How virtual teams impact the overall business environment

In today's world, so many people are working from home and using technology to work with others in the workplace. Is working in this setting changing the way businesses might operate in the future?

The work from home environment is indeed changing the manner in which businesses operate in the future. It is also shaping the manner in which business is conducted around the world. The transition to a much more flexible work environment is disrupting not only the labor force but also the benefits organizations provide to entice consumers to work. Essentially, the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the manner in which labor and business interact with one another (Bailey, 2002).

To begin the “Work from home” initiative has had a fundamental impact on the office building environment. With individuals working from home, there is less of need to rent large amounts of office space. This is turn has a compounding effect on the financial operations of a business. Here, as business require less space, then tend to not renew their office leases. This in turn saves businesses money in terms of general and administrative expenses. These cost savings can be passed onto employees in higher annual bonuses or to consumers in the form of lower prices. This can fundamentally impact team performance in a number of ways.

For one, less office time leads to less spontaneity within the work environment. The United States has an economy that is predicated heavily on services. To provide quality service, a strong culture is often required. Here, a culture can help show future employees what is acceptable behavior and what behavior will be shunned. By, transitioning to a work from home economy the ability to properly train and problem solve spontaneously is lost. The simply ability to walk to another co-workers desk for example, is lost through a virtual work experience. This can ultimately impact how a company culture is preserved and along with overall job satisfaction. This issue is compounded for jobs that have a heavy focus on intellectual capital. For example technology jobs, Wall Street jobs, and even many customer service jobs are all predicated on having smart and talented individuals. An office environment often helps to facilitate the exchange of information along with enabling a much cohesive work environment. A virtual environment mitigates many of these benefits as employees are less likely to interact with one another. This can have adverse consequences for employees and business overall. Here, as the business relies heavily on intellectual capital, a virtual environment significantly diminished the ability of individuals to leverage it. Likewise, the residual impacts can be very detrimental to the financial operations of the business. In this instance, a lack of innovation, communication, and culture will ultimately wither the competitive position of the firm (Buheji, 2020).

Detect and understand effective team member behaviors

From a team member perspective a virtual environment has both positive and negative elements to it. Here, the positive rely on the ease of communication. Virtual teams, according to research, tend to work longer hours and communicate much more frequently through virtual channel. These channels include leveraging technology such as “Zoom,” or “Microsoft Team” to communicate with team members. The appeal of these applications is predicated on their convenience. With a simply click of a button, an individual can communicate via email, video conferencing or chat functions. Each of which provide a seamless alternative to communication which enable efficiencies and productivity gains. This ultimately provide a benefit to the overall organization as it is able to minimize office expenses while also having teams that communicate frequently (Barney, 2020).

As noted above the negative elements pertain to the negative elements of team behavior, the first is related to spontaneity. Here, a virtual environment does not provide the spontaneously exchange of data and information in an unstructured setting. This typically occurs in an office environment as employees are more easily able to exchange thoughts, opinions, and ideas in an unstructured manner. This often occurs within in-person team meetings or simply through conversation around the office. These ideas typically spur further innovations and process improvements as teams look to further enhance operations. A fully virtual environment often losses this spontaneity due to employees working in a remote fashion away from one another (Bennett, 2021)

In addition, team members also tend to enter their own silos without interaction with other team members. Here, employees did to engage less on a personal level and relegate themselves to their own activities. This has implications for both the employee and the organizations. From the employee’s perspective, by staying to themselves they are less likely to be recognized by management and leadership. This ultimately lowers the likelihood of promotions and other career advancement opportunities. Here, the employee is doing their job, but they are often lost as they are not visible to management, supervisors, or other leadership within a virtual environment. This is heavily contracted against an office environment where an employee can more readily discuss their progress and performance in a much more organic manner (Clayton, 2020).

From the company perspective, these negative elements can coalesce to impede culture development. For one, within a virtual environment member of the team are not exposed to the corporate culture on a daily basis. In addition, it is much more difficult to establish a culture within a virtual environment without in-person interaction on a daily basis. For firms that rely heavily on intellectual capital, this can be a very large detriment to a virtual environment. For one, a culture of innovation and process improvement can be lost. This, over long periods of time, could diminish the competitive position of the business. For industries the rely heavily on intellectual capital, culture and other intangible assets, this can lead to product obsolescence and a reduction in the competitive position of the business. This in term can impact team member behaviors as employees are laid off or departments are restructured (Drescher, 2014).

Identify issues impacting effective team relationships

As it relates to team relationships, a virtual environment can have adverse consequences on the overall team dynamic. For one, as noted earlier, a virtual environment often leads to lease spontaneous communication and activity. Here, team members are less likely to engage in interactions that build bonds and solidify team foundations. For example, the ability to discuss aspects of ones personal life such as children, a spouse, interests, or hobbies is less likely to occur in a virtual environment. Without these conversations, a feeling of genuine care and comradery that is typically required in a team dynamic is lost. In a virtual environment is simply much more difficult for individuals to connect on a personal level. This lack of connection can not only impact the team dynamic but also impact how effective the overall team is at accomplish stated objectives. Here, team members are less likely to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They are also less likely to know how best to communicate and interact with one another, particularly in a virtual setting where words can easily be misinterpreted. These elements all combine to make team relationships much more difficult to establish within a virtual setting. More importantly, this has the potential to significantly reduce the effectiveness of the team overall and its ability to accomplish stated goals within a timely manner (Kammeyer-Mueller, 2013).

Distinguish and examine effective team leadership

Leadership effectiveness within a virtual environment is a mixed proposition. For one, a virtual environment can significantly improve oversight of multiple tasks at a given moment. Innovations such as “Asana,” “Slack” and “RingCentral,” have enabled leaders to instantly view project progress, schedule meetings, or redirect resources. This ultimately helps to improve oversight and efficiencies within a specific department. Overall this is a positive development as it allows leaders to properly monitor their teams or departments activities on a self-serve basis. However, this oversight can be unwieldy and take time away from other initiatives such as employee development.

In addition, a virtual team often does allow leadership to properly assert their influence and control on the team. Through a virtual setting, it is very difficult to portray a leadership style. For example, some leaders are more authoritarian by nature and therefore are much more structured. Some leaders are much more democratic allowing the team to provide input into their overall decision making. Finally, some leaders are much more lasses-faire in their approach giving autonomy to team members to decide the items that they work on, while providing minimal direction. Depending on the leadership style and approach, a virtual environment may be advantageous or negative towards the individual. Here, an authoritarian approach may be much more conducive to a virtual environment as it allows the leader to review the status of all projects, periodically check in with team members, and maintain a certain standard of quality control. However, a democratic leadership style would require a hybrid approach that leverages an in-person setting. Here, it is important to have in-person collaboration to allows for the exchange of ideas, thought and opinions, which are all critical to democratic leadership style (Gilson, 2015).

Analyze and develop problem-solving strategies to enhance team performance

To enhance team performance in a virtual environment, milestones and objectives must be clearly delineated. In addition, periodic team meetings must occur to establish progress or to review other team needs. Likewise communication should be constant and free-flowing at times. Tools such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams leverage chat functions that allow for seamless and constant communication between team members. These elements are essential for problem solving as it allows for the exchange of ideas within a virtual environment. Weekly team meetings allow for communication in an environment that is less structured, further facilitating communication and collaboration. Finally task management tools such as Asana or Slack allow for progress to be monitored, allowing for further oversight and course correction if needed. These all enhance team performance as it allows for constant communication, oversight and adjustment within a virtual setting.

Identify and analyze the organizational environmental characteristic that impacts teams.

The primary organizational environmental characteristic that impacts teams is the overall company culture and structure. The environment in which an employee operates is often dictated by leadership, management and business owners. This culture can be toxic or supportive depending on the overall objectives and leadership style of management. Within a virtual setting, these cultural elements can manifest themselves in multiple ways. This can include unrealistic goals or targets. This can also include high stress levels, highly demanding clients and lack of recognition. Even internal workplace politics can impact the overall work environment. This can impact teams by either enhancing or diminishing their overall productivity. For example, high stress levels can ultimately result in high turnover within the organization. With high turnover more responsibility and demands are placed on the remaining employees causing a negative impact on overall job satisfaction. This will ultimately impact the team environment as these frustrations manifest themselves in lower productivity, higher turnover, and less innovation.