S. Better, more knowledgeable people can be used in such projects, overcoming a potential weakness in collocated teams wherein the members are merely the best available, as opposed to the best (Phillips, n
Today, the labor relations are under constant pressures by the internal and external environments, and are forced to continually change and develop. One of the challenges facing modern day workforce includes the pressures of the changing role of the employee from the force operating the machine into the most valuable organizational asset (Berman and Knight, 2008) -- this is mostly obvious within the service providing companies, due to the importance of the intellectual capital
The virtual teams have to meet three specific criteria at the same time, meaning that they have to be functional, geographically dispersed and based on technology. More specifically, the virtual team: "It is a functioning team -- a collection of individuals who are interdependent in their tasks, share responsibility for outcomes, see themselves and are viewed by others as an intact social unit embedded in one or more social systems, and collectively manage their relationships across organizational boundaries The members of the team are geographically dispersed The team relies on technology-mediated communications rather than face-to-face interaction to accomplish their tasks" (Buhlmann)
The table below reveals some of the differences observable when using traditional and agile methods in the management of the virtual team. Traditional method Agile method Information Divided, accessible based on specific criteria Easily accessible to all Employees Micromanaged Empowered and responsible The team Fixed and organized Managed by a single manager Geographically located Shifting Multiple reporting structures within the team Geographically dispersed Interaction face-to-face Through various media, with the importance falling on the means in which the media are used Collaboration Occurs at fixed periods, when the team members interact in a fixed time and space Is ongoing and occurs in a boundariless manner Technology The use of technology is conflicting with an orientation towards people Technology is used in a people-oriented manner Failure of communication Blamed on technology Solved through technologic upgrading, but also through the evaluation and improvement of the management and interaction strategies Managing virtual teams Understood as the need to use technology in the management processes Perceived as the need to better comprehend teams and the collaboration process (Kimball, 1997)
The combination of these pressures -- alongside with others -- has lead to the creation of virtual teams. These virtually include people who work together to deliver a concept and attain a common goal, but from the physical standpoint, they work and function in different areas (Zofi, 2011)
What is critical for the formation of a virtual team is the ability to create high levels of cross-member and leader trust (Shipley, Johnson, Hashemi, 2009). Transformational leadership styles that seek to maximize the potential of each team members' abilities and also seek to also shield the team from unproductive politics in other areas of the organization is essential (Purvanova, Bono, 2009)
Yet in the context of any organization this can be achieved through the development of strategies that seek to provide virtual team members with autonomy and with virtual team leaders who can be honest and transparent on the one hand, yet demanding enough so that individual team contributors on the other will practice enough self-discipline to get their work done. This is a classic balance of McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y approaches to management (Sager, 2008)
These areas include competitive analysis, pricing analysis, programming or any other profession that is highly specialized yet capable of being accomplished by a single contributor in an organization. What is critical for the formation of a virtual team is the ability to create high levels of cross-member and leader trust (Shipley, Johnson, Hashemi, 2009)
Virtual team leaders have exceptionally high expectations as a result and need to continually progress to becoming transformational vs. transactional in their approach to managing (Siebdrat, Hoegl, Ernst, 2009)
This is a classic balance of McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y approaches to management (Sager, 2008). One the one hand a manager of a virtual team must create enough of a sense of ownership in the shared objectives to gain internalization of the goals by team members (Wakefield, Leidner, Garrison, 2008) yet on the other there must be a sense of duty and work ethic, and responsibility to the team as well (Sager, 2008)
The use of technology and two-way communication strategies could also be included here. Team members may, for example, experience a certain lack of opportunity to communicate their concerns to team leaders, where the latter feel that they are making the effort to create a positive environment for input in both respects (Kimball, 1997)
Also, emphasis is being placed on agreement, patience, communication, collaborative entertainment, collaborative development or the construction of strong relationships (Kolabora, 2010). (c) The extensive usage of technology to assign tasks, to manage the projects, to communicate, measure outcomes, clarify roles and responsibilities or to stimulate efficiency (Dev, 2003)
In order to answer the question, it is first imperative to point out some of the most notable practices of virtual team leadership. These refer to the following: (a) The building of a community which is constructed on mutual trust, respect and the affiliation of the team members to the same projects (Thompsen, 2000)
S. Army is actively experimenting with Wikis or online lookup systems, the use of Facebook-like approaches to virtual team communication and the adoption of secured XML links to ensure virtual team members can collaborate and communicate interactively with each other (Bernoff, Li, 2008)
All of these factors are contributing to the growth of telecommuting and will do so for the next decade. The one unifying factor regarding telecommuting is that even though there is great autonomy involved in providing an employee this opportunity to work from home, it can be isolating if the necessary technologies are not also in place to enable them to be more connected and communicative with their team members (Golden, Veiga, Dino, 2008)
Army requires its officers and commanders to complete cultural dimensions and cultural assimilation training before takin command of groups of virtual teams. Included in this training are examples of how to use the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Model (Hofstede, 1983) to evaluating differences between the five cultural dimensions which are included in the model's framework
The goal of creating more trust by giving virtual team members an opportunity to meet each other face-to-face while also providing for one-one-one conversations with the team leaders and in larger divisions, commanders, also helps to create more shared ownership of team goals as well. Creating more opportunities for teams to get to know each other in person helps social dynamics over the long-term, creating greater opportunities for knowledge sharing over time (Karayaz, 2008)
Organizations, whose strategic objectives rely on specific skills sets in specific locations, as is the case with supply chain and logistics functions, have found virtual teams to be highly effective (Barki, Pinsonneault, 2005). The potential for creating virtual teams to more efficiently streamline complex processes in supply chains showed early promise (Bal, Gundry, 1999) and has since led to the development of knowledge-based virtual teams that are strategic and process-driven in nature (Lee-Kelley, Sankey, 2008)
S. Army, groupware (Nedelko, 2008) or portals are often not accessible via public Internet access; the virtual team members must first access a secured site and then often used a secured Virtual Private Network (VPN) to gain access to the portal
A transformational leader of a virtual team can also do much to avert potential conflicts and even crises that may impact their team over time as well. Studies have shown that virtual team leaders who have high levels of transformational leadership in fact are just as effective as leaders who regularly see their subordinates face-to-face (Purvanova, Bono, 2009)