Virtual teams are characterized by geographically dispersed group of professionals who are remotely located and distributed from various regions and rely on technology platforms such as email and video conferencing for communication and seamless collaborations (Dulebohn & Hoch, 2017). The Raygen Company case study presents one such geographically distributed team that constitutes members drawn from finance, marketing, sales and consulting. The team’s efforts focussed on generating and implementing marketing strategies. As the case explains, the virtual team’s perfomance has recently hit a snag in terms of its performance leading to deterioration of timelines and team deliverables over the past few months. The team’s performance has gone from above par to mediocre, a state that could not be tolerated before. The team members are seemingly busy with other responsibilities and are not fully engaged. As the new interim team leader replacing Ted Jones, I will be looking for ideas that can enhance team performance in an attempt to ensure deliverables are met within set timelines.
First, I will call for a face to face Meeting. It will be crucial for me to gather the team members for a face to face round table so that I can introduce myself as the new interim team leader and familiarize with each individual. The meeting will provide a platform for me to make a disclosure on the current state of affairs that the team performance has deteriorated significantly. This will give the team a first-hand scenario on the current team standings and enable them to understand the problem better. The meeting will give me the chance to read each team member’s body language in response to the problem at hand. During the one on one interaction, I will collect ideas from each team member on hindrances that every individual is facing which are derailing team progress. I will thus be able to understand better what each team member is telling me. I will solicit views on what each member thinks ought to be done to reverse the mediocre team performance. Through body language, I will be able to tell whether members are in agreement with suggestions offered or otherwise. The meeting will pave way for the team to draft an improvement blueprint and have each member commit to individually be proactive towards executing responsibilities assigned within stipulated timeline to enhance overall team performance. During face to face meeting, I will clarify each team member’s expectations. The individual goal and priorities will be aligned to team objectives and agreeable by all team members thereby prevent a scenario where members are focus on other job responsibilities. During the meeting, I will solicit input from each member on an appropriate way to monitor and track progress against team goals.
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Distributing a brief anonymous survey during the face to face meeting will enable collection of data pertaining factors that inhibit team work. The team will have an opportunity to record the potential remedies to address the mediocre performance and quality of work. The survey will be later distributed to each member having summarized data to stimulate a discussion on possible areas of weaknesses and strengths for productivity improvement.
I will set up a project managemnet system. Through expert consultation, I will have a project management software in place by utilizing available web base programs to enhance effective team management. Before implementation of the idea, I will have several systems tested to enable selection of a software that matches the organization needs and addresses current problem holistically (Berry, 2011). The software will make it easy for the virtual team to execute delegated tasks collectively on the cloud. The software will keep members fully engaged since as one team member handles delegated tasks, others can track it, have a glimpse of their assigned track list, timelines and other vital specifics. Nutcache is an effective project management collaboration software that consolidates project related documents in a central place. The solution would eliminate the need for the team leader to always peruse through emails to trace previous document versions (Dulebohn & Hoch, 2017). The software will enable creation of a single platform of for example worked hours, upcoming tasks and their timelines thereby providing a full coverage.
I will resort to tracking work hours for each team member to address the timeline challenge. The strategy will be of essence in better time management through per hour basis. Tracking and monitoring work hours would enable calculation of precise time taken by each member to complete delegated task and the accuracy of reporting time estimates (Berry, 2011). I will use necessary software to generate monthly reports regularly and award incentives to the most efficient team member in respect to timely completion of tasks and adherence to standard operating procedures.
Allowing flexible working hours will be an astounding idea to address team performance. I will make it permissible for members to work at their own convenience when there are few distractions and productivity high. Each member will have a degree of flexibility in their work timings provided set timelines are met. Unlike before, it will not be mandatory for all members to be online at the same time, rather, each can select their convenient work hours. However, during meetings, members will have to be online concurrently to reduce communication gap and avert possible delays. As Eissa, Fox, Webster and Kim (2012) explain, monthly reports paves way for review of individual performance and how members are recognized for high productivity. Incentives and monthly ratings will act as a source of morale and impetus to each member leading to likely productivity improvement.
The team will settle on the right communication technology agreeable among all. I will suggest the team to adopt video conferencing for communication as it is the closest substitute to face to face meetings. As Guo, D'ambra, Turner and Zhang (2009), explain, effective communication in virtual teams is an ingredient for collaboration that leads to success. The video calling tool will allow an interactive conversation and working collaboratively in an attempt to save time and increase productivity. The online conferencing option will allow members to converse simultaneously thereby satisfactorily addressing communication gaps.
I will recommend building a common database to share knowledge. A shared database knowledge will provide all team members access to the same data. Each member will be equally exposed to the same information required in completion of tasks. This will allow homogeneity in completion of similar tasks. Development of the database will be instrumental in averting communication hitches and hastening project delivery (Eissa et al., 2012). The common source of information will improve team engagement by ensuring that each member is on the same page.
Creation of trust within the virtual team will be a prerequisite for productivity enhancement (Berry, 2011). I will increase my visibility as the team leader, lead exemplarily and be a source of morale for team members. I will inculcate trust by making each member’s role clear with an emphasis on explicit authority bounds. Since the team constitutes a diverse group, I will deepen the understanding of each member’s expertise and experiences to have an appreciation of each other.
Creating and placing a shared purpose/cause as a team will improve performance. I will make it clear on why the team is working virtually and the potential gains that will result for each and the overall organization. The unity of purpose will centralize member’s attention and make them focus on the shared purpose.
References
Berry, G. R. (2011). Enhancing effectiveness on virtual teams: Understanding why traditional team skills are insufficient. The Journal of Business Communication (1973) , 48 (2), 186-206.
Dulebohn, J. H., & Hoch, J. E. (2017). Virtual teams in organizations.
Eissa, G., Fox, C., Webster, B. D., & Kim, J. (2012). A framework for leader effectiveness in virtual teams. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics , 9 (2), 11-22.
Guo, Z., D'ambra, J., Turner, T., & Zhang, H. (2009). Improving the effectiveness of virtual teams: A comparison of video-conferencing and face-to-face communication in China. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication , 52 (1), 1-16.
