Browsing by Author "Dafoulas, George"

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Citation Count: 4
A Comparison of Team Performance Measures for Global Software Development Student Teams
(Ieee Computer Soc, 2009) Serçe, Fatma Cemile; Serce, Fatma Cemile; Alpaslan, Ferda Nur; Brazile, Robert; Dafoulas, George; Lopez, Victor; Information Systems Engineering
One of the most difficult tasks for global software development researchers is quantifying the performance of groups and students who participate in these distributed projects [30]. There has been much debate about which factors better correlate with team performance and which best describe a successful team. The purpose of this paper is to compare the different approaches that have been used to evaluate the performance of global software learners and show how these techniques can affect research results. Using data from student groups engaged in global software development projects for the past year, the authors apply a number of different assessment methods and show their effects on different performance indicators. Our study suggests that the selection of appropriate measures to evaluate team performance can dramatically affect how one identifies successful teams.
Citation Count: 2
Exploring Collaboration Patterns Among Global Software Development Teams
(Ieee Computer Soc, 2009) Serce, Fatma Cemile; Serçe, Fatma Cemile; Alpaslan, Ferda-Nur; Swigger, Kathleen; Brazile, Robert; Dafoulas, George; Lopez, Victor; Schumacker, Randy; Information Systems Engineering
This study examines communication behaviors in global software student teams. The authors of the paper characterize the types of communication behaviors that occur when student teams are engaged in a software development project. The authors present findings from a one-semester study that examined factors contributing to successful distributed programming interactions among students enrolled at the University of Atilim (Turkey), Universidad Tecnologica de Panama, University of North Texas, and Middlesex University (UK). Using content and cluster analyses techniques, we identified distinct patterns of collaboration and examined how these patterns were associated with task, culture, GPA, and performance of collaborative teams. Our results suggest that communication patterns among global software learners may be related to task type, culture and GPA. It is hoped that these findings will lead to the development of new strategies for improving communication among global software teams.
Citation Count: 9
Exploring the Communication Behaviour Among Global Software Development Learners
(inderscience Enterprises Ltd, 2011) Serce, Fatma Cemile; Serçe, Fatma Cemile; Swigger, Kathleen M.; Alpaslan, Ferda Nur; Brazile, Robert; Dafoulas, George; Lopez-Cabrera, Victor; Information Systems Engineering
This study examines communication behaviours in global software learning teams. Using a coding scheme developed in previous research (Curtis and Lawson, 2001), the paper characterises communication behaviours of students engaged in a software development project. The paper reports the results of two pilot projects done with students in USA, England, Turkey and Panama. Through content analysis we identify distinct patterns of interactions and examine how these patterns are associated with task, culture, or performance. Our results suggest that communication patterns among global software learners may be related to task type, culture and levels of performance.
Citation Count: 6
Interaction Patterns Among Global Software Development Learning Teams
(Ieee, 2009) Serce, Fatma Cemile; Serçe, Fatma Cemile; Swigger, Kathleen; Alpaslan, Ferda Nur; Brazile, Robert; Dafoulas, George; Lopez, Victor; Serçe, Fatma Cemile; Serçe, Fatma Cemile; Information Systems Engineering; Information Systems Engineering
This paper describes a study of the impact of communication behaviors on the performance of global software teams. Using a content analysis technique developed by [10], the researchers first characterized the asynchronous communications among student teams in Panama, Turkey and the US as they worked to complete a global software development project. Cluster analysis was then used to identify groups with similar communication patterns, which is defined as the proportion of time spent on each of the behaviors. Results suggest that particular patterns of communication behaviors are associated with higher performance. More specifically, it appears that communications related to the "contributing" category seem to have the strongest relationship to high performance.
Citation Count: 63
Online Collaboration: Collaborative Behavior Patterns and Factors Affecting Globally Distributed Team Performance
(Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, 2011) Serce, Fatma Cemile; Serçe, Fatma Cemile; Swigger, Kathleen; Alpaslan, Ferda Nur; Brazile, Robert; Dafoulas, George; Lopez, Victor; Information Systems Engineering
Studying the collaborative behavior of online learning teams and how this behavior is related to communication mode and task type is a complex process. Research about small group learning suggests that a higher percentage of social interactions occur in synchronous rather than asynchronous mode, and that students spend more time in task-oriented interaction in asynchronous discussions than in synchronous mode. This study analyzed the collaborative interaction patterns of global software development learning teams composed of students from Turkey, US, and Panama. Data collected from students' chat histories and forum discussions from three global software development projects were collected and compared. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were used to determine the differences between a group's communication patterns in asynchronous versus synchronous communication mode. K-means clustering with the Ward method was used to investigate the patterns of behaviors in distributed teams. The results show that communication patterns are related to communication mode, the nature of the task, and the experience level of the leader. The paper also includes recommendations for building effective online collaborative teams and describes future research possibilities. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.