Virtual Team Management: Advantages and Challenges

This article discusses the advantages and challenges of virtual team management. It explains how virtual teams can help organizations save costs and increase productivity while reducing carbon footprint. The article also highlights the challenges associated with virtual team management, such as lack of physical contact, differences in time zones, and communication breakdowns.

Running head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Management communication
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
To: The Employees
From: The Marketing Director
Date:
Subject: Virtual Team Management
The operations of an organization can only take place peacefully if there is proper teamwork and
coordination in it. A team is required to carry out the daily operations with utmost coordination
and division of responsibilities equally distributed to every individual of the team. The
innovative idea of a virtual team has resulted from technological development, shifting of
expectation of employees and globalization. A virtual team is one which consists of members
dispersed geographically or organizationally that are connected through means of advanced
information and telecommunication technologies. According to (Maynard and Gilson 2014),
“virtual teams are functioning teams that rely on technology-mediated communication while
crossing several different boundaries.”
Recruiting a virtual team has several advantages to an organization. Primarily, an organization
can lower the staffing costs while increasing productivity up to a large extent at the same time. In
addition, a virtual team helps in lowering of office costs of an organization in terms of electricity,
technical equipment, lease and miscellaneous expenses. (Hoch and Kozlowski 2014) stated that
“… the next increment should turn attention to the mediating mechanisms that link the input
factors with team performance.” The reduced cost or the savings from the office cost can then be
used in development of other aspects of the organization. A virtual team enables a manager to
hire workforce from anywhere around the world. This enables the organization to go beyond the
restriction of recruiting talented individuals. Local hiring restricts the flow of talent pool
sometimes, which is overcome through means of a virtual team. Furthermore, hiring a virtual
team enables the organization to save up costs since there are less members. Eventually, this
money can be used to pay more to the existing team members. The ability to join the
organization from anywhere in the world and getting more pay will definitely attract an
increasing workforce and build the brand image of the organization globally. In addition, this
measure will also help in the retention of employees since they are allowed to work from home
in this situation.

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In addition, virtual team has other advantages as well. The fact of not requiring an office for a
virtual team helps in avoiding the unnecessary, often unproductive meetings. The necessary
meetings can be conducted through technological platforms such as Google hangouts where the
employees can work and participate in the meeting simultaneously, allowing the company to
save up time and increase or retain productivity as the case may be. A virtual team helps in
reducing the carbon footprint through emissions from vehicles since the employees usually work
from home and are not required to travel to the office premises using vehicles. This also helps in
reducing the travel time of the employees, which has a substantial benefit of reducing the
wastage of time and increasing productivity of the organization. (Pangil and Moi Chan2014)
state that “team effectiveness are positively associated with trust and knowledge sharing”. In
addition to this, a virtual team increases the accessibility to the local markets globally without
having to open offices in the locations, reducing significant costs. They can hire sales people in
these locations who would operate in these local markets. Furthermore, the organization expands
globally without having multiple office locations, saving up time and money and operating in
multiple time zones simultaneously, allowing the company to have a 24 hour work day.
However, there are challenges associated with this advanced usage of technology that is required
to be solved and avoided. The lack of physical contact within the team generates a lack of
understanding between the ways of operation of the employees. In addition, the differences in the
time zone creates differences in the team because of the overlapping of time in case of virtual
meetings. Miscommunication often takes place in a virtual team. The lack of face-to-face contact
with the management often makes the employees irresponsible. They refrain from using the right
communication channels at the right time and fail to revert to important messages, which might
come across as a loss in time and revenue for the company. According to (Lockwood 2015), "the
lack of physical interaction is causing communication breakdowns which is negatively affecting
the productivity and collaboration in virtual workplaces.” The routine of the work can be
demotivating for the employees. They can have serious health issues such as exhaustion, stress,
backache, optical issues as a result of putting long hours in front of computers. This is an
element of demotivation. The work from home feature resulting from the creation of a virtual
team often eradicates the line between work and life and intervenes with the personal lives of the
employees. Furthermore, the diversity of culture creates differences in the operations of the
employees since all of them do not understand the cultures of each other. The language also

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creates a barrier of communication. This affects their workflow and might also lead to the loss of
employees and revenue.
Communication is one of the most important aspects of business operations and might also come
across as a challenge if not handled accurately. Taking the statement into regards, managing a
virtual team can also come across as a challenge that needs to be handled properly for
harmonious operations of a business. The issues related to the maintenance of a virtual team can
be avoided and the benefits put to correct use. Therefore, a virtual team is the future of an
organization where everyone is heading with the support of technological advancements.

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References:
Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural
supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, vol. 99, no.3, p.390.
Lockwood, J., 2015. Virtual team management: what is causing communication
breakdown?. Language and Intercultural Communication, vol. 15, no.1, pp.125-140.
Maynard, M.T. and Gilson, L.L., 2014. The role of shared mental model development in
understanding virtual team effectiveness. Group & Organization Management, vol. 39, no.1,
pp.3-32.
Pangil, F. and Moi Chan, J., 2014. The mediating effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship
between trust and virtual team effectiveness. Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 18, no.1,
pp.92-106.