Business Communication Report: Virtual Teams Analysis, Semester 1

This report analyzes the concept of virtual teams in modern business communication, highlighting their significance and the challenges they present. The report examines two articles, "Getting Virtual Teams Right" by Keith Ferrazzi and "Working Across Boundaries: Current and Future Perspectives on Global Virtual Teams" by Alfredo Jimenez, to explore key arguments and differences in viewpoints. Ferrazzi emphasizes the importance of various communication methods and team motivation, while Jimenez discusses the shift from hierarchical structures to organic designs. The report also addresses the limitations of virtual teams, particularly regarding cultural diversity and geographic separation. Recommendations include improving communication skills, fostering face-to-face interactions, and dividing workloads effectively. The conclusion underscores the importance of client satisfaction and team integration for successful virtual team operations.

Running head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Business Communication
Name of the Student’
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract
The purpose of the following report is to analyze the various aspects of the virtual teams. The
virtual teams are very important in the modern context. The collaboration of the team members is
very significant for the betterment of the organizations and their services of providing better
services always. Two articles have been provided by the different authors and these articles have
been analyzed in this paper with much analytical viewpoints. The recommendations have been
made to improve the quality of the virtual teams as well. The assistance of the team members and
their communication skills will be highly important indeed.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Key arguments of the authors..........................................................................................................3
Differences in the arguments...........................................................................................................5
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The purpose of the following report is to demonstrate the various matters and issues that
arise that arise while working in the virtual teams. This notion of the virtual teams has become a
very predominant and important notion in the recent times. This is why the team members want
to work in the virtual teams for the better effectiveness of their plans in the background of the
companies (Hill and Brierley 2017). However, the effectiveness of teams will have to be
assessed in this paper. It has been claimed by some experts that these virtual teams have not been
able to provide the best services to their clients. This has severely hampered their reputation in
the bad ways indeed. It has to be mentioned in this context that the effectiveness of these virtual
teams will have to be judged by going through the articles that have been provided. The
communication between the clients and the virtual teams will have to be given the utmost
priority indeed. Then only the basic requirements of the customers could be fulfilled properly
indeed. The most effective part of this notion is finding the right team, the right people and the
right leaders to lead the way for the betterment of the procedure (Reiter-Palmon 2017).
Key arguments of the authors
The articles that have been provided in this paper are Managing Yourself Getting Virtual
Teams Right by Keith Ferrazzi and Working Across Boundaries Current and Future Perspectives
on Global Virtual Teams by Alfredo Jimenez (Ferrazzi 2014). The author Alfredo Jimenez has said
that the modern organizations in the contemporary period do not work in the bureaucratic
hierarchical structures anymore (Jimenez et al., 2017). He has argued that the current moden
world organizations always work in the ‘more organic organizational designs’. This makes it
smooth and much flexible for the employees to cater to the solution of the problems for the

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clients in the very best ways (Jimenez et al., 2017). Some of the main issues in the current
organizations are the mobility of the organizations and the advantages they get from the global
expansion. This is why they will look to improve their business communications with the clients
in this fast paced world (Reiter-Palmon 2017).
On the other hand, Keith Ferrazzi has said that the organizations have to depend upon
several communication methods so they can cater to the needs of the clients in the most effective
ways indeed (Ferrazzi 2014). Some of the issues in which the things could be done are the direct
calling and text messaging with the clinets and answering their queries, arranging for the
discussion forums or creating virtual rooms, making communication with the conference calling
and other methods indeed (Daim et al., 2012). According to Ferrazzi, the earliest virtual teams
were formed to assist the entire systems with the proper innovation because these people did not
have the proper time to travel to the locations of meetings or the open discussion forums. As the
main issue has been the inconsistency of the members in the virtual teams, it has to be said that
the leaders of the virtual teams should always provide motivation to the members. This will
enable them to perform even better and provide the best services to their clients (Ferrazzi 2014).
Alfredo Jimenez has provided with the information and argumentative fact that the use of
the virtual teams is very much limited. The members belong to the several culturally diverse
groups (Pinjani and Palvia 2013). The collaboration work should be done in the best ways by the
freelancing people, suppliers and contractors. All types of people could engage in this process
properly by just collaborating with the members of the teams. This notion has been used in
several countries in several industries as well. The works could be completed across the borders
for the better services (Pinjani and Palvia 2013).

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Differences in the arguments
The arguments that have been made in this paper can be countered as well. There are
some major differences in the things that both the authors have said (Campbell, Coff and
Kryscynski 2012). As the success of the invention of these things is very much limited, it can be
said that the team members must have some proper integration between them so they can
complete the works proactively. The distribution networks of these organizations spread across
the borders and this is why it is very useful for the companies to employ these virtual teams for
the ultimate benefit (Pinjani and Palvia 2013).
This notion of the virtual teams can be fruitful because of the advent of the technology on
a short-term basis only. The long-term success cannot be expected from this idea of the virtual
teams. As the members are separated geographically, this will be very important to highlight that
there will not be much success for these teams indeed (Wagner and Hollenbeck 2014).
This will only be important in communicating with the clients if they are far away
indeed. The use of the latest technology is very important here to implement this method (Pinjani
and Palvia 2013).
First Article by Keith Ferrazzi Second Article by Alfredo Jimenez
 The entire process will be driven by the
technology and smooth communication
can be achieved through this process
indeed.
 The collaboration work is the most
significant part in this entire process
and unfortunately these issues have not
 It has been said that these virtual teams
will not be able to complete all the
works to achieve the client satisfaction
properly (Wagner and Hollenbeck
2014).
 There are many complex stunts in the
implementation of this method and they

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been worked out flawlessly (Gilson et
al. 2015).
 The sustainability of the virtual teams
will depend largely upon the
communication skills of the team
members indeed. The emotional
intelligence of these people are very
high as well.
 Trust is the factor that is very important
for the organizational success indeed. If
he clients have not met the service
providers face to face or talked with
them through the phone calls, this will
be very problematic for them indeed
(Joo et al. 2012).
have gone on to find them out for the
benefit of the customers.
 Though this idea has gained some
importance in the current times, there
are doubts about the sustainability of
these projects or ideas indeed (Gilson et
al. 2015).
 The work management of the
multinational organizations has become
smooth but the factor of meeting the
needs of the clients have not been
achieved to the full swing yet.
Recommendation
It is very important to recommend some new ways of improving the facilities for the
better service from these virtual teams (Klitmøller and Lauring 2013). It is because these virtual
teams are comparatively very new to the entire process and they need to solve some important
issues that should be dealt with the utmost importance indeed. The virtual teams should provide
the better communication skills and this should be the most important issue in this context as
well (Camisón and Villar-López 2014).

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 It is therefore recommended that the clients should have meetings with few team
members as they will be able to know the service providers personally and gain the trust.
These meetings can take place in the outdoor locations as well (Campbell, Coff and
Kryscynski 2012).
 The operational and various divisional leaders should be acquainted with each other so
the proper integration within the team can be achieved properly (Klitmøller and Lauring
2013).
 The face-to-face interactions should be must in the beginning when they start the
operational campaigns indeed. This should be the proper way of communicating with
each other.
 The leaders must have a strong hold on the teams. This can only be achieved when the
members are personally interacting with each other.
 The workloads should be divided among the various team members according to their
schedules. This should be done as most of the people are mainly freelancers, suppliers or
contractors.
 The best talents in the industry should be united and they must interact with each other to
form the best integrity in the country (Camisón and Villar-López 2014).
 The workflow could be delivered very fast with the help of the latest technology indeed.
 The same tasks could be done by the various people in the various continents within a
very short span of time. The time differences between the two hemispheres could be
managed if the virtual team members can share their jobs. These things will surely
improve the conditions.

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Conclusion
The conclusion to this paper can be drawn by saying the virtual team members are very
important for delivering the proper workflow of the works. The companies who engage in this
process of the virtual teams, should keep in mind that the most important issue of client
satisfaction should be mitigated properly indeed. This can only be done with the help of the
several people involved in the entire process. The aspects of cultural diversity should not be
highlighted as a major issue and must be handled properly. The integration of the team members
should be very important in this aspect as well.

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References
Camisón, C. and Villar-López, A., 2014. Organizational innovation as an enabler of
technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of business research, 67(1),
pp.2891-2902.
Campbell, B.A., Coff, R. and Kryscynski, D., 2012. Rethinking sustained competitive advantage
from human capital. Academy of Management Review, 37(3), pp.376-395.
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.
Ferrazzi, K., 2014. Getting virtual teams right. Harvard Business Review, 92(12), pp.120-123.
Gilson, L.L., Maynard, M.T., Jones Young, N.C., Vartiainen, M. and Hakonen, M., 2015. Virtual
teams research: 10 years, 10 themes, and 10 opportunities. Journal of Management, 41(5),
pp.1313-1337.
Hill, N. and Brierley, J., 2017. How to measure customer satisfaction. Routledge.
Jimenez, A., Boehe, D.M., Taras, V. and Caprar, D.V., 2017. Working across boundaries:
Current and future perspectives on global virtual teams. Journal of International
Management, 23(4), pp.341-349.
Joo, B.K., Song, J.H., Lim, D.H. and Yoon, S.W., 2012. Team creativity: the effects of perceived
learning culture, developmental feedback and team cohesion. International Journal of Training
and Development, 16(2), pp.77-91.

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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.
Reiter-Palmon, R. ed., 2017. Team Creativity and Innovation. Oxford University Press.
Wagner III, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R., 2014. Organizational behavior: Securing competitive
advantage. Routledge.