Christian Leadership Alliance
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Dealing with Difficult People
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Virtual Teams
| posted 11/07/2007
In today's competitive business environment, where innovation and "speed to market" are crucial, virtual teams have emerged as a new form of collaborative work. They are designed specifically to meet the many challenges associated with global and mobile team membership. Advances in communication technologies (i.e., voicemail, fax, groupware, e-mail) provide the options of flexibility and mobility needed to enhance team performance across geographic boundaries. Members of a virtual team face new challenges, both organizationally and personally, as they learn to communicate by using the multiple forms of electronic communication made available to them.
A virtual team is defined as a group of geographically and organizationally dispersed knowledge workers; they are brought together across time and space through information and communication technologies on an as-needed basis in response to specific customer needs or to complete unique projects. Virtual teams are located at different work sites, or travel frequently, and must rely upon communication technologies to share information, collaborate, and coordinate their work efforts. They appear in many companies as new offices expand around the world and the trend toward home offices and telecommuting increases.
Characteristics of Virtual Teams
In the mad rush to implement virtual teams, companies may underestimate the need to plan and design around the differences inherent in virtual teams. Assuming that employees can make the transition to a virtual work team environment without planning and design is like sending them on a collision course with disaster. Creating virtual teams is not as easy as pulling together a cross-functional team to solve a problem. Because the makeup and locations of the team can be quite heterogeneous, unprepared team members collide with mistrust, unrealistic or unequal expectations, cultural differences, coordinating work logistics, group dynamics, and leadership issues.
Cynthia Cantu, from the Center for the Study of Work Teams at the University of North Texas, has determined a number of key elements that must be planned for within virtual teams. These include:
- Trust—Employees from different locations, cultures, and technical backgrounds may mistrust how their information will be used.
- Expectations—Without the usual organizational walls to serve as general parameters, virtual teams need guidelines up front. These enable the team to set personal as well as team expectations for what they are and are not allowed to do. Managing expectations up front is necessary in a creative environment like a virtual team to offset frustration with the system and other team members.
