Managing Virtual Teams: Tools, Challenges, and Productivity

M503 Behavioural Competences in
Virtual Teams

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Describing the tools that will be required for selecting people of virtual team...........................2
Describing challenges in managing the virtual team along with measures to handle those
challenges.....................................................................................................................................4
How to manage productivity of team along with planning to schedule meetings as well as
communication within the team...................................................................................................5
Defining my own leadership principles and how I apply these principles in managing virtual
staff members:..............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
The term virtual teams are basically referred as the geographically spread team or can be
also referred as remote team. In this, the leader interacts with his staff members by using suitable
communication and collaboration tools. The members in the virtual teams are connected from
different regions and have diverse skills and knowledge for performing specific type of business
operations. The virtual leader generally practises digital communication tools such as Email,
instant messaging apps, Microsoft meeting, Skype and other type of collaboration tools. The
essay will take Marks and Spencer company into consideration. The firm is the leading British
retailer brand that offers quality product in range of food, clothing as well as homeware. The
organisation is headquartered in Paddington, London and founded in the year 1884. This essay
will describe tools for selecting members of virtual teams. In addition to this, the essay will also
determine challenges in managing virtual teams along with suitable solutions to overcome. It will
also cover the methods for managing productivity of team members and will schedule meetings
and communication within team. It will also discuss the leadership principles adopted by virtual
leader(Petrovskaya and Shaposhnikov, 2020).
MAIN BODY
Describing the tools that will be required for selecting people of virtual team
In order to build the effective virtual team, the leader of Marks and Spencer company
should employee the individuals from diverse specialised backgrounds carrying different sets of
skills and knowledge. Apart from this, the virtual manager needs to be self-motivated,
trustworthy and should be positive enough to take actions of any complex challenges. In order to
decide right selection of workers, the virtual team leader can take the necessary steps with the
support of effective collaboration tools that are discussed below:
Microsoft teams:
This type of virtual communication software is the easy way for initiating the go to video
calling platform(Ashmi and Kumar, 2018). It contains multiple type of features such as screen
sharing, note taking as well as instant messaging. In context to Marks and Spencer company, the
practising of Microsoft team application can allow me to indulge in face to face conversations
for the purpose of selecting the most suitable team members with the right skills and attitude. In
addition to this, this communication tool can support me to connect with all team members and
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have in-depth discussions for making global strategies. The features of this platform helps in
meeting with virtual team members without disrupting smooth flow.
Zoom:
The other communication platform which the company can practise is zoom platform.
This tool is recognised as another video as well as web conferencing platform which is used
widely by multinational companies in high level (Mutha and Srivastava, 2021). In context to
Marks and Spencer firm, the usage of Zoom platform can enable to use features such as chat
rooms, webinars and also can initiate phone call with team members. These features along with
share screens can benefit me to gain information about the behavioural patterns of worker in
most effective manner. It can also assist me to organise team building activities as well as
conducting reviews and check-ins in the most appropriate manner.
Ushare:
The other critical collaboration tools can be considered as combination of both Zoom and
Slack tools. This type of communication tool can support the virtual leader to chat with its
remote team members by using group chat, audio and video conferencing features. In context to
Marks and Spencer firm, this collaboration tool can enable me to effectively interaction with my
team members by sitting at any place. It's feature such as enterprise grade security, group chat
and also integration with other apps such as Google drive, Dropbox etc. can benefit me to store
my confidential data in effective manner. In addition to this, it can also support me to test the
skills during selecting my team members by taking different assignments in proper manner.
Google Hangouts:
The most famous digital communication platform is also known as Google Meet which
like other apps provides the facility of personal and group chats and also support the virtual team
leader to initiate audio as well as video calls with team members present in the different remote
areas (Popescu and Warmenhoven, 2019). In context to Marks and Spencer firm, this type of
communication tool can to take advantage of different features like Hangouts Chat, powerful G
suite support and it is also an cost effective option as compared with famous collaborative tools.
The Hangout chat can be great for me in terms of managing global team members as this app
supports 28 languages, can hold 8000 members per chat room, threaded conversations which will
make it easy to communicate with them without facing any type of barriers.
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