Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-74614-3
Ph.D.
Applied Organizational Psychology
Hofstra University
2015
The call for further empirical research on the effects of task interdependence and levels of virtuality on the performance of teams was addressed herein. The researcher sought to extend the work of Hertel, Konradt, and Voss (2006) who proposed that the competencies required for successful performance in traditional teams might differ from those for virtual teams. The researcher sought to address limitations from previous research by utilizing a 2 x 2 between- subjects experimental design (high and low task interdependence, and high and low virtuality). Sixty teams of three participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Each team completed a murder mystery task, then reached an agreement on the five-part solution. Task interdependence was manipulated at two levels, low (all clues provided to each team member) and high interdependence (1/3 of clues provided to each team member). Level of virtuality was also manipulated at two levels, low and high. Upon completion of the task, participants completed a modified version of the Virtual Team Competency Inventory, rating which KSAs were most critical to the effective performance of the team. Two additional objective dependent measures were collected, each team's accuracy score on the murder mystery task and the amount of time to complete the task. Results indicated face-to-face teams outperformed virtual teams on the objective measures of performance, and that both types of teams rated the VTCI's items similarly. The research suggests both types of teams require similar KSAs. Future research is needed to determine unique KSAs for virtual teams.
Communication; Information Technology; Occupational psychology
Communication and the arts;Applied sciences;Psychology;Interdependence;Performance;Teams;Virtual teams