Good Essay About Teams Management In Virtual Environment

Virtual teams enable teamwork in environments where team members are not collocated i.e. not working from the same physical office. Companies and other organizations are increasingly using virtual teams as a means of cutting travel, real estate, relocation and other related business costs (MBA@UNC, 2015). The same principles that governed traditional teams are essentially used in governing virtual teams too. However, there is one fundamental difference which is the way members in these teams communicate. Virtual teams rely on modern communication technologies as opposed to face-to-face communication.

The benefits of virtual teams are;

Space: The members have to the virtual office from any part of the world. This gives them the freedom to choose their working space.

Money: The Company saves on rent whereas the employees save on transportation costs to and from work.

Virtual teams challenges
Difficult in establishing trust; in virtual teams trust is not based on social bonds rather on performance consistency. This is because there is a limited one-on-one interaction in such teams. To overcome this challenge the manager needs to encourage timely and consistent interactions within the team members but this is a challenge that the members alone can solve.
The challenge of identifying team members with both a mix of both technical and interpersonal skills. This challenge arises due to the fact that most of the virtual teams are recruited online. To overcome this challenge the manager should use behavioral interviewing techniques should be used.
Inability to read nonverbal communication or cues: This arises due to the fact that most team communication is via use of modern technologies. This challenge makes communication to be impersonal or mechanical.
Lack of collegiality among the team members: The fact that members work from different places may lead to lack of cooperation. To overcome this the manager needs to outline the objectives to all team member where possible coach team members to inspire them to work as a team.
Difficulties in managing conflict. Conflict is better managed on a one on one session with the affected parties giving their side of the story and their opinions. However, this is not possible in virtual teams (MBA@UNC, 2015).
If I were assigned to manage the team, I could first make sure I engage the team members on a regular basis so as to create trust with the team members. I could also make sure that all the team members understand the goals and objectives of their task or activities; this is likely to foster a spirit of cooperation. I would also come up with a performance measuring criteria and to regularly asses the performance of the teams, with the aim of providing the team members necessary feedback for improvement.

References

MBA@UNC,. (2015). Virtual Team Challenges | MBA@UNC. Retrieved 11 April 2015, from http://onlinemba.unc.edu/research-and-insights/developing-real-skills-for-virtual-teams/virtual-team-challenges/