MNG81001 Management | Leading and Managing Virtual Teams

An exciting new approach to teamwork has resulted from advances in information technology, shifting employee expectations and the globalisation of business, namely the virtual team. A virtual team is made up of geographically or organisationally dispersed members who are linked primarily through advanced information and telecommunications technologies.

Your Sydney HQ is developing a new marketing team with team members located in Sydney, New York, Beijing and Mumbai. This will necessitate the establishment of a virtual team spread over four different time zones using both synchronous (real time) and asynchronous (not concurrent) communication. One of the primary advantages of virtual teams is the ability to assemble the most talented group of people to complete a complex project through creativity and innovation.

On a practical level the virtual team can also save employees' time and cut travel expenses. However, virtual teams also present unique challenges. A number of the team have expressed concerns about how it will all work, and whether meetings might be scheduled when one part of the team is about to go to lunch, while the other part is asleep. Other concerns include: language difficulties, time-and-distance challenges, the absence of face-to-face contact, as well as the barriers posed by cultural differences such as work-pacing, communication styles, decision-making, and the perception of deadlines.

To help 'sell' the idea and persuade the team members of the advantages of the virtual team your boss, the Marketing Director, is planning a virtual meeting with all team members. She is aware of the concerns and knows that the issues raised by the staff have the potential to provide rich soil for misunderstandings and conflict. To that end she understands how important this presentation will be in creating a favourable association with virtual teams, as well as a good opportunity to start to build engagement, trust and candour among the team members.

To prepare for the virtual meeting she has asked you to prepare two documents:

(i)a short report (using the memo format) identifying some of the critical areas that need to be addressed when leading and managing virtual teams; and

(ii) a PowerPoint slide presentation comprising no more than five slides highlighting three practices for establishing effective virtual teams and solutions for achieving such practices (recommendations or how it's done).

Answer:

To: The Employees

From: The Marketing Director

Date:

Subject: Virtual Team Management

The operations of an organization can only take place peacefully if there is proper teamwork and coordination in it. A team is required to carry out the daily operations with utmost coordination and division of responsibilities equally distributed to every individual of the team. The innovative idea of a virtual team has resulted from technological development, shifting of expectation of employees and globalization. A virtual team is one which consists of members dispersed geographically or organizationally that are connected through means of advanced information and telecommunication technologies. According to (Maynard and Gilson 2014), “virtual teams are functioning teams that rely on technology-mediated communication while crossing several different boundaries.”

Recruiting a virtual team has several advantages to an organization. Primarily, an organization can lower the staffing costs while increasing productivity up to a large extent at the same time. In addition, a virtual team helps in lowering of office costs of an organization in terms of electricity, technical equipment, lease and miscellaneous expenses. (Hoch and Kozlowski 2014) stated that “… the next increment should turn attention to the mediating mechanisms that link the input factors with team performance.” The reduced cost or the savings from the office cost can then be used in development of other aspects of the organization. A virtual team enables a manager to hire workforce from anywhere around the world. This enables the organization to go beyond the restriction of recruiting talented individuals. Local hiring restricts the flow of talent pool sometimes, which is overcome through means of a virtual team. Furthermore, hiring a virtual team enables the organization to save up costs since there are less members. Eventually, this money can be used to pay more to the existing team members. The ability to join the organization from anywhere in the world and getting more pay will definitely attract an increasing workforce and build the brand image of the organization globally. In addition, this measure will also help in the retention of employees since they are allowed to work from home in this situation.

In addition, virtual team has other advantages as well. The fact of not requiring an office for a virtual team helps in avoiding the unnecessary, often unproductive meetings. The necessary meetings can be conducted through technological platforms such as Google hangouts where the employees can work and participate in the meeting simultaneously, allowing the company to save up time and increase or retain productivity as the case may be. A virtual team helps in reducing the carbon footprint through emissions from vehicles since the employees usually work from home and are not required to travel to the office premises using vehicles. This also helps in reducing the travel time of the employees, which has a substantial benefit of reducing the wastage of time and increasing productivity of the organization. (Pangil and Moi Chan2014) state that “team effectiveness are positively associated with trust and knowledge sharing”. In addition to this, a virtual team increases the accessibility to the local markets globally without having to open offices in the locations, reducing significant costs. They can hire sales people in these locations who would operate in these local markets. Furthermore, the organization expands globally without having multiple office locations, saving up time and money and operating in multiple time zones simultaneously, allowing the company to have a 24 hour work day.

However, there are challenges associated with this advanced usage of technology that is required to be solved and avoided. The lack of physical contact within the team generates a lack of understanding between the ways of operation of the employees. In addition, the differences in the time zone creates differences in the team because of the overlapping of time in case of virtual meetings. Miscommunication often takes place in a virtual team. The lack of face-to-face contact with the management often makes the employees irresponsible. They refrain from using the right communication channels at the right time and fail to revert to important messages, which might come across as a loss in time and revenue for the company. According to (Lockwood 2015), "the lack of physical interaction is causing communication breakdowns which is negatively affecting the productivity and collaboration in virtual workplaces.”  The routine of the work can be demotivating for the employees. They can have serious health issues such as exhaustion, stress, backache, optical issues as a result of putting long hours in front of computers. This is an element of demotivation. The work from home feature resulting from the creation of a virtual team often eradicates the line between work and life and intervenes with the personal lives of the employees. Furthermore, the diversity of culture creates differences in the operations of the employees since all of them do not understand the cultures of each other. The language also creates a barrier of communication. This affects their workflow and might also lead to the loss of employees and revenue.

Communication is one of the most important aspects of business operations and might also come across as a challenge if not handled accurately. Taking the statement into regards, managing a virtual team can also come across as a challenge that needs to be handled properly for harmonious operations of a business. The issues related to the maintenance of a virtual team can be avoided and the benefits put to correct use. Therefore, a virtual team is the future of an organization where everyone is heading with the support of technological advancements.

References:

Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, vol. 99, no.3, p.390.

Lockwood, J., 2015. Virtual team management: what is causing communication breakdown?. Language and Intercultural Communication, vol. 15, no.1, pp.125-140.

Maynard, M.T. and Gilson, L.L., 2014. The role of shared mental model development in understanding virtual team effectiveness. Group & Organization Management, vol. 39, no.1, pp.3-32.

Pangil, F. and Moi Chan, J., 2014. The mediating effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship between trust and virtual team effectiveness. Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 18, no.1, pp.92-106.