Prospects of Virtual Teams

Running head: PROSPECTS OF VIRTUAL TEAMS
PROSPECTS OF VIRTUAL TEAMS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROSPECTS OF VIRTUAL TEAMS
To: The Marketing Director, ABC Company
From: The advisory team
Date: April 13, 2019
Subject: Prospects for Virtual marketing team for the ABC Company
The message is concerned with the evaluation of the prospects of virtual teams for the
ABC Company. The proposal that was put forward was in regards to the implementation of a
virtual marketing team that could help in improving the global marketing functions of the
organization. As part of the advisory team I have greatly considered the advantages and
disadvantages of virtual teams to bring out essential implications that can help in the decision
making.
The virtual marketing team can benefit the company and the creation of the team can
improve the profitability of the organization. Virtual teams are the teams of the future. Despite
the many issues that have affected the virtual teams over the years, it is clear that they cannot be
discarded as an option altogether. Some of the very important advantages that the formation of
the new virtual marketing team can provide us can help the organization to develop globally.
Virtual teams have been found to be very cost effective (Dulebohn and Hoch 2017). In order to
accommodate a new face to face team the company would need to invest towards building new
office rooms. This cost is getting completely covered. The availability of talent would be at par
with the global standards. The company would improve its functional efficiency as a global
marketing knowledge base would be created. In face to face interactions there are many
occurrences of unnecessary board meetings. Teams tend to panic in the midst of slightly
fluctuating corporate situations and call for highly unnecessary meeting. Virtual teams would

2PROSPECTS OF VIRTUAL TEAMS
only interact when necessary as part of the strategy formation (Marlow, Lacerenza and Salas
2017). Additionally, there is also the factor of lesser travel time that will work in the favor of the
company. Teams can get stuck in traffic and important time may be lost. Virtual teams can work
from their homes to create marketing strategies that are almost instantaneous. In fact, these
strategies can be implemented within a short span of time.
A significant factor that was understood from the greater evaluation of the virtual teams
is that virtual teams require effective leadership to be managed properly. Hence, it becomes
important that a highly optimized virtual leadership is formed to enable the teams function
properly. Relationship oriented leadership is required as a common aim and bonding needs to be
created within the team (Liao 2017). A very important factor that need to be brought to the notice
of the management is that the proposed team members of the virtual team will be located at
Bangalore, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Shanghai. This will make sure that the organization will
be reaching multiple markets. Additionally, the fact that a significant global database can be
created in regards to the various types of market behaviors would act as a bonus for the
company. The knowledge that the company will gain as a result of the formation of the virtual
team would be worth its value in gold. The organization will be able to perform strongly as
collective expertise would be utilized. The knowledge gathered would not be limited to the
marketing sphere. It would encompass most of the significant areas of organizational
management and operations.
Some of the significant issue that have affected virtual teams in the past are cultural
differences, language barriers and communication barriers (Hoch and Dulebohn 2017). This can
cause serious issues if not handled effectively. Cross-cultural understanding needs to be
developed for better understanding of the different cultures. It is important that the latest in