The objective of the study is to understand the various factors of virtuality and its impact on virtual team performance in software institution. A software company has been selected for studying the virtual team performance. The responses have been collected from one set of virtual institution with the help of a questionnaire and the data is analyzed using multiple linear regression. Team Performance was taken as a dependent variable and the three factors of virtuality as independent variables. The results showed that team distribution has a positive impact on team performance. Workplace mobility and variety of practices (the third factor to measure virtuality and the major objective of the study) is found to have the most significant negative impact on team performance. Qualitative study was done to enhance the process further by understanding the various practices used in the company. Around 15 employees were interviewed. Various tools were used in the software institution like video conferencing, calendaring, e-mails, wireless polling systems and internet-based collaborative technologies to collaborate with people. Overall, the results showed that certain factors of virtuality have got variable influence on virtual team performance. This warrants an in-depth study in future. The study is imperative in the present context.

With the rising globalization there is an emergence of virtual structures in many organizations. If globalization as a business pull is one reason for accretion of virtuality, the other cardinal reason is the technology drive. Work is essentially becoming a thing one does and not on the place one goes. Modernized technology has replaced the offices (Davenport and Pearlson, 1998). Changing workforce, changing family norms, rapid advancement in technology and the upcoming of knowledge worker, have led to many changes in work structure. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have replaced face-to-face contacts to a wide extent. Business use of virtual team is in existence since a decade (The Virtual Teaming Association, 2003). Virtual organizations allow the dispersed talent and diversified knowledge to be brought together and contribute to the attainment of organizational goals. Along with the positive outcomes like no geographical barriers, introduction to innovation, virtuality also presents certain discontinuities across time, space, organizational boundaries, culture and media (Watson-Manheim, et al., 2002). Discontinuity interrupts established communication and flow of information. Virtual teams face various challenges like communication, team participation and work coordination and trust building. With no geographical barriers virtual teams not only work at one place, but act globally. Global virtual teams face more complex problems as team members reside in different countries with diverse cultural backgrounds.

Virtuality has become the buzzword. Organizations have geographically diversified to a large extent after globalization. In many corporations today, it is common to have teams with members in different geographical locations. Work has highly passed into the hands of knowledge workers whose tasks have become computer mediated, i.e., technology-oriented. Increasing virtuality helps in eliminating the need for teams to be collocated. Employees may work with multiple teams at different geographical locations. Some teams communicate face-to-face for a short while and then use information technology (virtually) for future team work. It is not necessary to meet face-to-face if all the criteria of face-to-face meeting are fulfilled by virtual teams. Virtual teamwork is a current topic in the literature on global organizations; it has been difficult to define what `virtual' means across multiple institutional contexts. Working virtually means working from satellite offices on the road or any other place outside the physical office (Davenport and Pearlson, 1998).

Management Research Journal, Virtual Team Performance, Multiple Linear Regression, Software Company, Globalization, Organizational Boundaries, Organizational Goals, Global Virtual Teams, Global Organizations, Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs, Web Technologies, Technological Applications.