From Chemical Engineering to Social Topography: UA Prof Explores Virtual Collaboration
In a way, much of what we know today about virtual collaboration in diverse teams can be traced back to the common cold circa 1991, with the line between those two points being Anita Bhappu. Bhappu is now the PetSmart Endowed Professor of Retailing and Consumer Sciences at the University of Arizona Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, but it was her experience as a chemical engineer at consumer products giant Procter & Gamble that lay the foundation for her academic career.
Procter & Gamble hired Bhappu fresh out of college to lead product development of a soothing global remedy for the common cold. The task meant lots of meetings for a team that lived and worked all around the world, and coordinating that kind of collaboration proved to be as challenging as developing the product itself.
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