Abstract:

Present requirements on working groups pose the challenge of making team work more efficient. At the same time, there is an ongoing discussion concerning the connection between efficiency and the atmosphere within a working group, even if the members of the working team meet only virtually due to spatial distance. One of the answers to this question may be the employment of measures for teamwork support, such as specialized courses based on experiential pedagogy aimed at creating and developing relationships within working teams. With regard to these supportive measures, our research aims to verify the hypothesised connections between participation in specialized courses and changes in quality of interpersonal relations and other group variables defined for a virtual team. The research took place between 2009 and 2011. The researched group consisted of 5 groups conducted in virtual environment Second Life. Based on the defined aims was designed a mixed research type. The results of the research show statistically significant differences in the quality of the relationships and other group variables prior to and after participation in the specialized courses. Reflecting on the experience gained from the results of the research, a methodology for the preparation and operation of specialized courses for virtual teams was formulated. The results are considered applicable not only in the field of pedagogical psychology, but also in social psychology, the psychology of work, and organizational psychology.

Keywords:

group dynamics, relationships, team, virtual teams, virtual environment, Second Life, communication, teambuilding, experiential education