This study investigates the relationship among trust, functional diversity, and team performance in a virtual environment. The authors conducted research on more than 200 team members representing 33 virtual teams and found that both trust and functional diversity had a direct impact on team performance using team member ratings; however, neither had a direct impact on team performance using external manager ratings. Instead, trust was found to moderate the functional diversity to performance relationship using the managers' ratings. Differences in the development of trust between virtual teams and face-to-face teams are also discussed, as are the implications that the results of this study may have on organizations, managers, and team members.

Purpose-Virtual teams are comprised of members who are located in more than one physical location. This team trait has fostered extensive use of a variety of forms of computer-mediated communication that enable geographically dispersed members to coordinate their individual efforts and inputs. Perhaps even more important, however, is the reality that virtual teams need to effectively collaborate to harness their full performance capabilities in order to compete in the highly competitive environments of contemporary organizations. This paper seeks to address the topic of virtual team collaboration from a "back door" perspective by identifying conditions that need to be present in order for it to effectively occur. Design/methodology/approach-This paper looks at how the depth of relationships, trust, and shared understandings among the team members feed into a team's collaborative ability, based on a thorough review of the literature. It also examines the interrelationships among these factors while suggesting that each of these antecedents is important and that the existence of one without the others results in a suboptimal collaboration model. Findings-Using the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings presented, a model of virtual team collaboration is developed. Originality/value-The paper has suggested that developed relationships, shared understanding, and trust serve as important antecedents of virtual collaboration. This raises the possibility that organizations can help create a context for team members to achieve increased levels of virtual collaboration by focusing on these potentially important factors. This, in turn, may promote subsequent innovation and performance.

This study of interest‐based bargaining (IBB) examined past usage, current preferences, and future intentions to use this approach in U.S. airline and railroad labor negotiations. Based on a survey of eighty‐four union and management chief negotiators, we found that the personal attributes of the chief negotiator (orientation toward relationships, personal conflict handling style, and competency in IBB approaches) were strong predictors of the past use of IBB. However, personal affinities and styles became irrelevant as experience with IBB accumulated. The negotiator's preferences for IBB in general were strongly correlated to his or her awareness of other carriers' and unions' experiences with IBB, as well as to his or her own direct experience. The negotiator's intention to use IBB in the future was also related to the quality of the contract personally obtained through IBB practices. The study also revealed the unpopularity of IBB among labor negotiators relative to their management counterparts.

No abstract