TEAM LEADERSHIP
What is a Team?
A team is a small number of people with complementary skills
who are committed to a common purpose, common performance
goals, and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually
accountable.
Team and team work have emerged popular terms in
management circles these days.
A team includes few people, same as a small group, because
the interaction and influence processes, vital for a team to
function, can only occur when the number of members is
small.
When more people are involved there will be a difficulty in
interacting and influencing each other.
Purpose of Teams
The purpose of creating teams is to provide a framework that will
increase the ability of employees to participate in planning,
problem-solving, and decision-making to better serve customers.
Increased participation promotes:
A better understanding of decisions
More support for and participation in implementation plans
Increased contribution to problem-solving and decision making
More ownership of decisions, processes, and changes
More ability and willingness to participate in performance
evaluation and improvement
What is a virtual team?
"group of people who work independently with shared purpose
across space, time, and organization boundaries, using
technology to communicate and collaborate." - according to a
study published by the Academy of Management Executive
More than 60% of employees in professions are members of a
virtual team
Information technologies and knowledge-based work make virtual
teams possible and globalization make them necessary
Similar terms for virtual:
Other terms used instead of virtual are:
Cyberspace
Dispersed
Long-distance
Distributed
Online
Challenges
• Effective Communication
• Accountability
• Ability to work independently
• Cultural Differences
• Lack of Human Interaction
How can we overcome them?
1. Expectations Setting – time availability, desired outcome, behaviours,
back up plans, means of communication
2. Team Building – personality tests, identify shared values, interests,
connect on social media, create a space where the team can
communicate informally (Facebook, Whatsapp, Telegram etc)
3. Trust & Open Communication/ Transparency – create a positive space
where team members feel confident to share and ask for help
4. Follow up – especially made by the team leader but also encourage all
team members to do the same and increase accountability
5. Technology – use co-working platforms such as Trello or Asana for a
clear overview of tasks and progress.
Different Types of Virtual Teams
Depending on the temporal distribution, lifespan, objective and role of
members, virtual teams can be classified into the following 8 categories.
1. Networked Teams
2. Parallel Teams
3. Project or Product Development Teams
4. Work, Production or Functional Teams
5. Service Teams
6. Action Teams
7. Management Teams
8. Offshore ISD Teams
1. Networked Teams are generally geographically dispersed
and may have members from outside the organization.
Many a times these are composed of cross-functional
members who are brought together to share their expertise and
knowledge on a specific issue or topic.
Membership is fluid that is new members are added as and
when necessary and existing members are removed whenever
their role is completed.
The lifespan of a networked virtual team depends on how
much time it takes to resolve the issue.
2. Parallel Teams are generally formed by members of the same
organization.
While delivering on their primary assigned role in the organization,
they take added parallel responsibility, hence the term parallel team.
Generally this team is formed to review a process or a problem at
hand and make recommendations.
Unlike networked teams, these have constant membership which
remains intact till the desired objective is achieved.
For example, many consumer goods companies team up their sales,
marketing, manufacturing and R&D professionals working at different
locations into parallel virtual teams to make recommendations for the
local adaptation of their product specifications.
3. Project or Product Development Teams are the classic virtual teams
which were developed as early as 1990s. These were actually the pioneer
in the development of virtual teams.
The project or product development virtual teams are composed of subject
matter experts brought together from different parts of the globe to
perform a clearly outlined task involving development of a new product,
information system or organizational process, with specific and
measurable deliverables.
For example Whirlpool brought together a team of experts from United
States, Brazil and Italy for a period of 2 years to develop a
chlorofluorocarbon-free refrigerator.
Like network teams their membership is also fluid but unlike parallel
teams, these can take decisions and not just recommendations. These are
typically found in R&D division of the product-based companies.
4. Work, Production or Functional Teams are formed when members
of one role come together to perform single type of ongoing day-to-day
work.
Here members have clearly defined role and work independently.
All of the members’ work combine together to give the end solution.
For example, in order to reduce cost many organizations are
outsourcing their backend HR operations or even for that matter the
recruitment agencies form functional virtual teams for their clients.
5. Service Teams - Service virtual teams have members across
difference time zones therefore when one member in Asia goes to sleep,
the other member in America wakes up to answer your queries.
This is the basic model of service teams which are formed of members
spread across widely distinct geographic locations and though each
member works independently but they together perform work in
continuation. It is like relay race where one takes baton from the other
and run the race. These are effective as technical and customer support
teams.
Have you ever wondered how organizations like Vodafone, Make My
Trip etc are able to provide customer support 24*7? This has been made
possible by the service virtual teams.
6. Action Teams are actually ad-hoc teams formed for a very short
duration of time.
Members of action team are brought together to provide immediate
response to a problem and they disperse as soon s the problem is
resolved.
NASA forms a virtual action team consisting of leaders sitting in NASA
headquarters in Houston, astronauts in space shuttle, engineers &
scientists in different locations across the globe for a successful space
mission.
7. Management Teams are formed by managers of an organization who
works from different cities or countries. These members largely get
together to discuss corporate level strategies and activities.
These are applicable to almost organizations which has office in more
than one location.
8. Offshore ISD Teams - Many companies subcontract or outsource
portions of their software development work to a low-cost global
location like India, Philippines etc.
The team based out of this low-cost location is called offshore team
which coordinates and collaborates with onshore team i.e. the main
team of the company to deliver results.
This model is applicable to software development and outsourcing
organizations.
Advantages of Virtual Teams
Cost savings
Leverage Global Talent
Increased Productivity & Higher Profits
Reduced Time to Market
Newer Opportunities
Disadvantages of Virtual Teams
Cost of Technology
Conflicts, Lack of Trust & Collaboration
Social Isolation
Thank You !!
“Together we will make it happen”
COMPOSE BY FUTURE
LEADERS
