Creating A Virtual Office Environment Essay

Due to the change many organizations realize the need for offices in various geographical locations. Therefore, the concern is how to ensure that employees located off-site are constantly connected to their counterparts. Virtual teams were developed to answer the call to ensure the ability to stay tied to the main office of any organization. As one can see a learning organization at times it may encounter difficulty in ensuring that virtual teams are learning according to the guidelines as set forth by the learning organization (Boone, 2015). A simple way to fix these issues are to ensure that communication is consistent, through the use of technology and employees are given the chance to build relationships with their virtual team members, team empowerment is necessary for virtual teams to be involved in the decision making process. Because of the diverse backgrounds of the virtual teams conflicts will arise and a leader must determine ways of handling these conflicts. Also, barriers involve the geographical, time, cultural/language, communication can be handled at each individual level and proper enhancements as needed will aid in ensuring that the team remains viable and productive. For example, cultural differences can be handled by ensuring that employees are trained to comprehend what is or not acceptable to each

Telecommuting has been shown to reduce absenteeism, improve retention, and reduce recruitment costs for the organization (Family, pg. 730). Increased employee moral is also a benefit associated with telecommuting (Professional Isolation, pg. 512). Offering this new benefit that is such a satisfier for employees will likely result in reduced turnover within the organization and higher productivity. A study found pubic employees who were satisfied with their telework/telecommuting benefits were less likely to leave their positions (Family pg. 732). With the reduction of office time, an increase in employee productivity is likely due to fewer interruptions from fellow employees (Lessons pg. 10). With telecommuting having benefits to both the employer and employee, this new policy should bring positive results to the

In the 1990s Telecommuting became popular. (“Wikipedia”, n.d., para.1) It allowed a way for employers to have workers that still accomplished the day to day task necessary to run a business and also allowed employee’s to work without traveling into a dedicate office building or store. In today’s society, I have noticed that there are more job posting for software developers in the United States that offer working remotely versus working at an office building. The purpose of the dissertation is to find out the habits and work ethics of successful remote workers so that a hiring manager could target those traits while interviewing potential candidates for telecommuting work.

A revolution is spreading through the world of work because of changes in information, technology and communication. Information and technology has lessened the gaps between individuals and it is no longer necessary for people to be in close geographic location to enhance working capabilities. Telework means working at a distance and technology makes this possible. Teleworkers are defined as employees or contractors who work at least one day per month; they are also referred to as telecommuters. Research shows that teleworkers work nine days per month at home with three hours per week during normal business hours. Teleworkers seek to blend work responsibilities and personal benefits to enable them handle their work better and life responsibilities.

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

In today’s modern company virtual teams are interacting in different ways tan with traditional physical teams. Bock lists three ways virtual teams are getting their assigned activities accomplished, and what the company must provide for them to be successful.

Aggregate results for the questions indicated generally positive attitudes on the part of the participants regarding their role in virtual teams and related activities. However, individual responses indicated some variation. Questions four and five pertained to employee understandings of their role in the organization and whether information relating to their tasks were clear. Responses for question four indicated that approximately 28 of the participants agreed with the statement that organizational duties were clear in virtual teams. Another 26 strongly agreed with the statement while only 1 and 2 of participants, respectively, responded that they strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statements. Similarly, 30 of respondents indicated that they agreed that information was clearly stated and explanatory for their employees` relevant tasks. 17 strongly agreed with the statement while 3 and 9 disagreed and strongly disagreed. Question 6 asked participants if

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.

Self-managed virtual teams rely on technologically-based networking, connecting team members who may not be in close proximity. Self-managed virtual teams can also be cost-effective, as remote communication is less expensive than travel. Because of the increasing utilization of virtual teams, especially within the healthcare industry, and the relative newness as a method of organizational structure, this research aims to explore how leadership styles impact the virtual structure. Virtual teams often differ from face-to-face interactions; as such, there are unique challenges to be addressed, as team members may not establish factors such as trust that they would in a face to face setting (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014). There may also be less collaboration on specific tasks. To resolve these issues, the specific research question to be asked is: What leadership style would produce the best outcomes in an organization that utilizes virtual teams, specifically within the health insurance

As a virtual team we are facing additional difficulties. According to Dyer, Dyer & Dyer special difficulties presented by virtual teams

Telecommuting will continue to grow as a benefit to the modern day workforce. Recently there has been much discussion and research on whether telecommuting is benefiting companies or whether it is actually lowering worker’s production. Marissa Mayers, upon taking the helm of Yahoo at a time of the company’s perceived decline, banned her workers from telecommuting. This caused quite a stir in the global workplace. Would this set workers back; especially working moms? According to Gallagher (2013), “Despite moves by Yahoo! Inc., and Best Buy to end policies that allowed employees to work from home, eight in 10 employers say they will maintain some form of telecommuting” (para. 1). Although Mayers’ announcement was considered controversial, research based on current day telecommuting indicates that telecommuting is a benefit that is here to stay.

Implementation of the virtual teams have implications at different aspects as well as levels of the organization. Here, I will discuss the implication in detail.

The aforementioned citation establishes a brief perspicacious perception into the fundamental intention of this module one case assignment. Needless to say, this case assignment will embellish upon both the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting from a human resource (HR) professional angle. In addition to, deliberating upon the added usefulness of telecommuting when recruiting new talent. Likewise, this paper will determine the influence that the telecommuting will have on the overall image of an organization. Lastly, this paper will present some examples of training concerning efficient telecommuting. With that being said, let’s launch this case assignment by exploring the pros and cons of telecommuting.

When managing teams, make sure there are no blocked lines of communications and you and your people are kept fully informed. Do not miss opportunities to empower your employees. Say “Thank you” and show appreciation of an individual team player’s work. Do not limit yourself to negative feedback. Whenever there is an opportunity, give positive feedback as well. Finally, teamwork and team building can offer many challenges; the payoff from a high performance team is well worth it. Virtual teams are a great way to enable teamwork in situations where people are not sitting in the same physical office at the same time. Companies to cut travel, relocation, real estate, and other business costs use such teams more and more (Gould, 2006). This is particularly for businesses that use virtual organizations to build global presence, outsource their operations, or need less common expertise or skills from people who are reluctant to travel or relocate from their home locations. Goals are extremely important within a virtual team. Having exact, precise, and mutually agreed-on goals will benefit a virtual team in succeeding as a whole (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). Managers of virtual teams also need to pay much more attention to maintaining clear goals, performance standards, and communication rules. People have varying assumptions on what to expect from each other. To avoid build-ups of misunderstandings, in a virtual organization it is critical

The world is becoming smaller and smaller and the advancement in technology has enabled a diversity of communication and collaboration tools that were unaffordable for most companies to implement. Most of these companies have employed the use of virtual groups to deal with their business endeavors because of many reasons. Some of them include the urgency to address their customer problems, developing products and delivery services. With the ability to create virtual teams, these teams are operating without limitations of distance, time and global boundaries. These