Team effectiveness in software development: the role of personality and work factors

Globalization and dynamic economic conditions have exponentially increased the use of virtual work in organizations. Efectiveness in sofware development teams, therefore, is now a relevant issue in business, psychology or other felds. Despite the uniqueness of sofware development teams and their work conditions, their efectiveness has not been sufciently researched to clearly determine how it relates to personality traits, work challenges and the virtualization level. To expand the understanding of the mechanisms that infuence team efectiveness in sofware development, an ecological framework is selected. Te purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between personality traits, work factors and team efectiveness within the context of sofware development teams. Methodology: Te exploratory study was conducted in international sofware development companies operating in Lithuania. Forty-fve sofware development teams (N = 142) flled in the Team task performance scale, Hexaco-PI-R questionnaire and rated perceived work challenges and team virtualization level. Te statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS. Tis survey is an initial stage of a larger project. Findings: Personality traits Conscientiousness and Extraversion relate to team efectiveness. In sofware development teams the most prevalent work challenges were time zone diferences, lack of information when working on a project, and lack of a clear purpose. Lack of information and poor foreign language skills negatively afect team efectiveness. A higher virtualization level is associated with more frequent work challenges (culture and foreign language challenges, time zone diferences) and team performancePsichologijos katedraSocialinių mokslų fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta