Understanding virtual team effectiveness: An exploration

Virtual teams, which are comprised of individuals who collaborate without being in the same place at the same time, are receiving increased attention in the literature. This thesis responds to frequent appeals for field-based research that is specifically designed for virtual teams by studying 30 intact virtual teams in a Canadian telecommunications company. This thesis had four objectives: to develop a measure of degree of virtuality and explore its role in virtual team effectiveness; to develop measures of support of virtual teams; to investigate and quantify the construct of virtual team effectiveness; and to develop models to be used for future research.; This research indicates that the virtuality of teams can be quantified as a continuum and that teams of varying degrees of virtuality do operate effectively in industry. Further, degree of virtuality was found to be negatively associated with virtual team effectiveness. It was also determined that the behaviours of organizations and managers are associated with virtual team effectiveness: the supportive behaviours were positively associated and the non-supportive behaviours were negatively associated. The measures of managerial and organizational support/non-support of virtual teams developed in this study were both reliable and valid.; The results for the five types of effectiveness examined in this study indicate that virtual teams have measurable outcomes that are different from those of proximate teams and that different aspects of virtual team effectiveness should be described using different types of models. An IPO framework was found to best describe the links between virtual team inputs, processes and two of the measures - members' perceptions of performance and member satisfaction. A third measure, VT managers' perceptions of performance, was also found to be described, to a lesser degree, by an IPO framework. An IO framework was found to best describe the remaining two dimensions of virtual team effectiveness - members' perceptions of their professional development and their capacity for future virtual teamwork.; This thesis contributes to the literature by providing a better understanding of virtual teams, their support, and their effectiveness, and provides models for different dimensions of virtual team effectiveness which can be tested in future research.