Team structure and team performance in IS development: a social network perspective

Teamwork during IS development (ISD) is an important issue. This paper discusses the relationship between team structure and ISD team performance using a social network approach. Based on empirical evidence collected from 25 teams in a system analysis and design course, we found that: (1) Group cohesion was positively related to overall performance. <LF>(2) Group conflict indexes were not significantly correlated with overall performance. <LF>(3) Group characteristics, e.g., cohesion and conflict, fluctuated in different phases, but in later stages, much less cohesion occurred and the advice network seemed to be very important. <LF>(4) Group structures seemed to be a critical factor for good performance. Further in-depth studies were conducted on teams exhibiting the highest and lowest performance to determine their differences from a sociogram analysis perspective. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.