Assessment 2: Management Communication Report on Virtual Teams

This report, prepared for a management communication course, delves into the significance of virtual teams in contemporary business environments. It highlights the advantages, such as cost-effectiveness, access to global talent, and employee satisfaction, while also addressing the disadvantages, including technological issues and communication barriers. The report uses ABC Company as a case study, illustrating the practical implications of implementing virtual teams and providing strategies to overcome challenges. It emphasizes the importance of training, cultural sensitivity, and technological adaptability for successful international collaboration. The report concludes that embracing virtual team systems is crucial for businesses aiming to leverage global expertise and meet evolving customer demands. The report references several academic sources to support the claims made in the analysis. The report examines the pros and cons of virtual teams and provides suggestions for successful implementation.

Running head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Management Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Usefulness of Using Virtual Team by ABC Company....................................................................3
Disadvantages of Using Virtual Team by ABC Company..............................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
Virtual teams are one of the most important aspects of modern day business
communication. Virtual teams help in connecting with the stakeholders living in different parts
of the world. It must be noted in this context that virtual teams help the company to get a huge
diversified knowledge and expertise from different parts of the country. ABC company is
operating from its headquarters in Melbourne. However as it is an era of huge competition, pope
all over the world is looking for diversified and better services. They want to make sure that the
products which they ate paying for must be of a very dynamics nature. There are many variations
in the tastes and the preference patterns of the customers. Thus if ABC Company wants to appeal
to a mass targeted customers on the Global basis, they have to make sure that they are including
the team of international experts from all the different corners of the world. Establishing a
virtual team over the traditional FtoF or the face to face team is beneficial for the company.
Usefulness of Using Virtual Team by ABC Company
The virtual team helps in collaborating with International staffs in a cost-effective
manner. Kasemsap ( 2016) is of the opinion that the virtual teams help in forming a contact or a
connection with the staffs living in many different parts of the world. In other words, this system
is carried on via the means of video conferencing, instant messaging, teleconferencing,
discussion forums, emails, and other such platforms. This is helpful for the company to stay
connected with the staffs living in different parts. Gilson et al (2015) have stated that a Virtual
team is also useful as it saves the company from bearing extra real estate or property cost. They
can save this money and use it for other development purposes like the R&D process. Thus for
ABC Company, if they want to use the traditional method by carrying on all the business

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discussions in their central office at Melbourne, then it will be a huge expenditure for them to
accommodate all the international employees. The company will have to bear a huge cost for
transportation, office space and the overall accommodation of staffs from Los Angeles,
Shanghai, and Bangalore.
The staffs, on the other hand, might be busy in some other project currently. So, it would
be tough for them to come down all the way to Melbourne. Thus it will be prudent for ABC
Company to include all these International staffs via the virtual team methods. Popescu and
Warmenhoven (2018) have also stated that happy employees are one of the major reason behind
the good performance of the organization. Virtual teams help in creating happy employees. This
is because the employees are able to work from home without facing any issues of coming down
to the headquarters of the office. Thus ABC Company must make sure that they are giving all the
possible comforts to its customers. The International staffs will also be able to use all their
important data and expertise via viral platforms. For an instance carrying samples is often a very
tough job. Thus virtual meetings will help the employees to show the samples easily through the
video conferencing or discussion forums.
Disadvantages of Using Virtual Team by ABC Company
Virtual teams can often slow the pace of the business due to technical or other errors.
Pozin et al (2018) are of the opinion that virtual teams often suffer due to technological errors.
There are chances that due to bad climatic conditions there are issues in the internet lines. This
will be tough for the smooth functioning of the business. ABC Company might also suffer some
internal connection problems. Lee (2016) has suggested that some employees might break the
trust factor. ABC has the data that found that 82% fell short of their goals and 33% rated

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themselves as largely unsuccessful. It can happen that some employees are taking some breaks
without working on business projects. It must be noted that ABC Company cannot avoid virtual
team system. It is not possible for the staffs at Melbourne to know about the customer's
psychographic aspects of Shanghai. If the company wants to produce a food product for
Shanghai customers, they definitely need to know about the kind of food habits and the current
demands of the Shanghai market. Naturally, a Shanghai staff will be the best person to give
information about these aspects. However, there are some strategies that the company can
undertake in order to solve these issues.
ABC Company has to provide constant training to their in house employees of how to
stay in connection with the distant employees. ABC Company must also recruit some language
translators so that the Global staffs belonging from different cultural and language backgrounds
are able to successfully interpret and understand the facts and tips being shared at the Melbourne
meeting (Krumm et al 2016). The employees at Melbourne must be taught to make some
adjustments and compromises. They must log in earlier in order to match up with the different
geographical location of other employees (Martínez-Moreno et al 2015). ABC Company has to
use strategies like the instant messaging system to stay in proper contact with the internal staffs.
They must also arrange for some backup employee's who will be there to support if it is tough to
connect with some distant employees due to the internet connection.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that ABC Company must be the virtual team system in order to
bring the multicultural expertise from different parts of the world. Customers no longer like to
stay stagnant and they look for something dynamic. Thus progressing in the communication

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methods will help ABC Company in bringing about dynamic ideas. This will help them in
appealing to a large number of customers of not only Melbourne but also in India, Shanghai and
Los Angeles.

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References
Gilson, L.L., Maynard, M.T., Jones Young, N.C., Vartiainen, M. & Hakonen, M., 2015. Virtual
teams research: 10 years, 10 themes, and 10 opportunities. Journal of Management, 41(5),
pp.1313-1337.
Kasemsap, K., 2016. Examining the roles of virtual team and information technology in global
business. In Strategic management and leadership for systems development in virtual spaces (pp.
1-21). IGI Global.
Krumm, S., Kanthak, J., Hartmann, K. & Hertel, G., 2016. What does it take to be a virtual team
player? The knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics required in virtual
teams. Human Performance, 29(2), pp.123-142.
Lee, M.R., 2016. Leading virtual project teams: Adapting leadership theories and
communications techniques to 21st-century organizations. Auerbach Publications.
Martínez-Moreno, E., Zornoza, A., Orengo, V. & Thompson, L.F., 2015. The effects of team
self-guided training on conflict management in virtual teams. Group Decision and
Negotiation, 24(5), pp.905-923.
Mattarelli, E., Tagliaventi, M.R., Carli, G. & Gupta, A., 2017. The role of brokers and social
identities in the development of capabilities in global virtual teams. Journal of International
Management, 23(4), pp.382-398.

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Popescu, F. & Warmenhoven, R., 2018, July. Use of technology and virtual communication via
global virtual teams at Arnhem business school. In International Conference on Applied Human
Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 239-248). Springer, Cham.
Pozin, M.A.A., Nawi, M.N.M., Lee, A. & Azman, M.N.A., 2018. Improving communication in
managing industrialised building system (IBS) projects: virtual environment. Malaysian
Construction Research Journal, 2(2), pp.1-13.