Microsoft Teams and team performance in the COVID-19 pandemic within an NHS Trust Community Service in North-West England

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate the impact the introduction of Microsoft Teams has had on team performance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic within a National Health Service (NHS) Community Service.

Design/methodology/approach

Microsoft Teams was rolled out across the NHS over a period of four days, partly in response to the need for social distancing. This case study reviews how becoming a virtual team affected team performance, the role Microsoft Teams had played in supporting staff to work in higher virtuality, understand what elements underpin a successful virtual team and how these results correlate to the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1985).

Findings

The findings indicate that Teams made a positive impact to the team at a time of heightened clinical pressures and working in unfamiliar environments without the supportive benefits of face-to-face contact with colleagues in terms of incidental knowledge sharing and health and well-being.

Originality/value

Further developments were needed to make virtual meetings more accessible for introverted colleagues, support asynchronous communication, address training needs and support leaders to adapt and operate in higher virtuality.

Citation

Hargreaves, C., Clarke, A.P. and Lester, K.R. (2022), "Microsoft Teams and team performance in the COVID-19 pandemic within an NHS Trust Community Service in North-West England", Team Performance Management, Vol. 28 No. 1/2, pp. 79-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/TPM-11-2021-0082