Engineering Management Review: Virtual Teams & Contract Law Analysis

This report presents a comprehensive review of two key topics: virtual teams and international contract law. The section on virtual teams explores the concept, current practices, facts, and figures, along with challenges such as cultural diversity and trust. The report highlights the use of electronic interaction technologies and illustrates the benefits of virtual teams. The second section delves into international contract law, examining its overview, current practices, and the advantages and drawbacks of international contract law, including a table analyzing the international market. The report further includes references to support the analysis and provides a basis for understanding the dynamics of these concepts in engineering management and business development.

REVIEW OF
“VIRTUAL PROJECT TEAM ”
YOUR NAME
Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD4222, Australia
This paper presents a review of an advanced topic in engineering management. It should consist of one paragraph
giving a concise summary of the material in the article below. Replace the title, authors, and addresses with your own
title, authors, and addresses. You may have as many authors and addresses as you like. It is preferable not to use
footnotes in the abstract or the title; the acknowledgments of funding bodies etc. are to be placed in a separate section
at the end of the text.
1. Keywords: Overview of the Virtual team, The current practices, further Work.
Introduction
The following assignment is on the concept of the
virtual team and its usage. A virtual team is a team
where two or more people are involved in the single
projects that are separated geographically. The
assignment discusses about the current practices of
the virtual team and the usage of the virtual team in
the business. The assignment further discusses about
the challenges in the virtual team and finally enlists
the future work in the concept.
1.1. Overview of the Virtual team
Virtual team is the concept in which the two or more
people who are geographically separated with each
other but are united for a single goal or project. They
basically use the communication technology like a
website or an email or through video conferencing to
exchange the information or the data.
2. The virtual project team
2.1. The current practices
Currently the virtual project concept is used mainly
in the construction company. As in the construction
company the project are multinational and various
organization collaborate for a single project on the
construction*. Thus the project demands a greater and
more efficient communication and exchange of data.
that’s where the application of the virtual project
team can be used.
2.2. Facts and figures
According to the 2009 study of the Cisco
company who has surveyed over 2000 peoples
they find that over 69 percent of the people
admitted that they experienced an overall higher
productivity while taking up the virtual team
projects over 75 percent reported that their
timeliness of the work increased†. The survey has
proved that the productivity of team has
increased. Over 83 percent of the employee
reported that their ability to communicate and
work with their co-worker has become better
than before. Thus the virtual team concept has
changed the way the businessmen are
exchanging the information .
2.3. Table: Electronic Interaction Technologies
for various stages in the interaction
Spectrum
category
Interaction
technology
Description
* Saafein, O. and Shaykhian, G.A., 2014. Factors affecting virtual team performance in telecommunication support
environment. Telematics and Informatics, 31(3), pp.459-462.
† Maynard, M.T., Mathieu, J.E., Rapp, T.L. and Gilson, L.L., 2012. Something (s) old and something (s) new:
Modeling drivers of global virtual team effectiveness. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(3), pp.342-365.
1

Communication Phone For oral
communication
Email For exchange of
the information
Fax Digital and
analog text
Cooperation Websites of the
project
For storage of
the digital data
for sharing
Discussion board For discussing
strategies and
plans.
Collaboration Video
conferencing
Visual
interaction with
the clients which
are
geographically
located
Virtual teaming Real-time data
manipulation
2.4. List
Challenges for working in the virtual team:
 The first challenge working in a virtual team
is to develop a ideal team across the globe
who has ability to carry out the project‡.
 Since the team members are across the globe
there is a challenge of the cultural diversity
thus it is difficult to enforce the common
project objectives
 Third challenge is the trust and reliability of
the team as there can be conflict in The
decision of the team
2.5. Figures/Illustrations
Figure 1: GRAPH ILLUSTRATING BENEFITS OF
THE VIRTUAL TEAM
3. Avenues for Further Work
In the future the concept of the virtual team is going
to be a beneficial form of the communication
for the project collaboration§. The statics has proved
that the over 43 percent of the employee has repoted
that there has been overall productivity using the
virtual team concept.
References
1. Lilian, S.C., 2014. Virtual teams:
Opportunities and challenges for e-
leaders. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 110, pp.1251-1261.
2. Maynard, M.T., Mathieu, J.E., Rapp, T.L.
and Gilson, L.L., 2012. Something (s) old
and something (s) new: Modeling drivers of
‡ Lilian, S.C., 2014. Virtual teams: Opportunities and challenges for e-leaders. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 110, pp.1251-1261
§ Saafein, O. and Shaykhian, G.A., 2014. Factors affecting virtual team performance in
telecommunication support environment. Telematics and Informatics, 31(3), pp.459-462.
2

global virtual team effectiveness. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 33(3), pp.342-365.
3. Saafein, O. and Shaykhian, G.A., 2014.
Factors affecting virtual team performance in
telecommunication support
environment. Telematics and
Informatics, 31(3), pp.459-462.
4. Verburg, R.M., Bosch-Sijtsema, P. and
Vartiainen, M., 2013. Getting it done: Critical
success factors for project managers in
virtual work settings. International journal of
project management, 31(1), pp.68-79.
3

REVIEW OF
“INTERNATIONAL CONTRACT LAW”
YOUR NAME
Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD4222, Australia
This paper presents a review of an advanced topic in engineering management. It should consist of one paragraph
giving a concise summary of the material in the article below. Replace the title, authors, and addresses with your own
title, authors, and addresses. You may have as many authors and addresses as you like. It is preferable not to use
footnotes in the abstract or the title; the acknowledgments of funding bodies etc. are to be placed in a separate section
at the end of the text.
Keywords: 4-6 words separated by commas
4. Introduction
The following assignment t is the analysis of the
international contract law. The assignment discusses
about the overview of the international contract law
and its current practices. The assignment further enlist
a table which gives the analysis in the international
Market for Contract. The assignment finally analyze
the challenges in the contract law which is also
illustrated with the help of the diagram.
4.1. Overview of the international contract law
The international contract law are the laws
which is made to meet the objective and
commitments of the business parties which is
involved to govern the transaction in the business.
5. Overview of the ICL
The laws has been formulated in keeping mind with
the
business people who are from different countries and
enter into the contract**. The importance of the contract
in the international business transaction is crucial else
the transaction can fail and will compromise the
commercial relationship not only between the
companies but also within the countries. Thus the
contracts are essential, which will act as the guarantee
** Folsom, R.H., Gordon, M.W., Spanogle, J.A.,
Fitzgerald, P.L. and Van Alstine, M.P.,
2012. International business transactions: a
problem-oriented coursebook. ThomsonReuters.
that both the parties will abide by the law in
performing the business transactions.
2. The international contract law
5.1. Current practices
Major countries like England Germany and USA
have formulated their own international contract
law through the marketing materials††. In 2009 the
analysis of the report of the Geoffrey Miller and
Theodore about the impact of the international
contract law in the market, covers the survey of
over 4500 laws done over 12000 business parties.
The research covers almost 30 percent of the
contract laws which make it a important article to
analyze the effect of the law in the market‡‡.
5.2. Table
†† Knapp, C.L., Crystal, N.M. and Prince, H.G.,
2016. Problems in Contract Law: cases and
materials. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
‡‡ McKendrick, E., 2014. Contract law: text, cases,
and materials. Oxford University Press (UK).
4

2007 200
8
2009 2010 2011 2012 avera
ge
UK
Law
9.37 10.9
8
11.9
1
11.0 8.5 15.4
3
11.2
Swiss
law
8.77 7.62 11.0
6
10.1
6
10.2
8
11.5
9
9.91
U.S
law
2.12 0.14 2.25 4.85 6.74 5.26 3.56
Frenc
h
law
3.33 3.08 2.62 2.90 3.61 3.31 3.14
Germ
an
law
1.78 0.08 1.72 3.71 3.66 1.24 2.03
Total 25.3
7%
21.9
%
29.5
6%
32.6
2%
32.7
9%
36.8
3%
29.85
%
Table 1: The International Market for Contract
5.3. The major advantages and drawbacks of the
international contract law
Advantage of the international contract law:
 The process of the international tender is
much easy and quick under the contract laws.
 The contract laws reduce the possibility of
cheats and frauds in the business and develop
a trust among the business.
Drawbacks of the international contract law
 Firstly the international contract law is an
expensive and time consuming process.
Therefore various companies are not able to
afford, the expense increases as the member in
the law agreement increases§§.
 If any party violates the contract then it
becomes a difficult and time consuming to sue
the company in the court and to schedule the
hearing dates. The feud case goes on for a
long time and both the party losses huge time
and money in the case.
§§
Figure 2: The main consideration when solving
dispute
5

5.4. References
1. Folsom, R.H., Gordon, M.W., Spanogle, J.A.,
Fitzgerald, P.L. and Van Alstine, M.P.,
2012. International business transactions: a
problem-oriented coursebook. ThomsonReuters.
2. Knapp, C.L., Crystal, N.M. and Prince, H.G.,
2016. Problems in Contract Law: cases and
materials. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
3. McKendrick, E., 2014. Contract law: text,
cases, and materials. Oxford University Press
(UK).
4. Vagts, D.F., Koh, H., Dodge, W.S. and
Buxbaum, H.L., 2015. Transnational business
problems. West Academic.
6