Shared practice: Managing Team in a VIrtual environments

Managing Virtual Teams
Student’s Name
Institution
Abstract
Benefits associated with virtual teams include reduced costs due to savings in office space as well as reduced utility expenses. Continuous production and increased skills and diversity are the other advantages. Challenges include lack of trust and collaboration, commitment challenges, communication hurdles, and the time-zone differences. Communication and collaboration challenges arise from the fact that the members may not know each other personally and are from different cultural backgrounds that make their behavior different. One of my duties as a manager would be maintaining and establishing clear performance standards. To prevent loafing and role misunderstanding, it would be my duty to clarify what the team is expected to do, what each person is expected to contribute and how the work may be accomplished. I would also ensure close communication between all members by agreeing with them on the best tools and channels to use in communication and the best time to hold regular team meetings. Among the tools to choose from include teleconferencing, emails, video conferencing, and web meetings. It would also be my duty to motivate the members in these meetings.
Keywords: virtual teams, loafing
With increased globalization and the advent of technology, companies are increasingly relying on “virtual teams” to drive their growth agenda. The virtual teams are generally made up of people working from different cultural boundaries, time zones and across space.

The virtual teams come with some advantages and challenges. It is therefore upon managers to know how to get the best results from these virtual teams.
According to a study conducted in 2009 by the MIT Sloan School, if virtual teams are well-managed, they have the potential to outperform teams with a physical location (Mortensen et al, 2009). The study cites benefits such as reduced costs, continuous or 24/7 productivity, and increased skills and diversity as some of the factors that can give these teams an upper hand. The company saves much in terms of utility bills like water and electricity, and in office space expenses. Outsourcing work to low-cost areas may also lead to savings in salaries and raw materials. However, many challenges face these teams. According to a 2012 study by Siemens Enterprise Communications, “Untapped Potential of Virtual Teams” more than four team members in every 10, always experience feelings of frustration due to the disconnected communication. Also, 34% of the respondents find their team members to be often loafing while 75% find members easily distracted during virtual meetings. Only around half of the respondents found it easy to maintain fluid dialog and build trust among them (Siemens Enterprise Communications, 2012). Therefore challenges include lack of trust and collaboration, commitment challenges, and communication hurdles. Another challenge is the time-zone differences. Communication and collaboration challenges arise from the fact that the members may not know each other personally and are from different cultural backgrounds that make their behavior different. Some members may for example be quite precise in their communication depending on their location while others are exhaustive in their emails and texts. Commitment issues and time-difference conflicts should specifically be handled by the management. While the communication and trust problems can be handled by the members themselves, the management still has a huge role to play.
As a manager, it would be my duty to maintain and establish clear performance standards. As the members come from different backgrounds, they may have different beliefs concerning excellence and quality in the organization. The fact that the manager may not observe each person’s behavior physically may make others relax or leave some duties for others to do. The manager should, therefore, clarify what the team is expected to do, what each person is expected to contribute and how the work may be accomplished (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002. All members should know that their performance will be evaluated through certain standards and indicators. As a manager, I would also ensure close communication between all members by agreeing with them on the best tools and channels to use in communication and the best time to hold regular team meetings. These may include teleconferencing, emails, video conferencing, and web meetings. It would be essential to ensure that no one feels isolated or overburdened due to the different time zones. The chosen time should be the one in which no one has to sacrifice their sleep or wake up too early to participate in the meeting. My presence in these meetings would be crucial as it is through them that I would motivate them, encourage collaboration through sharing of knowledge, and handle emerging conflicts in the group. A challenge may arise in identifying the best time to hold meetings if some members are from extreme ends of the globe with a time difference of over 10 hours. In such a situation, rotation of meeting times may be the only solution.
References
Bell, B., & Kozlowski, S. (2002). A Typology of Virtual Teams: implications for effective leadership. Group & Organization Management, 27(1), 14-49. doi: 10.1177/1059601102027001003
Mortensen, M., Caya, O., & Pinsonneault, A. (2009). Understanding Virtual Team Performance: A Synthesis of Research on the Effects of Team Design, Processes, and States. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66257
Siemens Enterprise Communications. (2012). The Untapped Potential of Virtual Teams. Retrieved from http://resources.idgenterprise.com/original/AST-0087742_The_Untapped_Potential_of_Virtual_Teams.pdf