Virtual and Collaborative Teams Organization - Assignment Example

Number] Virtual Teams In this fast moving world, technology has taken over almost every field. In businesses, hospitals, educational institutions, and even in international relations, people are communicating and forming networks through various means of technologies that offer them enough opportunities to stay connected with anyone they wish to despite their geographical location. The nature of work has thus changed and enhanced in the organizations as stakeholders, employees, and competitors communicate with one another through virtual teams. These teams allow the organizational groups to communicate and form networks with people from all over the world that helps in their management, business, and better relationships. The virtual teams are highly operative in every big business today and they serve for many purposes resulting in profits (Plump 54). This paper will talk about the various challenges and barriers that can take place due to the virtual teams; it will also talk about how these teams are managed and what are their implications. The nature of teams has been changed as the advances in networking, communication technologies, and the expansion of the global economy significantly took place. Organizations have become more distributed cross-geography and across industries. Relationships between stakeholders in the organizations and those previously considered external stakeholders such as suppliers, customers, and communities are becoming increasingly important. Organizations have discovered the value of collaborative work and are forced to change work processes. Hence, today there is a new kind of work group virtual team made up of people who communicate electronically through several modes such as social media. In these teams, members hardly see each other in person and at times, they never meet at all except in cyberspace (Wise 87). A virtual team is defined as a group of individuals who have links strengthened by networks and communication technology to work across geographical and organizational boundaries. These teams work together to accomplish their goals and organizational tasks. These members do not meet in actual; they usually communicate electronically and carry out their tasks. Communication between organizations and people become easier through the electronic devices and mediums. A large number of members can be included and ideas can be shared and discussed. Organizations are allowed to trade, communicate, and create better relationships despite geographical boundaries (Wise 88). Virtual teams are managed by leaders and they can face many challenged in the smooth running of these meetings and networks. Forming a virtual team can be one of the most challenging parts about the virtual teams. Many organizations have reportedly failed to form a successful virtual team. The virtual leaders often face challenges with establishment of trust, communication conflicts, cultural diversity, and complexities in data exchange. Technology concerns can be counted as the biggest challenge as these teams are based on communication and if the right mode of communication is not chosen, the teams might fail to accomplish the goals. Establishing trust can be another major challenge as all the communication is done virtually and no one ever meets face to face. It is thus the leader’s role to establish a good communication with the team members that is positive, clear, and constructive (Robert 69). Building trust is very important to ensure positivity and collaboration amongst the team members. Trust is seen as the factor that leads to team confidence and cohesion. A team’s confidence and unity is what influences its success. Building trust can be very challenging as the leader must get the members of the team to trust each other without meeting them ever. This challenge can be overcome by certain actions taken by the leader which includes setting face time which enables all members to frequently talk to each other and get familiar, setting goals and expectations which motivates the members and allows them to reach their targets, determining team members’ competences by differentiating their roles and educating all members about it, and fostering cultural understandings to create ease in trusting and respecting one another (Robert 66). Communication difficulties can also be very challenging as it is very important to choose the right type of communication method. Virtual teams communicate through indirect methods such as phone calls, emails, video messages, and instant messages. These methods of communication can cause difficulties as team members must be able to use these methods properly and they must know which method should be used at which time since choosing the wrong method can create misunderstandings. Leaders usually decide which method of communication is suitable for which type of message or discussion. For this, training in communication skills is essential for leaders as it helps in accomplishing the virtual team goals (Stamps 15). Cultural diversity can also be a challenge in forming virtual teams as members can belong to diversified cultures. Cultural diversity doesn’t only create personal differences but they also create challenges because members communicate orally and in written form according to their cultures. These differences may also cause different perceptions of members in carrying out tasks. These cultural differences may become the biggest reason for the lack of unity and coordination in a virtual team. Cultural differences can be geographic and organization. Complexities in data exchange can also be a challenge for virtual leaders as they have to ensure that all data is exchanged efficiently and on the required time. The management of the virtual teams is a difficult task. The best way to manage such teams is to choose the right leadership. The success and failure of the virtual teams is mostly dependent on the virtual leaders. The virtual leader must be trustworthy and must gain respect from all the members. These leaders must encourage and motivate their team to contribute to the tasks and share a relationship of mutual respect and understanding. This can be done through video tours which make the team familiar to one another forming a better understanding. Leaders must know that building and managing these relationships is an ongoing process that must go on. Leaders must also create a personal relationship amongst team members through sharing their backgrounds and personal moments with one another. Leaders must also encourage open dialogues and allow team members to share ideas and opinions freely and openly. Goals and guidelines must also be clarified at all times for the members (Godar 77). Other ways of managing such teams is to have the right ‘touchpoints’. Virtual teams will be managed properly if certain points are ensured such as a kickoff in the beginning with a face-to-face meeting if possible. Management becomes easier of the team is created and set off with a high boost. An initial meeting can be very helpful as body language and eye-contact will help in creating better trust and understanding. Leaders must also introduce and present farewells to the members who are entering or leaving the virtual team. This would keep the working smooth without any hindrance due to adding or leaving members. In order to manage the team and keep them coordinated and motivated, it is important for virtual leaders to set milestones. In order to keep the momentum, emails and video conferences are not enough. As members are not meeting with each other it might make them less engaged and disconnected. In order to keep the members together, short-term goals must be set and achievements must be celebrated frequently. Management of the virtual teams also includes the assurance of a right team at all times. The team composition, not only in the start, but throughout is very important. The people that are chosen for the virtual team must at all times share certain qualities such as good communication skills, the willingness to participate, and the ability to work independently as well as in teams. Personality tests should be carried out and behavioural interviews should be conducted to keep a record of the team members’ emotional well being. The size of the teams must also be managed according to the nature of work, the requirements, and the methods of communication chosen. Smaller teams are more efficient and easier to handle than extensively larger teams (Fisher 143). The technological tools that are used in working with virtual teams are software, hardware, and technology that support them. The network infrastructure is the backbone of all the virtual teams which enables the organizations to operate in a borderless system. The tools are technology driven and they are used to facilitate communication between the teams. There are collaboration tools which allow the virtual teams to interact in a successful manner just like traditional teams. The teams include enterprise wiki that are very popular as they allow online editing of documents which is an ideal tool for virtual teams. Document management system is another technological tool which is used in virtual teams as it allows storing, archiving, sharing, and retrieving documents. Since virtual team members are sharing a virtual identity from different physical locations, this centralized document management system helps in providing a mechanism through which members can share documents. These mechanisms may also implement security policies for team members. Communication tools are the ones which focus on information sharing. These tools facilitate the information across the organization and in a trusted and secure format. Some types of communication tools are meeting and conferencing virtually as there are no face-to-face interactions. Meetings are frequently set up and these communication tools are advanced as they have features more than just voice transmission. They are able to transfer voice, video, and document sharing mechanisms as well. The instant messaging systems are the tools which allow quick communication between the members. This tool is faster and more economical. Enterprise portals and blogs are also quick ways to publish information and physically spread out to the audience. They don’t have any codes required and are highly cost effective. Blogs and discussion boards are also a part of the program that encourages an interactive session between members (Stamps 15). The techniques used in the technological infrastructure are the intangible ways that are applied to make a successful virtual team. These techniques are competencies and skill which is important in every kind of team in an organization. The virtual team requires competencies and skills that help in accomplishing the tasks. Feedback is another technique through which a virtual leader can insight the members’ views and look for opportunities to improve. The clarification of rules and responsibilities is also a communication technique that an enterprise must have to ensure collaborative teamwork. Ownership and accountability must be established to avoid conflicting opinions and contradicting statements. The technological infrastructure is the most important factor in the virtual teams to enable growth and success. The infrastructural stability is what determines the success of the collaborative working of the virtual team. The financial implication of virtual teams is that they are used mainly because they are highly cost effective and easily maintained. Due to the increased costs of travelling and forming traditional teams with skilled experts under one roof, organizations have taken over the trend of virtual teams as it brings together experts from all over the world together in one place. These virtual teams are cost effective as all what is needed for the initial system is the technological tools such as internet, computers, Smartphone, or video recorders. Organizations pay the virtual team members only for the time that they spend in discussions and in fulfilling the tasks. These members may not have full time jobs and they may not be working under the organizational infrastructure. The organizational implications of virtual teams are that they make the organizations less crowded and allow all types of people to participate in fulfilling the tasks. It gives the employees a chance to communicate and interact through an interesting way and know people from different parts of the worlds and cultures. However, it takes away the traditional system of organizations where team members worked together within an assigned physical place. Moreover, virtual teams can give problems to organizations such as lack of collaboration, increasing conflicts, and differences in time and space causing lack of coordination (Cohen 132). The technological implication is that organizations need skilled and trained virtual leaders that would manage the virtual teams and ensure communication is taking place effectively. It is important for all members of the virtual team to be skilled and educated about the technology that they are using and must have good communication skills in order to ensure a successful team. Also, members must know how to communicate with the members regarding different situations and which medium of communication to choose for different nature of tasks. The legal implications of virtual teams are highly important. Even though the virtual teams formed in organizations have many advantages such as greater flexibility, skilled ideas, cost efficiency, and increased collaboration, it can also create many legal issues at the same time. Virtual teams may commonly result in violating labour and personal laws and these results can be costly as laws have been strict ever since the communication technology has evolved. This can lead to a financial loss and a downward reputation for the organization. From the legal point of view, virtual teams can also lead to many issues of cyber security as information and data is shared and exchanged which can be misused or hacked into at any time (Cohen 132). Laws have been strict but cyber security laws are still developing and thus it becomes hard to trace a hacker. Such issues can result in severe consequences for the organizations. Conclusively, virtual teams are popularly formed in organizations of the 21st century as they are easier to establish and maintain. However, there can be many challenges, issues, and implications that must be gone through before virtual leaders carry out tasks through online networks. In this era, where there are challenges, there are also many possible solutions and ways through which the virtual teams can be managed and issues can be prevented. Thus leaders and organizations need to apply the correct techniques and principles when looking into forming virtual teams. Successful and growing virtual teams can bring economical benefit and a good name to the business. Work Cited Cohen, Susan. Virtual Teams That Work: Creating Conditions for Virtual Team Effectiveness. USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2003 Fisher, Mareen. Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams. USA: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2011 Godar, Susan. Virtual and Collaborative Teams: Process, Technologies, and Practice. USA: Idea Group, Inc, 2004 Plump, Carolyn. Navigating the Possible Legal Pitfalls of Virtual Teams. USA: Journal of Organizational Design, 2013 Robert, Jones. Working Virtually: Challenges of Virtual Teams. USA: Idea Group Inc, 2005 Stamps, Jeffrey. Virtual Teams: People Working Across Boundaries with Technology. USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2008 Wise, Thomas. Trust in Virtual Teams. USA: Gower Publishing, Ltd, 2013 Read More