Abstract:

In recent years, employees have increasingly been working remotely. Thus, virtual collaboration has continuously gained in importance and the associated change in work organization is realized in virtually collaborating teams. In particular, the communication that takes place under these conditions differs significantly from traditional face-to-face communication and plays a central role in virtual team collaboration. The challenges and opportunities that arise in this context were investigated in this study. The study focuses on identifying the challenges employees face at the communication level in their everyday work. To this end, opinion interviews were conducted with employees of virtually collaborating teams. Based on the identified challenges, a survey was carried out to initiate the analysis based on (quantitative) data collection. After data cleaning, a sample of 291 participants could be collected. From the results obtained, potential improvements for communication, both for the management positions as well as the employees of virtually collaborating teams were derived.

The research confirmed that the communication effort in virtual teamwork is higher than in real teamwork. Furthermore, virtual communication has a significant influence on the factors team identification, miscommunication and the decision-making processes in the team.

Other findings of the study are that individuals who work only in face-to-face teams are more skeptical of virtual collaboration. In contrast, individuals who work exclusively virtually are more open to virtual and face-to-face collaboration. The results suggest there are more challenges when comparing virtual to face-to-face communication. In addition to the broader findings, it can be seen that the increasingly digitized world of work impacts communication and poses challenges for virtually collaborating teams. In addition to media competence, it is additionally important in this context that individual team members have team- and technology-related skills. In addition to these prerequisites, virtually collaborating team members should be prepared for and continuously supported in virtual collaboration and virtual communication through training, workshops and courses. This can be counteracted by increased communication, soliciting feedback, and face-to-face meetings. The research suggests that transparent and traceable communication and collaboration processes should be implemented in practice.

Keywords:

Virtual teamwork, collaboration, new work.