Virtual Teamwork

Virtual teams have emerged to mitigate the challenges of managing teams that are distributed across different regions, and are a sustainable component of global business. A project manager managing a virtual team would have to integrate communication strategies, project management techniques including human and social processes in order to support the team, (Kimball, 1997). The author is a project manager assigned to lead a virtual team of 300 volunteers located across the globe to develop recommendations for regulating carbon emissions in the world. As indicated Kimball (1997), this kind of a virtual team usually supports people working in the same professional field and most of the

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

Virtual organization structure – companies that are dependent on communication technology for their day to day working.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Virtual interaction both increases and changes leadership responsibilities. Without proper communication management, virtual teams can have less efficiency compared to teams with face to face interaction. Even with the added conveniences in virtual teams, many virtual teams struggle and can often fail to meet expectations. Virtual team collaboration should empower team members with the opportunity to put their best foot forward. A considerable amount of effort is needed to take advantage of the creativity that can be produced in virtual teams. Virtual teams must find a way to foster trust, creating connections that develop into an inclusive environment, which empowers the team with the ability to work together and accomplish goals.

Have you ever heard the saying, 'A chain is only as strong as its weakest link '? This analogy also applies to the performance of virtual teams. Team Johnny Bravo started out with good intentions, but struggled to find balance working within a Leaderless, Modular design structure. A lack of explicit team norms will impact communication and production efforts. This paper will discuss four operating norms, concerns with a lack of norms, actions to overcome those concerns and norm recommendations for Team Johnny Bravo.

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

A team comprised of international components presents an interesting challenge in regards to management. Various problems can potentially arise in regards to organizing the team, developing rules that govern the team and assigning tasks. One method in which to mitigate all of the above mentioned rules is by setting performance standards for the entire team to adhere (Alexander, 2000). One such standard involves the use of a balanced scorecard. A balanced scorecard allows each individual irrespective of their position within the team to have a core set of standards in which to abide by. These standards will also include the job function and the roles of each member with the job function. The scorecard provides an ideal medium in which to judge performance as well. By viewing the scorecard management can easily pinpoint areas of opportunity and improvement (Blair 2010).

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.