Running head: VIRTUAL TEAM INTERACTIONS VIRTUAL TEAM INTERACTIONS: DO THEY HELP OR HINDER INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION?

A lack of trust, communication breakdowns, or badly integrated team members are a few of the reasons why a team can fail. To address whether leader and team member perceptions of communication within the team are similar, this study explores interpersonal communications among leadership and team members and considers whether today’s technology helps or hinders successful knowledge sharing and relationship building within virtual teams. Quantitative data collected from survey questionnaires shows that positive perceptions were found between relationship building, knowledge sharing and communication with leader and team members supporting the position that effective communication processes drive members to share, trust and commit to enhance their performance. i