Global Communication in Virtual Teams
Teams represent the important part of organizational life, providing for the multifaceted solutions of the common tasks (Croasdell et al., 2003, p.478). The advancements in the Internet and communication technologies, as well as a trend to an increased cross-cultural cooperation determined the proliferation of virtual teams. The members of virtual teams tend to be based in different geographical locations that utilize modern communication technologies (e.g., email, chats, computer-based video conferencing systems) to communicate and cooperate (Croasdell et al., 2003, p.479). Given the fact that e-technologies enable individuals to cooperate, despite the fact that they live in different countries, many virtual
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These aspects of enabling the performance of virtual teams are discussed in the following parts of the assignment.
Diversity Management in Virtual Teams
Similar to the face-to-face teams, virtual teams can suffer from the negative effects of diversity that cause the difficulties in communication and frequent misunderstandings, as well as even quarrels between the team members. The key challenge of diversity that impacts the virtual teams is the lack of trust (Abudi, 2014) Since employees are geographically dispersed and the management cannot utilize traditional ice-breaking tools to help them get to know each other better, the lack of trust can result in the absence of openness and transparent communication between the team members. In turn, the lack of transparency can result in the fact that employees will not share their concerns, and the whole system can suffer from the challenges being not discussed and not communicated to management (Abudi, 2014). The communication difficulty that directly refers to the factor of heterogeneity deals with the team members’ making assumptions about each other, based on cultural identity. The misunderstandings, stemming from the team members’ lack of experience
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Foremost, it is required that a team leader conducts a web-conference, involving all the members of a team. Apart from introducing team members to each other in a formal manner, a leader needs to think about ice-breaking activities that can help team members adapt to the peculiarities of virtual cross-cultural communication. A team leader can also suggest some procedures for sharing concerns and issues between the team members. For instance, a special forum can be launched to discuss the process of communication and the novelties that can be utilized to improve it. Last, but not least, a team leader shall think about finding a suitable manual on cross-cultural communication and distributing it among the team
Watson, C.A. (2008). The relationship and differences between MBTI type, team skills and perceived team success in virtual and traditional teams. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest LLC
Teams benefit organizations by combining people who can achieve goals faster and more effectively through collaboration than can individuals working alone. These teams bring together individuals from different departments or functional areas in order to conduct their operations and address problems making the most efficient use of their resources. New technology allows employees in different geographic locations to collaborate with tools such as Google Docs, Skype a video-conferencing app, and or data networks that allow teamwork products and documents more effectively (Boundless, 2015).
The process of forming virtual teams is very crucial and plays a significant role in the success of a virtual team, since the team members can be formed from virtually anywhere. As such, the management of the particular organizations needs to take significant care in the formation of virtual teams. Lerner (2008), did say that the leaders of distributed teams should have a heightened sense of awareness of the various subgroup formations and their weaknesses”. Thus the formation of virtual teams is critical to ensuring the objectives for a given project are met and the chemistry of the team is proper to achieve given goals. Karayaz (2006) did define thr...
As the technological advances in the quality of video conferencing has continued to improve, it has allowed organizations to communicate in real-time even though they are on opposite sides of the world. Unilever, a parent company of numerous household brand names, is one such global company. They have had almost every major innovation project in the past two years conducted via video conferencing. Unilever managers are trained and expected to clarify the goals amongst virtual teams. However, preparing employees to operate in an agile way isn't easy. The major traps are introducing concepts too quickly, not giving it time to develop and introducing changes without sufficient training for managers who still don't trust employees to be self-reliant.
Online learning is now a reality, with distributed learning and blended learning becoming more widely used in Higher Education (Whatley, 1999). Online learning has many advantages and disadvantages. Teamwork in online environments is becoming a widely used tool, whether it is in business or education. A team working together has more and better input than individuals working alone. This results in better ideas and decisions and higher quality output. Virtual teams are a good way to enable teamwork in situations where people are not sitting in the same physical office at the same time. The effective team-building requires the combination of clear team goals, empowerment, atmosphere of trust within the team, authentic participation of every member of team, innovative approach to work and ability to manage risks, proper leadership and ability to make the constructive changes.
The purpose of creating teams is to solve a problem or issue through the use of diverse ideas and solutions. There are many times in life, whether at work or at school that one will encounter a diverse mix of personalities. Workplace diversity is everywhere, from the small corner business to the fortune 500 company, and is one of the most important challenges facing companies today. This mix of diverse personalities, gender, race, experience, and culture is what makes a team successful. This is an example of a heterogeneous team. On the other hand, a team with the same make-up, or homogeneous, has limitations on creativity, viewpoints and ideas. This paper will look at cultural diversity and demographic characteristics, specifically age, gender, expertise/ experience and how each plays an integral part in the construction of a high performance team.
Today’s organizations operate in a challenging and global environment, which has forced them to become leaners, reduce production cycles, and improve production and communication technology where essential employees and content expertise have been consolidated. Organizational leaders currently do not have definitive evidence of management styles that they should seek to ensure members of a culturally diverse virtual team develop leadership, trust, and accountability. Virtual team management effectiveness will be evaluated under the five main types of management styles (Robert Tannenbaum & Warren H. Schmidt, 1958 & 1973) and other modern styles. These management styles or theories are the autocratic, democratic, bureaucratic, paternalistic, and laissez-faire. However, there are other more “modern” management styles or lead...
A work team will be defined for the purposes of this paper by a definition borrowed from Bateman and Snell (2004). A team is formed of people (usually a small number) with complementary skills who trust one another and are committed to a common purpose, common performance goals, and a common approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Teams generally see themselves and are seen by others as a social entity, which is interdependent because of the tasks performed as members of a group.
A virtual team is a group of people working interdependently via various types of electronic media across organizational and geographical boundaries for a shared purpose (D’Souza & Colarelli, 2010). Research indicates virtual teams are becoming increasingly popular in organizations across the United States and the world (D’Souza & Colarelli, 2010; Rusman, van Bruggen, Sloep, & Koper, 2010). These teams vary in size, degree of geographic dispersion, prior shared work experience, nature of assignment, and expectations of a common future (Rusman et al., 2010). Although virtual teams have potential advantages like the removal of physical boundaries, the ability to form new partnerships, and optimization of competencies (Chinowsky & Rojas, 2003), they also introduce many challenges that may not be as prevalent in traditional teams.
The successful passing of information creates an important bond between virtual team members. “Without creating the connections, a virtual team can’t do what it needs to; function as a cohesive unit” (Thompson, n.d., Introduction section, ¶2). Information should be specific to the task at hand with a common goal in mind. Complete and accurate information not only helps a team reach its goal, but it also avoids problems and conflicts that arise between members. The importance of clear, concise information in a virtual team can not be stressed enough; however, timing should also be considered when sharing information. Information not received in a timely fashion also jeopardizes the cohesiveness of the team.
The virtual organization is a network of independent suppliers, customers, and even competitors, generally tied together by computer technology (Roger, 1991). They share skills, costs, and access to markets. It is tend to have flat structures in which information and decision making move horizontally (Judith R.G, 2002). Through the support of modern electronic system, it becomes possible to link people across formal organizational boundaries (Judith, 2002, quoted in S.G. Straus, S.P. Weisband, and J.M. Wilson, 1998).
Teams have been around for many years. It is vital for members who are a part of any team to work together so that their labor is not in vain. A major advantage for working cohesively as teams is greater output and interpersonal skills. The drawback of not working in uniformity can lead to project delays and time constraints. Organizations create teams with the purpose of fulfilling certain obligations and acquiring business success. Roming (1996) states that togetherness and dependability means that members within the team assist each other and the team. Which in turn, yields a better-quality product.
There are four different types of teams. These teams are problem-solving teams, self-managed work teams, cross-functional teams, and virtual teams. Problem-solving teams work together to help find methods to improve the work environment or have suggestions to increase employee’s morale. Self-managed work teams organize the responsibilities of the employee’s such as assigning tasks to individuals, scheduling conflicts, and evaluate employee performances. Cross-functional teams are individuals whom all have experience in the same work field. The individuals come together as a team to incorporate their thoughts, designs, and new ideas to accomplish what the company needs to improve or create. Virtual teams are individuals that work together, but only by technology such as the internet, emails, or web cam.
Virtual teams – virtual team is one of the most popular teams in every organization because in virtual team the member are separated in different nation and use technologies to communicate to accomplish their goal on the time.
The rapid progression and improvement in information and communication technology has led to modern organisation finding new ways to work. One of these innovation ways is using work group. More organisations are now becoming global than ever, which means they rely on distributed teams to carry out certain tasks (Nedelko, Z, 2007). Although now a days most jobs require a degree of individual and group work and it is left to the management to identify which method might be appropriate for the task (Belbin, M, 2007). In this essay I will be looking at how organisation can use work group to their advantage, and the different factors that can affect a work group’s performance. In addition, I will also be discussing when is it appropriate to use work group and individual, and discus whether an organisation can reply solely on work group to be for it to be successful.