An article by Klonek et al. (2021), called “Did the COVID-19 lockdown make us better at working in virtual teams,” mainly focuses on the evaluation of the performance of virtual teams created during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the authors, the pandemic and lockdown influenced the performance of virtual teams through an increased level of adaptation. To prove the statement, the authors provide an analysis of data collected through a 30-minute task performed by 54 virtual teams. The results of the data analysis show that in the early stages of lockdown, the majority of the teams experienced difficulties in the organization of the remote job and showed poor results in team processes. On the contrary, the comparison of the results from the early stages of the pandemic in March-May with the results from June-August indicated that the teams successfully adapted to the virtual work and showed increased productivity results.
The article indicated that the authors’ initial idea was to measure how the global pandemic could potentially influence the teams. The authors specified that they were interested in how the team members would engage in the team processes to support the team’s performance. The authors’ initial idea evolved into the research that identified that in the latter stages of a pandemic, the members of teams learned to “exclusively” use tools and technology in communications with team members (Klonek et al., 2021, p. 4). The theory in the article is helpful for the workplace as it emphasizes the importance of effective communication in the team. According to the article, virtual teams’ adaptation to the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic happened through forced utilization of technology to establish effective communication. The authors emphasize that the communication purpose was the primary source of the increased productivity of virtual teams.
Reference
Klonek, F. E., Kanse, L., Wee, S., Runneboom, C., & Parker, S. K. (2021). Did the COVID-19 lock-down make us better at working in virtual teams? Small Group Research, 1-22.