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“A lot of organizations create virtual teams with almost no understanding of the unique implications of that decision.”
- Margaret A. Neale, Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business
TopIntroduction
Rising travel costs, global dispersion of talent, and advances in technology are some of the reasons organizations have migrated toward virtual teams whose members must collaborate from a distance. While numerous organizations have made significant investments in virtual teams (sometimes referred to as geographically dispersed teams) and the technology to support them, a surprising number of these teams are not reaching their full potential.
While there are numerous books and articles about best practices in virtual teamwork, many are not research-based and there are opportunities to further develop targeted recommendations for virtual teams. To address this problem, a new study conducted by OnPoint surveyed 48 virtual teams across industries to identify specific practices associated with the most successful virtual teams. The focus of this study was not to compare face-to-face teams with virtual teams but to understand what factors differentiate high-performing virtual teams so companies can implement high-impact strategies to make virtual teams more productive.
This report highlights the factors that are associated with increased virtual team effectiveness by focusing on the success profile of virtual teams, the key differentiators of virtual team performance, and performance enhancers that teams might leverage.
Study Methodology
For the purposes of this research we defined a virtual team as one that has between three and 35 members who are geographically dispersed (i.e., at least 1/3 of team members work in different locations) but have to collaborate with one another to achieve results.
Forty-eight virtual teams from 16 organizations spanning a variety of industries participated in the study. The following companies participated in the study and are included in the findings:
The primary method of data collection was a virtual team inventory that was administered to 427 team members and leaders between May and August 2008. In addition, third party data were collected from 99 key stakeholders (individuals who are very familiar with the teams such as internal customers or the team leader’s manager) to objectively assess team performance. Finally, we conducted 45 telephone interviews with team members and team leaders to better understand their experiences and challenges.
The online virtual team inventory assessed six dimensions of virtual team performance, including: Results, Communication, Team Motivation, Interpersonal Relationships, Collaboration, and Purpose & Roles. The overall reliability of the virtual team inventory was very high (α = .95). The team performance assessment, completed by stakeholders, contained selected items from the team assessment primarily focused on outcomes, including an overall assessment of team and leader effectiveness.