Virtual teams are work arrangements where team members are geographically dispersed and work interdependently using electronic communication media to accomplish one or more organizational tasks. Over the past several decades, there has been an explosive growth in organizational use of virtual teams to organize work. In the competitive market, virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for faster time to market, low cost, and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Organizations are increasingly investing in virtual teams to enhance their performance and competitiveness. However, there are unsolved issues of design and implementation of collaboration technologies for virtual teams and their collaborative convergence. Collaborative Convergence and Virtual Teamwork for Organizational Transformation is an innovative collection of research that analyzes and discusses successful organizational transformation that requires a holistic understanding of the issues linked to team and workplaces, communication and integration, technological barriers, and sociocultural factors. The chapters highlight topics such as collaboration technologies in virtual teamwork, collaboration technologies’ impact on organizational transformation, as well as web-based tools, collaborative learning tools, group decision support systems, workflow automation systems, and more. This book is ideally intended for business professionals, managers and practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students looking for the latest research in virtual teamwork and its impact on organizational transformation.

Necessity is the mother of invention; challenging times can provide new opportunities that must be detected and exploited at the right moments. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that it is not only an issue of healthcare but also a challenge for the global economy, business, and society. Organizations have rapidly deployed technology solutions that enable them to work and service remotely and continue most of their normal operations. The Handbook of Research on Technologies and Systems for E-Collaboration During Global Crises focuses on emerging technologies and systems, strategies, and solutions for e-collaboration. This book assesses the importance of technologies and systems for e-collaboration in dealing with emerging crises such as pandemics. Covering topics such as deep learning processes, machine vision, and profit-sharing models, it is an essential resource for computer scientists, public officials, engineers, students and professors of higher education, healthcare administration, programmers, researchers, and academicians.

E-collaboration is a tool that breaks the boundaries of activities within and between organizations. E-collaboration technologies are making it easier than ever for people to work together no matter where they happen to be. Succeeding with collaboration at a level where it represents a competitive advantage requires a broad approach. Internal social networks can circumvent bureaucratic boundaries and facilitate information sharing activities among individuals across hierarchies and divisions or departments. This allows organizations to acquire resources or competencies from external sources that otherwise would be difficult or expensive to access. Accordingly, organizations focus more on their own areas of competence and gain a competitive advantage by acquiring richer content and better solutions in a creative and cost-effective way. Challenging times can provide new opportunities that need to be detected at the right time. There must be many other sources of competitive advantages which should support the main source of competitive value. Competitive advantage may be gained if the organization is able to find sources of competitive advantage in time of economic crises. Organizations have rapidly deployed technology solutions, such as collaboration tools and cloud computing, which enable their employees to work remotely and continue these organizational operations, especially during times of crisis. E-Collaboration Technologies and Strategies for Competitive Advantage Amid Challenging Times focuses on e-collaboration technologies, strategies, and solutions from a perspective of organizational competitive advantage, including e-collaboration technologies’ situation and solutions, innovation systems, competition and strategies, marketing, and growth capabilities. The book presents a full understanding on e-collaboration technologies, strategies, and solutions in organizations, and provides insight for how to develop e-collaboration technologies, strategies, and solutions more generally so as to simultaneously leverage potential benefit and guard against potential risk, promoting organizational competitive advantage amid challenging times. This book is ideally intended for policymakers, government officials, corporate heads of firms, managers, managing directors, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students seeking information on the e-collaboration technologies being employed in businesses in times of crisis.

Successful communication can help to prevent health problems, promote healthy behaviors and lifestyles, and overcome health challenges. However, various issues have created obstacles for the promotion of health communication, including low health literacy, the reluctance of patients to admit their lack of understanding, the overestimation by health professionals of a patient’s level of understanding, and insufficient health literacy tools, to name a few. It is thus essential to convey the latest communication models and practices being used to increase health literacy and provide adequate health information to society. Health Communication Models and Practices in Interpersonal and Media Contexts: Emerging Research and Opportunities explores and analyzes the fundamentals, models, and dimensions of health communication and offers practical solutions for better communications with direct outcomes in the optimization of citizens’ health literacy. The book also discusses and proposes more effective health communication models and practices as a tool for the construction of more solid and evident health outcomes. Covering topics such as cancer prevention, health professionals’ communication, and models of health communication, this text is essential for health professionals, communication professionals, professors, teachers, researchers, academicians, and students.

Many students across the globe seek further education for future employment opportunities. Vocational schools offer direct training to develop the skills needed for employment. New emphasis has been placed on reskilling the workforce as technology has infiltrated all aspects of business. Teachers must be prepared to teach these new skill requirements to allow students to directly enter the workforce with the necessary competences intact. As the labor market and industry are changing, it is essential to stay current with the best teaching practices within vocational education courses to provide the future workforce with the proper tools and knowledge. The Research Anthology on Vocational Education and Preparing Future Workers discusses the development, opportunities, and challenges of vocational education courses and how to best prepare students for future employment. It presents the best practices in curriculum development for vocational education courses and analyzes student outcomes. Covering topics such as industry-academia collaboration, student satisfaction, and competency-based education, this major reference work is an essential resource for academic administration, pre-service teachers, educators of vocational education, libraries, employers, government officials, researchers, and academicians.

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused a halt in global society, many business leaders found themselves unprepared for the unprecedented change that swept across industry. Whether the need to shift to remote work or the inability to safely conduct business during a global pandemic, many businesses struggled in the transition to the “new normal.” In the wake of the pandemic, these struggles have created opportunities to study how businesses navigate these times of crisis. The Research Anthology on Business Continuity and Navigating Times of Crisis discusses the strategies, cases, and research surrounding business continuity throughout crises such as pandemics. This book analyzes business operations and the state of the economy during times of crisis and the leadership involved in recovery. Covering topics such as crisis management, entrepreneurship, and business sustainability, this four-volume comprehensive major reference work is a valuable resource for managers, CEOs, business leaders, entrepreneurs, professors and students of higher education, researchers, and academicians.