Dawn Owens

Real-World Opportunities for Virtual- World Project Management

Virtual worlds provide technology capabilities that could transform education, communication and collaboration, and project management.

An empirical investigation of virtual world projects and metaverse technology capabilities

Metaverses are immersive three-dimensional virtual worlds (VWs) where people interact with each other and their environment, using the metaphor of the real world but without its physical limitations. Unique technology capabilities of metaverses have the potential to enhance the conduct of virtual projects, but little is known about virtual worlds in this context. Virtual project teams struggle in meeting stated project outcomes due to challenges related to communication, shared understanding, and coordination. One way to address these challenges is to consider the use of emerging technologies, such as metaverses, to minimize the impact on virtual project teams. Applying a theoretical foundation for virtual teams in metaverses that includes both technology capabilities and the social interaction that takes place in the metaverse environment, we conducted an empirical investigation of project teams in a virtual world setting. The study examined the interplay of communication, representation, interaction, and team process tools with behaviors that led to role clarity, shared understanding, and coordination. While each individual technology capability contributed to project execution and outcomes, much of the power of the environment emerged through the interplay of social behaviors and technology capabilities. The results have intriguing implications for how metaverse technology capabilities might provide new ways to address gaps in the current research and practice of virtual project management and virtual teams.

Best Practices for Retaining Global IT Talent

The general problem of employee retention and the ability of an organization to influence and change actual turnover behavior are of great concern to employers, consultants, and academicians alike. This has been especially true in the IT profession. The growing need for IT professionals combined with a shrinking labor pool has made recruitment and retention of IT talent a top priority in many organizations. Forward thinking companies are looking to find and retain qualified IT talent wherever in the world it is available at a reasonable price. This paper presents nuggets of wisdom from previous research and interviews that can be used as best practices for retaining global IT talent.

Building socioemotional environments in metaverses for virtual teams in healthcare: a conceptual exploration

Metaverses are 3-dimentional (3D) virtual environments that allow people to interact with each other through software agents without physical limitations. There is great interest in the use of Metaverses for health and medical education. This paper examines the application of metaverses for supporting effective collaboration and knowledge sharing in virtual teams. Virtual teams have been used in health/medical area, such as home healthcare. However, the management of virtual teams is challenging. This study proposes that metaverses have the potential to provide socioemotional environments where individuals socially interact with others. Such socioemotional environments have the potential to facilitate effective collaboration and knowledge sharing in virtual teams. Building on previous research, we developed a conceptual model for understanding how metaverses enable the development of social-emotional environments in virtual teams.