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Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context

Internationally, virtual project teams have surfaced as an essential organizational structure due to improved information and communication technology and changes in corporate values. Furthermore, virtual project teams are favoured for the flexibility they provide in terms of recruiting the best ava...

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Main Author: Lande, Kwanda
Other Authors: Tuan, Nien-Tsu
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Department of Construction Economics and Management 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Lande, Kwanda
author2 Tuan, Nien-Tsu
author_browse Lande, Kwanda
Tuan, Nien-Tsu
author_facet Tuan, Nien-Tsu
Lande, Kwanda
author_sort Lande, Kwanda
collection Thesis
description Internationally, virtual project teams have surfaced as an essential organizational structure due to improved information and communication technology and changes in corporate values. Furthermore, virtual project teams are favoured for the flexibility they provide in terms of recruiting the best available experts regardless of their location, improving productivity by reducing commuting time and operational costs for organizations. Despite this, virtual project teams are also associated with many challenges, linked to communication, collaboration and sharing of information, that negatively affect Virtual Project Team Performance (VPTP). Hence, identifying what enhances VPTP is of great importance. This research aimed to identify Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for enhancing VPTP in the South African local government context (focusing on the City of Cape Town), determine the interrelationship between the identified CSFs, and identify CSFs to prioritize when implementing and managing virtual project teams. The research participants for this study identified 20 CSFs using Interactive Management methodology techniques linked to CSF generation, and CSF clarification processes. Moreover, research participants generated an Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) that illustrates the CSFs that "significantly help to achieve” other CSFs. Using the transitive logic inferences embedded in the ISM program, this research has revealed that CSFs such as shared values among team members, regular team brainstorming sessions, reviewing lessons learned of previous projects, effective communication, technical skills competencies aligned to tasks, project progress and performance management, time management and boundaries, reliable technology and network system, and regular in-person engagements even when virtual working is the norm, are relatively important based on the number of other CSFs that they significantly help to achieve. The benefit of this study is twofold: firstly, it helps to extend prior research on CSFs for VPTP by contributing new information based on the views and experiences of virtual project team stakeholders in the South African local government context. Secondly, this research is essential for South African municipalities as it identifies CSFs in one municipality that other municipalities can use as a base to build from in identifying and implementing CSFs for VPTP in their organizations.
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language English
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41663 Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context Lande, Kwanda Tuan, Nien-Tsu South Africa's Local Government City of Cape Town Critical Success Factors Virtual Project Team Performance Interactive Management Internationally, virtual project teams have surfaced as an essential organizational structure due to improved information and communication technology and changes in corporate values. Furthermore, virtual project teams are favoured for the flexibility they provide in terms of recruiting the best available experts regardless of their location, improving productivity by reducing commuting time and operational costs for organizations. Despite this, virtual project teams are also associated with many challenges, linked to communication, collaboration and sharing of information, that negatively affect Virtual Project Team Performance (VPTP). Hence, identifying what enhances VPTP is of great importance. This research aimed to identify Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for enhancing VPTP in the South African local government context (focusing on the City of Cape Town), determine the interrelationship between the identified CSFs, and identify CSFs to prioritize when implementing and managing virtual project teams. The research participants for this study identified 20 CSFs using Interactive Management methodology techniques linked to CSF generation, and CSF clarification processes. Moreover, research participants generated an Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) that illustrates the CSFs that "significantly help to achieve” other CSFs. Using the transitive logic inferences embedded in the ISM program, this research has revealed that CSFs such as shared values among team members, regular team brainstorming sessions, reviewing lessons learned of previous projects, effective communication, technical skills competencies aligned to tasks, project progress and performance management, time management and boundaries, reliable technology and network system, and regular in-person engagements even when virtual working is the norm, are relatively important based on the number of other CSFs that they significantly help to achieve. The benefit of this study is twofold: firstly, it helps to extend prior research on CSFs for VPTP by contributing new information based on the views and experiences of virtual project team stakeholders in the South African local government context. Secondly, this research is essential for South African municipalities as it identifies CSFs in one municipality that other municipalities can use as a base to build from in identifying and implementing CSFs for VPTP in their organizations. 2025-09-01T10:55:25Z 2025-09-01T10:55:25Z 2025 2025-09-01T10:48:14Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41663 en eng application/pdf Department of Construction Economics and Management Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle South Africa's Local Government
City of Cape Town
Critical Success Factors
Virtual Project Team Performance
Interactive Management
Lande, Kwanda
Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context
title_full Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context
title_fullStr Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context
title_full_unstemmed Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context
title_short Identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in South Africa's local government context
title_sort identification of critical success factors for enhancing virtual project team performance in south africa s local government context
topic South Africa's Local Government
City of Cape Town
Critical Success Factors
Virtual Project Team Performance
Interactive Management
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41663
work_keys_str_mv AT landekwanda identificationofcriticalsuccessfactorsforenhancingvirtualprojectteamperformanceinsouthafricaslocalgovernmentcontext