Analysis of the Effectiveness of Global Virtual Teams

You can download the paper from here: Analysis of the Effectiveness of Global Virtual Teams.pdf

You can download the ppt from here: Analysis of the Effectiveness of Global Virtual Teams.ppt

Analysis of the Effectiveness of Global Virtual Teams in
Software Engineering Projects

Abstract : 

Global Software Development (GSD) projects use virtual teams that are present in different pars of the world. These teams often communicate through telecommunication technologies. And hence there is problem of communication as it is never as effective as face to face communication like in co-located teams. The paper takes one phase of the Software Development process and studies the complex issues associated with the Global Virtual Teams (GVTs). The study analyzes the ease of use of technology, trust between teams and the task structure and how they impact the efficiency, effectiveness and the satisfaction level of the virtual teams.

Motivation :

The GVTs rarely meet in a face to face context, and hence a lot of problems arise that are not present among co-located teams.

There is a lot of debate on weather the idea of Global Virtual Teams has a positive or a negative effect on the project quality. And hence, there is a need to study the issue with the help of a real world experiment.

Also, it is needed to study weather the early stages of the software development process can be carried out at off-shore centers using virtual teams.

Objectives : 

Analyze the factors that significantly affect the quality of the output of the requirements definition phase prepared by the virtual teams.

Examine the effectiveness of the Global Virtual Teams in performing these projects.

Lessons Learnt :

In this experimental study, two teams of students, one from IIM-Lucknow and other from University of West Ontorio were asked to co-ordinate together and gather requirements for a project. The following lessons were learnt from the experiment:

1. The differences in time, culture and size of the teams, do not have any significant impact on the final deliverables.
2. The trust between the virtual teams is lower in the beginning of the project, but it eventually increases as time goes by. Trust is one major factor that affects the software engineering process. Increase in trust level has a positive impact on the software engineering process.
3. Academic and cultural differences do not have any significant impact on the project.
4. The learning process is better when teams from different backgrounds interact with each other. And therefore, the learning experience is also better.
5. If the structure of the project is good and the technology becomes easy to use, the effectiveness and the satisfaction level of the teams is increased.
6. Heterogeneous teams has a positive impact on the project deliverable as opposed to a common perception that heterogeneous teams do not perform well.

Conclusion :

Every organization implementing GSD have to manage the Global Virtual Teams. The study helps the organization in creating and managing their GVTs more effectively.

The analysis is similar to real world scenario of the Global Software Development where heterogeneous teams are spread across the globe. Even though the study was done only for the requirements phase, it is important to know how the teams react in a GSD scenario.