Abstract
The continuous technological development and the consistent reliance on ICT, has raised the expectations towards ubiquitous connectivity to an extent that technical failures or social disconnects are a serious threat for project teams and their performance, especially when team members are scattered around the world. We analyse hypo-connectivity, the state in which users face too few connectivity to work efficiently, and focus on its impact in project teams. By applying a mixed method approach in the context of an international consulting company, we investigate the two-sided phenomenon of hypo-connectivity and aim to identify the consequences of hypo-connectivity on communication effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the role of connectivity norms in this relationship. Our results show that hypo-connectivity has a negative influence on communication effectiveness and efficiency, which consequently leads to decreased performance, increased frustration, and conflicts. However, the establishment of connectivity norms in project teams can ease the effects of hypo-connectivity, sustain the communication flow and balance the negative impact. We conclude that people actually “need to talk” about the dos and don’ts that sustain their communication flow and develop connectivity norms that could help the team circumvent the negative effects of hypo-connectivity.
First Page
642
Last Page
657
Recommended Citation
Sarigianni, Christina; Waizenegger, Lena; Geiger, Manfred; and Remus, Ulrich, (2017). "“WE NEED TO TALK!” - PROJECT TEAMS DEALING WITH LOW CONNECTIVITY". In Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Guimarães, Portugal, June 5-10, 2017 (pp. 642-657). ISBN 978-989-20-7655-3 Research Papers.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2017_rp/42