Running head: VIRTUAL TEAM MANAGEMENT AND SUCCESSES 1

Virtual Team Management and Successes

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VIRTUAL TEAM MANAGEMENT AND SUCCESSES 2

Virtual Team Management and Successes

The advent of information and telecommunication technologies has revolutionized how

organizations undertake their day-to-day operations. Presently, many organizations deploy

virtual teams to undertake various projects by leveraging their virtual teams' capabilities. Ale

Ebrahim, Ahmed, and Taha (2009) define virtual teams as "groups of people and sub-teams who

interact through interdependent tasks guided by a shared purpose and work across links

strengthened by information, communication, and transport technologies" (p. 2564). With

internet technologies, organizations can easily manage projects remotely, organize meetings with

virtual teams and sub-teams involved in managing outsourced projects in real-time, and perform

other tasks such as hiring remotely. Virtual team communications enable organizations to track

tasks by determining how far remote teams have performed specific tasks. With work

environments becoming increasingly complex, organizations must embrace virtual teams to

decentralize their work processes and increase flexibility in executing core business functions.

Building High-Performance Virtual Teams

Organizations must cultivate positive relationships between their virtual team members

and sub-teams to achieve the expected performance levels. Striking a balance between

relationships, team processes, and team results are critical in promoting virtual teams'

performance. Results refer to the goals or output expected from each individual and remain the

bottom line in virtual team activities and projects. During virtual meetings, team leaders and

facilitators must find a means to align processes and relationships among virtual team members

to promote better results (Lepsinger et al., 2010). Many leaders tend to concentrate more on

results and pay little attention to virtual team members' processes and rapport. The latter are

considered leading indicators of success in virtual teams and must be underlined.

Regarding team processes, virtual team leaders must focus on creating an influence on

their members and sub-teams and increasing their virtual teams' predictability. Increasing team

predictability encompasses helping individual members understand their purpose in the team and

expectations. To build deep relationships, leaders must increasingly focus on nurturing trust and

rapport with their virtual team members.

Profiles of Virtual Team Success

A successful virtual team should provide stability and consistency by avoiding changes in

individual members. In stable teams, individual members are more likely to trust each other and

collaborate in completing various tasks. Besides, virtual teams that consist of few individuals are

considered more effective in performing various tasks. Members should be recruited from the

same functional areas to avoid cross-functional teams' challenges to increase virtual teams'

chances of success. Virtual teams should include members who only participate in fewer teams

to bolster individual performance and overall effectiveness. Organizations should organize face-

to-face meetings at the kick-off stage to cultivate functional relationships and interpersonal trust

among team members (Berggold, 2018). This is vital in ensuring that each of the team members

makes their contributions in subsequent virtual meetings. Investing in the right technologies can

help significantly in promoting team performance. For example, teleconferencing technologies

are considered important in facilitating communications and collaborations in virtual teams.

Additionally, offering skill development training to team members can help considerably

promote team performance, increasing virtual projects' chances of success.

Differentiators of Great Teams (RAMP Model)

The RAMP model outlines five differentiators of virtual teams available in different

organizations. These differentiators include engagement, task-based trust, collaboration,

commitment, and shared processes. Virtual teams where team members are more engaged and

committed to shared goals are more likely to report higher performance than virtual teams where

members are less engaged and committed to team processes. Team leaders must find ways to

keep their members motivated and engaged in team activities. By doing this, each member will

develop a sense of belonging and remain committed to attaining shared goals.

Regarding shared processes, the leadership must develop decision-making and problem-

solving procedures to ensure that their virtual teams do not get stuck in case of any problems

(Lepsinger & DeRosa, 2010). To avoid conflicts, virtual teams' leadership should set out a chain

of command to ensure that everyone understands their roles in shared processes. Thirdly,

fostering trust among team members can have a significant influence on team performance and

success. To build trust, the leadership must ensure that individual members are responsive,

remain committed to tasks, and take ownership of any outcomes. Lastly, virtual teams' success

hinges on the ability to maintain effective collaborations among individual members. Virtual

teams where individuals work together are more likely to report high performance than teams

where members work independently.

Virtual Team Launch Kit

After identifying individuals who bring the right skills, virtual team leadership should

organize the right technologies and develop performance evaluation processes and reward

systems. A virtual team launch kit ensures that each team member has a solid understanding of

team purposes and organizational goals. Secondly, a launch kit sets out a clear vision and

strategic path that each member should follow to expedite team goals. During the kick-off
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meeting, virtual team leadership should create an environment that encourages team members to

interact with each other to build trust. Initial communications should clarify the team's goals to

ensure that each member understands what is expected of them. The team leader should also

clarify individual members' roles, team processes, applicable technologies, acceptable team

norms and behaviors, and other action items.

Leading Virtual Teams

Given the changes and complexity in work environments, virtual leaders must devise

strategies to maintain connections and increase their virtual teams' productivity. As a virtual

leader, one ought to re-ignite his/her team by reminding members about team purpose and

clarifying their roles. This will make it easier for virtual leaders to promote alignment with team

goals and create a sense of belonging among team members. A virtual leader should

continuously re-invent traditions to ensure that everyone feels comfortable working with the

team. To promote performance, virtual leaders must develop tools to measure their teams'

collective capacity and track task progression to drive the attainment of expected goals. Virtual

team leaders should leverage various communication technologies such as social media networks

to foster team members' collaboration. As a team leader, one ought to communicate regularly

with his/her virtual team to ensure that members remain engaged with team activities. Virtual

leaders must regularly check on their members to ascertain their well-being. This can go a long

way in promoting engagement and commitment to team processes.

Team Accelerating Factors

Accelerating virtual teams do not focus exclusively on attaining results; instead, these

teams concentrate more on gaining proficiency in handling any challenges that may lead to
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lagging or derailed performance. Accelerating teams should be quick to adapt to new challenges

and formalize learning from their failures and mistakes. To promote high-performance, virtual

team leadership should integrate iterative models to support incremental improvements and

foster constant collaboration. In accelerating teams, individual members always seek knowledge

from various sources and apply learned ideas to solving new challenges and increasing their

adaptation. Also, individual members in accelerating teams must rigorously challenge and probe

their leadership and team members to avoid groupthink and create a dynamic environment where

virtual discussions max out in a consensus and better relationships.

Facilitating High-Impact Virtual Meetings

Before organizing a virtual meeting, the team leader must clarify the agendas of the

meeting and objectives. In most cases, virtual team members operate on time-crunched

schedules, always trying to balance between their everyday duties and virtual team

responsibilities. Facilitators must account for time factors whole organizing and running virtual

meetings to enable their team member's show up for these meetings without jeopardizing other

duties. The facilitator should take charge of the virtual meeting, guide team processes, engage

team members, nurture the right climate, communicate about any developments, encourage

suggestions, and communicate about anticipated pitfalls (Lepsinger et al., 2010). During virtual

discussions, facilitators should intercept and remind individual members about team goals and

re-align them with the meeting's objectives and agendas. Active participation and engagement of

all members are considered paramount while holding virtual meetings. For instance, in a video

conference meeting, a facilitator should accord each team member an equal chance to make their

input by sharing their thoughts and ideas. This will encourage team members to contribute to the

agenda of the recent meeting.

Lessons for Successful Virtual Teams

Virtual teams fall under two categories, namely high-performing and low-performing

teams. Many successful virtual teams pay more attention to issues that are more likely to affect

interactions, collaborations, and trust among individual members. As a result, these teams

develop proactive strategies to build rapport and encourage collaborations, leading to improved

productivity. High-performing virtual teams underline the value of trust in bolstering effective

collaborations. To develop trust, these teams encourage open communications, empower

members to solve conflicts, make decisions, and endorse positive behaviors among team

members.

Furthermore, successful teams increasingly focus on helping their members develop soft

skills to foster interpersonal collaborations. Importantly, virtual teams must constantly seek

various opportunities for continuous improvement. Moreover, virtual teams' success depends on

establishing high-touch environments by embracing various technologies that enable them to

engage their members and support positive collaborations. Organizations must develop agile

leaders keen on nurturing deep relationships between team members and integrating innovation

to drive performance in their virtual teams.

Conclusion

Virtual teams have become increasingly common in contemporary business

environments. Companies are gradually shifting into virtual team practice to engage their

stakeholders and project management teams. Adopting such practices in business environments

presents organizations' opportunity to decentralize their work processes and address various

complexities that characterize modern-day work environments. Organizing virtual teams results
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in greater flexibility since team leaders can facilitate meetings while attending to other duties

without the need for their physical presence. Such occurrences as COVID-19 have brought new

realities that have forced organizations' management to re-invent their work processes and shift

towards virtual team management. With virtual teams, workers can collaborate in completing

different tasks remotely, thus eliminating various barriers caused by geographical separations.
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References

Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S., & Taha, Z. (2009). Virtual teams: A literature review. Australian

Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 3(3), 2653-2669.

Berggold, B. (2018). Leading creative teams virtually (Doctoral dissertation).

Lepsinger, R., & DeRosa, D. (2010). Virtual team success: A practical guide for working and

leading from a distance. John Wiley & Sons.