Employees may continue to work remotely for a substantial amount of time, even after the end of the pandemic. Our established theories of group processes and intergroup relations can help us understand these new ways of working and online group experiences. However, there are key differences in computer-mediated and face-to-face (FtF) groups. In this essay, I present some of the extant robust theories and findings from computer communication research to understand virtual working within online groups. These perspectives include that group processes develop over a longer period of time as compared to FtF, informal communication is neglected, computer-mediated groups have some advantages over FtF groups, sociomateriality is a useful theoretical lens, and dispersion affects group member cognitions about each other. I use my own lab’s work on entitativity as an example of how moving from FtF to online group research can deepen our understanding of both FtF and online groups. The essay concludes with recommendations for future research.

即使在大流行结束后，员工也可能会继续在相当长的时间内进行远程工作。我们建立的小组流程和小组间关系理论可以帮助我们了解这些新的工作方式和在线小组体验。但是，计算机介导的和面对面的（FtF）组存在关键差异。在本文中，我将介绍一些现存的可靠的理论和计算机通信研究的发现，以了解在线小组中的虚拟工作。这些观点包括：与FtF相比，小组流程的发展时间更长，可以忽略非正式的交流，计算机介导的小组比FtF小组更具优势，社会重要性是有用的理论视角，分散性会影响小组成员彼此之间的认知。我以自己的实验室在可动性方面的工作为例，说明了如何从FtF转向在线小组研究可以加深我们对FtF和在线小组的理解。本文最后提出了对未来研究的建议。