Working On A Virtual Team

1754 Words4 Pages

Problem
Working on a virtual team, or as Daim, et al. (2012) described it, "culturally diverse, geographically dispersed, electronically-connected workgroups" (p. 202) moves the team members away from the traditional, face to face communication. As Daim, et al. (2012) continues, "team members struggle to effectively communicate and work with one another" (p. 202) as traditional communication channels are replaced with an assortment of tools.
The tools available today to facilitate communication in the virtual world are varied. As Pauleen and Yoong (2001) cites, "Virtual teams may communicate and work synchronously or asynchronously through such technologies as electronic mail, bulletin boards, audio/video/data conferencing, automated workflow, electronic voting and collaborative writing (Coleman, 1997)" (p. 2-3). Each of the tools available for communication have different idiosyncrasies, and some are more suited for selected tasks than others.
The skills required to effectively use the communication tools are referred to as "soft" skills, and these skills have to be developed and fostered. Zaugg and Davies (2013) describe soft skills as skills that "not connected to the technical skills required to complete the task" (Intro, para. 2) Zaugg and Davies continue, "Understanding how the soft communication skills develop and unfold on GV teams becomes a critical element of successful GV teams" (Intro, para. 3). This concept is reiterated by Pauleen, Yoong (2001), "Another issue that can be a factor is team member competence in using various technologies. This may be an organisational training issue, but in some cases it may be a member-selection issue (Jarvenpaa et al, 1998) as some people may have a psychological dislike for c...

... middle of paper ...

... the report provided complete bibliographic information to allow the reader to reference the original material.
The report focuses on important conditions on which project managers must focus while working in a dispersed virtual team. There are many factors included in the report as there are many factors which will either help or hinder a team on its quest to accomplish work. The topics of communication efficiency and communication rules are frequently mentioned as being strongly correlated to the success of the team. The paper does not contain a list of specific rules and guidelines, but quotes provided by research subjects mention some rules implemented within some virtual teams.
This paper will provide a good foundational basis for my research paper in that it highlights the fact that having rules for communication has been demonstrated to help ensure success.

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