The Pros and Cons of Virtual Teams

Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Teams

Global management has slowly been changing from the industrial age to contemporary age. The differences in organizational management have been significantly influenced by technological advancements and changes in social and economic factors. In the industrial era, most organizations were managed by hierarchical structures that had gaps between the managers and employees. The management dictated upon most of the activities and the employees were barely involved in the decision-making process.

Specialization of roles and division of responsibilities were among the common trends in hierarchical organizational structures and this prevented employees from taking part in organizational activities. However, these practices have been changing gradually, especially with the advancement in information technology. The availability of internet, intranets and other communication features has enabled organizations to incorporate employees and other stakeholders in their management (Kimball 2000). In addition, the advancement in information technology has made it possible for organizations to shift from industrial practices to contemporary management that involves development and management of virtual teams.

Virtual teams in an organization can be defined as a collection of individuals working together, mostly in geographically isolated regions under independent space, time and boundaries, but with a common objective under the organizational goals (Lipnack & Stamps 1997). The individuals selected to participate in virtual goals rely on information and communication technology to enhance integration and cohesion. The virtual teams are created under common purpose and they may not necessarily have i...

... middle of paper ...

...ore use, the organizations can properly manage the information flow, sharing of activities and promote business growth.

Works Cited

Blaise, JB, Erich, BB & Phillip, WB 2008, ‘Nature of Virtual Teams: A summary of their advantages and disadvantages,’ Management Research News vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 99 –110.

Kimball, L 2000, Intranet decisions: Creating your organization's internal network, Miles River Press, Alexandria, VA.

Kimble, CL & Barlow, A 2000, Effective virtual teams trough communities of practice, University of Strathclyde Press, Glasgow.

Lipnack, J & Stamps, J 1997, Virtual teams. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Norton, B & Smith, C 1997, Understanding the virtual organization, Hauppauge, New York.

Oravec, JA 2000, Virtual individuals, virtual groups: Human dimensions of groupware and computer networking, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.