Why Virtual Teams Matter

Virtual Teams vs. Face-to-Face Teams
Introduction
With the arrival of the Digital Era, businesses have begun to turn more and more to virtual teams. Virtual teams consist of employees who work together on a project but may not ever meet one another face to face as they are situated in other parts of the world and connected only by the Internet. They can have virtual meetings, share information via direct messages or their workplace portal, and interact essentially like a face to face team—the big difference is that they are never in the same place together and thus are not as impacted by the workplace culture as face to face teams are. That alone presents significant issues when determining how to lead a virtual team. This paper will discuss the similarities and differences of virtual teams and face to face teams, identify the development stages of teams, describe the factors in virtual teams that result in success or that inhibit success, and recommend best practices for leading a virtual team.
Similarities and Differences
The similarities between virtual teams and face-to-face teams are that both consist of individuals who work together on a single project, communicate as necessary, with each member having a specific role or task on the team. The team members are all answerable to a team leader, who in turn is bound to answer to a department manager, and so on. The hierarchy of the chain of command is still going to exist, and reports will still be required of both. The ability to communicate will exist for both types of teams (though it will differ between them, as virtual team members will rely mainly on message boards, threads, emails, or Skype sessions, while face to face teams will have the opportunity to speak in person). The team will exist for a purpose in both cases, and when the project is completed the team will likely be disbanded, though members may be retained for further work just on different projects. In these ways, both virtual teams and face to face teams are similar
The main difference is one of space and time: virtual team members may be separated by distance and time zones making even virtual meetings difficult as waking hours for one half of the team could be sleeping hours for another half of the team. For a face-to-face team, everyone is on the same page, geographically speaking, and cannot attend a scheduled meeting in person in one room. While this may not seem like a substantial deal, it does make a difference in terms of the team coming together to gel as a unit. Part of Tuckman’s five stages of team work, after all, is the forming stage, where members come together, voice their concerns, listen to one another and offer support and encouragement (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977). This first stage of team development cannot be accomplished, in a traditional sense, if a virtual team is spread around the world.
Another difference is that face to face teams have the opportunity to really use emotional intelligence (EI) more fully as this skill allows one to pick up on body language and non-verbal forms of communication to understand what another individual is saying (Salvovey & Mayer, 1990). The use of EI is simply not practical or really too possible in a virtual team, as most forms of communication are textual rather than visual. For this reason anything of importance really has to be communicated literally and precisely by all members, as subtle hints and signs of expression cannot be conveyed in a virtual team where members are not physically meeting face to face to allow for non-verbal expressions to be of any use.
Development Stages of Teams
The five stages of team development according to Tuckman are a) forming, b) storming, c) norming, d) performing and e) adjourning (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977).
The first stage is the forming stage and it focuses on the moment when the group is coming together for the first time. At this point the group consists of individuals who may be new or may have some concerns and fears about the project. This is the time when they get to voice those worries without fear of judgment. It is important to take the opportunity in the forming stage to let team members do this so that issues are not lying dormant, waiting for the first crack in the team’s unity to spew forth in a fit of crisis. By getting everyone’s issues out in the open at the beginning, the team member can be alert to each of the members’ needs and be attentive to ways in which those needs can be met to help push the member upwards towards the self-actualizing level of motivation that is needed for success (Maslow, 1943). The objective of the forming stage is to enable the team members to express sympathy, positivity, empathy and support no matter what the issue is: team members have to feel that they are supported from the beginning as this more than anything helps to take a lot of stress off their shoulders.
The second stage is the storming stage where the team’s leader comes into focus. The leader may not always be the designated team head. Sometimes it is a member who is really motivated and driven and communicates the passion and vision that are needed by other members to keep them going. This type of member becomes the ipso facto leader and everyone on the team recognizes it and accepts it.
The third stage is norming and this is where the group finally starts to gel and solidify. Everyone understands their role and is pursuing it. There are no more rough spots to smooth out and the main task now is just to stay focused and communicative. Support can be given when needed.
The fourth stage is performing and this development stage is reached when the team begins clicking and firing on all cylinders. The team members see the light at the end of the tunnel and are committed to reaching it in a timely fashion. Everyone is performing their roles in a professional manner.
The fifth stage is adjourning and this is where the team members thank one another for their contributions. This is an important part because appreciation is key element of motivation and allows workers to go on to the next project feeling good about their abilities and wanting to see what else they can tackle (Gerhart & Fang, 2015). Before the team disbands, it is important to acknowledge the role that everyone has played and celebrate the victory together. This strengthens morale and provides incentive to achieve more.
Factors in Virtual Teams that Result in Success and Inhibit Success
The promotion of employee engagement in a virtual team is vital. If there is no method for virtual team members to engage with one another, this will inhibit their success (Chang & Lee, 2007). Leadership is another important factor: without leadership, individual team members will be on their own and there will be a lack of alignment between what they are doing and the objectives of the organization. Leadership keeps all members on the same page working towards one goal, and it ensures that every member is accountable and responsible for his individual tasks. Without leadership, a virtual team is less likely to be successful.
Another factor is the ability to measure performance and to monitor performance as well. Measuring is good for determining where the virtual team is succeeding and where it is failing. Monitoring is good for identifying when challenges may be approaching for an individual team member and this too can be gauged by constant use of metrics. For instance, if daily or weekly output is dropping it may be an indication that there is an issue to address, and the leader can get in touch with the virtual team member to give support, answer questions, and so on. For that reason, communication is another factor that is necessary for the virtual team’s success. This means that team members should have access to the types of communication tools such as online bulletin boards where everyone can see what questions are being asked, as more than one person is likely to have the same question. By creating a public forum for the virtual team, it helps to bring more cohesion and stimulate communication.
Factors that inhibit success include isolation and poor guidance. When virtual team members are not kept informed about policies, expectations, or tasks, they become like orbiting satellites that no longer send a signal back to the organization. They float at there but do nothing because ground control has stopped communicating with them. Communication has to be constant and ongoing. A leader has to always be mindful of what the virtual team members and doing and where they are. Without guidance the team cannot come together, and since the team is virtual it will not benefit from being part of a workplace culture. Face to face teams can absorb the enthusiasm of a workplace simply by inertia. The problem that arises for virtual teams is that they are not part of this culture in a physical sense, so that is actually inhibits their success—unless of course a good team leader is available to be hands on with the virtual team and engage in continuous communication through the team’s online forum and so on.
Best Practices for Leading a Virtual Team
When it comes to best practices for leading a virtual team, the key is to keep the team members engaged: as Fang, Chen and Wang (2015) note, feedback is a necessary component of maintaining positive engagement. Feedback should be conceived within a two-way flow so that virtual team members are getting feedback on their performance from the virtual team leader and the team leader is getting feedback from the team members on instructions given. The more communicative the overall virtual team is, the greater the team can overcome the obstacles of time and space. Time and space only become obstacles for the virtual team when the members are non-communicative and no feedback is being sent one way or another.
Another best practice leading a virtual team is to ensure that the virtual team is coordinated, integrated and engaged in its project by providing the right type of motivations. Motivation can be extrinsic or intrinsic, and it can also be cognitive. Virtual team members can appreciate the opportunity to learn a new skill and be involved in growing their own professional development. As Hauser (2014) notes, motivation is critical to a team’s success and making sure that a variety of motivational forces are available to the virtual team members is vital. To better understand how the virtual team members want to be motivated the team leader must be able to interview them or survey them. This can be formally done or informally accomplished: the goal is to obtain feedback about what motivates the workers and then providing that motivation so that they can be engaged in their work, driven to succeed, and mindful of accomplishing the tasks that are expected of them.
Ethical Challenges
Because the team leader is not going to be able to meet with the team members individually or one on one wherein EI skills could be put to use, the best way ethically to gather key information will be to place a survey or questionnaire on the forum and let the team members answer it anonymously when they get time. This could be followed up with verification through email to ensure that the leader is interpreting the results correctly. This helps to remove bias from the interpretation process. Verification also opens the door for feedback which can then loop back to the communication channel being established. Regardless, the team leader should be in constant communication with the members of the virtual team, and should be able to measure and monitor their progress by noting their output throughout the weeks and months. This will allow for better determination of when an intervention is needed. Finding ways to apply Tuckman’s five stages of development to the virtual team would also help to ensure that the team is being ethically driven in the same ways a face to face team would be.
Conclusion
Virtual teams are like face to face teams in numerous ways: they both have a specific goal to achieve, the members of both have specific roles to play; there is a clear hierarchy to the chain of command, and communication is vital for the success of both. Where they differ is when it comes to being physically part of a company and soaking up its culture. A virtual team is basically isolated: its members do not ever really get to know one another other than by way of threads, emails, and the like. For that reason leaders have to embrace the challenges of time and space and engage the virtual team members through continuous feedback and opening channels of interaction for the various team members so that they can provide support for one another just as would take place in a face to face team. Considering Tuckman’s five stages of team development, the team leader should make efforts to incorporate these in the virtual team as well.


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