phase-specific media choice in virtual creative group processes

In an increasingly globalized world creative work is often conducted by virtual teams all over the globe. Those virtual teams cannot meet physically to collaborate, cooperate and communicate. Virtual team work saves money, directly by cutting costs of travel and indirectly by saving time, but these effects are thwarted if the results of the group work suffer from group losses and risks inherent in creative work. Therefore, this paper focuses on how to mitigate such potential risks and losses in creative group processes by the right choice of media. The results are then combined with the creative group process in an integrated framework for media choice in specific phases of the creative group process. We believe that considering this framework when choosing media for creative group processes leads to a better process flow and thus better results, i.e. higher product quality.