Creating high performance IS teams

Abstract

The use of teams within organisations is becoming more prevalent as teams have been identified as an efficient work unit of human capital. This research identified 17 team effectiveness characteristics and, using a sample of local project team members, attempted to ascertain which of these factors distinguished highly performing IS teams from lower performing ones. A web-based survey was conducted and valid data collected from 62 IS professionals working in project teams. The results suggested that Goal Setting, Conflict Management, Skill Diversity/Heterogeneity, Commitment, Quality and Performance, Mutual Accountability, Trust and Support were significant characteristics in segregating high performance IS teams from those who achieved lower performance levels. These findings are of use to JS project managers who need to focus on all the 17 characteristics whilst placing particular emphasis on the 6 characteristics reported above.