1 Journal of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 4, 2003) 1-38 Understanding Virtual Team Development: An Interpretive Study Suprateek Sarker Information Systems Washington State University
[email protected] Sundeep Sahay Department of Informatics University of Oslo
[email protected] ABSTRACT In this paper, we develop an understanding of how virtual teams develop over time by inductively studying communication transactions of 12 United States-Canadian student virtual teams involved in ISD. Our analysis is based upon two influential streams of social science research: (1) interaction analysis, which aided in the examination of the micro-processes of communication among members of a virtual team, and (2) structuration theory, which provided a meta-framework to help link the micro- level communication patterns with the more macro-structures representing the environmental context as well as the characteristics of teams over time. Based on our interpretation of the communication patterns in the virtual teams, we propose a theoretical model to describe how virtual teams develop over the life of a project, and also attempt to clarify how the concepts of communication, virtual team development, and collaboration are related. Key words: Virtual teams, virtual team development, group development, collaboration, technology- mediated communication, interpretive methodology, virtual participant observation, interaction analysis, structuration theory I. INTRODUCTION Virtual teams are becoming an integral part of organizational life (Igbaria