IT support for virtual teams - Essay Example

IT SUPPORT FOR VIRTUAL TEAMS IT Support for Virtual Teams Affiliation In an attempt to support project management, globalizationand compete in this ever-increasing competitive world, organizations are more and more building and implementing virtual teams. On the other hand, these teams have to perform their tasks within the limitations of the issues which are introduced to them by the distance, as a result not for all time supporting useful coordination and collaboration, visibility, communication and mutual cooperation to take place (Casey & Richardson, 2006; Gould, 2006).

In addition, a virtual team is normally composed of people who work from home or any other location. There are a numerous reasons why virtual teams are turning out to be so popular these days. The basic reason is the reality that we live in the information age, as different to the industrial age. In view of the fact that the information travels at the speed of light, and those who have access to the most modern and fastest communication and collaboration technologies are capable to send data quickly.

The capability to transmit data and information at fast speeds, combined with the power of the web, has caused the formation of "virtual corporations." However, the most influential aspect of the virtual team is that it is not limited to their physical location. In addition, virtual teams are as well extremely efficient for the reason that they do not have any "off" hours. For instance, in case of a traditional business environment, where all their staff members are available at the same location, has an 8 hour-work per day.

On the other hand, in a virtual environment virtual team members have a 24 hour-work per day. For instance, when the workers in one time zone are inactive, the others are operational. Thus, virtual teams are able to get more done in a small period of time as compared to the traditional teams. A virtual team can contain members from all over the world. It can comprise knowledge and expertise from any culture and any country (Exforsys Inc., 2009).Figure 1Communication in virtual teamsTraditionally, a project team refers to a social group of individuals who are collocated and mutually dependent in their jobs.

In fact, they carry out and organize their tasks to attain common objectives and contribute to task for effective results. Virtual teams have objectives similar to the traditional teams, however, they use different infrastructure as compared to traditional project teams. In this scenario, they perform their tasks without having the limitations of time, organizational boundaries and geographical locations associated with communication technologies. Thus, the virtual team is considered as contradictory from the traditional team due to the fact that its members are located across geographical regions.

Additionally, virtual teams are normally implemented and managed in multilingual and multicultural surroundings, which can be away from organizational boundaries. They communicate via virtual technologies such as the Internet or mobile phone or chatting software (Casey & Richardson, 2006; Gould, 2006; DeRosa & Lepsinger, 2010).In addition, a virtual team can comprise team members from different nations with different background, culture, rules and laws so it can be a challenge for a virtual team to obey so many different laws.

A virtual team can have different limitations as well. It is difficult for a company to access a team member urgently because he can be contacted at specific time according to his country. There can be language difference. There can be difference in understanding. In addition, moral values can also vary from team member to team member. There can difference in laws and standards.ReferencesCasey, V., & Richardson, I. (2006). Uncovering the reality within virtual software teams. GSD 06 Proceedings of the 2006 international workshop on Global software development for the practitioner (pp. 66-72). New York: ACM Association for Computing Machinery.DeRosa, D. M.

, & Lepsinger, R. (2010). Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance. Pfeiffer.Exforsys Inc. (2009, April 20). Virtual Team Definition and Concept. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/virtual-team/virtual-team-definition-and-concept.htmlGould, D. (2006, June 05). Fifth Generation Work - Virtual Organization. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://www.seanet.com/~daveg/vrteams.htm