Virtual Development Teams By Srinivas Panchapakesan Why virtual teams Technology and globalization now have created an environment in which teams communicate and collaborate virtually across boundaries of time geography and organizations Contd To gain competitive advantage organizations are continually reshaped to maximize strengths address threats and increase speed Form teams that draws together talent from different functions locations and organizations Complexity of Virtual Teams As the distance between team members increase so do differences in time zones Complications because of different languages culture and access to technology Challenges of integrating work methods organizational cultures technologies and goals Virtual teams differ from traditional teams in several dimensions such as Geographical distribution Questions of availability Temporal distribution Reliance on asynchronous communication tools Meetings outside working hours Cultural distribution Language skills Cultural differences Organizational functional distribution Members are experts in their respective fields Interaction challenges Interactions fall into four categories Same time same place like face to face Same time different place like video conf Different time same place like chat room Different time different place like email voice mail Factors affecting virtual team success Human resource policies Training and on the job education and development Standard organizational and team processes Organizational culture Leadership support of virtual teams Team leader and team member competencies Human Resource Policies Career development systems address the needs of virtual teams Reward systems reward recognize working across boundaries and virtually Result are what is rewarded Nontraditional work arrangements such as telecommuting are actively supported Training and Development There is access to technical training Continual and just in time learning is available as needed There are mechanisms for sharing lessons learned so that experience is not lost Collaboration and Communication Technology Consistent standards for electronic communication and collaboration tools Resources to buy and support the technology Equal access to and skilled in using the technology Organizational Culture A culture of trust within the organization Culture of trust between the organization and its partners Teamwork and collaboration are the norm People from different cultures are valued Leadership Leading a virtual team is highly challenging Four types of skills and qualities were considered as important in leading virtual teams 1 Motivating the team members 2 Giving support 3 Giving guidelines for the use of communication technology and CMC Computer Mediated Communications practices 4 Setting clear goals for the future 1 Motivating the Team Members If members do not know each other s competencies and roles very well it is crucial that the team leader motivates the members to contact each other frequently and tries to activate their collaboration If team leader communicates and takes initiative actively it enhances the team members collaboration as well 2 Giving Support Members in virtual teams are often experts in their respective fields They do not expect the leader to give them much professional guidance but they anticipate to gain support and feedback from the leader The support given should be informative instrumental or emotional in nature 3 Guidelines for the Use of Communication Technology and CMC It is crucial that the team leader provides different kinds of communication tools and possibilities for the virtual team members If the team leader had offered communication tools to the members and given guidelines for their efficient use the team s communication and collaboration in general was seen to be improved Furthermore guidelines for effective computer mediated communication are needed in the teams Shared practices and rules for communication are seen as crucial as most of the communication is computer mediated 4 Setting goals for the future Setting clear goals is the most challenging leadership skill in virtual teams The difficulties in setting goals can be due to four factors 1 the goals were not discussed in the team 2 the goals were not set on a concrete level 3 there was a lot of cross functionality in the team or 4 the team had undergone organizational changes Team Member Competencies Project management techniques Networking across functional hierarchical and organizational boundaries Using collaborative technologies Setting personal boundaries and managing time Working across cultural and functional boundaries Using interpersonal awareness Benefits of Virtual Teams for Organizations Greater flexibility Saves time and costs Increases communication and learning across organization Encourages appreciation of diversity Benefits of Virtual Teams for Workers Schedule and geographic flexibility Increased number and types of learning opportunities Much improved access to valuable information More opportunity to network meet and become friends with colleagues Conclusion Challenges in virtual development team are partly similar as challenges in traditional teams However some of the qualities needed in virtual team leading stem from geographical temporal cultural and organizational dispersion Challenges rise because members may join the team from different organizational units they may belong to many different functions and projects at the same time structure of the team may change due to changes in organizational environment
View Full Document
Unlocking...