Global Virtual Teams: Success, Failure & Tuckman Theory Analysis

This report delves into the critical aspects of global virtual teams within the context of international management. It highlights the importance of global virtual teams in maximizing resources, increasing workforce productivity through technology, and overcoming time and distance barriers. The re...Read More

Task 3 Individual
written project tasks

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................1
Importance of Global virtual Team........................................................................................1
Critically discuss the failure and success of the global virtual team......................................2
Implementation of Tuckman Theory......................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
International Management basically comprises of different process and procedures which
are basically undertaken for the objective to manage the different operations on international
level. In case of companies, who are basically serving various markets in more than one country
generally requires various strategies for their sustainability. It is very important for them to adapt
different global phenomenon for interconnecting themselves with various types of Culture where
they run their operations. The present report will pay emphasis on the influence of factors which
contributes in global virtual teams, success and failure of global virtual team and implementation
of the Tuckman Theory.
MAIN BODY
TASK 3
Importance of Global virtual Team
In case of companies, they can basically maximise their resources with the support and
help from the global virtual teams. In addition to that, it also helps in increasing the overall
productivity of the workforce through offering them technological support (Agarwal, 2021).
Through establishment of virtual teams, the issues related to time and distance barriers could be
easily eliminated and reduced. For example, companies like Tesco and Unilever could easily
maintain their presence on different digital platforms in order to maintain coordination among
staff and employees. At the time of Covid 19 Pandemic, the companies faced issues and
problems when it comes to interacting with each other due to lock down imposed. In addition to
that, it is also affected highly due to productivity and revenue generation which could be easily
reduced through development of global virtual teams. For example, the Unilever shares
important information and related ideas through arranging and carrying out meetings over virtual
platforms which basically helps in ensuring growth. It also contributes towards promoting
company’s operations in a effective and faster manner through maintaining their accuracy in a
manner(Cai and Lo, 2020).
Also, the staff members feel highly satisfied due to effective presence of 24*7 support and
guidance through virtual connectivity. In addition to that, it helps a lot in overall improvement of
the retention rate of the staff members which plays a very important role in providing benefits to
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the company. Through the support of virtual teams, the company can offer services to its targeted
customers through establishing a brand image in their respective industries. It results in reducing
the overhead costs which also helps in maintaining the financial budget of the company in a
effective way possible. It also offers benefits and opportunities to the company for the purpose to
minimise the costs in relation to the infrastructure which is considered to be a positive factor that
contributes in their growth.
Critically discuss the failure and success of the global virtual team
The Global virtual teams help in providing various opportunities through maintaining an
effective and required coordination among various team members. It also helps in improving the
performance as well as the productivity of each and every individual which directly assist them
in achievement of both organizational and personal objectives. In case of companies, they could
resolve these issues with the support of global virtual teams which are mentioned below:
Selection of the right timing for conducting meetings: In case of Scheduling meetings
according to the need could result in fulfilling the objective of the company which they have to
plan basically for their operations. In addition to that, various projects could be carried out by the
company with the support of developing virtual teams without any kind of hindrance. It also
contributes in achievement of the long-term goals through scheduling meetings and planning as
per the requirement of the team member. Also, the structure of the meetings could be easily
accessed through managing the company so that they could meet their current requirements. It
also directly contributes in the success without any kind of failures as meeting can helps in
maintaining coordination and collaboration among various individuals and employees. In
addition to that, it also helps in eliminating the restrictions of time frame due to virtual meetings
could be easily arranged in desired time period as per the suitability of the team and its members.
Selection of various staff and employees: The companies could select right and prospective
employees as per their skills, experiences and capabilities. The virtual teams could be created on
the basis of the requirements of the objectives and projects for the objective to allow the
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company to carry out different operations in a effective and efficient manner. They could
critically operate the function in a well-designed way so that the aims and objectives could be
easily achieved. The virtual teams could provide advantages and opportunities for the purpose to
carry out selections as per the preferences which helps in ensuring development of the company
and growth. Also, the team members could perform with the support of the technological tools so
that they can perform their duties and responsibilities without any kind of failure.
Supportive Managers: With the support of virtual teams, it could perform in a effective manner
with the guidance and support of the top management of the company. It is very important to
offer assistance on constant time intervals and frame as per the team members and their
requirements so that they could carry out operations in the right direction. Also, it could easily
solve queries and issues of the employees through maintaining a proper accuracy of operations.
Also, the top management is highly accountable and responsible for the making and formulation
of variety of decisions which could support the operations for better success and growth. Also,
there are different type of strategies which are developed by them for the purpose to ensure
smooth operations over virtual teams which helps in contributing towards the success of the
company.
Improved Engagement: In case of employees, they are tend to engage themselves in the virtual
teams so they could effectively contribute towards the success and growth of the overall
organization. It is very important for the managers of the company to interact and communicated
with their team members so they could easily have a deep understanding about their behaviours
towards the company. In addition to that, it is very important to develop and gather feedbacks
and reviews from each and every person so that the managers could easily develop strategies as
per the various factors. Also, it offers them a opportunity to improve the overall operations ad
per the targets and goals of the company which could provide them positive outcomes. Through
proper engagement, it helps in ensuring planning of every action in a effective manner which are
taken by the team members so that the project could be completed in the given timeframe. Also,
there are various different factors which could create a impact and influence on the success of the
company during the global virtual team operations (Crouch, Del Chiappa and Perdue, 2019).
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Also, it is very important for the organization to identify the various factors which could lead to
failure in order to eliminate them. The negative impact caused due to virtual teams are discussed
below:
Lack of Coordination: In case of companies, sometimes they face challenges and issues in
relation to the maintenance regarding the coordination among the various team members during
the online or virtual presence. Also, it leads to conflicts and issues among the workforce due to
various differences in their traits and behaviours. Also, it is very important to have a deep
knowledge and understanding about the perspective of each and every employee who is working
in the team so that they could easily coordinate with each other in a effective way. Due to lack of
coordination could result in creating a negative impact to the entire company which could result
in lack of growth. For example, organizations like Tesco which basically deals in consumers
products and goods have to face various issues and problems in relation to managing the virtual
teams. It can also affect the supply chain which delays the delivery of services and products as
per the prescribed time frame. It is very essential to pay emphasis and focus on the different
factors which could disturb the coordination so that the company could maintain it in a effective
manner (Lu, Hsu, Liou and Lo, 2018).
Inappropriate Technology: The various technological factors play a significant role in creating
barriers in the operations of the virtual teams. When it comes to employees, few of them work in
remote areas who faces issues and difficulties in relation to the network. It also creates
disturbances regarding the operations of the virtual teams as it could affect the connectivity of
overall teams. It could also indirectly influence the services and product’s quality which could
lead to creating a negative influence on the relation of the company with their consumers. It is
very important for the organization to invest in costs and huge capital in the technological
infrastructure for the development and implementation of the virtual platform. It is very crucial
to focus on the negative factors in relation to the inadequacy of the technology that assist the
company in maintaining the required productivity in order to capture the large market area in a
effective way (Machlis and Tichnell, 2019).
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Implementation of Tuckman Theory
The Tuckman Theory was founded by psychologist Bruce Tuckman in the year 1965.
The theory basically pay emphasis on the operations of the team so they could easily carry out
the operations in the most effective manner possible. It also helps in guiding the individuals in
accomplishment of the targets and objectives in relation to the task and projects so they could
gain profitability. It also comprises of the five different stages which helps in ensuring proper
planning as discussed below:
Forming: It is described as the first stage of this theory which basically helps in ensuring the
allocation of the various activities and tasks among each and every team member. It is very
important to equally distribute the task as per the skills and expertise of the employees so that
election could be carried out in a effective manner. The interest and background of the company
should be understood by the organizations and managers so they could effectively develop the
teams. Also, it is very important to allocated required resources such as capital and technology
among the virtual team members so that they could carry out their operations. Timelines and
Project goals should be clearly stated to the people who are responsible for carrying out the
operations so they can easily achieve their goals. Regulations and rules need to be followed by
the employees for effective operations. At this stage, it is very important for each member to
understand the perspective of each other so that they could work as a single team in future
scenarios.
Storming: It is basically the second stage which basically suggest the thoughts and ideas for the
achievement of the task and given project. It is very important that the managers should gather
views and tasks of each and every individual in relation to the actions so that they could develop
procedures and plans. During operations over virtual teams, it is highly crucial to develop
relations among the team members in order to establish better coordination.
Norming: At this stage, the leaders try to maintain coordination among individuals through
solving their queries and confusions. It is important for the team member to contribute their
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efforts in achievement of the objectives. Virtual team members basically try to maintain harmony
and peace at such stage in order to resolve any kind of issues.
Performing: Once the problems and conflicts are settled down, this particular stage helps in
ensuring that everyone has clearly understood each other views. It also helps in analysing the
strengths and weakness so that they could support each other during the virtual operations. The
employees motivate their colleagues through development of positive surroundings for them.
Also the leaders supervise each and every person during the operations so that they can improve
the confidence among employees( Martínez-Rojas and et.al., 2018).
Adjourning: It is considered to be the last stage in this theory which basically describes the
adjournment and termination of the team. It is important for the employees to share their
experiences and knowledge with each other during the virtual team operations that offers positive
experience.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that businesses which operate their operations at
international platforms requires appropriate management. This report discussed about the virtual
teams and the factors related to that. Different successful and failure factors are identified in this
report which maximise the opportunities with the help of global virtual teams. There are various
factors which are discussed in this report related to the virtual teams which are not involved in
traditional teams. And appropriate framework is used to develop a better virtual team for an
organisation so that collective goals can be achieved in effective manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Agarwal, P., 2021. Shattered but smiling: Human resource management and the wellbeing of
hotel employees during COVID-19. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 93,
p.102765.
Cai, Y.J. and Lo, C.K., 2020. Omni-channel management in the new retailing era: A systematic
review and future research agenda. International Journal of Production Economics, 229,
p.107729.
Crouch, G.I., Del Chiappa, G. and Perdue, R.R., 2019. International convention tourism: A
choice modelling experiment of host city competition. Tourism Management, 71, pp.530-
542.
Lu, M.T., Hsu, C.C., Liou, J.J. and Lo, H.W., 2018. A hybrid MCDM and sustainability-
balanced scorecard model to establish sustainable performance evaluation for
international airports. Journal of Air Transport Management, 71, pp.9-19.
Machlis, G.E. and Tichnell, D.L., 2019. The state of the world's parks: An international
assessment for resource management, policy, and research. Routledge.
Martínez-Rojas and et.al., 2018. Twitter as a tool for the management and analysis of emergency
situations: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Information
Management, 43, pp.196-208.
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