A Review of Related Literature on the Role of Trust in Global Virtual Teams

Part I. As a manager of a virtual team, what team characteristics would you be especially concerned about so that the team’s work would be exceptional?

| Employees in geographically dispersed locations can work together in virtual teams using video, e-mail, and the Internet.

Is anyone out there? A Guide to Virtual Team Working and Leadership’.Training Reference, viewed October 2011

These groups rely on technology to communicate with one another and to accomplish the tasks allocated by the organization. One benefit of a virtual team is that they use technology and this can help increase efficiency and productivity of the members. The virtual teams also assist in the development of intellectual capital. The composition of the virtual groups helps improve quality as well as the outcome. The other benefit is the efficiency of communication. Some of the challenges include the distance between the members. The significant distance may dilute leadership, weaken human relations as well as amplify dysfunction. Virtual teams are hard to manage especially when it comes to goal setting, task distribution, coordination and member motivation. Virtual organizations rely on trust that the other members will fulfill their roles since it is not possible to monitor them closely (Hoppe, 2011). The virtual teams may face some internet challenges such as slow internet or disconnection. This problem can be handled through the use of alternative methods of communication such as mobile phones. While making a virtual team, the team members should address all challenges which may hinder communication by coming up with all possible substitutes of means of communication. These organizations rely heavily on the internet for video conferencing and sending emails. However, when the internet fails, they

Virtual Team on the other hand is a group of people working across time, space, and organizational boundaries which communication links are strengthened by the internet. It should be noted that virtual teams can also mean individuals spread across different cultures and languages. (“Virtual Team - Origin, Definition and its Scope,” 2016). More so, this team of geographically dispersed professionals working together as a unit despite distance are committed to achieving a single objective, holding one another mutually accountable.

The essence of this article is noting the fact that virtual teams are only going to be effective when technology is involved. When virtual teams first started, there wasn’t much effective meeting technology available, but now there

Dearborn established that trust is clearly a valuable element for successful collaboration among work groups in businesses such as HCOs (Dearborn, 2014). In order to operate as a successful HCO, it is imperative for businesses to form trusting relationships between HCO members at each echelon. In order to accomplish this objective, Dearborn explained that leaders must initially establish trust at the organizational and individual levels (Dearborn, 2014). Next, it is essential to communicate effectively and with mutual respect (Dearborn, 2014). Lastly, Dearborn emphasized that leaders need to be genuine and honest to form associations which will allows members to feel appreciated, responsible, and accountable (Dearborn, 2014). The following narrative will compare and contrast the impact of trust on two HCO work groups. Each of the examples provided presents opportunities for HCOs to learn valuable lessons and offers guidance for continued growth into successful corporations with high levels of organizational trust.

The value of communication was viewed within the context of virtual teams, as participants reported feeling valued by fellow team members and believing that these virtually-oriented coworkers exhibited tangible aspects of care in their interactions with them. This appears to confirm analysis provided by Dunn, Grumman, Raisinghani, & Stalling (2015) that identifies communication as a crucial component within virtual teams. Based upon this internal and external evidence, the recommendation is ensuring that effective communication takes place at all phases of team operations and that team leaders ensure that each member has ample opportunity to express ideas and to be heard. Leaders should also innovate in terms of how they establish communication channels within a team context as this capability appears to have a direct bearing on team member

The experience gained from working in this virtual team has shown me the importance of collaboration. Instructions were given by Ronie after discussion. I often found that my ideas were implemented in part or in whole and we all had (limited by the distance, time differentials and the limited time available) input into both the construction and finalisation of the

Hertel, Guido, Susanne Geister, and Udo Konradt. 2005. “Managing virtual teams: A review of current empirical research.” Human Resource Management Review 15 (1): 69-95. doi: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2005.01.002.

Trust is paramount in any work situation, and definitely in this situation with a cross-functional team due to the diversity of the group and different philosophies. Trust is based on relationships within the group, and is difficult when so much of the time we work as antagonists(Ettorre, 1997). Leaders must be focused, engaged, and self aware to promote positivity and encourage strong relationships.

Globalisation has led to many changes in the international marketing and global advertising industry. Many international companies have projects spanning a variety of nationalities, involving great geographical distances and a range of time zones. In this scenario, companies are forced to make virtual teams - which are comprised of members who are located in more than one physical location (Peters and Manz, 2007). This virtual team trait has fostered extensive use of a variety of forms of computer-mediated communication that enable geographically dispersed members to coordinate their individual effort and inputs (Attaran, 2002). In addition, commitment to a virtual team goal may be further complicated by the single or coherent line of

This illustrates that effective leadership is required for the success of virtual teams. To maintain strong client connections and growth of the business into new markets, Delphine and DLA piper funded an important training program to develop methodological skills & expertise in lawyers to encourage virtual team cooperation. In order to keep powerful customer relationships in firms and increase income, virtual communication and providing training and education are vital factors when promoting virtual teams (Kuzuhara 2015). Leadership helps to make standards, solve problems and to build strong relationships in virtual teams to achieve company objectives in attaining revenue and employees’ s security. According to Fisher (2011), a virtual team 's success mainly relies on the efficiency of the leadership.

Rules are meant to be broken! This phrase is embraced by innovative technology to stimulate creativity and ‘out of the box’ type thinking. This mentality can also serve as an Achilles’ heel for any team that fails to establish ground rules prior to commencement of a project. Virtual teams without behavioral norms are divisive and less productive than their peers. This paper will discuss ten behavioral norms that are essential components to the performance of virtual teams, along with, an action plan.

Ebrahim, A., Shamsuddin, A. & Taha, Z. (2009). Virtual Teams: A Literature Review. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Science, 3(3), 2653-2669.