University Case Study: Virtual Team Management in Diverse Settings

This case study explores the challenges and successes of virtual team management, focusing on a scenario where a virtual team leader, Rebecca, struggles to foster effective communication and collaboration among team members from diverse cultural backgrounds. The case highlights issues such as communication gaps, reluctance to share information, and the impact of cultural differences on work styles and trust. The analysis delves into how cultural factors, such as hierarchical work environments and data protection concerns, affect team dynamics. The study emphasizes the importance of cultural awareness, personal communication, and establishing clear processes to overcome barriers in virtual teams. It underscores the need for leaders to adapt their approach, build personal connections, and create comfortable virtual spaces for team members to enhance productivity and achieve team goals, referencing various academic sources on virtual team management and cultural aspects in the workplace.

Running head: TEAM MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL PLATFORMS
TEAM MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL PLATFORMS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

TEAM MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL PLATFORMS
Table of Contents
Answer 1....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 4....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 5....................................................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................4
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TEAM MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL PLATFORMS
Answer 1
Rebecca, the virtual team leader from United States took steps to ease out the
communication gap amongst her team members in the conference calls. When the conference
calls were going on during the team meetings, Rebecca noticed that the members of the team
were not comfortable to share the details of their sales pipelines as discussed in their initial
meeting. Furthermore, some of the members started skipping her calls and were reluctant to
speak during their attendance. Rebecca assumed that her team members were nervous to
attend the meetings, so she used her sense of humour to generate a comfortable atmosphere
and lighten the mood of the people belonging to her team.
Answer 2
Rebecca called for a conference meeting to know the background of her team
members during their introductory session. However, the team members belonging to
different cultural backgrounds took enough time to introduce themselves and their work
preference style in the meeting. In spite of this, the team did not successfully accomplish their
task. Rebecca realised that instead of arranging a common ground she should have talked
with her members individually such that they were comfortable to share a personal space with
her. She should have set the ground rules and structure of the processes after carrying out the
individual sessions of conversation with her teammates.
Answer 3
Woo-jin, the Korean colleague of Rebecca was accustomed with working in a strict
hierarchical environment in his office. He had a direct supervisor who he had to report every
details before sending them to Rebecca. However, Rebecca was not aware of this situation
and thought that it was her limitation for not being able to gain trust from her Korean
colleague.
In case of the Japanese, team member, Kamiko, she was concerned about the stringent
laws of data protection in their country and hence was not sure about sending Rebecca the
sales information over the virtual network. Although she tried to convey this message to
Rebecca indirectly, she failed to understand it.
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TEAM MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL PLATFORMS
Answer 4
The virtual teams are formed due to conduction of business operations worldwide
comprising of people from various cultural backgrounds. Hence, the team members as well as
the leaders should plan how to overcome the cultural differences such that this factor does not
become a barrier in their work processes (Hoch & Dulebohn, 2017). They should be aware of
the cultural aspects of their corresponding colleagues and maintain competency amongst
themselves in spite of their cultural differences (Gibbs, Sivunen & Boyraz, 2017).
Communicating effectively on a personal level is a way out to exercise cultural awareness
and thus enhance smoothness in the work processes even though it is a virtual team.
Answer 5
The major aspect of working in virtual teams is the diversity in the workplace because
the expert personnel belong to different nations while they collaborate with each other to
work together over virtual platforms (Dulebohn & Hoch, 2017). Since, everything is
managed virtually and there is no face-to-face interaction, the leaders of the virtual teams
should establish contact on a personal level with the team members and enhance
counteraction amongst the team members as well (Katane & Dube, 2017). In addition, the
processes or the working style should be set after everyone is comfortable sharing their
virtual spaces. In this way, the virtual teams can be as productive as their traditional
equivalents.
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TEAM MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL PLATFORMS
References
Dulebohn, J. H., & Hoch, J. E. (2017). Virtual teams in organizations.
Gibbs, J. L., Sivunen, A., & Boyraz, M. (2017). Investigating the impacts of team type and
design on virtual team processes. Human Resource Management Review, 27(4), 590-
603.
Hoch, J. E., & Dulebohn, J. H. (2017). Team personality composition, emergent leadership
and shared leadership in virtual teams: A theoretical framework. Human Resource
Management Review, 27(4), 678-693.
Katane, J., & Dube, S. (2017). The influence of organizational culture and project
management maturity in virtual project teams. Cell, 72(398), 4764.
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