Enabling Software Development Team Performance During Requirements Definition: A Behavioral Versus Technical Approach

Patricia J. Guinan, Jay G. Cooprider and Samer Faraj
Additional contact information
Patricia J. Guinan: Babson College, Babson Park, Massachusetts 02157
Jay G. Cooprider: 175 Forest Street, Morrison Building, Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts 02154
Samer Faraj: Van Munching Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-1851

Information Systems Research, 1998, vol. 9, issue 2, 101-125

Abstract: As software development projects continue to be over budget and behind schedule, researchers continue to look for ways to improve the likelihood of project success. In this research we juxtapose two different views of what influences software development team performance during the requirements development phase. In an examination of 66 teams from 15 companies we found that team skill, managerial involvement, and little variance in team experience enable more effective team processes than do software development tools and methods. Further, we found that development teams exhibit both positive and negative boundary-spanning behaviors. Team members promote and champion their projects to the outside environment, which is considered valuable by project stakeholders. They also, however, guard themselves from their environments; keeping important information a secret from stakeholders negatively predicts performance.

Keywords: Information Systems Development; Team Processes; Case Tools; Software Development; Managerial Effectiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orisre:v:9:y:1998:i:2:p:101-125

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