High versus low performing virtual design teams: a preliminary analysis of communication

One way that firms have adapted to competitive pressures in today's global marketplace is to use asynchronous communication technologies to support virtual project teams. To better understand the effectiveness of these dispersed teams, we compare the asynchronous communication transcripts of high and low performing virtual teams working on the early stages of software design. We also compare these results with data gathered from actual design teams working in a traditional face-to-face environment. Preliminary findings show that the high performing virtual teams significantly out-communicated the low performing virtual teams in terms of the number of lines communicated between team members. High performing teams sent more communications regarding design alternatives and also spent considerably more effort summarizing their work and discussing the write-up of the design deliverable. Additionally, high performing teams mirrored the face-to-face teams from the field study in terms of the distribution of communication covering various design activities.