You might be interested in utilizing a virtual team. Excellent. By the time you finish reading this you will have a solid understanding of the emergence of virtual teams, and how they are relevant right now!
Defining a virtual team
What is a virtual team? Well, that question is fairly simple to answer. A virtual team is a group whic conducts work in a virtual space.
Job complete, let’s hit the golf course. Actually. We should probably dig a little deeper here and do some more investigation. Getting a solid understanding of the emergence and research on virtual teams will set you in better standing to apply them for your business.
The first thing to understand about virtual teams is that they are driven by and have been formed around advances in technology. The success of global virtual teams has then fed back into investment in technology that benefits virtual teams.
This cyclical, positive reinforcement mechanism is important to understand because it is also echoed by management of virtual teams and the research of them.
Make sure you are at the eye of the storm or you can easily get blown off task by either management practices or technological tools that don’t fit your needs and will slow down your success.
Reasearch on virtual teams
It is important you understand that studies and theories on virtual teams have their basis in their early formation. Theories and ideas build up on one another like layers added on an initial shape or form.
Sometimes when the ideas evolve to a greater degree they split and separate but often the theories still will get mixed, confused and muddled.
Your ability to understand this and knowledge of the history of virtual teams will help your seperate and clarify all of this. Of course, as with everything, there will be testing, and adjustment required to find the perfect blend for your specific work. Stay with me and you’ll be enlightened and ready by the end.
Birth of the virtual team
The birth of the internet gave birth to the opportunity to develop and grow the virtual team. People could now share information and data at speed.
Yes, those annoying dial up modems were slow, and blocked your land line, but they were a darn lot faster and cheaper than sending a telegram.
It also brought the cost of communication down, and the detail and complexity (richness) of what could be sent up. Furthermore, it did this at speed. Imagine trying to send even simple data sets via the methods of the good ol’ days.
Being able to quickly share business knowledge is critical in being effective in all lines of work.
Communication synchronicity
It wasn’t just the fact that rich information could be sent quickly. It was also sent and received asynchronously. You didn’t have to wait for somebody else to be ready to receive the information. Or necessarily for them to respond before continuing with your work.
You could send off your work, continue what you needed to and did not even need to leave the comfort of your desk.
This immediately becam an indispensible tool for research teams around the globe. People could work across borders and time zones.
The cost of projects decreased not only from a reduced need to travel but also the increased speed at which projects could be completed.
If you haven’t read much about the research of the benefits of virtual teams, the next fact might surprise you. When computer mediated communication (CMC) teams were compared to face-to-face (FTF) teams they were found to result in:
Increased productivity
If you read my article “Virtual Teams Vs Face To Face Teams” you can see how studies have shown increased productivity in virtual teams. Predominantly as a direct result of increased efficiency in communication. Communication is more task oriented.
The use of asynchronous communication can sometime lead to problems of building trust in teams. Howerver, for many virtual teams the benefits have outweighed the cost.
For you as a reader of Virtual Leaders Academy you will be looking to use communication and the relevant tools in such a way to build trust as close to face-to-face levels as possible.
To really understand where virtual teams started and what they were formed from. You first need to learn about the Global Virtual Team or GVT for short.
The emergence and foundation of the Global Virtual Team
Let’s begin by looking at the definition of the global virtual team (GVT). Jarvenpaa and Leidner brought together a number of previous studies to create what has become the standard definition.
A virtual team is an evolutionary form of a network organization (Miles and Snow 1986) enabled by advances in information and communication technology (Davidow and Malone 1992, Jarvenpaa and Ives 1994). The concept of virtual implies permeable interfaces and boundaries; project teams that rapidly form, reorganize, and dissolve when the needs of a dynamic marketplace change; and individuals with differing competencies who are located across time, space, and cultures (Mowshowitz 1997, Kristof et al. 1995).
Jarvenpaa and Leidner, Communication and Trust (1999)
If you want to read more on this you can view it here.
Their definition covered what a global virtual team (GVT) was, what had advanced them and how they were implemented from a structural and human resource perspective. I’ve broken this down into bullet points to help you conceptualize this.
- What
- Evolutionary form of a network organization
- Advanced by
- Enabled by advances in information and communication technology
- Organization
- Permeable interfaces and boundaries
- Project teams that rapidly form, reorganize and dissolve
- Reacting to dynamic marketplace change
- Human Resource
- Different competencies, cultures
- Located in different spaces across different time zones
What is a global virtual team – An evolutionary form of network organization
“An evoloutionary form of network organization”
Well, that is a mouthful.
It’s funny to see how many people quote that without really explaining what they are talking about.
First let’s look at what a “network organization” is. In organization theory a network organization is just one which is quick at adapting to market changes (Vega 2013).
So in plain English – “An evolutionary form of network organization” – refers to a new type of business that has adapted to the current economic environment.
What allowed the advancement of the global virtual team (GVT)
One of the most significant advancements in technology that really gave global virtual teams the opportunity to develop, grow and thrive was the advancement of the internet. I’m sure you could have guessed that already.
Many other technologies have further pushed the capabilities of virtual teams. General improvements of telecommunications, VoIP and video conferencing are to name just a few. Great advancements in the fields of knowledge management and management of mobile devices have massively expanded the reach and scope of virtual teams.
What sort of organization benefits from global virtual teams (GVTs)
At the inception of the global virtual team the benefits and applications were almost exclusively applicable to large global corporations and world leading education establishments.
The highly competitive nature of the multinationals necessitated that they could reduce costs by having temporary project teams. This enabled them to react to the marketplace, launch into new markets and compete aggressively.
Technology costs have decreased, and the path has been laid. Global virtual teams are now readily available to the SME. They are even accessible to the solopreneur! You simply need to understand how to apply them to your own specific circumstances and how to manage them.
Human resource benefits of global virtual teams (GVTs)
From a human resources (HR) perspective global virtual teams give you access to the global talent pool. Not only do you have access to a global talent you have accesses to the price differentials offered by that.
In my article “what are the advantages of virtual teams” you can see some examples of the cost savings!
Historically, if you had a project in mind, you would need to recruit your team either locally or from people willing to relocate. This could make things prohibitively expensive.
Not only would you not want to have to go through the pain of organising everything for a temporary role, from Visas to housing and other elements of a relocation package but the employee would need some serious enticement.
This could make getting the “right” people prohibitively expensive. You definitely wouldn’t want to have to do this if the jobs were just temporary.
Recruitment costs would skyrocket. So you would settle for what you had locally.
This could leave you are stuck with a substandard talent pool. Sometimes if your work is specialist there might only be a handful of people globally who can help. That person might not be willing to move.
However, now you can set up virtual teams. You gain access to a global talent pool from which you can access inexpensively and effectively.
Cost savings aside if your intentions are to serve a global audience having a global team whose experiences cover various cultures brings a level of understanding that you could not have with a homogenous team.
This diversity can bring many benefits and “diversity is our strength” is a buzzword currently in many organizations. However, as a leader of people always ensure that you evaluate all mantras.
I would agree that there are definite strengths in diversity. But there are also limitations.
As a leader you must critically evaluate and think about your company and team’s needs.
Advancing from the GVT
Technology continues to advance, and the markets continue to change. Today, access to global virtual teams are at your fingertips whatever organization you are in.
This will have a direct benefit to your success if you learn about understand and then utilizing virtual teams.
If you can do this you will be able to apply what works, disregard what doesn’t specifically for your requirements. But there are two things you must, as a business leader and as an avid student of virtual leadership, learn.
- Global virtual teams (GVTs) and the studies and implementations that followed them have been based on this original fact.
- As new technologies emerge virtual teams will take on new forms. You should look to build your understanding and knowledge and make it your own.
What I am trying to explain here is that many people take a very prescriptive approach when studying and then applying principles in business.
By understanding the root causes and how these feed into research and then that research back into industry, you can start implementing what is specific to you.
This will bring you more success than the people with all the knowledge but are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
So, if you read that CMC is more efficient. Question why. What specifically was the study about? How was it conducted? Dig a little deeper…
Look at new technologies and how they might challenge previous notions. The advancement of virtual meetings has greatly impacted how trust can be developed for example.
Changes in technology will shift and change paradigms and you will be able to test and implement new things.
You will have the opportunity to push the past perceived boundaries and gain an edge and improve your team dynamics toward the specific goals you are working toward.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.