Technological Tools to Enhance Workplace Learning among Virtual Team Members

The number of virtual employees that are a part of a virtual team is rising. To cohesively work within a virtual team, employees need to improve their knowledge and skills, both soft and hard. However, teaching one how to improve his soft skills virtually may be difficult. To address this issue, this chapter proposes a design framework to facilitate workplace learning among virtual employees by synthesizing social cognitive theory, social presence theory, swift trust theory, and conflict attribution theory based on a literature review. The proposed design framework contends that in order to support intended workplace learning, virtual employees should have opportunities to enhance social presence, to establish reciprocal trust, and to resolve conflicts collaboratively. This design framework intends to augment existing instructional system design models and to expand current instructional design thinking that seldom recognize the importance of soft social and communication skills in enhancing employee's virtual learning experience.