The role of subgroups in the communication patterns of global virtual teams

Niki Panteli; Robert M. Davison

doi:10.1109/TPC.2005.849651

Author(s)

Niki Panteli
Robert M. Davison

Related Research Unit(s)

Department of Information Systems

Detail(s)

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	191-200
Journal / Publication	IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Volume	48
Issue number	2
Publication status	Published - Jun 2005

Link(s)

DOI	DOI https://doi.org/10.1109/TPC.2005.849651 Final Published version
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Attachment(s)	Documents 5147632.pdf Post-print, 305 KB, PDF Publisher's Copyright Statement © 2005 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Panteli, N., & Davison, R. M. (2005). The role of subgroups in the communication patterns of global virtual teams. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 48(2), 191-200. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPC.2005.849651.
Link to Scopus	https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-21044440145&origin=recordpage
Permanent Link	https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/publication(e2745fe6-31b9-4fc1-b665-828a8ca91be0).html

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the emergence of subgroups in global virtual teams and consider the impact that subgroups have on the communication patterns and interactions of these teams. The study presented here takes the case of eight virtual teams that were formed between two universities in two different countries. Our findings reveal that subgroups exert different degrees of impact on the team as a whole. Where the impact was high, boundaries were created between team members in different subgroups while the development of team cohesiveness was restricted. Nevertheless, all teams were able to produce high quality outcomes, suggesting that the emergence of subgroups may not always have a negative influence on team performance. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice. © 2005 IEEE.