An examination of the factors influencing relationship building and performance in virtual R&D project teams

Recent research on virtual teams highlights the importance of high quality relationships to achieve high team performance. For research and development (R&D) virtual project teams, relationships characterized by cooperation and trust are expected to enhance creativity and innovation among team members. The purpose of this paper is to identify variables enabling high quality relationship building in virtual R&D teams and to analyze their influence on team performance. To this end, this study examines the effects of leadership, work organization and communication practices on the quality of the relationship between team members. The theoretical developments are illustrated through a case study of a car development project in a leading French car-making firm. Our findings show that dynamic and positive leadership plays an important role in enhancing relationships between team members. The results also highlight the importance of synchronous meetings and frequent and regular interaction to build cooperative and trusty relationships leading to high performance.