Virtual Teams Management

Virtual teams is a new innovation in the world of business where the company can have several remote employees who are all working towards the achievement of the organizational goals. Efficient virtual team management tools have also been identified and highlighted in regards to their unique features that make them ideal to be used by any company that has virtual team members in its payroll. This new method of doing business will create ample job opportunities, tap a rick vain of expert and professional skills and help the organization increase productivity and profits while

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Electronic management
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Abstract.
The report below contains all the information necessary to facilitate the management of
the virtual team that will be located in the United States of America. Virtual teams is a new
innovation in the world of business where the company can have several remote employees who
are all working towards the achievement of the organizational goals. The report also highlights
the advantages and disadvantages that will arise from the use of virtual teams. Efficient virtual
team management tools have also been identified and highlighted in regards to their unique
features that make them ideal to be used by any company that has virtual team members in its
payroll. Efficient communication between all the virtual team members has been identified as the
life blood of the company. This new method of doing business will create ample job
opportunities, tap a rick vain of expert and professional skills and help the organization increase
productivity and profits while significantly reducing the overhead associated with the purchase
of leasing of office space.
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Table of Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................4
Online strategy................................................................................................................................4
Virtual Management Tools..........................................................................................................4
Advantage of using virtual teams................................................................................................5
Disadvantages of virtual teams and how they can be overcome................................................6
Virtual meetings...........................................................................................................................6
Outsourcing..................................................................................................................................7
Conflict management...................................................................................................................7
Improvement areas......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction.
Souq.com is the online marketplace of Middle East. The website was created in the year
2005 and was initially designed to be an auction site that was associated with the internet portal
Maktoob. In the year 2011 it adopted an online marketplace similar to that of Amazon.com. It
also provided a platform that showcased all the retail items for sale. The company takes great
pride in its achievement to connect people and products efficiently, with the assistance of smart
technology that customizes customer experience which means that the power of choice has been
given back to the consumers on a global scale. This has been evidenced by the company’s great
success in the Middle East hence its expansion into the United States Marketplace. The report
will therefore highlight the strategy that will be formulated and implemented by the Global
Marketing Manager of the company. This strategy will also take into account the demographic
and competitive environment difference as well as some of the political and cultural difference
(Christin, 2013).
Online strategy.
Considering the location of the new office in the United States of America in comparison
to its parent headquarters in Dubai the distance is very vast therefore efficient and effective
communication channels will have to be established. Information of vital nature and otherwise
from headquarters will have to be transmitted quickly and efficiently throughout the entire
system both nationally and internationally. Proper conflict management procedures and team
management policies will have to be developed taking into consideration the new American
culture. The law that governs employer and worker relations will also have to be taken into
consideration (Applegate et al, 2006).
Virtual Management Tools
Emails are not enough to manage the virtual teams. Below are some of tools that a global
manager can employ in order to manage the virtual teams;
1. Highrise.
This is a strong contact management system, ideal for small enterprises. The system enables the
organization to arrange notes and e-mail chats, follow up on offers and deals, the system
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empowers the manager by enabling him to follow up on conversations across the teams (Paul et
al, 2004).
2. Yammer.
This is a very prevalent social network for companies. Some of its important attributes include
microblogging, private and group messaging, file uploading and strong security. It provides a
platform where virtual teams can associate in an atmosphere similar to that of social media
platforms like Facebook. This platform has been use by large online market place such as eBay
which is a very big brand in the United States.
3. GoToMeeting.
This system allows virtual teams to meet on a regular basis to share ideas and training. This
system allows the manager to host an online meeting with as many as 15 people. The system also
has a web conferencing function, which allows the team members to share applications via the
computer in real time. The system also has a save option that allows any team member to save
sessions for future reference. GoToMeeting enables the abroad team to collaborate and interact
with the team at headquarters anytime through the use of mobile phones and computers
(Kirkman et al, 2004).
4. Dropbox.
This tool facilitates the easy access of documents by the team members since all documents,
photos and videos can be dragged and dropped into one shared folder. From this single folder all
employees irrespective of their geographical location will be able to access the documents
anywhere there is an internet connection (Carley and Prietula, 2014).
Advantage of using virtual teams.
Minimum overhead cost- virtual team means that the organization saves on all the
expenses associated with leasing or renting an office. The organization does not need to shoulder
the cost of buying new real estate or paying for monthly utilities like water and electricity.
Access to Global talent- virtual teams enable an organization to identify new talent
beyond the borders of the parent country. This links experts and professionals from all over the
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world on a single project. Enhanced sharing and better innovation lead to increased knowledge
and understanding of global markets as well as local markets in which the employees reside in.
Better productivity and profits- The participants of these virtual teams are not influenced
by bureaucracy of the country of origin which at times may lead to delay in decision making.
Therefore this translates to higher production which means more profits.
Provision of new opportunities- virtual team have created an environment of new
prospects for people who due to family situations or physical ailments cannot relocate to a new
countries for work. This has led to the creation of jobs which can be done off site as long as the
task does not require the individual to be there physically, this has greatly been supported by the
improvement of communication methods and channels.
Higher scalability- with a physical office, any move to increase the number of
staff will lead to a remodeling of the entire office to increase space or the leasing or purchasing
of new office space. All this activities are expensive. On the hand with a virtual team there is no
worry or additional when increasing employees since different team members will work from
their locations.
Disadvantages of virtual teams and how they can be overcome.
Cultural conflicts- naturally people from different background during the course of their
interaction conflict will emerge as a result of difference in opinions. If not properly managed it
can lead to disruption of work flow. Therefore management needs to set up policies and
guidelines that will govern the interaction of this two different teams.
Cost of technology- the success of a virtual team is determined by the efficiency
as to which communication between the team is conducted. Communication between the two
teams can take place via phone call, phone conferencing or video conferencing. There is no tool
that comes preinstalled all this features, therefore further installation will need to take place and
this is a bit expensive. This is an unavoidable expense that will need to be incurred by the
organization.
Social isolation- most members of the virtual team are seriously influenced by the
deficiency of physical connections. And considering majority of the communication is too task-
oriented increases stress upon the employees. This in turn leads to poor productivity. The virtual
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manager can organize and facilitate the setting up of community blogs where employees can
interact under a less formal environment (Bergiel et al, 2008).
Virtual meetings.
Considering the vast distance between Dubai- United Arab Emirates and USA the most
appropriate method of communication between the virtual team located in this two regions
would be video conferencing, phone call, phone conferencing. Dubai is nine hours ahead of the
United States, therefore proper coordination between the two teams is vital. If the team in USA
sit for meeting at 8am with the team in Dubai, it will be 5pm in UAE. This is an acceptable
bargain since it will be within working hours. A translator will have to be hired by the USA
office so as to interpret the Arab language to the American employees. All the items and agendas
discussed during the meeting will at all times be recorded and approved by the members present
at the meeting. All virtual team members will at all times use a polite tone and language so as to
maintain order and develop respect (Gibson and Cohen, 2003).
Outsourcing.
It is integral to build a firm working relationship with the manager in charge of the
outsourced project. This relationship can only be developed through consistent communication
via telephone calls, e-mails and phone or video conferencing. During this communication
sessions reports from the project manager can be presented to the manager. In order to improve
moral communication can also be informal so as to make the outsourced employees feel more
appreciated and welcomed (Siakas and Siakas, 2008). As the manager I will have to take into
consideration the laws within the country that govern the outsourced company. This is important
in the preparation of a statement of work (SOW) which explains the work that needs to be done
as well as what is expected after the contract is serviced. It is important to consider the country’s
laws since anything not complying with the country’s laws is not enforceable by outsourced
country’s laws (Chow et al, 2009).
Conflict management.
Conflict is a natural outcome between individuals, an individual and a group or a one
group and another during their daily interaction due to difference in opinion in regards to
something that affects both parties. In the traditional business the manager could easy handle this
conflicts by asking the two parties to sit down together and discuss the issue that is bothering
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them in order to find a solution. However in virtual teams this not possible due to the
geographical locations. Therefore the only method of mediating conflict between two virtual
teams is through phone calls or phone conferences. The manager needs to set rules that will be
followed during the communication between the conflicting groups, such as; requesting both
parties not to interrupt each other while they are talking and no raising of voice while discussing
issues. The manager can also take a more proactive measure by making sure there is open and
clear dialogue between virtual team members concerning the current state of affairs. Conflict is a
risk if not proper managed and an asset if proper managed, study found that minimum level of
conflict is important for keeping a group vibrant and creative. If a virtual team member refuses to
correct or change their disruptive behavior after all methods of correcting them fails the manager
has to let them go in a private and respectable manners so as to maintain the confidence of the
other team members (Jordan and Troth, 2004).
Improvement areas.
With the ever developing technology it is important to keep up with any current
development in technology especially communication technology since it is the most used within
the organization. Efficient and effective communication is essential to the success of the virtual
team located in the United States. The Global manager also needs to make sure there is general
and complete inclusion of the team members, this is achieved by maintaining frequent
communication with the virtual teams. Proper conflict management and resolution policies and
procedures should be availed to members of the virtual teams so that they all can be made aware
of how they are expected to behave as members of the virtual team.
Conclusion.
The world has been made a global village by the availability of cheap transportation and
the presence of fast internet connection. Companies in this century need not invest large sums of
money in the purchasing of massive real estates for the building of offices to house employees or
warehouses to store products. With the availability of fast communication infrastructure in place
a company can have multiple employees working from remote locations or a single satellite
office. This assures the company of a 24/7 labor force while subsequently significantly reducing
the overhead cost (Martins et al, 2004). The company however needs to make sure there is
proper communication amongst the virtual team members and the team manager. This enables
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the company to keep track of what is happening and to check the productivity of the teams. This
can be achieved by using various tools of virtual team management such as Dropbox.
References.
Applegate, L. M., Austin, R. D., & McFarlan, F. W. (2006). Corporate information strategy and
management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin Custom Publishing.
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Bergiel, B. J., Bergiel, E. B., & Balsmeier, P. W. (2008). Nature of virtual teams: a summary of
their advantages and disadvantages. Management Research News, 31(2), 99-110.
Carley, K. M., & Prietula, M. J. (2014). The" virtual design team": Simulating how organization
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Chow, R., Golle, P., Jakobsson, M., Shi, E., Staddon, J., Masuoka, R., & Molina, J. (2009,
November). Controlling data in the cloud: outsourcing computation without outsourcing
control. In Proceedings of the 2009 ACM workshop on Cloud computing security (pp.
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Christin, N. (2013, May). Traveling the Silk Road: A measurement analysis of a large
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Gibson, C. B., & Cohen, S. G. (Eds.). (2003). Virtual teams that work: Creating conditions for
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Martins, L. L., Gilson, L. L., & Maynard, M. T. (2004). Virtual teams: What do we know and
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Paul, S., Samarah, I. M., Seetharaman, P., & Mykytyn Jr, P. P. (2004). An empirical
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