MNG81001 Management: Building and Leading Effective Virtual Teams

This presentation addresses the effective management of virtual teams, particularly in the context of a marketing team distributed across four time zones: Mumbai, New York, Sydney, and Beijing. It emphasizes the importance of both synchronous and asynchronous communication methods to mitigate miscommunication. The presentation also highlights the necessity of a robust project management system for monitoring team progress and identifying areas for improvement. Furthermore, it underscores the significance of collaboration and cooperation among team members through clear communication channels, team-building activities, periodic face-to-face meetings, and knowledge-sharing systems. Recommendations include clarifying the mission and vision, optimizing communication resources, implementing project management systems, facilitating real-time communication, holding regular in-person meetings, and promoting knowledge sharing and innovative strategies. The presentation references academic sources to support its arguments and provides actionable insights for enhancing virtual team performance.

EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF VIRTUAL TEAMS

VIRTUAL TEAMS
• In order to set up effective
virtual teams across four time
zones in Mumbai, New York,
Sydney and Beijing, certain
factors have to be kept in mind.
The following slides will provide
three strategies for successful
management of virtual teams.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
• Both synchronous and asynchronous
modes of communication are
recommended in order to avoid
chances of miscommunication (Pinjani
and Palvia 2013).
• Synchronous communication refers to
communication in real time and would
include instant messaging, chats,
webcams and video conferences.
• On the contrary, asynchronous modes
of communication would include text
messages, faxes and emails.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• A project management system
should be used by the marketing
team leader to ensure that each
member of the virtual team is
functioning to his fullest potential.
• Such a project management
system would allow evaluation
and monitoring of the team’s
progress and highlight room for
improvement.

COLLABORATION
• One of the most important
aspects of virtual team
operations is cooperation and
collaboration between different
team members. This can be
ensured through clear lines of
communication, team bonding,
periodic face to face meetings
and knowledge sharing systems
(Klitmøller and Lauring 2013).

RECOMMENDATIONS
• Clarification of mission and vision behind virtual team
implementation (Barnwell et al. 2014).
• Optimized use of available communication resources (both
synchronous and asynchronous).
• Project management systems.
• Real time communication
• Periodic face to face meetings.
• Encouragement of knowledge sharing, knowledge management
and innovative strategies.

REFERENCES
• Barnwell, D., Nedrick, S., Rudolph, E., Sesay, M. and Wellen, W.,
2014. Leadership of international and virtual project
teams. International Journal of Global Business, 7(2).
• Klitmøller, A. and Lauring, J., 2013. When global virtual teams share
knowledge: Media richness, cultural difference and language
commonality. Journal of World Business, 48(3), pp.398-406.
• Pinjani, P. and Palvia, P., 2013. Trust and knowledge sharing in
diverse global virtual teams. Information & Management, 50(4),
pp.144-153.

THANK YOU!