Project Team Performance: A Study of Electronic Task and Coordination Communication

Abstract

Communication is a key factor in team performance, successful project completion, and effective project management. Collective asynchronous electronic messages on task and coordination sent among members of 34 teams were analyzed using time-series analysis. Results suggest that compared to low-performing teams, high-performing teams exchanged more messages, modified their exchanges around milestones, and were more prone to self-organize prior to project completion. Also, high-performing teams started to coordinate themselves later but maintained higher levels of coordination afterward. Project managers could benefit from monitoring the amount and the way their team members discuss task and coordination in order to ensure high team and project performance.