Virtual Teamwork in Distance Education

In modern organizational environments, education included, teamwork is an essential skill that employees must possess to work effectively with others. Johnson and Johnson (1994) substantiate that “society has moved from manufacturing based work on which individuals generally competed or were independent from each other to information and technological-rich work in which individuals generally work in teams” (p. 1017). Dyer stated (Cherrington, Bischoff, Dyer, Stephan, and Stewart, 2001) that “in every organization people must work together in some form of collaboration or teamwork so the combined efforts are productive and people are helping each other rather than blocking or hindering each other” (p. 521). According to Gregory- Dawes (2000), a team functioning properly allows a group of people to give information and material to each other and adds a unique quality to problem solving, referred to as “synergy.”