Virtual Team Advantages And Disadvantages

Teams are an integral component of organizational success. They take on many forms and functions and can have various structures. Teams also conduct a wide variety of projects with goals of innovation or mitigation. An example, from my experience, of a project that required the execution from a team was the establishment of a finished goods inventory program within a paper manufacturing company. A project of this magnitude required that a diverse and multifaceted team be assembled.

Part of being a manager for a company is managing teams. These teams can be created for many different reasons and can have various goals put upon them. Companies want managers that are capable of constructing teams that can effectively meet goals and set standards. The four types of work teams most commonly found in organizations are: problem-solving, self-managed, cross-functional, and virtual. In completing the simulation for this course, I will use cross-functional work teams as a foundation for my investigation of effective team management.

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

1. Meetings-Virtual meetings will be the primary way to handle specific, narrowly focused issues quickly on these types of teams; however, virtual teams that are working on long-term projects will benefit from occasional physical meetings-especially in the early stages of their work (Bock, 2003)

Many organizations today believe that the use of work teams will allow them to produce better products and provide better services, faster, and at lower costs. Using a work team approach can reinvigorate productivity and service provider motivation, and better position an organization to deal with a rapidly changing environment. However establishing effective work teams is not something that comes easy. Though, the benefits of effective work teams within an organization are very substantial, it takes alot of hard work and dedication on the part of management and team members to develop, implement and maintain effective work teams.

As a 69-year-old company, Lowe’s has a well-established organizational culture that long pre-dates the concept of virtual teams. As such, the company still has embedded in its culture certain concepts that impede its ability to be truly effective in the virtual team collaboration space. One such concept is the idea that decisions are made in meetings and not by individuals or through ad-hoc consensus. This notion generates obstacles to fast and effective decision-making, since it requires the coming together of global workers in a single meeting. That by itself creates logistical challenges due to time differences. Lowe’s can benefit from encouraging and supporting decision-making practices that utilize the knowledge and experience of

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

When you are responsible for being the leader of a virtual team, you will inevitably face some problems. It might take a person a little time to grasp working in virtual teams. It takes a lot of communication, compassion and teamwork to be successful. However, there will also be problems that could arise. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand the visible and invisible signs given by each team member and make adjustments accordingly. I will discuss in this paper five of the most common lessons that we should learn in order to be effective while working in team settings.

Transcat’s weaknesses are human resources, leadership, and training and development. First, Transcat’s human resource department should develop some incentives and rewards that encourage team leaders and team members to collaborate and help make virtual teams successful. Second, Transcat’s top management should have a meeting to talk about the importance of virtual teams (how they have a direct impact on competitive advantage and success of the company), whether there is buy in from the leaders regarding how important virtual teams are and what they need to do to support this concept, and how they should be modeling the behavior they need to encourage their followers to demonstrate. Lastly, Transcat should develop and provide formal training in regards to mastering virtual teams and ensure team members have access to continued online training and technical support. This will allow team leaders and team members to improve their team skills and experience or refresh their knowledge, which will make them more effective team

such teams cross organizational boundaries as team members are not necessarily to be from the same organization. Also membership frequently is diffuse and fluid, with team members rotating on and off the team as their expertise is needed. Team members may not even be aware of all the individuals, work teams, or organizations in the network. Depending on the complexity of the issue, additional members to the team may be added at any time. The duration these teams last may vary significantly depending on how fast or slow the issue is resolved. Such type of virtual teams often is found in consulting firms and in high-technology

Teams are by definition a group of people all working towards a common goal. Increasingly teams are both in-person and virtual, as evidenced by the use of cloud computing-based technologies to unify diverse workgroups and teams across broad geographic distances (Braun, Michel, Martz, 2012). The foundation of any effective technology support team is the ability to stay focused on a common goal, charter or mission, which is the purpose for working together (Kezsbom, 1993). The highest performing teams have a shared sense of interdependency and also a recognition that unity is necessary for the success of the

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

Abstract: The main purpose of creating the team is to get an actual and explanatory outcome of the selected topic. Team formation is very important as it can positively affect the team work while creating opportunities for each member to participate and share their viewpoints as well as gathering the feedback and ideas from others. Collecting information, analysis and interpretation of the topic will be more relevant and more useful for a team to rely on. This will not only help the members to have the freedom to work on their respective tasks according to their own, but also help to motivate them to work more effectively and efficiently. The experience of working in a team can provide valuable insights of the real-life business, whereas individual projects come very rarely which makes an individual to work in cross-functional teams. All the members of a group are different from each other, so it will be a good learning experience to gain from each other.

Hampton, J. (2011). Managing a virtual work force. Area Development Site and Facility Planning, 46(3), 22-23. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/881048489?accountid=12085

Case 14.1-“Can This Virtual Team Work?” addresses the concerns of a newly formed virtual information technology team that is led by Jim Towne. The team is made up of competent members who reside and work in Canada, the United States, Europe, South America, Africa, and Australia. Their task is to create and implement technology innovations for all global business units. To accomplish this task, the team collaborates via phone, videoconference, email, text, group decision-support software and has even met twice in a face-to-face setting to plan and set goals. Although the team seems to be enthused about the task as well as working together, the team is having difficulty finishing projects as a unit because they are all working on multiple projects individually and/or corporately. Another problem is that most team members travel to business sites at least two weeks each month which takes away time to work on projects. There is a part-time secretary responsible for organizing travel and meetings, but despite her efforts, the team feels overloaded because with each trip they fall farther behind on their tasks. So Jim is now under pressure to prove that this team can add value to the organization despite the challenges presented.