Virtual Teams
“Far-flung teams can be remarkably
productive, even outperforming groups whose members work side by
side. But to make these teams succeed, you have to follow new rules
about how to manage them”
Ann Majchrzak, Arvind
Malhotra, Jeffrey Stamps and Jessica Lipnack, “Can Absence Make a
Team Grow Strong”, Harvard Business Review May 2004
Virtual teams, where team-members work at
different locations, sometimes even in different time-zones and
continents, are becoming increasingly common. No where is this more
true than in the transport and logistics sector, where teams around
the world often have to collaborate effectively in order to
effectively service global customers, for example.
The growth in virtual teams is not just out of
necessity. Evidence suggests virtual teams are often more productive
than collocated groups: they can be more innovative because the
individuals working in different environments often approach the
same problem from different perspectives, broadening the range of
solutions discussed and developed. Virtual teams can often include
more talented individuals, as members can be recruited over a wider
geography. And because virtual teams can span across department and
company boundaries, they are often useful tools for getting partner
organisations to work together more effectively.
Virtual teamwork presents a number of difficult
challenges, however. In a virtual team, it is harder for members to
keep track of project progress, raise ideas and concerns with other
team members, support one another and learn from one another. It is
trickier to effectively resolve conflict and disagreement between
members. And conflict and disagreement is more likely in virtual
teams, because the scope for misunderstanding is much greater.
Three factors are critical to the success of
virtual teams
- Effective management. Managers of virtual teams need to
adopt different strategies than those of collocated teams
- Team member behaviour. Team members need to understand the
challenges and potential pitfalls of working in a virtual team, and
adopt appropriate behaviours to meet those challenges
- Effective technology use. The right technology, used in
the right way, can significantly impact virtual team productivity:
increasing shared understanding between team members, empowering
members to help and support one another, making it easy for members
keep track of overall project progress and giving members the
opportunity to contribute more effectively
At Bestshore, we can help you and the virtual
teams you belong to work together more effectively:
- Virtual team coaching
- We work with the managers of virtual teams, and whole
groups of distributed workers, to improve virtual team
effectiveness
- We have extensive experience working with and as part of
effective virtual teams
- We have deep theoretical insight into the kinds of
behaviours necessary to effective virtual teaming, and keep it
up-to-date by keeping tabs on the growing body of research
literature on distributed work
- Technology for virtual teams
- We design and develop technology solutions to get your
virtual team working together more effectively
- We are first and foremost a technology solutions
provider. We have a proven track record of choosing the
appropriate technology platform to meet individual team needs. We
have developed solutions using both Groove Networks and Microsoft
collaboration platforms
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