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VIRTUAL TEAMS |
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A VIRTUAL TEAM is a real group of two or more people who:
These common barriers usually include:
Some prefer the term "geographically dispersed" rather than "virtual" teams. However, we work with people who may be colocated in the same office, but their barriers stem from something other than place. In our definition above, the term virtual does not come from "virtual reality" (as in almost real). It comes from "virtual memory" or supplemental use of new resources (as in auxillary disk space) in a way that transcends the limiting barriers of the existing resources (software and hardware storage space). |
We understand that trust and communication are the foundation of teamwork and that both are reciprocally related. Improving one may bring a corresponding increase in the other, but reducing one will definitely cause a consequential decrease in the other. Trust and communication must be developed together.
Since online communication sometimes challenges people to interact without the benefit of body language or voice intonations, and because these visual or verbal cues are often absent or vague, online miscommunications are all too common in virtual teams. Therefore, when miscommunications do occur, as is often the nature of virtual teams, trust may severely diminished. In extremely critical cases, some face to face teamwork development may be necessary to address these cornerstone issues before undertaking further virtual teamwork issues.
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Our research has identified the top challenges that companies face with their virtual teams and these are listed below. Our experience has developed some solutions that can address these shortcomings. Note that most of these challenges come from the unavoidable interaction of humans and technology, rather than from breakdowns in either teamwork or equipment.
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