Virtual teams are teams or groups of people that interact electronically with occasional face-to-face meetings. The reason for having virtual teams is due in part to the geographical location of group members. Team members are often physically separated by time and/or space. It is not practical or feasible for these members to travel long distances to meet face-to-face. Team members could also be working different shifts, making it difficult for them to meet. New realities facing organizations have made virtual teams a necessity. Virtual teams deal with projects that are spread across the organization. Alliances with different organizations in different countries require team members to interact with each other from all over the globe. Virtual teams are beneficial with the recent emergence of globalization, which allows organizations to do business with emerging markets in different geographic locations. Virtual teams help to reduce the cycle time in business by speeding up business processes. In order for virtual teams to be successful, they must engage in specific practices. The initial meeting of the virtual team must be face-to-face, so people get to see and talk to their fellow members. Any kind of conflict should be resolved with periodic face-to-face meetings that help create and maintain group cohesiveness. Since most of the communication will be non-verbal, caution should be used in the kind of tone and language used by team members. Virtual teams are beneficial because they allow people to work from anywhere at anytime and they are hired based on their competencies and not on their physical location.
Many organizations around the world are going virtual. In organizations like Google, Sun Micro systems, Taco Bell, Barclays Global investors, projects are delivered by virtual teams, about 50 % of the time. What has bought about this change? Organizations are looking for talent irrespective of their geographic locations. Today when teams are formed, organizations are not relying on individuals who are geographically closer but are looking for the right skills for the particular job even if they are sitting in different continents. The emergence of global economy has made it particularly challenging for organizations to keep up with the changing market and respond to customer needs. Having virtual teams has made it possible to better meet these challenges. The success of virtual teams depends on a number of factors. It is important to get information of your team members not just the skills and experiences but also personality traits and behavior. Secondly, just like in any team management, communication tops the list. In virtual teams also, communication plays a critical role. Making a virtual team feel like you are interacting face to face can help in effective communication and better understanding. Trust is another important element that needs to exist for any working relationship. It is also the hardest to develop in a virtual environment. It takes time but you can cultivate trust by being respectful of each other in a team, listening and hearing what others have to say and being honest about what you are doing. Every member in a virtual team has to be accountable for what he does and what he does not do. Also it can be challenging to work as you do not get everyday feedback on you performance and do not know if you are heading in the correct direction. Many of these apply to almost any working relationship but they are more important in virtual teams.
Virtual teams are inevitable in today's ever-growing economy. Most companies are located across the globe and it often becomes a necessity to have teams that are situated in different parts of the world.
As there are advatages to having a team that is situated in different places, there are also disadvatanges relating to the management of such teams. Managing a virtual team requires much more effort and planning as it might not always be possible to get all the team members at the same time.
The option of being able to work from home is also starting to be a common trend among organizations. While this gives an employee immense flexibility, it also leads to some downsides as well. Employees miss out on being able to walk up to another colleague to have a small chat. Many a times, it also leads an employee to put in more time to finish up a job, than when he/she is in office and packs up after a certain time to leave the office and go home. As it has become a culture to have virtual teams in any organization, the most critical problem is how these teams are managed. This might prove to be very challenging and interesting.
Virtual teams are widely used for doing a single project or operating an international organization, because telecommunication technology is mature and reliable in today’s society. People no longer have to sit in a conference room to discuss what to do next of a task, instead of turn on computer then check new e-mails.
Mature technology is only a tool which is used for forming a virtual team. The main reason why virtual teams exist is that team members cannot meet together, because geographic or time issues make them work separately, for example astronauts. Their tasks are to go to a place which is very far away and impossible to make frequent round trips, but they still need support from home plant. And they send lots of data back to the base for researchers doing their analysis.
It seems good to run a company with virtual teams. But it is hard to work a virtual team well. Not like astronauts and researchers, most virtual team members are lack of opportunity to build their relationship. It makes team members hard to trust each other. Without trust, even in a face-to-face team, it becomes harder to lead teams toward achieving their goals.
It is easy to form a virtual team, but it is hard to maintain it.
I work for Cisco and have found their collaboration technologies to be very useful when working with people virtually. Not only do I work with people in India from time to time, but also with people from other US Cisco sites such as San Jose (Cisco headquarters) and Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
Every day I talk with people via WebEx Connect, Cisco's version of instant messaging. I am able to see the status of people that are online (available, away, do not disturb, etc.) and can quickly determine if they are around with a simple ping. The tool also tells me if they are in a meeting, which helps me not to interrupt them. Another nice feature of the tool is that it allows me to share my desktop with another person if I need them to look at something.
WebEx meetings are useful to me as well when working with people outside of the meeting room. It allows me to communicate and interact with them virtually, whether they are working from home or are working at a different site. Through WebEx, I can hear the remote people on the phone and can see who is talking (when there are multiple people on the line). I can share documents such as PowerPoint presentations or I can share my computer desktop. The desktop share allows me to do demonstrations on the fly. In addition, it is easy for me to "pass the (collaboration) ball" to another person in the meeting if they want to present/share something.
Another nice feature of the tool is that I can record a meeting and then play it back or share it later. This feature is really useful if you are holding a training session meeting during US daytime, and want to share it with people across the world (no need for them to get up early or stay up late). Once the meeting is done, you can just e-mail them the link to the recording. Then they can view the meeting just like if they were actually there. The only downside is that they can't ask questions.
I found some interesting problems in dealing with virtual teams: 1. Lack of co-ordination 2. Minimal interaction 3. ‘Get it over with’ mentality Some teams what might be referred to as a ‘get it over with’ mentality. Such teams are more preoccupied with getting to the end of the assignment rather than relishing in the fullness of the educational insights that the assignment had to offer. 4. Lack of deep discussion Some teams lacked evidence of having had any deep discussion during team assignments. One possible reason for this may be a fear of upsetting team harmony by challenging the view of other team members. Another possible reason may be that the members felt engaging in deep discussion would prolong the completion of a team assignment under already time-pressured conditions. 5. Dormant teams Well-organized teams attempted to spread their effort on assignments evenly across the time they had for completing the assignments. One possible explanation for dormant teams might be that they are composed of team members who, for whatever reason, simply did not get round to working on the assignment until they were coerced to do so by the impending deadline. A lack of time management skills and propensity to procrastinate might also be characteristics that led to the formation of dormant teams. 6. Free-riders and easy-riders DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS The formative observations made in this paper raised questions about the effectiveness of virtual teams and whether or not the individuals derive significant educational benefits from working in virtual teams.
I could find some advantages and challenges of Virtual teams :
ADVANTAGES:
1. Reduces travel time and cost 2. Enables the recruitment of talented employees 3. Promotes employment in different areas 4. Using different technology increases productivity 5. Builds diverse teams and helps in knowledge transfer 6. Assists in promoting proactive employment practices for disadvantaged individuals and groups 7. Reduces discrimination
CHALLENGES:
1. Challenges accommodating the varying needs of those working in a virtual environment, in terms of creating workable processes and providing the necessary tools and training 2. High levels of trust 3. Clear communication and overcome language problems 4. Difficulties solving issues with efficiency as colleagues are not a cubicle away or within arm's reach of a discussion 5. Strong leadership 6. Appropriate levels of technology. Sometimes requires complex technological applications 7. Arranging meetings with team members scattered over different countries and time zones 8. Different approaches to conflict resolution 9. Competing team members - Problems trying to build a "sense of team" with everyone not in one location 10. Maintaining team motivation levels with the lack of face-to-face interaction 11. Issues addressing the needs of and dealing, with different cultures on the global team
I believe virtual teams have a great importance in today’s business. Having on-line meeting with people sitting on the other side of the globe is cheap (no travelling costs) and practical at the same time. People can be recruited for their competences, not just physical locations. Also, many physical handicaps are not a problem. Just like Kinny Bolina wrote, I agree that it’s not always easy to conduct meetings with virtual teams, therefore it is really important to follow specific strategies when dealing with virtual teams, especially if the team has to work on a long term project. Important elements of such strategies include: - Try to have an initial face-to-face meeting (It’s always good to meet in person people you are going to work with for a certain period of time, it helps to build trust. If this is not possible encourage team members to share brief bios. These bios could include images, hobbies, hometown, personal goals or anything interesting or unusual) - Try to have periodic face-to-face meetings (useful to maintain cohesiveness) - Require teams to share daily schedules - Require teams to create a contact directory (provide at least email addresses, but could also include phone numbers and Instant Messenger contacts). - Establish a set of norms (code of conduct) - Use visual communications (example: video conferences) - Document all the team’s progresses - Use caution in tone and language
Today's financial woes have forced many companies to pick members of project teams from across various global locations and have them communicate virtually--by phone, e-mail and videoconference--thereby saving both time and money.
There are more global virtual teams today than ever before. And their numbers are increasing rapidly. INSEAD, the international business school where I teach, has been bombarded with requests to set up a program showing executives the skills they'll need to meet this new management challenge. The latest research shows that those skills are not simply different from those needed for running co-located teams; they are often the exact opposite. Here are two principal ways they're very different.
Teams don't work the same everywhere. In the U.S., managers are trained to solicit input from a team, choose a direction quickly and make adjustments as the project moves forward. It works, but then so do other methods. In Sweden teams learn to make decisions through lengthy consensus building, which can span many meetings but eventually leads to strong buy-in and rapid implementation. In France the Descartes-inspired education system teaches that debate and confrontation are necessary elements of any decision-making process. And in Japan decisions tend to be made in informal one-on-one discussions before a formal group meeting.
Virtual teams are teams or groups of people that interact electronically with occasional face-to-face meetings. The reason for having virtual teams is due in part to the geographical location of group members. Team members are often physically separated by time and/or space. It is not practical or feasible for these members to travel long distances to meet face-to-face. Team members could also be working different shifts, making it difficult for them to meet. New realities facing organizations have made virtual teams a necessity. Virtual teams deal with projects that are spread across the organization. Alliances with different organizations in different countries require team members to interact with each other from all over the globe. Virtual teams are beneficial with the recent emergence of globalization, which allows organizations to do business with emerging markets in different geographic locations. Virtual teams help to reduce the cycle time in business by speeding up business processes. In order for virtual teams to be successful, they must engage in specific practices. The initial meeting of the virtual team must be face-to-face, so people get to see and talk to their fellow members. Any kind of conflict should be resolved with periodic face-to-face meetings that help create and maintain group cohesiveness. Since most of the communication will be non-verbal, caution should be used in the kind of tone and language used by team members. Virtual teams are beneficial because they allow people to work from anywhere at anytime and they are hired based on their competencies and not on their physical location.
ReplyDeleteMany organizations around the world are going virtual. In organizations like Google, Sun Micro systems, Taco Bell, Barclays Global investors, projects are delivered by virtual teams, about 50 % of the time. What has bought about this change?
ReplyDeleteOrganizations are looking for talent irrespective of their geographic locations. Today when teams are formed, organizations are not relying on individuals who are geographically closer but are looking for the right skills for the particular job even if they are sitting in different continents.
The emergence of global economy has made it particularly challenging for organizations to keep up with the changing market and respond to customer needs. Having virtual teams has made it possible to better meet these challenges.
The success of virtual teams depends on a number of factors. It is important to get information of your team members not just the skills and experiences but also personality traits and behavior. Secondly, just like in any team management, communication tops the list. In virtual teams also, communication plays a critical role. Making a virtual team feel like you are interacting face to face can help in effective communication and better understanding. Trust is another important element that needs to exist for any working relationship. It is also the hardest to develop in a virtual environment. It takes time but you can cultivate trust by being respectful of each other in a team, listening and hearing what others have to say and being honest about what you are doing.
Every member in a virtual team has to be accountable for what he does and what he does not do. Also it can be challenging to work as you do not get everyday feedback on you performance and do not know if you are heading in the correct direction.
Many of these apply to almost any working relationship but they are more important in virtual teams.
Virtual teams are inevitable in today's ever-growing economy. Most companies are located across the globe and it often becomes a necessity to have teams that are situated in different parts of the world.
ReplyDeleteAs there are advatages to having a team that is situated in different places, there are also disadvatanges relating to the management of such teams. Managing a virtual team requires much more effort and planning as it might not always be possible to get all the team members at the same time.
The option of being able to work from home is also starting to be a common trend among organizations. While this gives an employee immense flexibility, it also leads to some downsides as well. Employees miss out on being able to walk up to another colleague to have a small chat. Many a times, it also leads an employee to put in more time to finish up a job, than when he/she is in office and packs up after a certain time to leave the office and go home.
As it has become a culture to have virtual teams in any organization, the most critical problem is how these teams are managed. This might prove to be very challenging and interesting.
Virtual teams are widely used for doing a single project or operating an international organization, because telecommunication technology is mature and reliable in today’s society. People no longer have to sit in a conference room to discuss what to do next of a task, instead of turn on computer then check new e-mails.
ReplyDeleteMature technology is only a tool which is used for forming a virtual team. The main reason why virtual teams exist is that team members cannot meet together, because geographic or time issues make them work separately, for example astronauts. Their tasks are to go to a place which is very far away and impossible to make frequent round trips, but they still need support from home plant. And they send lots of data back to the base for researchers doing their analysis.
It seems good to run a company with virtual teams. But it is hard to work a virtual team well. Not like astronauts and researchers, most virtual team members are lack of opportunity to build their relationship. It makes team members hard to trust each other. Without trust, even in a face-to-face team, it becomes harder to lead teams toward achieving their goals.
It is easy to form a virtual team, but it is hard to maintain it.
I work for Cisco and have found their collaboration technologies to be very useful when working with people virtually. Not only do I work with people in India from time to time, but also with people from other US Cisco sites such as San Jose (Cisco headquarters) and Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
ReplyDeleteEvery day I talk with people via WebEx Connect, Cisco's version of instant messaging. I am able to see the status of people that are online (available, away, do not disturb, etc.) and can quickly determine if they are around with a simple ping. The tool also tells me if they are in a meeting, which helps me not to interrupt them. Another nice feature of the tool is that it allows me to share my desktop with another person if I need them to look at something.
WebEx meetings are useful to me as well when working with people outside of the meeting room. It allows me to communicate and interact with them virtually, whether they are working from home or are working at a different site. Through WebEx, I can hear the remote people on the phone and can see who is talking (when there are multiple people on the line). I can share documents such as PowerPoint presentations or I can share my computer desktop. The desktop share allows me to do demonstrations on the fly. In addition, it is easy for me to "pass the (collaboration) ball" to another person in the meeting if they want to present/share something.
Another nice feature of the tool is that I can record a meeting and then play it back or share it later. This feature is really useful if you are holding a training session meeting during US daytime, and want to share it with people across the world (no need for them to get up early or stay up late). Once the meeting is done, you can just e-mail them the link to the recording. Then they can view the meeting just like if they were actually there. The only downside is that they can't ask questions.
I found some interesting problems in dealing with virtual teams:
ReplyDelete1. Lack of co-ordination
2. Minimal interaction
3. ‘Get it over with’ mentality
Some teams what might be referred to as a ‘get it over with’ mentality. Such teams are more preoccupied with getting to the end of the assignment rather than relishing in the fullness of the educational insights that the assignment had to offer.
4. Lack of deep discussion
Some teams lacked evidence of having had any deep discussion during team assignments. One possible reason for this may be a fear of upsetting team harmony by challenging the view of other team members. Another possible reason may be that the members felt engaging in deep discussion would prolong the completion of a team assignment under already time-pressured conditions.
5. Dormant teams
Well-organized teams attempted to spread their effort on assignments evenly across the time they had for completing the assignments. One possible explanation for dormant teams might be that they are composed of team members who, for whatever reason, simply did not get round to working on the assignment until they were coerced to do so by the impending deadline. A lack of time management skills and propensity to procrastinate might also be characteristics that led to the formation of dormant teams.
6. Free-riders and easy-riders
DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The formative observations made in this paper raised questions about the effectiveness of virtual teams and whether or not the individuals derive significant educational benefits from working in virtual teams.
I could find some advantages and challenges of Virtual teams :
ReplyDeleteADVANTAGES:
1. Reduces travel time and cost
2. Enables the recruitment of talented employees
3. Promotes employment in different areas
4. Using different technology increases productivity
5. Builds diverse teams and helps in knowledge transfer
6. Assists in promoting proactive employment practices for disadvantaged individuals and groups
7. Reduces discrimination
CHALLENGES:
1. Challenges accommodating the varying needs of those working in a virtual environment, in terms of creating workable processes and providing the necessary tools and training
2. High levels of trust
3. Clear communication and overcome language problems
4. Difficulties solving issues with efficiency as colleagues are not a cubicle away or within arm's reach of a discussion
5. Strong leadership
6. Appropriate levels of technology. Sometimes requires complex technological applications
7. Arranging meetings with team members scattered over different countries and time zones
8. Different approaches to conflict resolution
9. Competing team members - Problems trying to build a "sense of team" with everyone not in one location
10. Maintaining team motivation levels with the lack of face-to-face interaction
11. Issues addressing the needs of and dealing, with different cultures on the global team
I believe virtual teams have a great importance in today’s business.
ReplyDeleteHaving on-line meeting with people sitting on the other side of the globe is cheap (no travelling costs) and practical at the same time. People can be recruited for their competences, not just physical locations. Also, many physical handicaps are not a problem.
Just like Kinny Bolina wrote, I agree that it’s not always easy to conduct meetings with virtual teams, therefore it is really important to follow specific strategies when dealing with virtual teams, especially if the team has to work on a long term project. Important elements of such strategies include:
- Try to have an initial face-to-face meeting (It’s always good to meet in person people you are going to work with for a certain period of time, it helps to build trust. If this is not possible encourage team members to share brief bios. These bios could include images, hobbies, hometown, personal goals or anything interesting or unusual)
- Try to have periodic face-to-face meetings (useful to maintain cohesiveness)
- Require teams to share daily schedules
- Require teams to create a contact directory (provide at least email addresses, but could also include phone numbers and Instant Messenger contacts).
- Establish a set of norms (code of conduct)
- Use visual communications (example: video conferences)
- Document all the team’s progresses
- Use caution in tone and language
Today's financial woes have forced many companies to pick members of project teams from across various global locations and have them communicate virtually--by phone, e-mail and videoconference--thereby saving both time and money.
ReplyDeleteThere are more global virtual teams today than ever before. And their numbers are increasing rapidly. INSEAD, the international business school where I teach, has been bombarded with requests to set up a program showing executives the skills they'll need to meet this new management challenge. The latest research shows that those skills are not simply different from those needed for running co-located teams; they are often the exact opposite. Here are two principal ways they're very different.
1. You must lead differently.
While co-located teams often benefit most from a leader who acts as a facilitator, virtual teams need a manager who provides clearly defined direction and removes all ambiguity from the process. Research by my fellow INSEAD professor José Santos demonstrates that highly centralized coordination usually works best in globally distributed teams. When a team works together in the same office, you can have loose job descriptions, possibly even with two people sharing elements of the same role. In virtual teams that just doesn't work. Team leaders have to formalize roles and responsibilities--starting with their own.
2. You must arrive at decisions differently.
Teams don't work the same everywhere. In the U.S., managers are trained to solicit input from a team, choose a direction quickly and make adjustments as the project moves forward. It works, but then so do other methods. In Sweden teams learn to make decisions through lengthy consensus building, which can span many meetings but eventually leads to strong buy-in and rapid implementation. In France the Descartes-inspired education system teaches that debate and confrontation are necessary elements of any decision-making process. And in Japan decisions tend to be made in informal one-on-one discussions before a formal group meeting.