Virtual Teams And Non Verbal Communication

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?

In order to function properly as a group, the first thing that needs to be addressed is a strong sense of trust between all members. Often times when creating a team, the creation of the team is the first time many members meet each other. This brief introduction is not a sufficient basis for the members to begin working on tasks with one another. In order to instill trust in eachother, it's crucial the team members spend time together outside the realm of working on the project

Virtual teams and teams in general are characterized by the fact that each member of the team is dependent upon one or more other members in order to accomplish the overall goal… The single most critical component that makes teamwork possible is effective communication. (p. xvii - xviii)

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

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

Organization Structure: Organization structure need to changed to support virtual teams. Traditionally organization follows the functional structure with different departments functioning under the department head. Organization may need to change it from functional to matrix structure where each team will have the person form different departments to support those functions. Individual team members can have dual reporting to functional or project

Teams have always contributed significantly towards the successful operation of any organization. Traditionally, team members had to endure the challenges of time, distance, and even cultural differences in order to successfully complete a team activity. However, recent advancements in technology have led to the birth of virtual teams. The paper aims to explore the effectiveness and differences ofvirtual teamsas compared to face-to-face teams. The evaluation will be on the basis of dimensions such as performance, cohesion, conflict, trust and satisfaction among others.

The research seeks to provide understanding and contribute to the existing literature by exploring the impact of virtual teams within a health insurance organization. Virtual teams differ from traditional hierarchal structures in that virtual teams often operate with increased autonomy and less supervision. New technologies in communication, such as advancements in information sharing and communication via digital platforms, have allowed for increased utilization of virtual teams (Gilson, Maynard, Young, Vartiainen, & Hakonen, 2015). However, this has also created a need to reexamine how traditional leadership styles should be evaluated in regard to virtual teams. The following research aims to explore how leadership styles impact a virtual team structure, with the goal of making a recommendation on what

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

Managing remote employees is a growing challenge for many of today’s leaders. It is not just about managing employees at satellite offices; it is also managing telecommuters who work a certain number of days from their home offices. A manager needs to understand the complexities of managing a virtual team and communicating across the boundaries of time zones, organizations and cultures. Good communication practices as well as building personal relationships are both key to working with remote employees. As Pauleen (2003) states, “Effective communications is a key to successful virtual teams, and one of the keys to effective communications is how well team members are able to build and maintain their personal relationships.” (p. 229). Video conferencing works well and provides a company’s employees with a visual link that serves to backfill for the lack of face-to-face communications that employees would have if they were collocated.

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

The purpose of this plan for managing the international team is to increase the probability that the relationships of team members are viable, that team members feel recognized and valued, and that the productivity of the teams is optimized. In addition, this management plan is designed to ensure that travel expenses and travel time is reduced to the minimum necessary for effective productivity. Further, the philosophy of the company has always been that a diverse team permits a deeper range of professional experience and knowledge than a homogeneous team. A typical hierarchical arrangement will not meet the needs of the virtual teams, and a primary goal of mine is to ensure that the management structure is as facile as necessary to ensure fluid functioning. For this reason, team leaders in each country will be expected to study and learn about the various cultures in which they conduct business, both with their internal teams and with contractors.

McLean (2014), suggest that there is no true effective approach to virtual team structures (McLean, 2014), therefore, it is vital that team leaders realize that paramount to the success of the

Corporate America has changed drastically in the last 50 years. So long are the days of Mad Men, where female secretaries wait on their male counterparts hand and foot. Management does not serve the way it used to in the 1950’s. It is nearly impossible to get everyone physically into a room for a meeting when people can easily join in on the conversation from the comfort of their own home. No longer do colleagues meet at the water cooler or leave the office behind for happy hour. Computer-mediated communication systems, or internet-based technologies like Skype and Google Chats, have been the forefront of the transition into telecommunicating and virtual team building. The use of these technologies increase the range, capacity, and speed of managerial communications, as well as make the job plain and easy for teams to collaborate (Warkentin 976). Management must use new strategies to supervise and support their employees in the new digital age. Strategic planning and proper management techniques are the only way that remotely located employees can properly contribute to team building the same way as they would if they showed up to the same office building each day. Telecommunicating to work is the latest trend in corporate America. In this century, it is more common for a manager to oversee a virtual workplace, rather than walk from desk to desk, monitoring what each employee is currently working on. Technology has made this possible, but raises some concerns.

The number of organizations using teamwork is increasing. In the last decades, information and communication technologies have allowed organizations to form virtual teams. Consequently, a considerable amount of research has analyzed the functioning of virtual teams. Working with Team members in different time zones included concerns about inefficiency, establishing mutually agreeable meeting times, time zone based delays in getting response and availability of team members and finally lead to project delays.