Benefits And Disadvantages Of Virtual Teams

MSL 630, Leading Productive Teams

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Virtual Teams

Heather Bradley

Belhaven University

May 9, 2015

Author Note

This paper was written for the purpose of educational requirements for:

MSL 630, Leading Productive Teams, Belhaven University, Jackson, MS., 2015

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Virtual Teams

In today’s virtual society our office experience is getting more and more dependent on cyber culture. Due to the increase in employees working at home, virtual offices have become a convenient way for staff, clients, educators, students and all other types of business people to stay connected. Teleconferencing, skyping, e-mails, and texting have become mainstream ways of conducting business so it seems pertinent that businesses learn to effectively create and conduct virtual teams.

“Human beings have always functioned in face-to-face groups. While the use of teams is on the rise the Wall Street Journal reports that two-thirds of American companies employ them – the face to face aspect of normal working relationships is changing. Electronic communication and digital technologies give people a historically unprecedented ability to work together at a distance.” (Lipnack, J., & Stamps, J., 1997).

There are a number of challenges involved in working with a virtual team, however. When team members do not have the benefit of observing body language, vocal inflection, eye contract and other such mannerisms, it is difficult to establish trust. Not to mention the distance and lack of tangible contact makes it more difficult to connect with other members enough to truly gain insight and perspective regarding their character.

Taking these things into consideration it is easy to see ...

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...als, tasks and leadership hobbles the team’s performance” (Zemliansky, P., 2008).

In conclusion, I believe despite the fact that virtual team member and leaders face unique challenges, they revolutionizing the global workforce. If done correctly and with strong leadership, virtual teams can increase productivity, lower costs and save precious time for organizations and businesses and their clients.

References

Lipnack, J., & Stamps, J. (1997). Virtual teams: Reaching across space, time, and organizations with technology (p. 262). New York, NY: Wiley.

DeRosa, D., & Lepsinger, R. (2010). Virtual team success a practical guide for working and leading from a distance (p. 224). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Zemliansky, P. (2008). Handbook of research on virtual workplaces and the new nature of business practices (p. 768). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.