Professor Niki Panteli & David Drabble (TIHR) explore trust as a mechanism for forming functional online groups.

In the past twenty years, communication technologies have enabled people to work at distance easily, allowing international collaborations and flexible working to flourish. This development has introduced new dynamics to working relationships. In this talk, the presenters explore trust as a mechanism for forming functional online groups. In all groups, trust informs what is said to whom, whether rules are followed, and how decisions are made; in online groups, forming and maintaining a trusting work environment is also a vital task to prevent strife, freeloading, and passive drop-out. Here we use case studies from a multinational company and an EU-funded consortia to understand the dynamics of temporary groups of virtual strangers, and how these groups can be strengthened in the context of the Tavistock Institute itself moving to a more virtual way of working.

Presentation

Recording of the talk

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Professor Niki Panteli
Niki Panteli is a Professor of Information Systems at the School of Management of Royal Holloway University of London. She had done extensive research on virtual teams and has numerous publications in this area. Her current research interests include leadership in online communities and virtual team collaborations.

David Drabble
David Drabble is a Researcher/Consultant at the Tavistock Institute who leads the Strategic Initiative on Digital Engagement. An employee of seven years, David has research interests in online group interaction, the mediating influence of technology on empathy, and social-technical systems.

The talk Trusting virtual strangers: Developing trust online in temporary collaborative groups was presented as part of the Tavistock Institute’s Food for Thought series.