Virtual teams with anonymity and structured interactions (VTASIs)

Creativity and innovation are critically important to the well-being of many enterprises, including those offering engineering- and technology-based services. Cross-functional teams are traditionally employed by companies to pursue projects involving creativity and innovation. These teams comprise of participants in face-to-face settings. Alternatively, asynchronous virtual teams may also be engaged to enable identifiable participants to interact via digital means from a distance. Asynchronous virtual teams are especially convenient to participants at global locations in multiple time zones. The objective of this paper is to suggest a third kind of teams, the virtual teams with anonymity and structured interactions (VTASIs), in which participants remain anonymous, follow a modified Delphi brain-storming process, communicate with one another asynchronously via electronic means, apply a set of streamlined idea generation strategies, and conduct multiple rounds of structured interactions under the guidance of a knowledgeable team leader. Described in details are the advantages of VTASI teams from the design team´s perspectives, as supported by an original study conducted in 2010 at University at Buffalo involving two VTASI teams of a total of 14 graduate engineering students, who developed new ideas to enhance the operations of the United States Postal Service. Key results are presented and conclusions are offered. For global operations, the VTASI teams outlined in this paper represent an advanced form of team design and operation which has the potential to be especially effective for creative pursuits. Such teams could be particularly useful to enhance the relative competitiveness of many engineering- and technology based global service firms.