Case Analysis - 3
Achieving Success in Virtual Teams
Overview: In today's competitive world, companies are gradually vacating their cubicles and enter into the virtual workforce to increase work efficiency, reduce cost and resolve organizational problems (Ahmed & Ebrahim, 2009). Nowadays, companies are investing a bulk amount of money on virtual teams to enhance their performance since it has become an indispensable prerequisite for companies to stay in competitive in the era of globalization (Ahmed & Ebrahim, 2009). Virtual teams consist of members from different cultural backgrounds who work in various organizations with different set of standards and members of the virtual teams have the least probability to meet in person
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348). Virtual team members have to be more self- motivated and disciplined in their assigned work and they must be proficient in using variety of tech tools in order to accomplish their task (Settle-Murphy, 2009). Likewise, Virtual team members have to have the ability to manage their time effectively and those who can understand that how much time they need to get their task done are usually far more productive which in turns contribute to the success of virtual team. Moreover, communication effectiveness and stimulating work are the two vital features of actuating the success or failure of virtual teams; for instance, team members should know what to communicate, how and when and the whole communication process should be concise and lucid to avoid any misinterpretation (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). In contrast, the failure of virtual teams relies on several things wherein people play a major part in the context of virtual arena; for example, a consulting service company; NetAge reveals the fact that the percentage of having failure of virtual teams is around 90% of people (Nelson & Quick, 2013, p. 348). Vagueness in communication might lead to the failure of virtual teams; for instance, if the message is unclear and tough to comprehend then it would hamper the work procedure and
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
There are many problems that hinder good group dynamics. We don’t usually have the luxury of picking who we are going to work with on a team; dealing with different personalities and personal agendas are common challenges in working within a team. Other commons challenges like, poor leadership, bad communications, and lack of focus can be helped or eliminated by establishing team roles.
Teamwork cannot be demanded. Everyone involved must discuss and understand what the goal is and what is required of them. Teams should have traits such as goals and objectives, empowerment, trust, authentic participation, innovation, creativity, risk taking and leadership. (Temme and Katzel, 1995)
Group members can achieve consensus in their decision making when they follow all of these steps except
325.2.2: Improving Team Performance - The graduate analyzes the performance of a virtual team and proposes strategies to improve team effectiveness.
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?
| Employees in geographically dispersed locations can work together in virtual teams using video, e-mail, and the Internet.
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
Virtual Team on the other hand is a group of people working across time, space, and organizational boundaries which communication links are strengthened by the internet. It should be noted that virtual teams can also mean individuals spread across different cultures and languages. (“Virtual Team - Origin, Definition and its Scope,” 2016). More so, this team of geographically dispersed professionals working together as a unit despite distance are committed to achieving a single objective, holding one another mutually accountable.
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.
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
Ebrahim, A., Shamsuddin, A. & Taha, Z. (2009). Virtual Teams: A Literature Review. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Science, 3(3), 2653-2669.
The evolution of globalization and the advancement of communication technology have increased the amount of cross cultural, virtual teams in existence in today’s business world. Cross cultural, virtual teams can leverage on the diverse experiences of its members to achieve good results even without the members meeting face to face.
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