Leadership Training

Problems that virtual teams typically face.

Poor communication.

According to Liao (2017) communication as one of the most significant challenges that many virtual teams are facing. Virtual communication is different from formal communication that most people are used to. Prolonged lack of interaction among simulated team adherents can build a sensation of loneliness amongst themselves. It is bright and evident that deprived communication is the primary factor that hinders effectiveness, novelty and appropriate decision creation (Cole & Goessel, 2017). Our hypothetical team is susceptible to this challenge because the members will not be meeting physically also. Besides, most of the members are used to a formal way of communication in various levels of management, therefore, is another factor that will fuel this challenge.

Lack of social interaction

Virtual working can be demanding at times. This is because of complicated nature of the virtual team members to make working friendship as they do not interact physically. Utilization of virtual teams makes it difficult for the team members to see how the project and the tasks they are working on is progressing. This demotivates involved members, causing them to become despondent as well. The virtual team is also susceptible to this challenge because them members involved in the organization have different issues to address. Therefore, some will need little or no discussion, a move that will facilitate their demotivation (Kiitam McLay & Pilli, 2016).

Diverse, multicultural teams

Members making up the virtual team more often is made up of people from dissimilar racial groups as well as dissimilar beliefs. People coming from diverse ethnic clusters and different philosophies mostly have different customs, conflicting working habits and conflicting values. Our virtual team is susceptible to this challenge. This is because overcoming cultural diversity has remained to be a firm challenge. Besides, it becomes an automatic challenge to many people. Leaders find it difficult for them to get a foundation under which this challenge can be addressed.

Loss of morale and teams spirit

Ford, Piccolo & Ford (2017) points out that a noteworthy fraction of virtual team memberships experience troubles when trying to keep high their minds. Unlike the face to face team members, it is complicated to generate cohesiveness in virtual squads. “Virtual teams feel more like some globally dispersed individuals who are working on the same project.” although this is a significant challenge ion most virtual teams, it is not substantial with our teams because a good number of the members had already undergone a refresher training to virtual communication Ford, Piccolo & Ford (2017).

Physical distance

Virtual groups mean cold relationships because of the absence of the face to face interaction. The severe relationship often possesses a more significant risk towards the competency and productivity of the virtual teams. This is because the associated members lack the abilities to express them themselves fully and ask questions concerning the matter being discussed. This makes it difficult when it comes to delegation. Our team is susceptible to this challenge because the activities will go without physical interaction. Cold relationships will also be present within the members (Liao, 2017).

Solutions to these problems

To address the issue of poor communication, smaller and interdependent groups need to be created. A partnership amongst these small groups also needs to be established. Company will provide the virtual team a common goal that they will be working to achieve. Besides, poor communication challenges can be addressed through the integration of video conferencing. Video conferencing will serve to ensure that all team members are connected by the use of an HD Video camera while the meeting is in progress. Thus, the feeling of isolation will be highly minimized (Liao, 2017).

To address the challenge of lack of social interaction, virtual team leaders need to strive and implement strategies that will enhance the engagement of the members through written communication. An example of written communication is an instant messaging tool that will serve to supplement the overall communication (Kiitam McLay & Pilli, 2016). Integration of the instant messaging tool will ensure that every member’s communication increases global team effort.

To minimize and control the challenges related to diverse, multicultural teams, virtual teams need to agree on particular common standards that will aid cultural understanding. Before the virtual teams initiate or commence the meeting, they should establish standard ethical regulations that every member need to follow (Liao, 2017). For the ones that tend to be difficult for the virtual team members to incorporate, they need to foster an accurate understanding amongst the associated members.

To solve the issues with loss of morale and team spirit, shared leadership need to be integrated. Shared leadership creates a clear and understanding vision of the team members. The members will eventually link up as they will be working towards a common goal.

To address the challenge of physical distances, virtual team leaders are advised to try hard and pay more attention to all the team members. Paying more attention to them will establish a sense of commitment from the responsible people and the project ownership at large (Gilson et al., 2015).

Specific problems the group might develop

The particular issues that this virtual team might develop include lack of clarity, directions, and priorities. Since the members making up the team are administrators from different departments of coca cola Company, each of them will have that desire to explain the consequences and seek solutions from the members. Clarity and direction will be therefore be lost. To address this challenge, each administrator should be allocated a fixed time through which he/she will express the problem and seek responses from the members. This will enhance their reorganization of the mode through which they can express this issue.

References

Cole, E. T., & Goessel, R. E. (2016). Hands-on XBRL and Industry Analysis. International Journal of Business and Applied Social Science, 2(5), 21-33.

Ford, R. C., Piccolo, R. F., & Ford, L. R. (2017). Strategies for building effective virtual teams: Trust is key. Business Horizons, 60(1), 25-34.

Gilson, L. L., Maynard, M. T., Jones Young, N. C., Vartiainen, M., & Hakonen, M. (2015). Virtual teams research: 10 years, 10 themes, and 10 opportunities. Journal of Management, 41(5), 1313-1337.

Kiitam, A., McLay, A., & Pilli, T. (2016). Managing conflict in organizational change. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 9(2), 114-134.

Liao, C. (2017). Leadership in virtual teams: A multilevel perspective. Human Resource Management Review, 27(4), 648-659.