Frank Works in the Downtown Office of a Large Consulting

Frank works in the downtown office of a large consulting firm. Joe, Steve, and Michele work in a branch office in a northwest suburb. Joan and David work in a branch office in an eastern suburb. When these people collectively work on problems and try to figure out solutions that they all can accept, they sit down at their computer terminals and communicate with each other through a special software program that guides their discussion. These people are operating as ___.

A) a free-riding group
B) an informal group
C) a human network
D) a virtual team
E) task-focused problem solvers