Making virtual teams more effective: improving relational links

Purpose – To report on a study testing training methods to improve communications among virtual team members. Design/methodology/approach – Training methods for improving virtual team communications were developed and administered to 12 virtual teams. Surveys tracking cohesiveness, perceptions of the process and satisfaction with the outcomes were administered before, during and after teams working on a series of projects. These results were compared with similar teams working on the same projects who did not receive training. Findings – Results indicated that teams receiving training showed more cohesiveness, perceptions of the process and satisfaction. These factors have been shown to increase team members' ability to exchange information and to positively affect the group's performance. Practical implications – Relational link training seems beneficial for virtual teams as the teams in this study that had relational link training showed higher levels of group cohesiveness, satisfaction with their group's outcome, and had a better impression of the group's virtual meeting process. Relational link training may have a benefit of establishing and managing expectations for how groups work together. This is especially true in its mitigating negative impacts on group cohesiveness. It is important to measure the impact of any training program, relational link or otherwise, over multiple periods, as the true impact may not become evident except over longer periods of time. Originality/value – Provides information on improving communication among virtual team members.