Contrasting traditional and virtual teams within the context of COVID-19 pandemic : from team culture towards objectives achievement

Abstract

The current paper aimed to comparatively scrutinize some key dimensions apposite for the dynamics of traditional versus virtual teams in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emphasis was laid on the positive leadership perception, communication effectiveness among team members, objectives achievement, diversity approach, and the perception of team culture strength. Invitations to fill in an online questionnaire consisting of paired items were sent in January 2022 via email to over 200 potential respondents working in both traditional and virtual teams, using a snowball sampling technique; 137 subjects completed the entire questionnaire, hence allowing a reasonable research sample for conducting relevant statistical analyses (i.e., paired t-test given that the aim was to investigate the difference between paired sets of variables for the same issues). The empirical exploration brought to the fore significant differences among the considered dimensions, thus underscoring the benefits and drawbacks of working in traditional versus virtual teams in the context of the new normal. Evidence was brought forward that teamwork in traditional teams (i.e., based on face-to-face interaction) is preferable to that in virtual teams (i.e., based on online interaction). Meaningful differences were observed regarding the perception of team culture strength, communication effectiveness, positive leadership perception, and diversity approach in favor of traditional teams, the questioned respondents opting for the offline coordination and collaboration processes.