Thanks to everyone that took the time to participate in the Lehigh University graduate survey on Virtual Team Communications.  We wound up getting more than enough responses to give us some good insight on how virtual teams are being used in business today.

Today’s working environments are increasingly made up of work groups that are distributed both geographically and culturally. These virtual teams promise the flexibility, responsiveness, lower costs, and improved resource utilization necessary to meet ever-changing task requirements in a dynamic global business environment. These teams rely primarily on virtual interaction only, with almost all communications handled through telecommunications, email, and other forms of digital communication. If you’re looking for an internet provider for your business, then see here for options.

We wound up getting strong participation from forward looking companies like Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, and Amdocs.  Out of our respondents, more than two thirds of them were active on three or more teams at the same time.  Most of them also are involved with multi-national teams of varying degrees of experience working together.

This research focused on which types of communications channels and technologies are most useful for virtual teaming.  Not surprisingly, people are most comfortable and experienced with email, but the survey found that conference calls were found particularly effective in important team value creation functions such as recognizing achievements and brainstorming.