Development of Virtual Teams

Executive Summary 

Virtual teams have become commonplace in the current business setting due to globalization as most companies prefer to go international. With the advent of technology, various factors contribute to the success of collaboration in these teams. However, as the success factors are many, many may lead to failure of such teams ( Ale Ebrahim et al., 2009) . Technology has led to the connection of members of these groups, but the failure is frequent as the process is still new. Nevertheless, the formation of virtual teams is strategic and leads to the achievement of a company’s global presence through the reduction of overhead. 

The virtual teams will require best practices in order to succeed in meeting the expectations of the company. One of these is executive support. The top leadership should invest in the team to make it successful. The second practice is human resource management. This is specifically to ensure that the team has the right people and culture. The third practice revolves around the leader. The team requires the right frontrunner who takes up the roles of leading the group to success. The structure and formation of the team is another essential practice that measures levels of collaboration (Gratton & Erickson, 2007). 

The life cycle of a team goes through specific predictable stages. Understanding this will make the leader able to define where the team is heading. There are five stages known as forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Abudi, 2010). The second phase (storming) poses the highest level of challenge to the progress of the team. 

Each of the predictable stages has ways in which the leader can manage to steer the team through. The paper gives recommendations on some of the means a team can go through each step. Finally, technology can be employed to make the strategies for moving through the predictable stages successfully. 

Overview of Organization Best Practices 

The virtual team needs to understand what the company expects. Just like any other team, the virtual team requires the best practices that will need to be followed in order to succeed in meeting the expectations. One of the paramount practices is carrying out a face-to-face meeting for the first time. The benefit of meeting for the first time is that the members of the team will forge personal connections hence creating ease of communication, respect, and eventually building trust. During this meeting, a team guideline will be set up to address communication strategies, technology to be used, and the roles of everyone in the group. 

As Gratton & Erickson (2007) write in “Eight ways to build collaborative teams,” there are essential practices that an organization must provide. First, executive support is essential in enhancing the success of members of a team. The leader needs to invest in the team. According to Gratton and Erickson (2007) , a team progresses and flourishes when the top management invests in supporting social relationships, demonstrates collaborative behavior, and forms the so-called “gift culture.” In this way, the members appreciate the communication that exists between them and the leaders and see it as a valuable gift. 

Another practice involves human resource management ( Gratton & Erickson, 2007) . The duties of the HR department include selection, promotion, training, performance management among others. For a team to be collaborative, the HR has to play a critical role in establishing and cultivating a sense of community within the entire workforce. They should sponsor group events and activities and make the employees connect with each other. 

Another best practice is to ensure that the right leader is given the roles of leading the group ( Gratton & Erickson, 2007) . The leaders should be both task- and relationship-oriented. This will create a balance between managing people and handling the objectives of the company. These leaders should also be flexible to change their leadership styles at any time. 

Finally, team formation and structure is an essential practice for developing and managing complex teams ( Gratton & Erickson, 2007) . Trust is the pillar of collaboration and, thus a team formed on the preexisting relationships will increase the chances of a successful teamwork. Heritage is important for continuity of collaboration as new members of a team may find it difficult to join the system. New teams have to invest more time and resources in building trust. 

Predictable Stages of Virtual Team Development 

The advancement and progress of a virtual team happen through stages that are similar to any other team. The most difficult role on the part of the manager is to move the group through all the phases of development. The length of time that every team takes in each stage depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the specific side. It is essential to understand the phases because as the team advances, the alliance grows stronger. 

Forming stage 

This is the stage where the individuals that make up the team are oriented and acquainted with the requirements of progress ( Abudi, 2010) . It happens when the people first meet each other. During the first meeting, the members are introduced to one another and share information on their interests, background, and expectations on the team project. This stage involves high uncertainty as individuals form the first impression of the other members. People tend to look for recognition, leadership, and authority. The team members begin to learn about the project that they will be working on as they discuss the goals. This brings the need to think about the role each member will play in the group. This phase is when the leader should have the highest responsibility of clarity on the team goals and offer direction concerning the project. The members, on the other hand, have the responsibility of forging ways in which they will work together. 

Storming stage 

This second phase is the most challenging and critical in the entire cycle. This stage is marked with competition that mostly leads to conflicts and disputes. The personalities of each individual emerge and show in plain sight. Here, the team performance may decrease due to people focusing their energy on non-productive activities ( Abudi, 2010) . Disagreements may arise concerning goals as subgroups form around strong personalities or common agreement areas. This second stage is unavoidable for teams, particularly new ones. The difference in opinion and conflict of interest makes the team weaker as individuals tend to be more vocal in their stance. For members who hate conflict, this is the most dreaded stage to go through. The team needs to be more solid by the leader being adept to make the individuals learn to listen and respect each other. Failure to address the problems may lead to the breakup of the group ( Abudi, 2010) . 

Norming stage 

If a team manages to pass through the storming phase, conflicts reduce and some form of cooperation emerges. The third stage of norming leads to the development of consensus on who is the leader(s). The individuals also become clear of their roles in the team and interpersonal differences are settled. Unity and cohesion are evident at the end ( Abudi, 2010) . In this stage, the group performance increases as collaboration are developed and members focus on the team goals. This stage is however critical because any reemergence of disagreement may lead to the storming stage. 

Performing stage 

This stage has a characteristic of well-formed and established consensus and cooperation. The team matures and become organized and well-functioning ( Abudi, 2010) . The operation structure is clear and stable as members are committed to the mission of the team. Differences may still emerge at this stage but they are solved constructively. The team is focused on solving problems and meeting the objectives. 

Adjourning stage 

This is the final stage where most of the objectives of the team have been achieved. The workload has reduced and the team focuses on documenting results and reporting ( Abudi, 2010) . This is the phase where the team disbands and members will have to part ways and go in different ways. Some teams will be formed again after this. The final phase is concerned with the perspective of the well-being of the team instead of from management of the group as with the previous four stages. 

Recommendations to Move through Each Stage 

Forming Stage 

For the team to go through this stage, the leaders and members are required to work hard to gain an understanding of what the team goals are and what is expected from each of them. This stage involves the players learning about one another and getting oriented to the expectations as they develop relationships. The members must foster these relationships with one another in order to build trust and gain respect within the virtual team. One of the recommendations for the stage is outlining the specific reasons why the team is formed, and this should be done with utmost clarity. The leader must give reasons why each member was considered for inclusion in the virtual team. There should be an open discussion right at the beginning to offer everyone a chance to air their views, concerns, ask questions, and give feedback. This will increase the value of the team. 

Storming Stage 

This is by far the most challenging stage in developing not only a virtual team but also any other. Conflicts are inevitable in this phase as every person begins to challenge each other’s input and ideas. As time goes, they form opinions and bias about one another as they come to know each member. In this stage, goals, rules, and roles become unapparent. One way of getting past this phase is coaching. In this case, the leader holds a meeting where they coach all the circumstances that are leading to conflicts. Clarity is key here as enough information should be offered and a questions and answer session be made to clear up any conflicting view. 

Norming Stage 

After the storm comes, the phase where calmness is restored and all the things come to order again. There is the restoration of focus and goals become clearer. The members resume their roles and responsibilities in an understandable manner. Rules and regulations become significant and respected. Collaborations flourish and relationships become stronger. The buck stops at the leaders to ensure the stability of the team continues and move it to the next stage. One way of ensuring the team goes through this is the leader recognizing and showing gratitude for each member’s contribution to the team. They should also discuss the weaknesses of these members with them personally. The leaders should also give a listening ear to the concerns and feelings of the members. 

Performing Stage 

Most teams fail to reach this stage. In this phase, there is a high focus on achieving the goals and the members work together to do so. One strategy of passing this is for the leaders to trust the members and refrain from micromanaging them. They should allow the players to depend on each other in order to get the things accomplished. The team leaders should only step in when there is an absolute need to do so. In the end, this move helps the team members have confidence in their work and help them lean on each other for the help thus fostering relationships. 

Adjourning Stage 

In this stage, the team has accomplished its goals and now the emphasis is on the final tasks of documentation. It is where the efforts and results of the work are relevant, as the most workload has diminished. At this phase, individual members can be reassigned to other teams as the current team is about to disband. One of the strategies that can help the members move through this stage successfully is a ceremonial acknowledgment of the work and success of the team. The leaders should ensure that the members are appreciated to continue with the ties and allow its members to keep in touch. 

Technologies that Support the Strategies 

Every virtual team banks on electronic communication for success as the players are in different geographical locations. It is therefore paramount to select the right technology to be used to transfer and share information among the members. Some programs that can be used to enhance communication involve email, for instance, G-mail, Yahoo, or Outlook; instant messaging, for instance, Skype; or video call programs for instance “go to meeting” for facial teleconferencing. 

The recommended strategies can also be accompanied by specific technology. The first stage requires little of this as it involves the group meeting in person. Future contacts can be carried out through email, instant messaging, or Skype. These technologies are also applicable in the norming stage where the leader needs to discuss the weaknesses of each member in person. 

The second stage requires the leader to coach the team on the conflict resolution strategies. The need for a video conferencing interface in the storming stage is critical, as voice communication is not enough to bring the team together all the time. Facial expressions and body language still form important aspects of communication and this can be achieved through talking via video calls. Skype is one of the most used programs for this task as it gives the best video and audio quality on low bandwidth. However, when the team needs to meet through super high definition or real size video conferencing, then there are others like Crisco Telepresence and Polycom Telepresence. These same technologies can be used in the adjourning stage as it also involves acknowledging the team effort. 

The performing stage is where much of the actions of the team take place. It is in this phase that the group works on the objectives and therefore needs the most technology. It is not possible for someone to walk to the desk of another employee to drop files and share information Internal means of sharing files is essential for the team to share information that is specific to their project without needing to wait for the same files to be transferred through email. The files should be in the cloud for the sake of everyone accessing them. The basic requirement is that the team needs to share the documents so that other members can be able to co-edit them without having to download and upload. It is through collaborative editing that this can be achieved and every member can see the adjustment as it happens in real time. Cloud-based technology offers the direct interface for multiple people to work on the same project all at once. An example of this technology is Google Docs. In any team, collaboration is an important aspect as it means that all members of the group work on the project together. 

The performing stage is where the leader assesses the progress of the team for future acknowledgments. In any teamwork, there is a need to measure and view the progress as the project is on course. It can be difficult to travel physically to every location to document all the development that is going on in the company. One technology that assists in maintaining the work and documenting all the progress is Microsoft Project. This tool helps the leaders and every team member to track the team progress throughout the life cycle of the project. It has built-in templates and scheduling tools that enhance productivity and make sure that the team is on track. It can be synchronized with the calendar of the company to schedule the works or used alone. 

Of importance in communication through these technologies is that all computers and hardware be the same for all members to enhance synchronicity across all platforms. 

References 

Abudi, G., (2010). Five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.php 

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

Gratton, L., & Erickson, T. J. (2007). Eight ways to build collaborative teams.  Harvard business review ,  85 (11), 100. 

Woodcock, M. (2017).   Team development manual . Routledge.