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Characteristics for virtual teams
Virtual teams introduction
Comparison between virtual and traditional teams
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Overview of Virtual teams
Virtual teams are groups of individuals spread across the globe and in different time zones that use specific software and electronic communication technology to interact with each other, to effectively perform work related tasks, hence the term "virtual team" or graphically dispersed teams (GDTs) (Sessa, Hansen and Pretridge, 1999).
(Virtual team, 2007, ¶ 8) suggests there are different types of virtual teams;
• Networked team – individuals who get together to work on a particular task for a given purpose.
• Parallel teams – quick fixers who make recommendations to improve a system or process.
• Project or Product-development teams – Work on projects within time constraints for users or customers.
• Work or production teams - Carry out regular and continuous work, normally in one function.
• Management teams – Work collaboratively on a daily basis.
• Action teams – activated in quick response to an (mostly) emergency situation.
Lifecycle of a team
According to Brown, Huettner and James-Tanny (2007) the lifecycle stages of virtual teams consists of;
• Forming: Exciting trial balloon phase
• Storming: Various challenges will arise
• Norming: With teambuilding and with use of protocols and processes, things settle down, and every-one knows what’s expected of them
• Performing: Team works well together
• Testing: Specifications and other features are verified and tested.
• Adjourning: Finish up, evaluation; prepare to move onto other things.
An effective team has a shared team focus, expertise, capability and desire to do it Brown et al (2007).
Reasons for a Virtual team
• Perfect platform for individuals to collaboratively work on a task.
• Expands a company’s potential employee base to scope for various and skilled talent.
• Keep up with changing technological advances.
• Growing globalisation of organisations (Virtual team, 2007).
• Perform specialised tasks/projects with a concentrated group of highly skilled individuals who could otherwise not be brought together due to real world issues.
• Competitive advantage.
• Allows people of different parts of the globe to work together and gets around time-zone, cultural and disability differences (Virtual team, 2007).
• Reduces company costs, such as travel, office space, and overhead expenses.
• Prospective global marketing of products, services with fresh ideas from individuals with “inside” geographical and market knowledge.
Challenges
Trust
It is hard to replicate the atmosphere that creates trust within the virtual environment, according to Edwards and Wilson (2001) this is the defining factor as to whether or not 1 year after the initial input of the virtual team programme whether participants continue to collaborate, and take ownership over tasks. It is found participation slumps after a year if team building does not take place.
From personal experience the word team is best described as a group of colleagues focused together to solve a challenge and effectively reaching an outcome that goes beyond the team’s original expectations as well as those of the client/customer and...
According to Northouse (2012), team leadership has become one of the most popular theories of leadership research. A team refers to a group of employees within an organization, who are interdependent of each, and share a common goal which can only be realized through coordination of their activities. Actually, this can be attributed to the fact that team members typically have dissimilar and unique roles that represent critical contributions to collective action. It goes without mentioning that a team can either be virtual or non-virtual (Tiffan, 2014).
When they have been used correctly, they’ve been shown to improve efficiency and profitability in organizations. “Developing team skills is important because of the tremendous explosion in the use of teams in work organizations over the last decade (Developing Management Skills).” An examination of these models will show the similarities and differences they have in the context of team building. Four Stages Model “The Forming – Norming – Storming – Performing model of team development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. This model has become the basis for subsequent models of team dynamics and frequently used management theory to describe the behavior of existing teams (Wikipedia).”
I found working within a team enabled us to spread responsibility and we determined ...
It is well known that the team work is far better than performing a task individually. Such kind of practice plays a very important role in software engineering. A lot of things can be achieved together with the combination of diversified people, as they input different tactics and skills so that the main objective of a certain mission can be accomplished appropriately. Even though teaming up and working for a project is essential and helpful; there exist some issues that could bring interruptions and conflicts in the team.
Teams are groups of people who work together to achieve a common goal (Learning Team Handbook, p 310). Workplace teams are increasing as businesses find the yield of team productivity and creativity exceeds individual productivity/creativity. To promulgate productive teams, businesses have had to identify common threads for successful teams. Businesses have identified the dynamics and needs of successful teams.
Larson, C. and LaFasto, F. (1989), Teamwork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong. Newberry Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Videoconferencing in Virtual Teams, The Business Review, 7(1) p.164-170.
The third phase is norming. This is when team member have an agreement on who does what, the roles and responsibilities are clear and acceptable. Decisions can be delegated to individuals within the group. The team discusses and develops its processes and working methods. Furthermore a leader is also picked which is general respect other member and some leadership is more shared by the team to develop everyone skills.
A virtual team is a group of people working interdependently via various types of electronic media across organizational and geographical boundaries for a shared purpose (D’Souza & Colarelli, 2010). Research indicates virtual teams are becoming increasingly popular in organizations across the United States and the world (D’Souza & Colarelli, 2010; Rusman, van Bruggen, Sloep, & Koper, 2010). These teams vary in size, degree of geographic dispersion, prior shared work experience, nature of assignment, and expectations of a common future (Rusman et al., 2010). Although virtual teams have potential advantages like the removal of physical boundaries, the ability to form new partnerships, and optimization of competencies (Chinowsky & Rojas, 2003), they also introduce many challenges that may not be as prevalent in traditional teams.
In David Wright’s “The Myths and Realities of Teamwork,” (Wright, D., 2013), he outlines six myths that are ubiquitous and perpetuated by many people. Here is a short examination of all six.
Virtual teams – virtual team is one of the most popular teams in every organization because in virtual team the member are separated in different nation and use technologies to communicate to accomplish their goal on the time.
The first stage in developing a team as it relates to group dynamics is forming, this is the stage where team members come together and they question what they are therefore, who else is a part of the team, who they are comfortable with, and this enables them to get involved as well as allowing the team the opportunity to introduce themselves to each other. The second stage is storming, and in this stage the team members begin to voice their opinions and differences as well as align themselves with others who share their same beliefs. This is an important stage for the team because team members will begin to become more involved with one another, and when they voice their concerns, they can feel like they are being represented and understood. The third stage is norming in the stage team members begin to establish a shared common commitment to the purpose of why the team is there, where they can establish their overall goals and how the goals are going to be achieved. In the fourth stage, known as performing, the team works effectively and efficiently to gather towards achieving the goal.
When we think of the word team, individually many different ideas may come to mind about what a team really is. Some may think of an NFL team (Tennessee Titans), an NBA team (Sacramento Kings), or a NASA astronaut team with such pioneers as Edwin Aldrin, Jr. and Neil Armstrong as members. You might even think of the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, or Marines as teams. In fact they all are, and they have a great deal in common as teams. However, for the purposes of this paper I will examine the characteristics of work teams, as they apply to organizations and I will supply answers to the following questions: What is a team? Where did the team concept come from? What are the types of teams? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having teams in organizations? What does it take to make a team effective?
Many businesses place an emphasis on the importance of teamwork. A good team consists of people with different skills, abilities and characters. A successful team is able to blend these differences together to enable the organisation to achieve its desired objectives.