The role of digital communication tools in maintaining organisational culture: A single case study of a virtual team at Albert Heijn RDC Limburg.
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2025-07-22
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en
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Abstract
With the rise of virtual teams, organisations face new challenges in maintaining their
organisational culture while using digital communication tools. This thesis investigates how
organisational culture is preserved in such a virtual team setting, using a single case study of
team leaders at Albert Heijn regional distribution centre Limburg. Drawing on the concepts of
organisational culture, Media Richness Theory and Task-Technology Fit, this research
investigates how digital communication tools impact team dynamics and cultural cohesion in
a team. The data was collected through eight semi-structured interviews with managers and
team leaders of the distribution centre, supported by relevant internal documents and on-site
observations. The findings show that while the organisational culture is perceived as informal,
open and collaborative, this informality also comes with passivity and inconsistent
communication practices. The digital tools are frequently selected based on individual
preference and habits, undermining the communication quality and weakening the team
cohesion. The results highlight the importance of aligning task complexity with the richness
of the communication medium. Targeted training in digital communication tool use could help
strengthen organisational culture in virtual teams. This study offers both theoretical insights
into organisational culture maintenance in virtual teams and practical implications for
improving digital communication tools use in logistics-based organisations.
Keywords: Virtual teams, Organisational culture, Digital communication tools, Media
Richness theory, Task-Technolgy Fit, Digital communication, and Culture transmission.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen