the formation of virtual teams

Emotional intelligence and high Virtual team performance Background The contemporary business environment is competitive just as much as I is creative in nature. The globalization and its influences have pushed the business environment to greater heights as compared to the prevailing levels two decades ago. Information technology has led to a market environment that is both advanced and dynamic at the same time. The trends that may be a preference of many in a given year may seem useless and rendered inapplicable in the next year.

This means that any business that has to keep in touch with the customers and remain relevant in the ever changing environment has to ensure it keep reinventing itself in line with the changing environment (Mattsson L., 2003). Major international businesses that have remained stagnated have been cut down in terms of profitability, and others closed down all together. There are significant examples of businesses that ignored the virtual team and hence went under or are expected to close their doors despite having been around for a long period of time.

A good example is the shocking announcement by SEARS that they will be closing down shop. SEARS failed to realize that the digital platform has revolutionized trade.

In the contemporary environment, the customers do not walk into the store and then start deciding what they need from looking at the massive shelves surround them, but they do online enquiries and even price comparisons before they walk straight to the store that they have made up their minds about and straight to the product they have made enquiry about and have knowledge about. Yet another company is Toys R Us.

They are facing an almost certain demise from the business environment and part of the reasons is them ignoring the digital platform and disregarding having a strong virtual team that works for them (Kyte K., 2018). With the knowledge that the contemporary trends have a great part to contribute in the stability of businesses, the human resource is a key aspect to consider and how this changes over time.

For multinational corporations and businesses that have branches in different parts of the US, the human recourses have ceased to be confined in a small geographical location. The management of these vastly spread out body of employees has also ceased to be done through the face to face interaction, but these aspects have moved to the digital platform, meaning the issue of virtual teams is an inevitable fact in the contemporary business.

The number f employees spread out across the nation or even the globe can be numerous, but it is possible to bring them together on virtual platforms and effectively deliver the mission of the organization despite being far off across the globe (Nitchi S.I., 2012: Pp8). Problem statement The pillar consideration in setting up an effective virtual team that will take full advantage of the information technology platform to work together and effectively deliver services to both the company and the customers is the Emotional Intelligence (EI).

With a high EI team working for a company, it is possible to effectively deliver the vision and mission of the organization as much as it would be in the face to face interaction. Emotional intelligence is widely considered as the ability of one to be aware of his emotions, control them and express them in such a manner that they effectively handle the interpersonal relationship in a judicious and empathetic manner (Stys Y. & Brown L.S., 2004).

Employees with high emotional intelligence are known to perform better at handling clients and taking up organizational responsibilities as well as working with each other, be it virtually or face to face, to achieve the targeted goal given or set out by them as a team. With this knowledge, the problem statement herein hence will be how do organizations improve the virtual team technology in order to stimulate emotionally intelligent engagements that are based on trust, mutual respect, and mutual empowerment.

Purpose statement This study stands out to be significant and relevant to the businesses and human resource management departments in the contemporary business environment. The study will look into the in depth understanding of EI, the various measures of EI among individuals, how the EI can be determined through the virtual platforms, the benefits that come with high EI and how the organization or the HRM department can maintain high morale among virtual teams that have been recruited through the EI evaluation.

This study will also look into the important aspects to consider or concentrate on when managing the virtual teams and the best online management practices to use with virtual teams. There will also be extensive literature review on how to motivate a virtual team and effective communication approaches that can work to the good of the organization as far as virtual teams are concerned.

The final focus of the study will be on how the management or leadership of an organization can smoothly and effectively go through the stages of team formation and thereafter, how he can maintain the trust, commitment, connection and confidence of each member of the virtual team. Of particular focus and interest in the study will be the use of Bruce Tuckman group formation approach and how it can be effectively implemented (Teamwork & Team play, 2018).

In a nutshell, the study will look into the importance of the virtual team, the formation of the same and the maintenance of the virtual teams for the profitability of the business. Research questions There are key questions that will help in guiding the entire study on the EI and the virtual team management. These are; 1. What is the relevance of virtual teams in the contemporary business environment. 2. How can virtual teams be formed and maintained in the business world considering the social media challenges that prevail. 3.

What is the place of EI in the formation of the virtual teams and particularly in the leadership of the virtual teams. 4. How can virtual teams be motivated to perform to the expected standards of the various businesses. 5. What conflict resolution methods are available for virtual team members to use in solving the inevitable virtual conflicts that may emerge. Theoretical framework for the study Theorists have overtime opined differently and variously on the concept of intelligence.

Of key consideration here is the Theory f Multiple Intelligences that was forwarded by Howard Gardner. In this theory, Howard indicates that human beings have more than one type of intelligence. He further indicated that these intelligences are cognitive in nature, though by then (1983) and the existing models at the time could not fully define the concept of multiple intelligences. Later came the standard models like the intelligence Quotient (IQ) which made further advancement in the study of the different types of intelligences.

The Howard model of multiple intelligences paid much attention to; interpersonal intelligence –which is the capacity for one to understand their own feelings, fears and even motivations. Interpersonal intelligence – which is seen as the capacity to understand other people, their motivations, desires and intentions (McPheat S., 2010:Pp10). These two central aspects also inform the basis of the Emotional Intelligence since it deals with the understanding of one’s own internal emotional disposition and knowing how to deal with those surrounding you.

The theory of Emotional Intelligence was then invented and used in the same manner in which we use it today two years later in 1985. It was used to describe the hitherto mentioned aspects of intelligence that Howards described. It is important.