MNG81001 Management | Leading and Managing a Virtual Team

Answer:

Memorandum

To: The Marketing Director

From:

Date: 10^th August 2018

Subject: Identification of important areas that needs addressing while leading and managing a virtual team.

The modern age and the emergence of the advanced technologies of communication has enhanced the business operations to carry out their management in a smooth manner. The present requirements of the virtual teams are a challenging issue as there is hardly any face to face communication. This enables the employees to have a unique experience. As per the management decision of the Sydney headquarter, new marketing teams are being developed in New York, Mumbai, Sydney and Beijing. The main challenge that will be faced by the marketing team is to manage the virtual teams which are located at different geographical locations. The discussion will highlight the different aspects of managing a virtual team. The purpose of the discussion will focus on the challenges of managing a virtual team and thereafter the key aspects of the virtual team which will state its importance. The discussion will also explore the different reasons that are crucial for the formation of a virtual team.

The primary challenge of managing a virtual team is the lack of communication. The virtual teams face the lack of everyday communication, which leads to information loss (Daim et al. 2012). This results in the miscommunication which creates an unhealthy team environment. The result of these miscommunication leads to the lack of interaction between the team members which inhibits new innovations and the main purpose of the virtual teams that is the effectiveness of business communication. This type of miscommunication is the result of social interactions. The virtual teams hardly meet the other team members face to face which does not develop the professional friendly relation between them. This creates mismanagement as the team members are often unaware of the other member’s working condition while demanding result from them. This lack of social interaction creates barriers for the projects that the team works upon. Moreover, another challenge of managing a virtual team is the lack of trust that is the most common due to the lack of interaction between the team members. This happens due to the different work times of the team members (Pinjani and Palvia 2013). The team members cannot interact directly and hence are not aware of each other’s contribution towards the project. The lack of support and co-operation becomes more prominent in virtual teams.

Virtual teams are made up of people from different cultural backgrounds which is dependent on the different locations of the teams. The intercultural communication gap poses a major barrier for the proper functioning of the virtual teams. The team members have to be aware of the cultural backgrounds of the other team members in order to perform more efficiently (Lilian 2014).

However, despite these challenges the importance of virtual teams cannot be denied for the proper functioning of an organization. Virtual teams can open up the recruitment of proper and talented individuals who can be hired from different regions from any part of the world (Erez et al. 2013). Moreover, virtual teams reduce the cost of setting up large offices at a particular place. Small offices at different locations can secure the required work for the proper functioning of the organization. The political situations of different countries are considerably different. Hence, the establishment of localized virtual teams can lead to a better addressing of these problems (Mockaitis, Rose and Zettinig 2012). The team members reduce the cost of outsourcing as the virtual teams are directly under the company’s payroll. Moreover, being direct employees of the company the responsibility factor is also higher in these teams and this can lead to an efficient work culture in the teams. These objectives can be achieved through the advanced communication technologies where more personal interactions can be done and can narrow down the intercultural communication barriers.

The increasing globalization and the modern business policies has compelled the present business organizations to gain their footholds in the foreign markets by active expansion of the business. This type of expansion requires proper planning and an efficient infrastructure. The presence of virtual teams are a solution to these problems as these teams can plan according to the requirements of the local community. Moreover, the use of modern technologies and communication tools lessen the distance between the parent organization and the virtual teams for a more enhanced performance. There are many obstacles which the teams might face during its functioning but the team’s ability to cope up with the problems and a sustainable approach towards the issues can lead to the formation and operation of a successful virtual team.

Thank you,

Marketing Team Member

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References:

Daim, T.U., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W. and Bhatla, A., 2012. Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams. International Journal of Project Management, 30(2), pp.199-212.

Pinjani, P. and Palvia, P., 2013. Trust and knowledge sharing in diverse global virtual teams. Information & Management, 50(4), pp.144-153.

Erez, M., Lisak, A., Harush, R., Glikson, E., Nouri, R. and Shokef, E., 2013. Going global: Developing management students' cultural intelligence and global identity in culturally diverse virtual teams. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), pp.330-355.

Lilian, S.C., 2014. Virtual teams: Opportunities and challenges for e-leaders. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 110, pp.1251-1261.

Mockaitis, A.I., Rose, E.L. and Zettinig, P., 2012. The power of individual cultural values in global virtual teams. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 12(2), pp.193-210.