Using virtual team project communication as a means of predicting virtual team effectiveness

• Main Author: Erasmus, Estheé
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Virtual work teams; Communication in organizations; Virtual work teams - Case studies
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7179

M.Phil. === This dissertation provides a study of Virtual Teams and possible ways of predicting their effectiveness. The motivation for carrying out this study was to discover if there was a way of quantifying why Virtual Teams used in a particular company was proving to be very effective. A brief literature study of the topic of Virtual Teams and Virtual Team communication is given, as well as an overview of different Communication Models. A case study is made of the particular company (called DevCo Software Development as a pseudonym for the sake of confidentiality). The case study presents the results of two online surveys. One survey 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 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.