Structuring Virtual Teams Introduction With the increasing progression of modern technology, and the paramount development of employee expectations, society has seen great shifts in globalization. Organizations have created new and innovative ways to teamwork, and many of today’s organizations have transformed their views from traditional teamwork, to a new phenomenon in that of virtual teams (Daft, 2012). Due to globalization, organizations have become cross functional, and utilizes modern technology such as e-mail, instant messaging, video-conferencing and other information technology platforms to collaborate and perform organizational tasks (Daft, 2012). In recent years we have seen an influx in the development and usage of …show more content…
Work Design Option Because of the challenges faced by virtual teams, many organizations that utilize them encounter significant obstacles to effective work processes (Piccoli & Ives, 2004). Team leaders must understand that a properly designed virtual team, with a solid team structure provides the foundation for effective team performance and offers a viable strategic approach (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). Although there are various views on virtual team structures and their effectiveness, research suggest that there are no specific criteria’s to distinguish teams in terms of their virtual structures, as a result, the most common way of understanding virtual team structures is through the observation of their organizational chart (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). However, due to globalization, and the fact that many virtual teams today are comprised of individuals in various geographical locations, virtual team designs go far beyond a typical organizational chart. Virtual leaders should understand that an effective work design must address the contextual elements, and the process and procedures that individual team members bring to the team (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). McLean (2014), suggest that there is no true effective approach to virtual team structures (McLean, 2014), therefore, it is vital that team leaders realize that paramount to the success of the
325.2.2: Improving Team Performance - The graduate analyzes the performance of a virtual team and proposes strategies to improve team effectiveness.
/ The mentioned research in this article by McIntyre and Salas could be one of basic steps in understanding the team work aspects. Undoubtedly, it can be used related to future research in favour of finding solutions in this regard. (McIntyre & Salas 1995,p. 41). The military teams focus on researches in order to understand the major aspect of team working. As it is mentioned in this article, some similarities can be found among military or non-military organizations concerning hierarchical structure and strategic decision making. Moreover, it is almost challenging to find exact number from real life in order to make statistical assessment, and it’s very costly to hire people from their actual profession to conduct research on artificial environment (McIntyre & Salas ,1995, p. 35). Another important point that should be considered is that the study concentrated on team working instead of working individually. Over the study period, the required data are gotten through interviews and also daily base forms. Based on the forms and conversations results , nineteen key principles are found which are the necessary and important aspects (findings) of team working. The importance of the team leader role is noticeable to obtain the defined targets. In this regard, team leader has the key role in a team and also should accept the main
Part of being a manager for a company is managing teams. These teams can be created for many different reasons and can have various goals put upon them. Companies want managers that are capable of constructing teams that can effectively meet goals and set standards. The four types of work teams most commonly found in organizations are: problem-solving, self-managed, cross-functional, and virtual. In completing the simulation for this course, I will use cross-functional work teams as a foundation for my investigation of effective team management.
Executives refer to business as a team sport for a variety of reasons. First, many business organizational structures arrange departments either in cross specialty teams or task oriented teams based on operational design and expected outcomes. These teams are designed with members who are assigned roles that increase overall team productivity. The team members bring talents, knowledge and a skill set that uniquely contributes to collective intelligence and resourcefulness. Through collaboration and team work, Successful teams achieve synergy, or “exceeds the sum of each individual’s contribution”.
Virtual teams have emerged to mitigate the challenges of managing teams that are distributed across different regions, and are a sustainable component of global business. A project manager managing a virtual team would have to integrate communication strategies, project management techniques including human and social processes in order to support the team, (Kimball, 1997). The author is a project manager assigned to lead a virtual team of 300 volunteers located across the globe to develop recommendations for regulating carbon emissions in the world. As indicated Kimball (1997), this kind of a virtual team usually supports people working in the same professional field and most of the
The purpose of the paper is first to identify the three main types of organizational structures and provided positive and negative attributes for each. Secondly, to elaborates on the general systems theory and boundaryless organizations. Additionally, it compares the challenges, pros, and cons of the virtual and traditional teams. Lastly, it differentiates a shareholder from a stakeholder and addresses the concept of emerging stakeholders.
Beyond Teams was written to identify the 10 major principles that define collaborative teams within organizations. Based on the preface and outline the reader in inclined to accept the authors conclusions based on the collaboration of authors and mix of their backgrounds. The ten major principles concept grabs the reader’s attention and leaves the reader wanting to know more about these principles. The
In today's competitive world, companies are gradually vacating their cubicles and enter into the virtual workforce to increase work efficiency, reduce cost and resolve organizational problems (Ahmed & Ebrahim, 2009). Nowadays, companies are investing a bulk amount of money on virtual teams to enhance their performance since it has become an indispensable prerequisite for companies to stay in competitive in the era of globalization (Ahmed & Ebrahim, 2009). Virtual teams consist of members from different cultural backgrounds who work in various organizations with different set of standards and members of the virtual teams have the least probability to meet in person
This week, we discussed the four different team types, which are: high performance, self-directed, virtual, and cross functional (Von Glinow & McShane, 2016). The three types of teams that were used while I worked at Cheeseburger in Paradise were cross-functional, self-directed and high performance. Cross-functionality was important because the completion of one person’s job was highly dependent on another person completing their job. For instance, I was a server, once I put in my
Teamwork is essential to the smooth running of many projects, organisations and companies. Much research has been conducted into the effectiveness of teams and their contributions to organisational success.
It has always been my opinion that I work better in face-to-face encounters. I believed that I interviewed better in person, that my work ethic was stronger alone, and that ultimately groups could accomplish more when in the same physical space. I neglected to consider the benefits of working virtually with a team. In reality, I did not think that virtual teams truly existed – I always thought that members would ultimately have to meet in person at some point. I also thought that presentations must always be done face-to-face and that sensitive issues could never be resolved online. Simply said, I underestimated virtual teams and the benefits of collaborating with others
The value of communication was viewed within the context of virtual teams, as participants reported feeling valued by fellow team members and believing that these virtually-oriented coworkers exhibited tangible aspects of care in their interactions with them. This appears to confirm analysis provided by Dunn, Grumman, Raisinghani, & Stalling (2015) that identifies communication as a crucial component within virtual teams. Based upon this internal and external evidence, the recommendation is ensuring that effective communication takes place at all phases of team operations and that team leaders ensure that each member has ample opportunity to express ideas and to be heard. Leaders should also innovate in terms of how they establish communication channels within a team context as this capability appears to have a direct bearing on team member
In today’s complex and ever changing environment, organization continue to experiment with new forms of team development. Some of the most successful teams bring together employees with different talents and perspectives. In this research report, my aim is to have a clear and deep research on teamwork and how it affects businesses so that I can help Tina and Frank who is coming back from overseas to start their own business. Before could anybody start their business, it is very important to learn certain aspects. Team work is one among them. I have included some of the important information I collected through my research in order to help Tina and Frank succeed in their business.
The team that I would like to discuss going virtual would be the Academic Advising team at Baker College. The newly designed virtual team would be answering all student questions by email, phone or chat. Academic Advisors work from home; the position would be completely remote. An economic advantage of this virtual team for Baker College would be the decrease in office supplies (paper, ink, office space and shredding services).
First, despite the absence of a formal leadership structure within TeamPark, organized teams are destined to evolve de novo without external directive. Prior to the new platform, Sogeti had a project based model where groups functioned freely and independently. However, despite a global presence, the project groups were silos bound by an inability to share ideas, knowledge, and experiences across the global organization. With the new platform, the more vertical oriented management and leadership model becomes horizontal through interactions occurring across silos. (Desiser, 2013) Much of the social interaction may be between individuals seeking information and exchanging ideas; however, it is certain that organized virtual teams will arise around common objectives. For example, there could be one group within