Using Virtual Team project communication as a means of predicting Virtual Team effectiveness

This paper provides a discussion of Virtual Teams and possible ways of predicting their effectiveness. The motivation for carrying out this research was to determine if there was a way of quantifying why Virtual Teams used in a particular company was proving to be very effective. A brief literature review of the topic of Virtual Teams and Virtual Team communication, as well as an overview of different Communication Models is provided. A case study is presented of a particular company (called DevCo Software Development as a pseudonym for the sake of confidentiality). In the case study the results of two online surveys are presented and discussed. One survey was sent to all the employees within the Labs Department and another sent to only the Virtual Team members of a specific Virtual Team within the Labs Department. The case study concludes with an analysis of relevant aspects of the company culture and the effect it appears to have on the way the employees use technology and the effect of this on Virtual Team success.