Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Teams in Management Communication

This report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of virtual teams in management communication. It identifies crucial areas that need to be addressed while managing and leading a virtual team. The report also provides recommendations to overcome the barriers. The subject is management communication and the course code is not mentioned. The college/university is not mentioned.

Running head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Management Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author note

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Memo
To: Mr. X, the Marketing Director of XYZ Company
From: Mr. Y
Date: 15. 4. 2018
Introduction
A virtual team is referred to a team which is comprised of geographically or
organizationally dispersed members who are connected with one another through advanced
telecommunication and information technologies (Baruch and Lin 2012). The Sydney
headquarter of the XYZ Organization has decided to develop a virtual team in order to manage
and successfully complete a complex project. In this report, several advantages of developing a
virtual team as well as methods to deal with its disadvantages have been discussed.
Main purpose: Identification of crucial areas which needs to be addressed while managing and
leading a virtual team
Thesis statement: XYZ Company should implement virtual team in order to successfully
complete the complex project.
Blueprint: The first paragraph will include the advantages of Virtual team for the XYZ
Company. In the 2nd paragraph, the issues of virtual team management will be discussed. The
third paragraph includes recommendations to eradicate the issues have been discussed.
Discussion

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Advantages of virtual team management
In this era of modernization, a virtual team can be considered as one of the most effective
ways to handle a complex project. With the help of a virtual team, the XYZ organization will be
able to assemble the most talented members of the company who has the efficiency to work on
the particular project. Not only that, the virtual team will enable the company employees to gain
knowledge as well as a vivid understanding of the project. The management of the organization
will be able to avoid the vast expanses associated with the travelling of team members and
executives (Hinds and Bailey 2017). For employees, the virtual team will be beneficial as it will
enable them to save the time of travelling from one place to another for the project.
Issues related to virtual team
While the above-mentioned facts are some of the advantages of a virtual team, several
issues associated with the development of virtual team are also there. Issues may arise while
conducting meetings since employees will be working from different time zones. In order to
manage different time zone related issues, the XYZ Company must ensure that highly advanced
communicational tools are being used in order to prevent any type of discrepancy. Considering
the fact that members of the virtual team are located at different places with different time zone,
by fixing a particular time for the meetings which will be within the working hours of all the
members, the problem can be solved (Hoch and Kozlowski 2014). The absence of face to face
communication can be effectively solved by high tech video calling devices. Another crucial
issue related to the virtual team is building trust among the employees. Considering the fact that
employees of a virtual team don't have the opportunity to interact personally, the below
mentioned methods are capable of building trust among the team members of a virtual team.

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Since virtual interaction plays a crucial role while communicating with team members, the
communication tone of the team leader as well as the team members should have warmth. A
positive, calm and good demonstration of active listening should be performed during the
meeting in order to ensure positivity in the team (Pangil and Chan 2014). In order to develop
trust among the employees, the team leader should conduct "ice-breaking" sessions where
employees can have a relaxed conversation about their family, personal interests as well as
aspirations.
Recommendation to overcome the barriers
Considering the fact that the virtual team developed by the XYZ Company has team
members from different parts of the world, conflict may develop among employees from the
different cultural background. However, the below-mentioned strategies will help the mentioned
organization to manage conflict in the virtual team effectively. Firstly, a constant flow of
communication through different media should be encouraged (Daim et al. 2012). Constant
sharing of information and knowledge should be there through the online discussion board.
Through this method, employees will be able to voice their concern and connect with one
another in a casual and relaxed way. Effective communication generates transparency among the
team members and thus the chance of conflict can be reduced. When it comes to the virtual team,
lack of non-verbal communication that includes body language, facial expression and gestures
may give rise to conflict.
In order to prevent that, video conferencing should be conducted while making any
problematic decision. Being a member of a virtual team, it is highly crucial for each member of
the team to respect and understand the cultural values of his fellow employees (Dalkir 2013). In

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order to prevent any conflict related to the cultural diversity, the XYZ Company should
implement effective training sessions to educate its employees about multicultural values.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be easily concluded that the decision taken by the XYZ
Company to develop a virtual team is highly beneficial. With the help of the virtual team, the
company will be able to enhance its productivity and complete the project within the stipulated
deadline. The issues related to the development of the virtual team can be managed by above
discussed strategies. Finally, in order to complete the project with great efficiency and to satisfy
the client, it is highly crucial to develop the virtual team.

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Reference list
Baruch, Y. and Lin, C.P., 2012. All for one, one for all: Competition and virtual team
performance. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 79(6), pp.1155-1168.
Daim, T.U., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W. and Bhatla, A., 2012.
Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams. International Journal of
Project Management, 30(2), pp.199-212.
Dalkir, K., 2013. Knowledge management in theory and practice. Routledge, pp. 23-27
Hinds, P.J. and Bailey, D.E., 2017. VIRTUAL TEAMS: ANTICIPATING THE IMPACT OF
VIRTUALITY ON TEAM PROCESS AND PERFORMANCE. In Academy of Management
Proceedings. Academy of Management Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510.
Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural
supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), p.390.
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, 18(1), pp.92-
106.