A group of people who interact through electronic communications A virtual team, also known as a geographically dispersed team or a remote team, is a group of people who interact through electronic communications. Members of a virtual team are usually located in different geographical regions. Since communication is not in-person, trust and good communication are crucial to the success of a virtual team.  Example of a Virtual TeamCompany A, a plane manufacturer, is facing heavy pressure from competitors. To address the issue, Company A connects experts from the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe to collaborate and create a new innovative plane design. The Different Types of Virtual TeamsThere are several types of virtual teams depending on the lifespan, objective, goals, and roles of members. 1. Networked TeamsNetworked teams are composed of cross-functional members brought together to share their expertise and knowledge on a specific issue. Membership is fluid in that new members are added whenever necessary while existing members are removed when their role is complete. 2. Parallel TeamsParallel teams are generally formed by members of the same organization to develop recommendations in a process or system. Parallel teams are usually formed for a short period of time, and membership is constant in that members of a parallel team remain intact until the goal is realized. 3. Product Development TeamsProduct development teams are composed of experts from different parts of the world to perform a specifically outlined task, such as the development of a new product, information system, or organizational process. For example, bringing in a team of experts from the United States, Canada, and Hong Kong for a period of one year to develop a new engine. 4. Production TeamsProduction teams are formed from members of one role coming together to perform regular and ongoing work. Members of a production team are given clearly defined roles and work independently. The individual outputs of each member are combined to produce the end result. 5. Service TeamsService teams are formed by members from different time zones. Each member does work independently, but the work produced by each member is a continuation of the previous member. For example, customer support teams in Canada finish their shift while support teams in Asia start their shift and continue the work. 6. Management TeamsManagement teams are formed by managers of the same organization who work in different geographical regions. Members of management teams largely discuss corporate-level strategies. 7. Action TeamsAction teams are formed for a very short duration of time to respond to immediate problems. Upon resolving the problem, the team is adjourned. Advantages of Virtual TeamsThere are several advantages of a virtual team such as:
Disadvantages of Virtual TeamsThere are several disadvantages of a virtual team such as:
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Effective teams commit to shared work and interaction. This can be done through:_______ a. Nested network of teams b. Operating agreements c. Contact lists d. Adaptability and work-arounds
Learning Outcomes
Organizations use different types of teams in different ways to accomplish their objectives. Some teams have a very simple and specific focus, and others face complex issues with organization-wide ramifications. We can look at teams and classify them in a variety of ways. Let’s first take a look at them based on their task complexity and team member fluidity. Task complexity is the extent to which a task is intricate and consists of different, interrelated parts. Membership fluidity is the extent to which membership within a team is stable. Low membership fluidity would mean that people are often entering into and leaving the team, and high membership fluidity means they are quite stable, not changing often at all. Simple Work TeamsSimple work teams have low task complexity and low team fluidity. Their goal is simple problem solving, and often they are a group that supports day-to-day activities, dealing with issues that require input from more than one person or to generate commitment from employees. Usually these are people from a same team or department, so they generally have a similar focus and tend to work together relatively easily. Administrative TeamsAn example of an administrative team might be a relocation committee that’s dedicated to relocating a plant to a new area. Members of the team might flow in and out, but the complexity of the task is rather high and not at all part of their regular routine. Management level members work for a finite period of time to accomplish the strategic objective of moving the plant—all its machinery, all its people, and so on—to a new address. Cross-Departmental TeamsA cross-departmental team tends to have a low complexity level but a high team membership fluidity, meaning that the work is fairly simple but the teams are committed and fairly unchanging. Their goal is integration in structure and setting ground rules, and their focus is internal and very specific. A cross-departmental task force is an example of this type of team. Perhaps an organization is installing a new system that will manage all their data, both at the main office and at their plants, in an entirely different way. The task force might come together from different areas of the organization to identify the types of data their departments generate and how that data will be transferred over to the new system, how people will be trained to use the new system and even how change around the system will be managed. Process TeamsProcess teams deal with high complexity tasks and have high team member fluidity, meaning people are assigned to the team and stay. These folks are creative problem solvers and deal with implementation. Their focus is strategic and broad. Process teams do not have departmental affiliation and function independently to undertake broad, organizational-level process improvements. For instance, the department store Mervyn’s, the now defunct discount department store chain, had a SWAT team that rushes in to solve a store’s critical issues. They were deployed at any time, whenever they’re needed. They even attempted to solve organizational-wide issues like flextime and insurance. Self-Managed TeamsOverall self-managed teams include these characteristics:
Self-managed teams require a change in structure on behalf of the organization and a high level of commitment on behalf of all parties to ensure their success. Most self-managed teams that fail do so because of a lack of commitment on the part of the organization. Virtual TeamsIt’s worth noting that there are now also virtual teams, which are teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. It is true that these virtual teams might be an administrative, cross-functional, simple work or even a process team, but they are distinctive in that they allow people to collaborate online. Because virtual teams have limited social interaction – many times they have not met in person – they tend to be more task-oriented and exchange less social information. But they’re able to do their work even if the members of the team are thousands of miles apart, and allows people to work together who may not otherwise be able to collaborate. Contribute!Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input. Improve this pageLearn More |
Which of the following types of teams allows for collaboration between team members who are physically dispersed?
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