Virtual Teams – Individual Perceptions of Effective Project Management that Contribute to a Collective Effort in Project Success

Increasingly, projects require the specialized technical skills and talents of those who work in the virtual environment. Due to dispersed geographic locations, project managers of these distributed virtual teams must gain insight into achieving project success among team members who hold varying operational and world perspectives. When organizational managers decide to implement virtual teams within a company, can they develop strategies to overcome the lack of social interaction, cultural differences, and preconceived notions that can hinder the development of a collaborative and cohesive team? In addition, leading dispersed virtual teams in a manner that encourages collaboration, diversity, competency building, open communication and overcoming feelings of isolation is a challenge in a technology-based environment.

A survey of 21 dispersed virtual project management team members, five project team leaders of dispersed virtual teams and a document review of six project work plans and four scholarly articles addressed the dilemma of managers and leaders and their understanding of what communication and relationship-building techniques and management systems are best suited to meet the needs of the dispersed virtual project team to achieve both project and organizational objectives.