A Study of Virtuality Impact on Team Performance

The objective of the study is to understand the various factors of virtuality and its impact on virtual team performance in software institution. A software company has been selected for studying the virtual team performance. The responses have been collected from one set of virtual institution with the help of a questionnaire and the data is analyzed using multiple linear regression. Team Performance was taken as a dependent variable and the three factors of virtuality as independent variables. The results showed that team distribution has a positive impact on team performance. Workplace mobility and variety of practices (the third factor to measure virtuality and the major objective of the study) is found to have the most significant negative impact on team performance. Qualitative study was done to enhance the process further by understanding the various practices used in the company. Around 15 employees were interviewed. Various tools were used in the software institution like video conferencing, calendaring, e-mails, wireless polling systems and internet-based collaborative technologies to collaborate with people. Overall, the results showed that certain factors of virtuality have got variable influence on virtual team performance. This warrants an in-depth study in future. The study is imperative in the present context