Virtual Team Challenges | MBA@UNC

Source:  http://onlinemba.unc.edu/research-and-insights/developing-real-skills-for-virtual-teams/virtual-team-challenges/

Virtual Team Challenges

There are challenges, however, inherent in the virtual team concept.
It is difficult to build trust and to manage conflict when team members
lack the ability to interact face-to-face. Communication is often more
challenging, particularly among global virtual teams, which can also
make it more difficult to overcome cultural barriers (Ebrahim et al,
2009).


A recent report by RW3, LLC, a cultural training service, found that
46 percent of employees who work on virtual teams said they had never
met their virtual team cohorts and 30 percent said they only met them
once a year. The report, The Challenges of Working in Virtual Teams, was based on a survey of nearly 30,000 employees from multinational companies. The survey also found that:

• The top challenge for virtual team members was the inability to read nonverbal cues (94%).
• Most virtual team members (90%) said they don't have enough time during virtual meetings to build relationships.
• There is an absence of collegiality among virtual team members (85%).
• It is difficult to establish rapport and trust in virtual teams (81%).
• Managing conflict is more challenging on virtual teams than on conventional teams (73%).
• Decision making is more difficult on virtual teams than on conventional teams (69%).
• It is more challenging to express opinions on virtual teams than on conventional teams (64%) (Hastings, 2010).

In addition to these interpersonal challenges, survey respondents
noted that different time zones are a stumbling block for virtual teams
(81%). Other hurdles included language (64%), holidays, local laws and
customs (59%) and technology (43%).

Practical Tips to Improve Virtual Team Relationships

Diversity training service group RW3, LLC offers the following
practices organizations can use to improve the relationships among
virtual team members:

• Hold monthly virtual lunches to build rapport.
• Use online chats, video-conferencing and audio-conferencing in addition to one-on-one conversations and e-mail.
• Post profiles of team members on an online directory. The profiles
  can include each member's areas of expertise and how they fit into the
  overall organization.
• Be sensitive to the amount of participation virtual team members
  will engage in if meetings are held early in the morning or late at
  night in their time zones.
• Ban multi-tasking during calls and meetings (Hastings, 2010).

Karen Cvitkovich, managing director of global talent development at
Asperian Global, offered the following tips during a 2008 SHRM Diversity
Conference to help with the challenges of cultural diversity faced by
many global virtual teams. Her first word of advice for virtual
meetings: set ground rules for team interactions. Some practical ideas
to help set those ground rules include:

• Speak slowly.
• Don't interrupt.
• Listen to understand.
• Speak as though remote participants are in the room.
• Don't use a computer or text message during meetings.
• Set agendas for meetings and distribute them beforehand.
• Leave time for relationship building.

Much of these challenges are exacerbated when working with global
virtual teams. According to Karen Cvitkovich, managing director of
global talent development at Asperian Global, cultural issues often
inhibit team communications. She notes that people in North America tend
to be "low context" communicators, and rely on words and signals to
interpret what a person means. Most of the world's populations, however,
are "high context" communicators, meaning that they rely on nonverbal
cues and focus more on the relationship, the setting, and previous
interactions to interpret what someone means (Hastings, 2008).


As noted in the survey results, selecting and using the appropriate
technology for the task—and ensuring that all members on a virtual team
have access to the same technology—can also be a stumbling block. E-mail
and the telephone may be widely available and appropriate for relaying
fact-based information, but they lack the ability to convey the
nonverbal cues so vital to building trust and teamwork. As a result,
selecting the wrong technology may result in misunderstanding among team
members and ultimately harm interpersonal communication, trust and
productivity (Lockwood, 2010).


These challenges to virtual teams are not insurmountable. HR and
talent management professionals' active involvement in the proper
selection and training of virtual team talent, the selection of the
appropriate technologies (and the training for use in those
technologies) and the encouragement of executive support for virtual
teams can turn these challenges into opportunities.

 

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Virtual Team Challenges | MBA@UNC