Challenges and Strategies for Effective Virtual Teams

This article discusses the challenges faced by virtual teams and provides strategies to make them effective. It emphasizes the importance of communication, leadership, and clear goals. The article also highlights the similarities between virtual teams and traditional teams in terms of factors that contribute to their success. Overall, it aims to enhance the efficiency of virtual teams and promote their use in achieving team goals.

International
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
With the increase in global expansion of companies and spreading of its operations in
different geographical and different time zones, there is a requirement of forming virtual teams
so that the work can be done and the objectives of forming a team can be achieved. Virtual teams
also help in involving the employees of branches of company which are dispersed in different
regions around the globe (Alsharo, Gregg and Ramirez, 2017). These teams are temporarily
formed so that a short-term problem can be solved by establishing communication among team
members by internet and other software technologies.
MAIN BODY
A virtual team refers to a group of people who work together irrespective of the
differences in their location and time zones by the way of electronic media of communication.
These teams help in achieving common and shared goals by participating in the projects and
collaborating their efforts to achieve project objectives. In order to establish successful
communication among the virtual team members internet, Skype, e-mails, video-conferencing
etc. are used so that all the members of team can be brought in touch of each other and
information can be shared efficiently in real time (Derven, 2016). With the increase in
globalisation companies have spread their branches in different geographical regions which
makes the formation of virtual teams a necessity so that common organisational goals can be
communicated to all the members who are associated with the company. This help in achieving
the company objectives and collaborating the efforts of all the employees towards achieving
organisational objectives. This saves the time and cost of company in arranging formal meetings
which also utilise a lot of time of company. Virtual teams help in instant delivery of information
which are important to make instant decisions by exchanging information so that short-term
goals of company can be achieved. This also allow the companies in creating a flexible working
environment for employees so that they can complete their work as per their convenience so that
the productivity of workers can be increased through flexibility in the working as and when they
want. Through the help of virtual teams greater availability of talent on teams can be made so
that the problems in company can be efficiently solved by formation of teams without worrying
about the difference in geography or time zones of employees.

Despite of all the advantages that can be achieved through formation of virtual team it
has been observed in a research that 82% of the global virtual teams fall short of achieving their
goals and 33% are found to be largely unsuccessful. There are many challenges of forming
effective virtual teams which lead to the failure of these teams and also lead to their inability in
achieving their goals as desired (Killingsworth, Xue and Liu, 2016). The most common
challenges which are faced during the formation of virtual team are misunderstanding caused due
to poor communication, incompatible communication preferences, differences in work ethics,
lack of clarity and direction, difficulty in communication due to language barriers, lack of
effective communication on video-conferencing which might lead to confusions etc. Thus
forming an effective virtual team so that the work of all team members can be collaborated in
getting work done is difficult which leads to the failure of virtual teams. It is important that
proper training and development programmes are established which can help in formation of
effective virtual teams so that the leaders and team members can be made understood about their
roles and responsibilities in team. Ineffective leadership also affect the effectiveness of virtual
team as it is important for the leaders to develop strong interpersonal and team building skills so
that the dispersed team members can be brought together and their work can be efficiently
collaborated. It also help in delegation of tasks among team members so that ambiguity in their
roles and responsibilities can be reduced and they can be made to perform their work in an
efficient manner (Lin, Chiu and Liu, 2019).
Lack of trust among the team members is another reason for the failure of virtual teams
as with this there is a low relational commitment among the team members which also lead to
high conflicts among them. This decreases the productivity and performance of team members
and also affect their confidence of working effectively that can help in achieving the objectives
for which teams are formed. Poor team engagement is also a reason due to which virtual teams
are unable to0 fulfil the goals of forming a virtual team as engaging a team member in traditional
team is easy but doing this on virtual level makes it difficult. Involving all the team members ion
group discussion over the virtual media of communication is difficult which can lead to
exclusion of some team members and that can affect the effectiveness of team. Lack of effective
communication also affect the effectiveness of virtual team in achieving their objectives. Due to
this reason misunderstandings among team members can increase which can affect their
performance and productivity. Due to the lack of effective communication all the members might

not be upgraded about the progress about the project or about how they have to perform their
work. It is thus important that right communication channels are selected so that a cooperative
behaviour can be established among team members and also they can complete their work on
time while delivering the work of high quality so that right decisions can be made by the way of
forming virtual teams in company. Another reason for the ineffectiveness of virtual team is
selecting wrong people while formation of team which means that the people who lack the
required skills and knowledge are selected by the leaders of team (Mohammadi, Taylor and
Javernick-Will, 2016).
Thus it can be said that there are various reasons which affect the way in which virtual
teams perform their work which must be removed in order to achieve the objectives of formation
of such teams. It is thus important to for effective virtual teams so that the goals and objectives
of formation of team can be efficiently achieved. Effective virtual teams determine how to
collaborate effectively even with the differences in time and space so that they can all work
together in achieving the goals of team within deadlines. There are various ways in which
successful virtual teams can be formed so that the people belonging to different geographical
regions and time zones can collaborate their work together effectively. The leaders of the team
must know their staff members before selecting them to become a part of the team. This can help
in selecting the people with right set of skills and talents so that they can work efficiently and
help in achieving the company goals in an efficient manner (Paul, Drake and Liang, 2016). Right
people selected for formation of team can help in finishing their roles and responsibilities within
time and also will be committed towards their work and take virtual team seriously. This also
help in increasing the familiarity of team members so that a friendly working atmosphere can be
created among team members so that they can collaborate their work in an efficient manner.
Setting clear goals and expectations are important so that all the team members can be
mad clear about how they have to perform their work and also they can be given clear roles and
responsibilities which will help them in giving their best contribution towards achieving project
objectives. Clear goals can hep in reducing the ambiguity among the roles of workers so that
they can give their full contribution in achieving the goals of team. It is also important that an
appropriate medium of communication is selected while formation of team so that all the
members can be efficiently reached in real time and they can be updated about the progress of
the project which can help them in using their skills efficiently. Effective communication must

be established so that workers can be connected over the different time zones thereby decreasing
the disruptions which might occur while communicating together. Leaders play an important role
in the success of virtual teams as they help in delegating the work based on the skills and talents
of team members, they also help in establishing relations with the team members so that their
engagement can be increased in completion of work. It is important that participative leadership
is followed by the leaders so that they can encourage the involvement of members of team in the
activities of project. This help in keeping all the members active in their work and also they can
contribute in achieving the goals of team on time thereby increasing the productivity of their
work (Umoren and et. al., 2017).
It is also important that autonomy is promoted in the team so that all the team members
can take responsibility of the work performed by them. This help in motivating the workers in
engaging in the activities and participating in decision making which can help in increasing the
frequency of new and innovative ideas so that problems can be efficiently solved. Autonomy
help in making proactive choices and enhancing their commitment towards improving the results
of project that is to be achieved through formation of virtual teams. Training and development
programmes must also be initiated in company so that all the members of company can be
trained on how they can effectively work in a virtual team. On-the-job trainings can be given to
the workers so that they can learn on using various methods of communication which can help
them in contributing towards achieving team objectives. It is also important that the team leaders
encourage team building activities so that trust can be established among team members and they
can increase the performance of team and achieve better results.
Traditional teams are the functional teams where experts work together in order to
achieve common goals by following certain processes. The members in these teams work in
close connection with each other as they are not separated with time and location which means
that they can directly communicate with each other and discuss their ideas without using a mode
of communication. In order to make a traditional team successful so that the team goals can be
achieved efficiently within time various factors must be considered. In order to achieve the team
goals effective communication is established among team members so they can work together
and stay updated about the progress of project. The roles, responsibilities and expectations are
also clearly established so that they know what they have to do and how the work have to be

done. Leaders also play an important role in creating an effective team by following a leadership
style that can help in using the skills and talents of team members in achieving team goals.
Thus it can be said that the factors which can help in making virtual teams effective are
the same which also help in making traditional teams effective so that the team goals can be
efficiently achieved (Watanuki and de Oliveira Moraes, 2016). Effective communication,
delegation of roles and responsibilities among team members, tools of establishing effective
communication, leadership, clear goal setting etc. are the common factors which help in making
all the types of teams effective and successful. These factors must be efficiently applied while
formation of global virtual teams so that their success rates can be increased and the expanding
businesses which operate on a global level can continue to achieve their goals of forming virtual
teams in an efficient manner. This also help these companies in taking effective decisions and
reaching to common results that are to be applied in all the branches of company. Thus it is
important that the efficiency of virtual teams can be enhanced so that they can be increasingly
used in order to achieve the goals of teams.
CONCLUSION
From this report it can be concluded that virtual teams have been a growing concept
which is increasingly used by globalised companies. However the effectiveness of virtual teams
is low which affects the results of forming thee teams. It is thus important that certain measures
are taken so that the effectiveness of virtual teams can be increased.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alsharo, M., Gregg, D. and Ramirez, R., 2017. Virtual team effectiveness: The role of
knowledge sharing and trust. Information & Management, 54(4), pp.479-490.
Derven, M., 2016. Four drivers to enhance global virtual teams. Industrial and Commercial
Training.
Killingsworth, B., Xue, Y. and Liu, Y., 2016. Factors influencing knowledge sharing among
global virtual teams. Team Performance Management.
Lin, C.P., Chiu, C.K. and Liu, N.T., 2019. Developing virtual team performance: an integrated
perspective of social exchange and social cognitive theories. Review of Managerial
Science, 13(4), pp.671-688.
Mohammadi Jr, N., Taylor Jr, J.E. and Javernick-Will, A., 2016. Team building moderators of
the engineering and construction industry virtual team performance. In Construction
Research Congress 2016 (pp. 219-228).
Paul, R., Drake, J.R. and Liang, H., 2016. Global virtual team performance: The effect of
coordination effectiveness, trust, and team cohesion. IEEE Transactions on Professional
Communication, 59(3), pp.186-202.
Umoren, R.A. and et. al., 2017. TeamSTEPPS virtual teams: interactive virtual team training and
practice for health professional learners. Creative nursing, 23(3), pp.184-191.
Watanuki and de Oliveira Moraes, 2016Does size matter? An investigation into the role of
virtual team size in IT service provisioning. Industrial Management & Data Systems.