A study on the success of group formation and cohesiveness in virtual teams using computer-mediated communications

While the Internet is a major business tool nowadays, individuals are still challenged to form team s and collaboration virtually. To evaluate the success of team formation in a virtual setting, this research study assessed the role of different computer – mediated communications (CMC) employed on the success of team formation measured by task performance (TP), team cohesiveness (TC), computer skills (CS) and social bond (SB), while assessing the differences on such relationships when controlled for gender, age, education level, academic major, as well as academic year. This research used analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to address the hypotheses proposed. Using three teams and 140 participants, the results indicated that there is a significance difference in the role of CMC levels employed on the level of perception of CS in team formation. Also, there is a significance difference in the role of CMC levels employed on the levels of TP, when controlled for gender .In addition, there is a significance difference in the role of CMC levels employed (No - CMS/F2F,OLS,&OLS+SNS) on the levels of CS, when controlled for education, academic major and academic year. The results of this study contribute to the body of knowledge by helping organizations identify ways to support effective team formations

A Transactive Memory Systems Perspective on Virtual Team Creativity

Regulating the creativity of virtual teams (VTs) has turned up to be a major concern for many companies. Furthermore, organizations with geographically distributed teams, are struggling to keep up satisfactory VT relations to enhance creativity initiatives. This research analyses how firms can manage the relationship between transactive memory systems (TMS) components (specialization, coordination and credibility) with VT creativity. We examined the collected data from 231 professionals employing structural equation modeling to assess the model fit and partial least squares to evaluate the robustness of our results. Our investigations found different results. The first conclusion shows that TMS components have a positive impact on VT creativity. Second, our study gives a confirmation of the combined intra and inter-TMS components’ effect on VT creativity

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS VIRTUAL TEAM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCES FROM PAKISTAN’S IT SECTOR

Virtual team possesses strong pursuit for business. Virtual team may be encircled quickly and is active in its working. Performance is having major significance in any corporate team. Working in a virtual group follows many difficulties. This research focuses on the evaluation of effectiveness of trust, communication, and adaptation of culture, technology and composition on virtual team performance in Pakistan’s IT sector. The study examined that by linking these factors with the performance of virtual team either enhancing or lessening it. Moreover, study uses positivism research philosophy because it prefers scientific quantitative methods, deductive research approach as it is narrower in nature and is concerned with testing or confirming hypotheses and survey strategy. The acquisition of data has been done by spreading self-managed survey questionnaire, developed utilizing a software facility available online by Google Inc. This study provides the basic guideline for the managers/administrators of virtual teams. It may enable them as how to enhance their role in increasing team performance thus smoothing their way towards achieving the target particularly with reference to IT professionals. JEL Classification: M12, M1

Team dynamics in virtual, partially distributed teams:optimal role fulfillment

In this study, we explored team roles in virtual, partially distributed teams, or vPDTs (teams with at least one co-located subgroup and at least two subgroups that are geographically dispersed but that collaborate virtually). Past research on virtual teams emphasizes the importance of team dynamics. We argue that the following three roles are particularly important for high functioning virtual teams: Project Coordinator, Implementer and Completer-Finisher. We hypothesized that the highest performing vPDTs will have 1) a single Project Coordinator for each subgroup, 2) multiple Implementers within the team, and 3) fewer Completer-Finishers within the team. A sample of 28 vPDTs with members working on two different continents provides support for the second and third hypothesized relationships, but not the first

Success Factors as Critical That Shape Agile Software Development Project Success

This study has implications for positive social change because organizations that understand the critical factors may be able to improve project management strategies and cost benefits leading to higher efficiency, profitability, and productivity thus benefiting management, employees, and customers. Information technology (IT) project success depends on having a project manager with effective decision-making, leadership, and project management skills. Project success also depends on completing the project in a given budget, time, and scope. However, there is a limited understanding of the lived experiences of agile managers and the following success factors: engineering, management, organization, and stakeholders. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand these lived experiences of 10 agile software development team project managers or leaders at global workplaces based in the United States. The research questions were focused on the effect of these success factors on agile software development project success. In accordance with nonrandom purposeful sampling strategies, a snowball technique was used to find more participants. An open-ended, e-mail questionnaire was created and sent to participants to collect data. The data were coded to discern themes or patterns. According to study results, agile software development team employs automate builds, continuous integration, and design patterns help reduce technical debt; good collaboration and communication skills are core to project success; product owner helps maximize business value delivered by team and priority and engage stakeholders; and sponsors help fund the project and other resources

Hajautetun työn yhteys työkiireeseen

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää, onko hajautetun työn tekeminen yhteydessä työssä koettuun työkiireeseen. Työkiire valikoitui kiinnostuksen kohteeksi kahdesta syystä. Ensinnäkin hajautetun työn tekeminen oletettavasti on jollakin tavalla yhteydessä työkiireeseen, sillä paikasta toiseen liikkuminen työpäivän aikana tuo omat haasteensa työntekijöiden ajankäyttöön. Toiseksi tutkimuskirjallisuudessa työkiirettä pidetään yhtenä selkeimmin kasvaneena työympäristön haittatekijänä. Aihetta tutkittiin Tilastokeskuksen keräämän työoloaineiston avulla. Aineistoa analysoitiin sekä kuvailevilla että monimuuttujamenetelmillä. Kuvailevassa analyysissa etsittiin alustavia yhteyksiä hajautetun työn ja työkiireen väliltä ja monimuuttujamenetelmillä analyysia tarkennettiin yhteyteen vaikuttavien kolmansien tekijöiden vakioinneilla. Tutkielman tulosten perusteella näyttää siltä, että kun tarkastellaan kaikkia palkansaajia, hajautetun työn tekijöillä on suurempi riski kokea työkiirettä kuin perinteisempiä töitä tekevillä työntekijöillä. Kun tarkastelua kohdistettiin ylempiin toimihenkilöihin, hajautetun työn ja työkiireen väliltä ei löytynyt yhteyttä. Näiden tietojen perusteella voitiin tehdä johtopäätös, että hajautetun työn tekeminen lisää työkiirettä vain perinteisempää suorittavaa työtä tekevien keskuudessa. Ilmeisesti on siis niin, että ylempien toimihenkilöiden tekemä tietotyöpohjainen hajautettu työ sisältää elementtejä, jotka eivät samalla tavalla aiheuta työkiirettä kuin suorittavampi hajautettu työ. Mahdollisesti suorittavaan työhön liittyvässä hajautetussa työssä uudet tavat organisoida työtä eivät avaa samanlaista mahdollisuutta työnteon vapautumiselle kuin tietotyöhön perustuvassa hajautetussa työssä

Conflict in Virtual Teams: a bibliometric analysis, systematic review, and research agenda

Design/methodology/approach: A dataset of 107 relevant papers on the topic was retrieved using the Web of Science Core Collection database covering a period ranging from 2001 to 2019. A comparative bibliometric analysis consisting of the integration of results from the citation, co-citation, and bibliographic coupling was performed to identify the most influential papers. The systematic literature review complemented the bibliometric results by clustering the most influential papers. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to map the intellectual structure of the research concerning conflict and conflict management in virtual teams (VT), to contribute to the further integration of knowledge among different streams of research, and to develop an interpretative framework to stimulate future research. Findings: The results revealed different intellectual structures across several types of analyses. Despite such differences, 41 papers resulted as the most impactful and provided evidence of the emergence of five thematic clusters: trust, performance, cultural diversity, knowledge management, and team management. Research limitations/implications: Based on the bibliometric analyses an interpretative research agenda has been developed that unveils the main future research avenues. The paper also offers important theoretical contributions by systematizing knowledge on conflict in identifying VTs. Managerial contributions in the form of the identification of best practices are also developed to guide conflict management in VTs. Originality/value: The uniqueness of this paper is related to its effort in studying, mapping, and systematizing the knowledge concerning the topic of handling conflicts in VTs. Considering the current contingencies this research is particularly timely

Success Factors That Influence Agile Software Development Project Success

Information technology (IT) project success depends on having a project manager with effective decision-making, leadership, and project management skills. Project success also depends on completing the project in a given budget, time, and scope. However, there is a limited understanding of the lived experiences of agile managers and the following success factors: people, process, technical, and technologies and development tools. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand these lived experiences of 10 agile software development team project managers or leaders at global workplaces based in the United States. The research questions were focused on the effect of these success factors on agile software development project success. In accordance with nonrandom purposeful sampling strategies, a snowball technique was used to find more participants. An open-ended, e-mail questionnaire was created and sent to participants to collect data. The data were coded to discern themes or patterns. According to study results, agile software development team needs strong customer involvement; good agile project management processes; product owner helps maximize business value delivered by team and priority and engage stakeholders; good agile engineering techniques or practices; and good technologies and development tools. This study has implications for positive social change because organizations that understand the critical factors may be able to improve project management strategies and cost benefits leading to higher efficiency, profitability, and productivity thus benefiting management, employees, and customers.