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Virtual project teams are teams whose members use technology to varying degrees in working across locational, temporal, and relational boundaries to accomplish an interdependent task. Work in virtual project teams is a challenge for many organizations. Having studied the issue for several years, the authors propose in this paper to delve deeper into the question from the point of view of organizational support. More specifically, this paper seeks to focus on the organizational support systems and mechanisms provided by firms to their virtual project teams and their impacts on the components of these teams. The objective is to identify the structural factors and processes related to virtual teams that are affected by organizational support systems and mechanisms.

The paper reports exploratory empirical case studies of two Canadian‐based international high‐tech companies. In‐depth interviews were conducted with managers with experience in virtual project team management.

The same organizational support systems and mechanisms were found to exist in both companies. Functional processes were found to be the virtual team components that were most affected by the implementation of support systems and mechanisms. They are followed by communicational processes, which were substantially supported by various support systems and mechanisms in Company A but less supported in Company B. To a lesser extent, the relational processes of both firms were also affected, while structural factors affecting virtual project teams were almost entirely unsupported.

Virtual project teams require various kinds of commitments by corporate management. For example, we find that top management supports virtual project teams by means of human resources (HR), resource allocation, coordination, and communication support systems. These support systems facilitate project coordination and monitoring, information exchange and access, trust building and cohesion between team members. These findings enable practitioners to better understand the effects of organizational support on the components of virtual teams, so that greater attention is paid to the configuration of these components and support systems can be better designed to improve virtual project team performance.

Organizational support is considered to have a strong impact on project success. Few publications have examined organizational support for virtual project teams, and even fewer have focused on its effects on such teams. This paper should contribute to fostering a better understanding of the effects of organizational support on the components of virtual project teams.

The paper aims to investigate the forms of power, politics and leadership exercised by project leaders within asynchronous virtual project environments (VPEs). The purpose of this paper is to link effective project leadership to particular forms of power and politics within a VPE.

The empirical data are based on a quantitative telecommunications sector case study, complemented with some interviews, following a semi‐structured approach. The research was approached based from a positivistic philosophical paradigm and using a survey research strategy. The questionnaire‐based survey consisted of a sample of 28 respondents split between project managers (39.3 percent) and team members (60.7 percent).

The research results indicated a significant finding which linked leadership effectiveness to asynchronous VPE usage and communication. Factor analysis of the type of leadership exercised within an asynchronous VPE revealed two forms of effective leadership. The first one, named, Structured Charismatic Exchange, is underpinned by three forms of leadership styles: charismatic, virtual and transactional leadership. The second insight from the factor analysis also revealed significant loadings for two forms of leadership: Participative and Shared leadership. The common strand in both is the need to elevate the ethos of teams, which effectively implies that control in VPE ought to be decentralized responsibly to enhance sharing. This is possibly relevant in a bid to minimize conflicts and thus develop a project organization that encourages teamwork. Therefore, this factor was named Decentralized Team Leadership. Unlike the first factor, where the focus is on how the project leader projects his/her personality to influence people, the realization is that for a project organization to succeed, project goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiating, and jockeying for position among members of different coalitions.

Reported limitations are based on the sample size, effect of sectoral culture on the findings and constrained view of the virtuality construct. Future research should investigate other sectors with a large sample and expand the dimensions of the virtuality as a construct.

The paper concludes that project leaders should re‐orient leadership practices to fit virtual project environments, taking into account the need for a more decentralized form of leadership and systematic trust building.

The recognition of the uniqueness of particular forms of power and politics relevant for the exercise of effective leadership in asynchronous virtual environments is emphasized in this research paper.

This paper aims to investigate how virtual communities of practice (V‐CoP) develop in large‐scale virtual projects.

A case study of a large‐scale ES implementation was conducted in Italy and in the USA.

It was found that management can encourage the formation of V‐CoP if, along with the creation of virtual project teams they promote informal interaction between the team members, encourage commitment, and put together “the right mix of people”.

Understanding how the technical and the functional communities communicated is meaningful to understand the extent to which different CoP can, virtually, overcome context‐specific barriers.

I was responsible for delivering a Radio Systems Development program. The program totalling over A$20 million was undertaken in the country NSW, Australia, over a three‐year time period, using the existing human resources of the NSW Police in a virtual team environment.

At the beginning of the program, a framework was provided for managing the program. The structure used in the program was a relatively unstructured one: informal communications was supported and project implementation was reliant on trust, cooperation and teamwork. Well‐proven project management and team management concepts were applied, some worked, but some didn’t.

The program was reviewed following its completion. Ideas from various stakeholders were sought and analysed in terms of: what went right and why, what went wrong and why, what could be done better, and any issues which may help on another project.

The program was reviewed following its completion. Ideas from various stakeholders were sought and analysed in terms of: what went right and why, what went wrong and why, what could be done better, and any issues which may help on another project.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the social media (SM) tools that are the most prevalent for project management activities, ascertain the areas of project management that are most benefited by SM, elucidate enablers and inhibitors to adoption of SM and identify the implications for virtual teams.

A Delphi study was used to explore why and how SM is being utilized in projects. In total, 32 participants contributed to three rounds of Delphi study, comprising two rounds of questionnaire followed by confirmatory interviews. The vulnerabilities and difficulties associated with the use of SM were examined by qualitative interviews.

Information sharing SM tools, such as YouTube, Dropbox, SlideShare, flickr, CrowdStorm and Instagram, are the most advantageous to project management. However, the tools utilized differ at different stages of the project lifecycle. The major benefit of SM is that it enables project teams to communicate efficiently and positively affects virtual team dynamics. Adoption can be inhibited by the absence of infrastructure in rural areas and differing preferences for SM tools in global regions. There is also a perceived lack of maturity of policies and procedures to govern SM adoption and use.

The research was conducted based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge version 5 project management processes.

The findings will enable practitioners to select SM tools that are suitable for project activities and forewarn about potential shortfalls. The findings also facilitate a qualitative analysis of SM attributes and their effect on project management.

Project practitioners can use the findings to adopt SM for their project management.

This study extends the literature concerning the use of SM for project management, provides a foundation for future research and may present as a useful guide for the adoption of relevant SM tools.

This research explores project manager (PM) behavior in their professional virtual communities (PVCs), using social identity theory as a theoretical foundation. The purpose is to examine the extent to which PMs seek information on key topics in the Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide (PMBoK).

A text data analytics methodology that uses quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques is followed. The research method reveals relationships in language-based data gathered from six project management forums and blogs.

Information related to all the PMBoK topics is sought in the project management virtual communities. People management topics account for a dominant portion of interactions. The findings enhance social identification theorizing for the PM role. From a practical standpoint, the findings shed light on focal areas for greater emphasis in PM PVCs.

Our people management finding constructively replicates existing findings via a large, global sample and strengthens calls for increased focus on people management matters in project management. As a result, we call for increased scholarly attention to people management in project management. Finally, we encourage pursuit of several research questions to enhance knowledge of PM information-seeking behavior.

This paper aims to extend the extant knowledge on virtual teams by examining the challenges of virtual project teams in organisations in Nigeria.

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Totally, 20 interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed. Validity and reliability were achieved by first assessing the plausibility in terms of already existing knowledge on some of the virtual project team issues identified by participants.

The findings from this study confirmed the growing relevance of virtual project teams in highly competitive global business environments. It emerged that some of the challenges identified in the study had some level of congruence with those previously identified from similar studies from other geographical locations. The findings also suggested that challenges in virtual project teams can be linked to the organisation, the project team and the virtual environment or even a combination of all.

The present study corroborates the position that managing virtual project teams requires additional efforts to attain their objectives through effective communications and the adoption of appropriate technology.

The originality of this study lies in its exploration of virtual project team challenges in a sub-Saharan Africa country (Nigeria). By identifying the challenges associated with virtual project teams, stakeholders will be better able to successfully establish and manage virtual project teams better.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, project management was undergoing gradual shift and moving from traditional ways of working toward embracing digitization. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this transformation. This paper highlights the importance of digital project management (DPM), its adoption of digital technologies, the changing role of digital project manager, significant and abrupt swing in the rise of virtual teams and the benefits and challenges of remote project teams. This paper aims to discuss the latest development in project management and to lay out the rationale why DPM is here to stay even after the pandemic.

The author has based this research on reviewing publications from the project management journals and publications, interviews of project management professionals and analyzing data from a project management consultancy.

The pandemic accelerated the digitalization of project management including the adoption of digital tools and technologies, embracing an agile approach to implementing projects; working collaborative in remote teams; and breaking traditional barriers of geography, time zones and fundamentally how project teams collaborate.

Project management is being digitized, changing how teams work. Fueled by the pandemic, DPM accelerated its momentum. The rate of adoption is likely to be strong after the pandemic. Organizations and individuals should consider embracing DPM but with the full knowledge of both benefits and challenges.

DPM is still in its early days even though the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated its use. Today and likely after the pandemic, organizations and people are increasingly embracing digital technologies, remote teams and agile project management approaches to project management. It is likely that in the foreseeable future, nearly all project managers will be digital project managers, giving rise to the importance of understanding the challenges and benefits and building the digital skills for both individuals and organizations.

This paper aims to examine the use of the increasingly important virtual concept to deliver value in projects, focusing on the manifest, critical issues which can enhance value delivery in virtual construction projects.

The study uses both quantitative and qualitative triangulated methods to examine the concepts in the study. Triangulated data analysis is also used to give insight.

The study disentangles 16 manifest, independent variables as being crucial in enhancing value delivery in virtual construction projects. Also the research gives a fresh view, by differentiating between influential and necessary crucial variables in virtual construction project value delivery.

The study demonstrates the use of triangulation in critical variables research. It also gives integrated insight on rigorous, triangulated, data analysis to enhance understanding in the critical variables research domain.

The research gives insight to managers on the issues which need attention in the design and implementation of virtual construction projects to deliver value.

The research adds value to the literature on the virtual construction project delivery concept, where little knowledge exists. Based on empirical evidence, the study also gives a fresh insightful lens, for the examination of critical variables from the perspective of influential and necessary items.

The purpose of this article is to provide guidelines to help leaders understand and lead virtual teams.

This paper discusses the importance and implementation of effective leadership for virtual teams. It begins with a review of conventional versus virtual teams, and then describes the two primary leadership functions in virtual teams – performance management and team development. Following the discussion of the development and function of new teams, the article then provides a detailed guide for the leadership of virtual teams over the life of a project. These guidelines follow the four stages of a project timeline: Pre‐Project, Project Initiation, Midstream, and Wrap‐Up.

Following guidelines and understanding the differences between conventional and virtual leadership will enable managers to become effective virtual team leaders.

The paper shows how, in the context of increasing globalization and technology, leaders can manage the challenges of leading virtual teams.