What: Wall Street Journal article (also available at Yahoo Finance!) about embarrassing moments during virtual meetings.
Posts to which it is related: Improving Virtual Team Leadership Using Technology
Bottom Line: Be mindful of the embarrassment that you may create for yourself if you don’t learn about and manage the technology (e.g., web meetings, video-conferencing, telephone-conferencing) that you are using for your virtual meetings. This article gives various examples of embarrassing moments caused when improper settings on technology led to a spillover of one’s private life into the virtual world. Tips that you can follow to avoid such moments: (1) Set up connections and adjust sound levels and camera angles at least 15 minutes prior to a meeting; (2) Disable instant messaging and disruptive telephone settings; (3) Dress appropriately and be mindful of casual behavior; (4) Avoid eating, drinking, and gum-chewing.

What: Journal article titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown About Telecommuting: Meta-Analysis of Psychological Mediators and Individual Consequences.
Citation: Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison, D. A. (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1524-1541.
Posts to which it is related: Leading in Face-to-Face versus Virtual teams, Recruiting for Virtual Collaboration and Virtual Teams
Bottom Line: A meta-analysis of 46 studies in natural settings involving 12,883 employees supports telecommuting, something that many companies and employees are considering due to rising fuel prices. The study found that telecommuting had small but mainly beneficial effects on proximal outcomes, such as perceived autonomy and work–family conflict (this went down with telecommuting). Telecommuting also had beneficial effects on more distal outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, turnover intent, and role stress. Also, high-intensity telecommuting (more than 2.5 days a week) accentuated telecommuting’s beneficial effects on work–family conflict but harmed relationships with coworkers. There was no detrimental effect of low-intensity telecommuting (less than 2.5 days a week) on the quality of workplace relationships.

What: NetworkWorld article about workers in the U.S. being unable to telecommute.
Posts to which it is related: Leading in Face-to-Face versus Virtual teams, Recruiting for Virtual Collaboration and Virtual Teams
Bottom Line: According to recent surveys, most U.S. workers are unable to telecommute even though gas prices are inching higher every day. Major reason: management resistance to telework. One way to overcome this is to encourage managers to telework and learn about telework’s benefits first hand. The article points to two tools, Telework Exchange’s Online Eligibility Gizmo and Telework Value Calculators, that help workers determine their eligibility to telecommute and make their case for telework to management.