Critical Areas of Virtual Meetings for Effective Management of Virtual Teams

This article discusses the critical areas that need attention while leading and managing a virtual team. It highlights the importance of building a 24X7 work cycle, facing the unexpected, maintaining clarity, holding accountability, nurturing emergent leadership, and spotting differences in culture.

Running head: MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Marketing Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1MARKETING COMMUNICATION
To: Marketing Director of XYZ
From:
Date: April 10, 2018
Subject: Critical Areas of Virtual Meetings
Mr/Mrs,
I have found that there have been many concerns about the effectiveness of conducting
virtual meetings. Thus, I want to have a quick discussion on the some of the critical areas that
needs consideration while managing and leading virtual teams.
Here, I must mention that virtual teams have become the norm of most of the organizations
operating globally. To be precise, I believe close to around 66 percent of the multinational
companies relies on virtual team management for meeting the challenges of the geographical
expansion, ensure cost savings and meet the increasing demand for the flexibility in
workplace (Aiken, Gu and Wang 2013).
However, the critical areas that need attention while leading and managing a virtual team
include:
1. Building Of a 24X7 Work Cycle: I believe that the different time zones are a complication
but if we think differently, it is also an opportunity for increasing the efficiency of working
around the clock (Hoch and Kozlowski 2014). Moreover, greater attention while delegating
work will help in overcoming the conflicting deadlines and language barriers.
2. Facing the Unexpected: At some point, there might be a technology failure due to either
poor internet connection or the malfunctioning of software. In such cases, you will have to be

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prepared with either a Plan B or Plan C that can be in the form of dial-in numbers (Fan et al.
2014)
3. Maintenance of Clarity: I believe that the presence of a virtual team often blurs the
boundaries of the responsibilities. One can handle this situation by ensuring specific actions
to each member after every meeting.
4. Holding Accountability: It is also necessary to create a climate for peer-to-peer
accountability that will help in building a sense of trust amongst the teammates (Keil, Lee
and Deng 2013). Otherwise, this might leave room for concerns and ambiguity that might not
be voiced. Thus, there should be smart handling following a bottom up approach involving
everyone.
5. Nurturing Emergent Leadership: Emergent leaders are critical for ensuring innovation.
However, when dealing with a virtual team the leaders and the team members should have a
shared understanding and sense of acceptance (White 2014). Although, emergent leadership
helps in generating positivity but it is important to remember that it leads the internal
coercion and burning out caused by the imbalance of the workload.
6. Spotting Differences in Culture: To understand the background of every teammate a
critical step needed for the establishment of successful collaboration amongst virtual team
members (Verburg, Bosch-Sijtsema and Vartiainen 2013). I believe that expectations
significantly vary when it comes to the balancing of informal and formal communication.
This is also true in dealing with issues like individualism, perception of time and power
distance relationships. For ensuring effectiveness, it is necessary for to use the available tools
for making cross-cultural comparisons.

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I believe that with the consideration of the above critical areas there will be greater
effectiveness in leading and managing the virtual teams. Therefore, it not only supports the
success of the multiple employees but at same time helps in developing newer capability in
terms of the organization.
Please let me know in case you have any questions
Thanks & Regards,
Your name:

4MARKETING COMMUNICATION
References:
Aiken, M., Gu, L. and Wang, J., 2013. Task knowledge and task-technology fit in a virtual
team. International Journal of Management, 30(1), p.3.
Fan, K. T., Chen, Y. H., Wang, C. W. and Chen, M. 2014. E-leadership effectiveness in
virtual teams: Motivating language perspective. Industrial Management & Data
Systems, 114(3), 421-437.
Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership,
structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), p.390.
. Understanding the most critical skills for managing IT projects: A Delphi study of Keil, M.,
Lee, H.K. and Deng, T., 2013IT project managers. Information & Management, 50(7),
pp.398-414.
Verburg, R.M., Bosch-Sijtsema, P. and Vartiainen, M., 2013. Getting it done: Critical success
factors for project managers in virtual work settings. International journal of project
management, 31(1), pp.68-79.
White, M., 2014. The management of virtual teams and virtual meetings. Business
Information Review, 31(2), pp.111-117.