Creativity in virtual teams

21st century organizations are evolving into very different organizational patterns from those that have characterized the previous century. The continuous search for efficiency together with technological advances points towards a redefinition of conditions and behaviors in work environments. Purpose, leadership and social media are key. The new conditions must allow people to feel good about themselves and with their peers, grow, learn, develop and build satisfying relationships.

creativity-virtual-teams

Peter Druker refers to the knowledge worker, in his book Landmarks of Tomorrow, as a person who creates value by using information as a raw material with which to create new information, solve problems, and provide innovative solutions. The knowledge worker generates ideas, analyzes, argues, synthesizes and applies his expert knowledge. Today, and although it is not yet formalized in the balance sheets and accounting of companies, knowledge is considered an intangible asset and we are talking about human or intellectual capital. But the vision of that asset cannot be static. Knowledge becomes obsolete very quickly and can be copied. What is truly relevant to an organization is not so much its knowledge, but its ability to create knowledge, to continually renew itself.This creative and innovative ability is a capacity of knowledge workers, and more specifically of groups, of organizations. But not simply in an additive way, adding the capacities of people does not produce anything by itself. The difference in an organization is marked by aspects such as motivations, relationships, culture, trust, climate, etc. Knowledge workers do not consider themselves mere workers, and value their contribution more as partners or co-owners, but they can also behave very independently. The leadership and management of teams of this nature must be exercised with excellence, given the importance of dealing with intangible human capital. Creativity and innovation are emerging properties of the activity of groups of knowledge workers,properties impossible to manage directly, which does not exclude the enormous responsibility of managing the variables that condition them, favoring or preventing their emergence.

On the other hand, the implementation and widespread availability of modern information and communication technologies, and particularly the Internet, have made it easier for people to collaborate remotely. Physical presence is no longer necessary to exchange ideas in work groups. Teams can reduce their face-to-face encounters, even suppress them, without diminishing the effectiveness of their collaboration through telematic methods. These technologies have had a very significant impact on knowledge-based processes, since they enhance collaboration between people with different competencies and capacities, allow access and share knowledge, and facilitate its distribution and dissemination. On the other hand,We can optimize the knowledge that people possess through joint virtual work. Working and collaborating virtually is a widespread fact today, without a doubt, work in modern organizations is carried out in a high percentage through virtual means. Studies carried out in the United States estimate the work done with virtual media at more than eighty percent. Thus, virtuality, or degrees of virtuality, modulate, when they do not determine, the processes and activities of people who work and collaborate in search of a joint goal. The focus of our attention and therefore the purpose of this reflection is to study creativity and innovation in virtual groups, incorporating contributions from academic works,relating them and integrating them into an operational framework that facilitates designing and managing innovative projects in a virtual environment.

2. Chapter structure

In figure 1 we show the development of this chapter. We start from an Introduction and objective, where we highlight the growing presence of virtual teams in organizations, as well as the role that creativity and innovation play to compete in global markets.

We describe the attributes that characterize a virtual team, reflect on what we mean by creativity, and describe the model of Amabile components. Within creativity, we are especially interested in the knowledge creation theories applicable to business organizations (Nonaka, Engeström and Scardamalia and Bereiter).

To integrate different perspectives on creativity, we propose a scheme inspired by the old General System Theory (Von Bertalanffy, 1968) with which to locate critical components for the creative work of virtual teams; highlighting its systemic and dynamic nature. In particular, we address the: resources, processes and results with which to generate, develop and implement creative and innovative ideas. In the resources section we study the ideal profile of people, teams and their culture. We also include a brief description of the most useful technological tools. In the following section we treat the processes, including as more decisive those related to: communication planning, motivation, leadership and creation.Finally, the evaluation of results has led us to study the creative climate and the tools for its measurement.

3. Virtual teams

A virtual team is a group of knowledge workers who are geographically dispersed, although they may be in the same building, who work with a common purpose and objectives, and who use information and communication technologies as common work and relationship tools.. Virtual teams manage knowledge and generate knowledge in both their tacit and explicit expressions. The means of communication and contact are technological fundamentals: synchronous or asynchronous and rarely have face-to-face meetings. These characteristics highlight the difficulty in generating the team feeling, trust and collaboration necessary to achieve adequate performance. Three barriers characterize that difficulty:

Time: People work and collaborate at different times, days. And when they do it at the same time, they can do it from different time zones. Space: The place where they work can be near or far. Within the same office, plant, building or in different cities and countries.Culture: Involves the use of different modes of relationship, resulting from different languages, nationalities, education, religions, economies, etc.

4. What is creativity?

Since Guilford, in his famous speech in 1950 as APA president, proclaimed creativity as a priority object of study, there have been many approaches and definitions that have been provided by the different authors. Thus they have identified creativity with:

Divergent thinking Influence: ability to facilitate a large number of ideas Flexibility: ability to generate a wide variety of ideas Originality: as a contribution to unusual ideas Elaboration: ability to develop the ideas of others

Probably the most widespread and accepted definition is that provided by Amabile, who formulates creativity as the development of new ideas that are useful.

The approach to the study of creativity has been made from different perspectives that we can group into inspirationalists, structuralists and situationists.

The authors of the first approach highlight the phenomenon of illumination described by Poincaré and formalized by Wallas, concretized in the phenomenological experience of "! Aha¡", by which the solution to a problem suddenly appears in the mind of the creator. The story relates famous experiences of this type:

Archimedes in the discovery of his principle Kekule and the ring of molecules of benzene Poincaré and Fuchsian functions

Although creativity is the result of a moment of inspiration, inspirational authors believe that "luck favors the prepared mind" so that the work of preparation and study is essential for the incubation of a creative idea. In short, one percent inspiration and 99 percent breathability.

The techniques associated with this trend are: brainstorming, free association, lateral and divergent thinking. Techniques whose purpose is to break with the current perception of the problem and replace it with a new perspective. They use stimuli: words, graphics, relationships, etc., as a means to spark the generation of new ideas.

The second group, structuralists, uses systematic and exhaustive exploration techniques and methods to search for new solutions. They analyze potential ideas, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, iteratively modifying and refining them, until their implementation or abandonment. They use flow diagrams, decision trees and structured diagrams as support tools.

For the third group, situationalists, the key to the creative process lies in the intellectual context. Creativity materializes within a community of practice in a complex social approval process, through magazines, documents, awards, etc. As Csikszentmihalyi formulates, the three basic components in which creativity resides are: personal talent, field or discipline, and scope of supervision. The supervision is exercised by a group of people and whose mission is to decide what novel things are susceptible to be included or not within the discipline. In this perspective, it is not surprising the social influences and the references among the creators to teachers and colleagues.

5. Theories

5.1. Component theory

Amabile's component theory states that three components are necessary for creative work to occur:

Expert knowledge. Expert knowledge is the foundation of creative work. Expert knowledge is the set of cognitive patterns that facilitate understanding and problem solving within a domain. For example, a high-tech engineer will have the talent to reason and understand complex engineering problems, handle electronics laws and data, will know past and current developments in high technology, possess acquired design and implementation skills, and the ability to interpret research data. Creative thinking.This skill includes cognitive styles of opening to new perspectives, application of heuristics for the exploration of new paths. And above all a work style characterized by persistence in achieving the achievement. Creative thinking is underpinned by personality traits such as independence, personal discipline, ability to take risks, tolerance of ambiguity, perseverance in the face of frustration, and little need for social approval. However, these skills can be developed by learning techniques to improve flexibility and intellectual independence. Intrinsic motivationThe previous components determine what the person could carry out in a certain area of work, however it is their motivation that determines what they will actually do. Intrinsic motivation is manifested by the drive generated by the task itself, the result of interest and curiosity in the work, and which translates into strong involvement, enjoyment and a sense of challenge in what is done. Extrinsic motivation, on the contrary, is generated by the desire to obtain an external award, although associated with the result of the effort, but alien, external to the process of its achievement. There are numerous studies that support the primacy of intrinsic motivation over extrinsic motivation when it comes to creative work.

5.2. Theories of knowledge creation in organizations

Creating new knowledge and applying it to product innovation on an ongoing basis is a strategy for successfully competing in today's society. There are three theoretical approaches that have demonstrated their effectiveness and practical application to the business world.

Nonaka and Takeuchi

For Ikujiro Nonaka, the new knowledge always starts in a person; Whether you're a brilliant investigator, middle manager, or shop worker. The key is to transform individual knowledge into profitable organizational knowledge for the entire company. The core activity of knowledge-creating companies is to make personal knowledge accessible to other people. Nonaka distinguishes two types of knowledge: explicit and tacit and different levels of intervention depending on the entities that create knowledge: individual, group, organization and inter-organizations.

Knowledge creation is carried out through the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge in a “knowledge spiral” and in which it distinguishes four differentiated conversion processes:

Socialization: tacit knowledge is converted into tacit knowledge through social interaction. Knowledge is exchanged through joint activities of people. This knowledge is not transferred by written or oral instructions, but is the result of being together for a time in the same environment. Externalization: tacit knowledge is transferred to explicit forms that can be easily understood by others. Dialogue and sharing perspectives allows people to externalize their tacit knowledge. For their expression, they often resort to figurative and allegorical forms. Combination: It is a process of creating new knowledge through union, categorization, reclassification and synthesis of explicit knowledge.This combination is carried out through various processes such as meetings, telephone conversations, writing and reading of documents, both physical and virtual. Internalization: During this process, knowledge becomes tacit both individually and in groups. And it is embedded in people, routines, cultures, structures and ethnologies

Yrjö Engeström

He bases his approach on the theory of historical - cultural activity and on the theory of expansive learning. People achieve superior knowledge, when they resolve contradictions present in their environment and integrate them into a more global scheme, thanks to a more distant perspective resulting from the analytical distance. Engeström has studied the working groups under this approach, proposing an innovation model articulated in a seven-stage cycle:

Ask questions: questioning the usual practices Analyze the problem: investigate the existing causes and relationships in the operation of the system Model a solution Examine the new model: how it works, its potentialities and limitations Implement the new model Reflection Consolidate the new practice

Knowledge construction

Scardamalia and Bereiter differentiate learning and knowledge construction. While learning is an internal process of each person, building knowledge is public and its result accessible to people in a community.

What is important is knowledge "in the world" substantiated in "conceptual artifacts". The knowledge society treats knowledge as if it were something that can be systematically produced and shared among members of a community: Knowledge is created, understood and used in a collaborative process between people. It is the result of a collective work by which conceptual artifacts, ideas, theories and models are elaborated.

Scardamalia and Bereiter designed, under this theory, the CSILE (Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments), a multimedia system for collaborative learning and used by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Later, it was redesigned and adapted to the Web environment with the name of Knowledge Forum, facilitating an asynchronous space for group work to support knowledge creation processes.

6. Conceptual framework

A systemic approach to creativity leads us to propose a conceptual framework structured in three areas: Resources-Processes- Results(Figure 2). The model gives us a dynamic vision of the interdependencies between different components, variables, measurements, etc., based on the work and IPO model (Inputs - Processes - Output) on conventional work groups by Hackam and Morris. The IPO model has been adopted by different authors in their work on virtual groups. Likewise, the European quality model for excellence EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) in its different editions, starts from a quality assessment model in organizations based on a similar conceptual framework. The EFQM model evaluates, on the one hand, the facilitating agents: leadership, policy and strategy, people and knowledge, resources, alliances and customer-oriented processes. On the other hand, the results obtained: customer satisfaction,employee satisfaction, alliances, social actions and business results.

The complexity of the resources, processes, interdependencies and results in the virtual groups is enormous and is outside the purpose of this work. However, we will try to outline some of the aspects that must be borne in mind when designing environments where groups of people work virtually, whose objective is creativity and innovation. The purpose is to detect action levers, whether they are related to resources or processes, with which to optimize the obtained result. Or at least, given the fragility of the creative process, achieving the right climate for its development. This operational and practical purpose has led us to search for and identify support tools for managing critical variables.

In the resources area , we include the design and initial combination of:

Knowledge, skills and abilities Organizational culture Technology

In the process area we analyze the set of activities carried out by the team members, using the available resources. Due to its relevance for creativity, we will address:

PlanningCommunicationMotivationLeadershipCreative process

And finally from the perspective of results, we have

Weather

7. Resources

7.1. Knowledge, skills and abilities

The potential effectiveness of a creative group in a virtual environment is initially limited by the knowledge, skills and abilities available, both individually and collectively. It is therefore important to identify which of these talents are critical based on the tasks and objectives of the group, and accordingly, plan the corresponding selection or training processes that guarantee their availability.

The critical talents for optimal performance, within a virtual environment, we group them on the one hand into necessary talents at the individual level, and on the other hand at the team level

The person who goes to work in a virtual environment must be prepared to face situations in which they operate with some autonomy, be competent in the use of information and communication technologies, show sensitivity to intercultural differences and a willingness to collaborate.

Thus, an effective member will have the capacity to:

Self-management: manifested in its ability to be self-sufficient, being its own leader and coach. Her work will be carried out relatively frequently in isolation, the result of geographic dispersion and time zones, so she will have to manage her agenda, act proactively, seeking information and communication with other members when necessary. Communication: Choosing the most appropriate information exchange medium. Correctly interpret peers' signals, clarifying misunderstandings, including those caused by cultural differences. Confidence:It is important to build trust, based on the coincidence of interests with others, responsiveness and dependency ties. Trust, in any case, must always be based on a positive evaluation of behaviors and not of good intentions. Cultural sensitivity: through which to understand and realize cultural differences (values, behaviors, expressions, etc.); as well as the ability to detect and manage potential conflicts. Technology management: will be fluent in the use of information and communication technologies; willingness to learn new tools and use them in new modes of collaboration

Virtual teams must also develop talents with which to enhance the strengths of their members: setting goals, agreeing rules, solving problems, solving conflicts, balancing workloads and encouraging learning. A virtual team must be effective in:

Establish objectives and roles: clarity in the process and specification of objectives and roles is essential to achieve the success of a team. Achieving an agreement and initial understanding of what is intended, as well as the role to be played by each one avoids misunderstandings and subsequent conflicts. Any effort in this regard will be of great use; therefore, when possible it is advisable to hold face-to-face meetings. Establish norms: it will be necessary to develop a code of conduct expressed in a set of norms. Establish commitments in relation to response times and modes of communication. Define a file policy and prioritize tasks Resolve problems and resolve conflicts:the group must be competent to solve complex problems through negotiation processes. Develop early detection mechanisms for potential conflicts. Learning: for this it is important to achieve a safe and stimulating environment for participation that allows learning from each other. Building relationships: Building social relationships and joint learning experiences make a significant contribution to the strength of the group.

7.2. Organizational culture

Culture plays a crucial role in integrating people for joint action. When it comes to virtual teams, this integration is a great challenge, since members often come from diverse organizational cultures, which can sometimes lead to failure if they are not capable of developing a group identity that facilitates commitment to the task and objectives.

This development requires time and energy and is facilitated when the cultures of origin share values such as cooperative work, fostering learning, emphasize the importance of people, their participation and open discussion, the role of the leader as a mentor, appreciation for concerns and ideas of the members and the importance of teamwork, loyalty and cohesion.

Beyerlein propose the term "collaborative culture" to characterize cooperative work systems. They include in this culture: trust and respect in daily interactions, egalitarian attitudes between members of different status, power mechanisms based on knowledge and responsibility, the existence of shared leadership based on circumstances and knowledge, respect for different points of view, commitment to the success of the team rather than to the staff, active learning and individual responsibility

Nemiro describes the connection with the task and the interpersonal relationship as key attributes of the environment for the development of virtual creativity, and provides a useful questionnaire for its evaluation. The connection to the task is substantiated by:

Dedication / commitment: involvement and intense commitment to the task that leads to persevere in difficult times. Clarity in the goal: well defined and shared objectives, as well as a continuous process of monitoring and clarification.

The interpersonal connection implies the following manifestations:

Shared information: agile communication that provides the results obtained and the necessary information updated and on time. Personal ties: feeling between members of closeness and familiarity and that transcends commitment to the task, and leads to concern and care for the other. Confidence: in the competence for the task and in their performance of the other members; in her honest and constructive criticism; in their effort and confidentiality.

7.3. Technology and tools

Information and Communication Technologies and especially the Internet have made possible virtual collaboration that supports the processes of creativity and innovation. Today there is available, in the so-called Web 2.0, a vast set of tools; with great potential to support creative processes, although still scattered and poorly integrated as a coherent whole. The purpose of this section will not be to describe them, since it is totally outside the purpose of this document and we will limit ourselves to mentioning the most significant types of applications, and their role, within the creative processes in virtual teams. As a first question, it is essential to consider what tools the team members know and the ease in handling them, at least in the first moments of work. Technology should not be an obstacle,and therefore it is essential to provide all the necessary help to solve the difficulties that arise. The tools must always facilitate the performance of any activity and not constrain or condition it, especially when we work on creativity and innovation. In general, we can affirm that the technologies available for virtual work are very useful when it comes to exchanging information, expressing opinions or making suggestions; being its greatest weakness its ability to express agreement or disagreement and resolve conflicts and negotiate consensus.In general, we can affirm that the technologies available for virtual work are very useful when it comes to exchanging information, expressing opinions or making suggestions; being its greatest weakness its ability to express agreement or disagreement and resolve conflicts and negotiate consensus.In general, we can affirm that the technologies available for virtual work are very useful when it comes to exchanging information, expressing opinions or making suggestions; being its greatest weakness its ability to express agreement or disagreement and resolve conflicts and negotiate consensus.

We can classify the tools according to their role in the process:

Specific tools to support tasks in any of the phases of the innovation process. In particular, the tools to support the generation of ideas stand out: general tools that facilitate the management of the team and allow it to operate in a coherent and creative way throughout the process

Idea generation tools:

They serve to facilitate the mechanisms for generating ideas proposed by Boden association, analogy, exploration and transformation. We have.

Brainstorming tools. They support, in an initial divergent phase, the random generation of a large number of ideas, to later evaluate and refine them. They facilitate exploration with maps and sketches representative of the initial conception of an innovation. The images allow to express and communicate meanings that are difficult to express with TRIZ words. Methodology based on heuristics of remarkable effectiveness, inventoried and tested in different inventive practices. Provides an algorithmic approach to creative transformation processes.

General tools:

Communication. Used to satisfy the need to communicate effectively throughout the innovative process. Email, landline and mobile telephony, voice over the Internet, etc. Project management. Tools that help keep the development of the planned within margins. Scheduling and monitoring critical milestones and phases is essential, especially when multiple tasks must be completed on time in order to advance. Knowledge management. Most innovations do not start from scratch, but are based on previous work, so it is very important to store and give access to the corresponding documents. On the other hand, knowledge is frequently widely distributed within and outside organizations, which implies the convenience of having a tool that facilitates identifying the people who own it, as well as and where it is documented. Collaboration. Tools that facilitate collaborative environments are essential in all virtual creation work, especially when it is necessary to integrate the interdependent efforts of team members.

Table 1 shows some specific applications with their Internet link

Tool type	Applications	Address

Generation of ideas
Brain storming	IDEALYST Ideation Brainstorming Brainstorming Toolbox Idea Central Software	http://www.ams-inc.com/products/idealyst.htm www.ideationtriz.com/ www.brainstorming.co.uk/ www.imaginatik.com
Display	CmapTools iMindMap ™ Mindjet MindManager	http://cmap.ihmc.us/ www.imindmap.com/ www.mindjet.com/eu/
TRIZ	Etria Online TRIZ Tools CREAX Innovation Suite TRIZSoft®	http://etria.net/portal/ www.trizsite.com/onlinetools/ www.creax.com/ www.ideationtriz.com/home.asp

Generals
Communication	E-mail Telephony Voice on the Internet	www.skype.com/
Management of projects	dotProject BaseCamp	http://www.dotproject.net/ www.basecamphq.com/
Management of knowledge	Oracle 9i Database Server Lotus notes Knowledge Discover	http://www.oracle.com/database/index.html/ www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/ www.thinkanalytics.com/
Collaboration	Knowledge Forum OneSpace.net	http://www.knowledgeforum.com/ www.create.com/onespace.net.cfm

Table 1

8. Processes

8.1. Planning

Planning undoubtedly represents a predominant activity within the business context. The organization of tasks in phases, processes, use of resources, objectives, is essential for the effective achievement of goals within organizations. From a behavioral perspective, planning involves selecting, organizing and executing scripts with actions that facilitate the achievement of goals. Also, from a cognitive perspective it is a generative activity that involves a mental simulation of future actions. From this perspective it seems clear that planning activities are a facilitating factor of creativity, which contributes to the success of creative thinking and to obtaining an innovative result. There are three mechanisms by which planning contributes to creative thinking:

Promotion of the refinement of ideas Promotion of the exploitation of emerging opportunities Encouragement of the generation of new ideas that serve to solve foreseeable problems.

Planning begins with an exploratory exercise, by the group of people with the appropriate knowledge and experiences, serving the goals and objectives that are intended. The exploratory activity activates the referents, cases, situations, etc., and abstracts the most relevant causal relationships, resources, restrictions and contingencies. From this initial map the plan begins to be refined and revised based on forecasts and with different assumptions. The notable interest of this process lies in the nature of the activities that are carried out: exploration, forecasting and review, as well as the skills that influence its effectiveness. Various authors relate deep perception (identification of critical causes, restrictions, resources, contingencies, etc.) and foresight,as essential skills for good planning.

8.2. Communication

Communication plays an essential role in creating new ideas. Also when the work environment is virtual groups, where it is usual that the rules are not completely defined. The people who make up an innovative team need to integrate information from many sources, exchange many knowledge and proposals. Ideas are the raw material, and although initially they arise from a person, to prosper they need adequate support for their growth. An idea cannot be developed, refined, tested, and implemented without effective communication among team members. Good communication is the basis for the interaction between members to be productive.

Computers are information processors, they encode, store and retrieve information. Through consultation and interaction between team members, ideas can be improved, each contributing to its enrichment as a result of their different perspectives. In the development of innovative products, the consequence of creative ideas, the key is not so much the individual genius but the complex interactions within the team. It is in this dynamic process where communication manifests itself as a key component of the creative effectiveness of a team. Timely communication is essential so that each member has the information and points of view of the different team members, and as a consequence the different knowledge is properly integrated.When this communication is carried out mostly in a virtual way, where very important paralinguistic aspects disappear, careful management is essential to guarantee its mission. We analyze aspects that must be adequately addressed in communication in virtual work teams:

Volume and efficiency: Volume tends to increase while decreasing its effectiveness. Understanding the messages: It is slower and much influenced by the social context. Tasks: Some tasks, such as achieving consensus, are less effective in the virtual environment. Lateral communication: It becomes broader, flatter and more diverse. The communicative hierarchy decreases Norms and use of technology: the individual styles or the organizations to which they belong, have their own norms and characteristics that may conflict or be incompatible. Effects of evolution: Very rapid changes and redesigns on equipment create difficulties in developing reliable standards.

Other aspects that influence creativity more specifically are frequency and centralization.

The frequencyCommunication has been a variable widely studied by experts as an explanatory variable of performance in creative teams. There are two perspectives with which communication in virtual teams has been studied and those that will be convenient to attend to: distraction from people and blocking creativity. For the first aspect, it is necessary to evaluate and manage the influence and impact of communication, which can serve both to stimulate teams and to distract them. Communication consumes attentional resources and the risk of overflow due to excessive cognitive load must be addressed… The fact that distracted members are in turn foci of new distractions in an accelerated spiral with risk for the group should be appreciated. On the other hand, the perspective of communication as a block to creativity,associated with high levels of interaction, it takes shape via two different mechanisms: less criticism and fostering shared thinking. Thus, both low and high levels of communication can damage the creative functioning of the group.CentralizationAs a domain of communication by one or more people, it has a negative effect on the teams that create and innovate. The negative effect reaches both hoarders and the marginalized. In the first case, the hoarding of speech and communication leads people to an information overload. Especially when it comes to complex areas of innovation and many fields of knowledge in which mastery is required. The centralization of communication makes it difficult in these circumstances for the effective dissemination of ideas, and for all people to have the necessary information on time to carry out their work and contribute. The existence of centralized communication reduces the autonomy of non-central members,influencing people's creativity if a sufficient level of autonomy is not reached. Amabile highlights the need for a sufficient level of autonomy and discretion for the optimal development of creativity. And although complete autonomy is not possible within the context of an innovation group, people need freedom to create and question common knowledge. Centralization also affects motivation and commitment to the project. In teams with less centralized communication, responsibility is more distributed and its components are more involved in achieving more creative solutions and developments.And although complete autonomy is not possible within the context of an innovation group, people need freedom to create and question common knowledge. Centralization also affects motivation and commitment to the project. In teams with less centralized communication, responsibility is more distributed and its components are more involved in achieving more creative solutions and developments.And although complete autonomy is not possible within the context of an innovation group, people need freedom to create and question common knowledge. Centralization also affects motivation and commitment to the project. In teams with less centralized communication, responsibility is more distributed and its components are more involved in achieving more creative solutions and developments.

8.3. Motivation

At first glance it seems that the fundamental thing for the performance of a virtual group is technology, however, the cause of most of the failures in these projects are the aspects related to people and how they build their motivations. Therefore, knowing what moves team members is critical to effectively design processes and interactions, behavior rules, assign different roles, etc….

Among the theories of motivation, MacClelland's categories: achievement, affiliation, and power are probably the most widely used to study motivation in people. The need for achievement is manifested by the desire to search for achievable but stimulating goals and by monitoring performance. Affiliation shows the desire to belong to a group, with friendly relations and involvement in human interactions. The need for power is characterized by the desire to impact and be considered an influential and effective person.

Rad and Levin propose an instrument to measure the motivation of people in virtual groups, according to the MacClelland categories. The result of the evaluation of the motivation in each person, and its orientation to the categories of achievement, affiliation and power, allows assigning roles and tasks more efficiently within the virtual team.

Thus, people with a high motivation for achievement should be assigned positions in which they must perform very challenging tasks. They are very productive people when assigned jobs that make up a whole, and for which they are fully responsible. They develop their sense of identity around the content of the work and do not require high interaction with other group members to identify with the ongoing project. They are individuals who adapt well to virtual scenarios and to the management of information and communication technologies. Rad and Levin consider them the ideal candidates to work on virtual projects since they enjoy the independence that these scenarios offer.

Conversely, people with an affiliation-oriented motivation find it difficult to work in virtual teams. They enjoy interacting with other classmates, discussing ideas, providing help, receiving approval and, above all, socializing within the group. The virtual environment for these people is much more adverse than face-to-face groups where interaction is easier and richer. However, their work can be very efficient within groups when they are responsible for managing the interrelationships of group members, guaranteeing the development of common knowledge, making it easier for members to learn from each other and building a sense of identity. for the team. Rad and Levin indicate activities that give them satisfaction, such as:

introduce new members to promote communications, ensure that each person understands the objectives and knows their role and responsibility, facilitate meetings and seek the participation of all, check the degree of consensus in decision-making, follow-up on the actions assigned, mediate in conflicts, protect people less experts ensure celebration of team successes in key achievements

Finally, people with power orientation are the ones who find it most difficult to work in a virtual team. They seek ways to exercise their influence and control. Although they are not the leader of the group, they like to impose their points of view and often try to redefine the objectives following their own interpretation. They are competitive and excited to make decisions and risk by directing the work of others. The virtual environment makes it difficult for them to interact frequently with other members, so the task of influencing and taking the initiative in multiple tasks and moments is significantly more complicated and difficult than in a less dispersed physical environment.

Your contribution is useful in tasks that serve to:

clarify the purposes of a project determine the critical factors relate the objectives with the strategic vision of the organization direct meetings and help to close the problem solving sessions ensure that expectations and requirements are met facilitate direct discussion when there is conflict between members highlight the opportunities others perceive as risk

Flannes and Levin propose a definition of motivation focused on virtual project teams, describing it as: “a process, action or intervention, which serves as an incentive for a team member, to carry out the necessary action to complete a task, within the limitations of the project, scope of performance, time and cost. ” They also warn us of the risk of falling into certain strategies and beliefs about motivation in groups:

all that motivates me motivates the rest the main motivation of the people is the money the members of a team want to receive formal awards to provide a competitive slogan and to be united the best project manager is a vigorous entertainer people are professionals and do not need to be motivated there is only What to motivate when there is a problem Treat everyone equally. They like this and it is motivating

Although there are different tools and instruments to evaluate the primary motivational styles in people, we consider that the Rad and Levin “Motivation Instrument” questionnaire responds well to the management and design needs to be taken into account in virtual teams, which work in the execution of a project. It consists of fifty articles that describe various common situations in the development of a project. As an example, we transcribe the first of the articles:

Assume that you are working on a project. You are meeting with the

Cooperative or helpful you are Your work contributed to project success Your performance on assigned tasks was received in terms of its quality

The person must select, based on their preferences, one of the three proposed answers. By means of a table, each of the options is graded and those corresponding to each of the categories are added, obtaining their profile of motivational needs.

The questionnaire can be used to assess the achievement, affiliation and power needs of each team member. Under the premise that motivation implies goal-directed behavior, with an understanding of primary motivations, we can find out the most appropriate roles and responsibilities for each team member and whose assignment will facilitate us to obtain their greatest contribution. This knowledge also opens different possibilities with which to motivate team members, guiding us by the predominant and specific category of each person, either in their orientation to achievement, need for belonging, or power.

VIST model

Hertel, in his VIST model, proposes that the motivation of people, when they work in virtual environments, is determined by four main components: valence, instrumentality, self-efficacy and trust.

Valencia, as we already saw in the expectation theory, represents the subjective assessment that the person makes of the goals of the virtual team.

Instrumentality establishes the perception of the indispensable contribution of the team to the result obtained. The greater the instrumentality perceived, the greater the motivation to strive to achieve group objectives. Conversely, if the person believes that her contribution is low, her willingness to strive to achieve the group's goals will also be low, even if she perceives great personal value in achieving the group's goal.

The self-efficacy component, as we saw earlier, is taken from Bandura, and estimates the consideration that each team member has of himself, in relation to the demands of the tasks to be carried out to achieve the objectives. If a person does not consider herself capable of performing the tasks assigned to her, her motivation will be low, regardless of whether she attributes a high valence to the objective and perceives her contribution as indispensable.

Finally, trust represents the expectation on the part of team members that their efforts are shared and not exploited by other members, as well as that the support computer system works reliably. Trust is especially critical in virtual teams, since misunderstandings and fear of abuse are favored as a consequence of the lower frequency of face-to-face interactions.

8.4. Leadership

The virtual environment in work teams can be considered as a continuous evolution or dispersion of the traditional environment in different dimensions. Among these, temporal dispersion, geographic dispersion, organizational dispersion, and cultural dispersion are the most common, and critically affect leadership effectiveness.

Zigurs, in a study on leadership, wonders if the virtual environment constitutes an oxymoron or an opportunity, to conclude that it is more of an opportunity at different levels, especially in relation to the development of the skills of team members. Call it self-leadership, emerging leadership, shared leadership or transformational leadership, the virtual environment provides a clear opportunity for the redefinition of traditional leadership, adapting it from the expression "face to face" to its virtual expression, in activities such as:

Assigning Roles Communicating Vision Modeling Behaviors Creating Opinion, Influencing Communicating Standards Motivating Encouraging Participation Developing Members Exercising Mentoring Generating Trust Providing Feedback Evaluating Behaviors Reinforcing and Rewarding Positive Behaviors

Kayworth, Leider and Mora carry out an investigation to determine which factors contribute the most to effective leadership in virtual environments. This research takes into account the global or cultural dimension, with work teams in different countries. Initially, it detects the main barriers or challenges that virtual teams encounter in four different areas:

Of the comunication:
- loss or deterioration of traditional socialization communicational dynamics (facial expression, verbal inflection, gestures) communication of status and merits between members, distorted dysfunctions in communication processes and supports
Of Culture:
- Need for better communication skills Unrealistic expectations of members Distortions and tendencies due to cultural biases
Of the Logistics: Difficulties of agenda, calendar and trips Of the Technology:
- Techno phobias Need for experience in different platforms Trend towards the most expert members in the management of technology.

In this study, the importance of the leader as a mentor is detected, motivating through their understanding of the needs of the members, their concern and empathy. Being these qualities common to traditional effective leadership (Wadde's integrative perspective), the virtual environment demands the projection of these skills in the virtual context. In addition to his role as a mentor, written communication skills (which will allow him to clarify roles, keep the flow of information and messages stable and on time), and especially the ability to reconcile assertive and at the same time careful behavior with development needs of team members.

Although the leadership of virtual teams is being little investigated, it seems that the absence of verbal communication, rather than encouraging the development of complex motivational solutions, should assume a simpler environment than the traditional one and concentrate research on issues such as more effective employment. technology to increase the comfort and agility of its use, in training teams to structure the flow of information among members, and in managing the expectations of the leader and team members.

In any case, as Kimball concludes in his conference on virtual team management, they are already the rule rather than the exception. It is time to stop thinking about a special and complex case, to start developing strategies that face the new challenges that this form of organization brings. The virtual team leader's job is to help his team understand its virtual nature, and above all, to create ways for the team to visualize the process and results of their own work.

8.5. Creativity processes

Within the proposed conceptual framework, the creative process occupies the central place of attention. Here we describe its evolution, although the interdependence with the rest of the processes is clear. You cannot understand how groups create and innovate without observing their interdependence with the evolution of other activities. Nemiro has studied the creative process in virtual teams and proposes an evolution in four phases: idea generation, development, completion / closure and evaluation. This proposal therefore contemplates the life cycle of an idea from the moment it is generated to the moment of its final evaluation. Only successful ideas go through the entire cycle, leaving behind ideas that are being abandoned for different reasons. On the other hand, the activities of each phase are not exclusive,and within the creative process a new idea can be generated in the development phase, and in the same way the ideas are evaluated before the end of their development.

The idea generation phase starts with an idea proposed by someone in the group using any creative technique. The technical means used in the communication of ideas are varied: e-mail, teleconference, telephone, fax, content managers, databases, etc., even face-to-face when necessary. In-person generation of ideas does not seem to offer an advantage over virtual generation, and although it is more appreciated from the point of view of socialization processes and satisfaction of the participants, it is not so appreciated for the quality and quantity of the ideas produced. People feel freer, have more time, and are less influenced by other members when proposing ideas virtually.

In the development phase, the idea is disseminated among all team members, exchanging drafts, clarifications, revisions, etc. Virtual communications are the ones that are best adapted in this phase, their filing and follow-up capacity being very important, which makes it easier to review the creative process over and over again and offers the possibility of expanding participation to other members when others are needed. knowledge or points of view. The path followed and documented during the development, allows to build guides and templates applicable to similar later situations.

During the finalization / closing phase, the solutions and agreements reached before the implementation of the ideas are finalized, with the latest modifications. Interactive communications become more intense, it may even be necessary to reach face-to-face communication to resolve blockages and reach agreements. It is important to establish a time frame that limits the closure of this phase.

Finally, in the evaluation phase, team members and team members formally and jointly evaluate, from different criteria and perspectives, strengths and weaknesses with the idea developed as well as the associated implementation project.

The creative process that Nemiro describes begins with the generation of an idea, however, a common denominator in different theories of creativity is the identification of a preparatory phase in creative processes. It is essential, from our point of view to also consider this phase, in it we identify and understand the problem, we seek information, we explore alternatives that we discuss with colleagues and experts. Shneiderman includes and differentiates two activities within the preparation: collecting and relating, which he completes with two others: creating and disseminating with which the creativity process completes, which he calls genex:

Collect: learn from previous work Relate: consult with colleagues and experts Create: explore, combine, discover and evaluate possible solutions Deliver: distribute and disseminate results

9. Results: creative climate

The effectiveness of the results obtained by the teams can be assessed from three perspectives:

External. With the judgment made by people located outside but with relevance for the team Future viability. Based on the team's competence improvement to carry out their work in the future. Through the subjective perception of the degree of satisfaction of their needs by team members.

The evaluation of efficacy from an external perspective is subject to the criteria determined by its agents; Since these are innovative products, these criteria can be totally unpredictable or predictable if they give a satisfactory answer to a specific problem that has been defined by a previous marketing job.

The second perspective evaluates the improvement, result of learning, of the ability and competence of the team and its members to carry out their task. Therefore, it estimates its future performance capacity.

Finally, the third perspective considers the level of satisfaction of its members. You cannot manage a virtual environment without attending to the social aspects of the people who make it up. It is necessary to seek satisfactory interactions and provide opportunities for personal growth and development.

The results generated by the processes do not fade, but produce emergent states of a cognitive, affective and behavioral nature. You know more, you are more or less happy and your skills have been improved; These emerging states represent new resources that will in turn guide the processes. We have previously seen the desirable attributes that should characterize processes; and although their dynamism makes their capture difficult, we can evaluate them through the results / emerging states obtained (cognitive, affective and behavioral). One of these emerging states is climate, estimated by researchers as a good predictor of the effectiveness of teams including their creative and innovative capacity. The atmosphere perceived by the members of a virtual team can encourage or discourage creative and innovative effort.A supportive and challenging environment is key to maintaining a high level of creativity on the part of individuals and teams. Additionally, other attributes have been considered important and characteristic of creative organizations and groups: commitment to ambitious goals, freedom and autonomy, sufficient time, encouragement, recognition and awards, adequate monitoring of results, etc.

The climate achieved within a team is a fundamental result and measuring it essential to manage creative environments. There are various instruments to measure the factors that contribute to creating a creative environment. Among them they stand out for their proven effectiveness TCI (Team Climate Inventory) and KEYS: Assesing the Climate for Creativity.

KEYS consist of a survey to assess the climate of creativity and innovation within a group. Designed by Teresa Amabile at the "Center for Creative Leadership". It consists of three different groups of scales: stimuli, obstacles and criteria.

In the first group, he values the following six management practices that favor creativity:

Organizational stimulation: organizational culture that stimulates creativity through the honest and contractive judgment of ideas, rewards and recognizes creative work, establishes a mechanism for the development and flow of new ideas; and shares a vision Supervisory encouragement: supervision at work sets goals appropriately, supports the group, values individual contributions, and expresses confidence in group work; and serves as a model and reference for good work. Work group supports: group with diverse skills, with good communication and open to new ideas, with a desire to constantly improve, trust and help others and commitment to ongoing work. Sufficient: Access to necessary resources, including financial funds, materials, facilities and information Challenging work:feeling of having to work in the face of important challenges and projects Freedom: freedom to decide what work to do and how to do it, therefore feeling of control over one's own work.

On the other hand, it values two management practices that inhibit creativity:

Organizational impediments: such as internal political problems, severe criticism of new ideas, destructive internal competition, risk avoidance, and an exaggerated emphasis on the status quo

Workload Pressure: Extreme time pressure, unrealistic expectations of productivity, and distractions from productive work.

Finally it includes data on productivity and creativity:

Productivity: values efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the group Creativity: group demand for high creativity and people's belief in their ability to achieve it.

10. Conclusions

During the last quarter of the 20th century, teamwork and collaboration have been a successful organizational mode and frequently used by companies to face competitive markets and seek excellence in products and services. The intense development and implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) has had the effect of facilitating a powerful tool for itself and for other disciplines (energy, engineering, medicine, finance, education, biosciences, etc.). of processing and distribution of their knowledge, whose main effect has been to enhance their ability to create and innovate. On the other hand, this ability to create and innovate has generated a strong competitive career, accompanied by the insatiable demand of the markets for new products and services.In this challenge are many organizations of the 21st century, from public to private entities, with and without profit, manufacturers of products or service providers. Our environment moves towards the virtual at breakneck pace. This new scenario requires facing unprecedented problems and situations, where teamwork will continue to be a plus, if not absolutely unavoidable. Adapting knowledge about people, teams and organizations to the virtual world is absolutely necessary to be able to design effective work environments, with the attributes of creativity and innovation demanded. A complex task in which very different knowledge is interwoven: technological, psychological and social. The brief compilation of previous academic work has allowed us to fleetingly peek into a world in which there is much to explore.For this trip we have chosen a conceptual framework that we believe is fruitful. The resource-process-results scheme has allowed us to organize the different perspectives with which the authors view creative work. This scheme, far from being a causal and linear model, aims to highlight dynamic and systemic behavior as a more valid approach to study the interdependencies of the factors that make up a virtual creative environment. Thus, the key characteristics of both personal, group and technological resources have been analyzed. We have also identified as influential processes: planning, communication, motivation, leadership and creative process. Finally, in the results section, study the climate, as the best predictor of creativity.Although the effort to measure and value the results is remarkable, our impression is that, as with the measurement of creativity in other settings in general, measuring creativity in virtual settings is problematic. The criteria for its evaluation are almost always set and explained afterwards, when the success of the product is already evident. This fact is puzzling, since in the normal functioning of organizations, effectiveness is simply the degree of achievement of an objective, well defined a priori.when the success of the product is already evident. This fact is puzzling, since in the normal functioning of organizations, effectiveness is simply the degree of achievement of an objective, well defined a priori.when the success of the product is already evident. This fact is puzzling, since in the normal functioning of organizations, effectiveness is simply the degree of achievement of an objective, well defined a priori.

When it comes to managing virtual environments, therefore, efficiency is based more on seeking suitable conditions and processes than on achieving a specific objective. Managing creative virtual environments is, above all, achieving a favorable climate, in which ideas germinate, prosper and develop, together with the people who generate them.

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