With the advancement in technology, the companies are striving to make goods faster and resolve issues in a quicker way. The organizations are striving to reduce their overall costs for gaining competitive advantage. Therefore, the organizations are forming virtual teams to be flexible and take advantage of the overall resources. In case of virtual teams, the team members work together in different time zones to accomplish specific objectives. When collaborating remotely in certain projects, establishing virtual teams is the most common approach. The virtual teams offer opportunities as well as risks to the organization. As the geographical locations are different, the virtual teams require significant attention by the management.
The objective of this project is to understand the challenges faced in managing global teams. Even though the organizations establish virtual teams, it is challenging to manage them. This project aims at addressing the challenges so that they can be resolved and teams can be managed at a global level. This project shall develop a deeper understanding of managing communication within the virtual teams in global projects.
This project shall address the challenges faced by project managers in communication. As poor team communication is one of the significant factors leading to project failure, this project shall enhance effective communication techniques within the virtual project teams as they are of paramount importance. This project aims to keep such focal points central to the research by applying several theoretical approaches. The researcher limits the scope of the study to the internal communication between teams and project manager. The project shall identify the challenges faced in virtual teams and determine strategies to manage them globally.
As stated by Steers et al. (2013), many organizations are forming virtual teams to communicate with one another. The core benefit obtained from forming virtual teams is that they reduce cost of communication overcoming the geographic distance barrier. Therefore, the organizations need to monitor the global teams and constantly understand the mindset of its employees. The multinationals are becoming increasingly competitive as the managers are leading global teams to attain different levels. It is challenging to manage global teams as there may arise conflict, distrust, cultural and semantic barriers across border. The virtual teams may not be as effective as the physical teams due to face-to-face interaction. It is argued that the concept of virtual teams has increase employee satisfaction. A few issues such as lack of clarity, slow decision making, disjointed conflicts, and cultural conflict are identified while managing global teams.
The business environment is becoming increasingly complex. Virtual Team is a group of individuals working together from various geographical locations which can be within the country or anywhere on the globe. Global virtual teams allow organizations to increase employee productivity, coordination between employees working at different locations around the world and run every organization effectively. However the source of communication and coordination for such teams are various telecommunication means rather than face to face interactions. Some of the issues relating to managing such teams arise out of geographic barriers, time, language, and cultural differences, and inter-personal relationships. The co-ordination between global teams is managed by the optimum use of available technology and depends upon the level of interdependence of teams on one another. Furthermore, sharing and trust mediate the relationship between various teams and their effectiveness (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014).
The geographical barriers faced by Virtual Teams are the difference of time zones and unable to establish traditional face to face relationship with one another which enables building trust and understanding amongst team members. To overcome this barrier, companies use communication methods such as conference calling, direct texting, establishing a common portal on which every employee need to update their work in progress and can access the data anytime and anywhere. In order for this, team members across all the location need to develop a positive attitude towards working with people across the globe and adopt the technology provided to them. The sense of belongingness shall be built amongst all the team members in a team. With the appropriate use of technology and with right attitude and motivation, the geographical barriers of virtual teams can be overcome (Gilson et al., 2015).
Virtual teams mostly depend on communication to work together. Communication is not only about the meaning of words and content but is also affected by the body language and context of the speaker. If words are misinterpreted due to cultural difference body language can become the cue (Crisp & Jarvenpaa, 2013). This factor is missing when members are communication in virtual teams which can lead to loss of information according to the assumptions made by the receiver. The virtual team usually communicates in language which might not be the first language of the members, due to which the potential of misunderstanding in increased. The way in which a person communicates is highly affected by his cultural background. Not every member would understand the cultures of every other member. It is important to understand that the ultimate message that counts is the meaning interpreted by the person concerned and not the one that was sent. The members should strive to be understood and also to understand rather than trying to put one’s point across (Saafein, & Shaykhian, 2014).
Trust is another factor that affects the working of a team. Effective communication is the way of producing trust amongst members belonging to different cultures. Trust doesn’t always mean that members need to bond with each other, but they have to understand each other better and be able to rely on one another. Trust would help members stick together and work effectively in a team. In absence of trust the team members would hesitate asking each other for help and information and thus weaken the communication in the team (Pangil & Moi Chan, 2014). A lack of trust can result in wastage of time and lower confidence in the team. The team members should have confidence to speak up and ask for assistance for better productivity. People usually trust those who are similar to them on the grounds of language, culture and geography. Thus in a global virtual team, it is a challenge for the manager to establish trust amongst members from different horizons (Pinjani, & Palvia, 2013).
To overcome the limitations of Virtual Teams, the manager or the leader of the team should undertake certain measures to ensure team effectiveness. The team leader should establish certain set of communication rules, explore coordination issues faced by members and define agreed guidelines, and avoid any ambiguity of role and responsibility. The team member should understand their individual as well as the group tasks that are assigned (Morgan, Paucar-Caceres, & Wright, 2014).
Everybody should know who is accountable for what. Another measure that should be adopted is conducting regular face to face meetings of team members. It would enable members understand each other better, increase the effectiveness of telecommunication and develop team cohesion. The barrier of communication through body language can be overcome through this measure. This would also improve social relationship amongst employees and help develop trust between them (Lilian, 2014).
To overcome the ambiguity of communication through digital means, virtual teams can develop their own communication codes. Common language can reduce the risk of wrong interpretation and loss of messages. To overcome cultural barriers, managers can practice employee transfers from one location to another, so that each member can learn and understand various cultures while working in multi-culture environment (Tenzer, & Pudelko, 2014).
As identified earlier, there is literature gap in understanding the mindset and misunderstanding among the managers as well as executives in the global teams. This research attempts to address the attitude of people that would help fostering good connection. There is opportunity to mitigate the social distance as it is one of the main challenges faced while managing global teams.
The following hypothesis can be derived from the above literature:
Hypothesis 1- The relationship between leadership and team performance is positive.
Hypothesis 2- The relationship between trust and team performance is positive.
The primary research question that shall be found out in the project is:
– What strategies can be adopted by the managers and leaders to manage their teams globally?
The secondary questions that shall be answered in this project are:
– What are the challenges faced by managers and leaders while managing their teams globally?
– How do virtual teams overcome the geographical barrier while communicating?
This project shall follow the explanatory research design in which the cause and effect variables are established. It is also known as causal research design where the relationship between managers and employees working at geographic distance shall be established.
This project shall undertake qualitative method of research. Telephonic interview shall be conducted from the participants across the world where they shall be asked about their experience while working in virtual teams. The barriers and challenges faced by them shall be taken into account. The sample is chosen using random sampling method where the participants are selected completely on luck.
For conducting qualitative study, there is a need to address validity of the study. As this study creates in-depth understanding of the research findings, due to time constraints, the research could not be conducted in greater detail. The external communication shall not be considered in the research as the scope is limited to internal communication between virtual teams and project managers. As the participants of the study are virtual team leaders, they belong to the different parts of the world thereby providing culturally biased perspectives. As electronic interview shall be conducted, the facial expressions and reaction of the research participants cannot be captured.
|
Particulars |
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Week 5 |
|
Identification of Research topic and objectives |
|||||
|
Using university library to access journals, publications and gather information |
|||||
|
Conducting primary and secondary data research |
|||||
|
Present findings and analyze results |
|||||
|
Prepare final report |
Table 1: Gantt Chart
Source: Created by Author
Conclusion
Social pressure and competitive business environment are driving the adoption of virtual teams among organizations. This project shall review the comprehensive literature and resources that shall ensure successful working of global teams. It is predicted that the virtual teams shall provide benefits to the organization and handle work in a greatly demanding environment. Certain managerial and team characteristics help in managing the virtual team effectively. The managers must encourage self-leadership to enhance trust among the team members. It is estimated that a few issues such as lack of clarity, slow decision making, disjointed conflicts, and cultural conflict shall be identified while managing global teams. Global virtual teams allow organizations to increase employee productivity, coordination between employees working at different locations around the world and run every organization effectively. In order to manage teams effectively, team members across all the location need to develop a positive attitude towards working with people across the globe and adopt the technology provided to them. Telephonic interview shall be conducted from the participants across the world where they shall be asked about their experience while working in virtual teams. To overcome cultural barriers, managers can practice employee transfers from one location to another, so that each member can learn and understand various cultures while working in multi-culture environment. People usually trust those who are similar to them on the grounds of language, culture and geography.
Reference List
Crisp, C., & Jarvenpaa, S. (2013). Swift Trust in Global Virtual Teams. Journal Of Personnel Psychology, 12(1), 45-56.
Gilson, L., Maynard, M., Jones Young, N., Vartiainen, M., & Hakonen, M. (2015). Virtual Teams Research. Journal Of Management, 41(5), 1313-1337.
Hoch, J., & Kozlowski, S. (2014). Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 99(3), 390-403.
Lilian, S. (2014). Virtual Teams: Opportunities and Challenges for e-Leaders. Procedia – Social And Behavioral Sciences, 110, 1251-1261.
Morgan, L., Paucar-Caceres, A., & Wright, G. (2014). Leading Effective Global Virtual Teams: The Consequences of Methods of Communication. Systemic Practice And Action Research, 27(6), 607-624.
Pangil, F., & Moi Chan, J. (2014). The mediating effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship between trust and virtual team effectiveness. Journal Of Knowledge Management, 18(1), 92-106.
Pinjani, P., & Palvia, P. (2013). Trust and knowledge sharing in diverse global virtual teams. Information & Management, 50(4), 144-153.
Saafein, O., & Shaykhian, G. (2014). Factors affecting virtual team performance in telecommunication support environment. Telematics And Informatics, 31(3), 459-462.
Tenzer, H., & Pudelko, M. (2014). Selecting Communication Media in Multilingual Virtual Teams. Academy Of Management Proceedings, 2014(1), 10742-10742.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download