Impressive and rapid growth continues to emerge within the world of information technology. The internet coupled with advancements in computer and mobile technology has brought about unprecedented communication capabilities. The ease of communication, interaction and the sharing of ideas have been significantly enhanced in the process. Institutional and multi-sectorial technological integrations continue to emerge with one of the major beneficiaries being the business and organizations. Global corporations and other successful multinational companies are evidence of the impact of information technology in the world of business (Lilian, 2014). While this new trend has influenced a number of areas and aspects of business, one of the most impacted areas has been that of business management.
While most companies focus on ensuring every operation of the firm is monitored, some companies are taking advantage of web-mediated relations to bring about unprecedented changes in business communication. Tremendous changes are being realized in an organization that are choosing to manage their teams virtually. However, challenges have since arisen. Including the initial setup costs as well as maintenance cost as well as cultural issues. More crucially, however, is the challenge of lack of trust between team members, a factor that can result in communication inefficiencies as well as productivity problems. This discussion is an attempt to expose the challenges and opportunities brought about the virtual management of teams. More importantly, it will provide practical solutions that can be utilized in resolving the trust challenges that Helen and George are experiencing at Global Speak.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Leading Employees in the Virtual World
One of the most notable benefits that come utilized web-mediated workforce management is a reduction in overhead costs. A lot of operational costs are eliminated in this particular management approach. For instance, costs such as office space rent and furniture are excluded. The need for office staff is also tremendously reduced in the process. Another positive aspect that has been linked to virtual teams is that it tends to increase employee satisfaction. Unlike the conventional office culture that has rigid arrival and departure times, virtual teams tend to operate under flexible hours. The rigidity of the office culture has been found to be limited to various employees, and in such cases, virtual management has been found to draw the best talent. There is also the advantage of easy scalability. While typical office and staff management require large spaces for upward scalability, the same is not the case for virtual teams, which can be increased without considering increasing office space costs.
On the downside, however, several challenges have also been found to emanate from this particular approach. First off is the problem of limited cohesiveness for the organization. Operating with a virtual team often results in fragmentation an issue that accrues from a workforce's ability to determine its working hours. This also means that dealing with emergent and spontaneous issues become highly limited. It is also important to note the importance of social interaction in bringing about cohesion and understanding within an organization. This is an element that is not readily possible within a virtual working environment.
Another major challenge that is associated with virtual offices is that a company's reputation may be comprised. The fact that a great deal of the population is not conversant and comfortable with virtual offices, a company's reputation is often at risk where people may fail to appreciate its realness. Compliance and security issues are also a common challenge for organizations that choose to go the virtual way. Ensuring compliance and adherence to company policies and regulations is often a daunting task over web-mediated relations. There is also the risk of information being leaked, more so in a society that is realizing a significant rise in cybercrime.
Skills a Leader Needs To Lead and Maintain Trust in an Organization
Leadership and management are two distinct factors, while management is a position that can be taken up by any qualified individual, leadership requires greater attention and focus on details. The effectiveness of a team is often dependent upon its leadership, and such trust is reliant upon conscientious effort form the team leadership to establish a force that is open to information and opinion sharing without fear of retribution. For a leader, nurturing trust is reliant upon the skills and abilities of the leader to foster communication and understanding (Ford, Piccolo & Ford, 2017). A number of leadership skills and elements have been singled out in regards to their ability to foster trust within an organization. Most importantly, constant communication between leader and team is necessary.
This communication should entail both social and work-related issues if the degree of trust is to be enhanced. Secondly, a leader should be facilitated and be ready to support the testing of new ideas within an organization. While seemingly limited by physical distance, a good leader should allow various partners to try out new ideas that are unique and specific to different remote areas. More importantly, is the ability of a leader to confront and address controversial and difficult conversations (Olson, & Olson, 2012). Any difficulties that are experienced in handling contentious discussions often result in communication inefficiencies in the long run. A good leader has to be a risk taker. The virtual world is dominated by huge diversity in culture, ideology as well as skills. In this case, therefore, for trust to prevail, a good leader should be able to social cohesion and connection by creating environments that foster understanding and teamwork.
Risk-taking entails the willingness to be vulnerable and to confront seemingly inconvenient tasks. It is essential for a leader within a virtual environment to strive to know and understand team members personally. While professional ties and relations may focus on competitiveness and productivity, it is the duty of an effective leader to take the time comprehend the key team players (Lilian, 2014). This entails sharing personal information, organizing for specific dates upon which team members can meet and more importantly utilizing social media platforms to keep communication lines open and running.
How the Virtual World Can Affect How a Leader Creates and Maintains Trust
The virtual environment has several factors that tend to influence effective communication and relations between a leader and his or her employees. The single-most dominant challenge that is likely to influence leadership and management decisions is that of cultural diversity. A virtual working environment is characterized by individuals from various cultural and social backgrounds, this, therefore, means that perception and conceptual differences are bound to arise (Ford, Piccolo, & Ford, 2017). The inability of a leader to put into consideration such factor often results in conflict and communication difficulties. Interpretations are also bound to be influenced by cultural differences, in this case; therefore, there is a likelihood that conflicts are bound to arise.
The aspect of physical distance is also a major influencer of how trust is established and maintained. It might be easier to monitor, interact and collaborate with workers in a traditional physical office space. However, a leader in a virtual environment is limited by physical space, and this means getting in touch with the workforce is limited. Between managing daily business operations and communicating with the workforce, a team leader may be overstretched in his or her efforts to interact and connect with the team. Another major influencer of leadership decisions is that of the lack of a shared knowledge base. The fact the leader and his or a team are drawn from diverse knowledge bases means that their interactions, perceptions as well as values will be different. This, therefore, means that a leader has to consider the context of every team member if he or she is to develop effective decisions.
Trust Problems that Helen and George have with Gustavo and Azuka
The Helen and George case is typical of the challenges and issues that tend to arise within the virtual environment. The ability to engage in frequent communication seems to be a significant issue for Global Speak. It is also clear that George and Helen are trying to micromanage their affiliates and partners. Helen and George are more concerned with ensuring similar situations are realized across all its markets without appreciating the differences in market forces and well as influences. It is vital to more that while their concerns may be legitimate, confrontations over the internet are less likely to bring about meaningful change. The impact of this behaviour is to be noted in the unwillingness of their partners to open up to the causes behind the George's and Helen's concerns.
Another issue worth mentioning is the inability of team-members to own up to their mistakes and shortcomings. It is evident that Gustavo can seem to explain or express himself. For Azuka, the failure to explore further information regarding the nature of competition in Tokyo is resulting in the loss of clients. Helen and George, on the other hand, are largely characterized by inefficient communication. Not only do they fail to avail accurate dates upon which the meeting will be conducted, but they also seem to engage in communication after long spells of silence.
Recommendations for Helen and George
Helena and George have a number of approaches that can be used to address the emergent challenges. Firstly, they should engage in a conscientious process of relationship-building. It is important to acknowledge the limitations that arise due to the use of web-mediated organizational management (Hurley, 2012). In this way, therefore, emotional connections become compromised it becomes almost improbable to wholly understand and rightly discern the information being shared by various team members. In this endeavor, therefore, they should focus on facilitating collaborative problem solving, as has been noted for the Sao Paulo and Tokyo centres. It will also be vital for the Global Speak leadership to engage in controversial topics such as those that seek to ascertain the competency of Gustavo in running the Brazilian branch. It is also vital for Helen and George to consider developing a platform that allows for team members to express their, needs, concerns and challenges, as it is vital in building collaboration and cohesiveness for the team.
Summary
The functionality of team is substantially comprised of the lack of trust. The traditional workplace continues to experience considerable challenges in fostering trust; this challenge is further multiplied by a virtual environment. The essential challenge that is to be noted in relation to developing and cultivating is trust. More importantly, however, is the realization that constant and effective communication serves as the most effective solution to this particular problem. To effectively leverage the opportunities that abound within the virtual management of teams, it is important, to begin with, the establishment of an open and elaborate communication platform that will ensure a free flow of information.
References
Ford, R. C., Piccolo, R. F., & Ford, L. R. (2017). Strategies for building effective virtual teams: Trust is key. Business Horizons , 60 (1), 25-34.
Hurley, R. F. (2012). The decision to trust: How leaders create high-trust organizations . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Lilian, S. C. (2014). Virtual teams: Opportunities and challenges for e-leaders. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences , 110 , 1251-1261.
Olson, J., & Olson, L. (2012). Virtual team trust: task, communication and sequence. Team Performance Management: An International Journal , 18 (5/6), 256-276.
