Assignment 2
orangepink
Week11WorkingandManagingintheVirtualEnterprise.pptx
e-Business Management
Working and Managing in the Virtual Organization
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Two uses of the term, ‘virtual’.
Virtual organisations / enterprises
multiple organisations that maybe distinct in ownership operating in close cooperation
Working virtually
Working at geographically diverse locations
virtual enterprises
they are generally large distributed network of companies
Many companies may be involved in the production of a product by a large virtual enterprise.
coordinate much of their business through the marketplace, where free agents come together to buy and sell one another’s goods and services; thus they can harness the power of market forces to develop, manufacture, market distribute, and support their offerings in ways that fully integrated companies can’t duplicate.
May have formal agreements
Killingsworth, W., J. C. White, et al. (2012). Designing and Managing the Virtual Enterprise, Business Expert Press.
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Virtual teams
are groups of individuals who work on interdependent tasks, who share responsibility for outcomes, and who work together from different locations.
Information Technology (such the Internet) can support their activities by reducing travel costs, enabling expertise to be captured where it is located, and speeding up team communication and coordination processes.
virtual teams have become a fact of business life
an essential foundation for effective team work - building relationships and fostering trust (face-to-face communication has advantages over virtual)
Pauleen, D. (2004). Virtual teams: Projects, protocols and processes, Igi Global. http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten/
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Societal advantages of virtual teams
Green house gas reduction
Traffic congestion reduction, less pressure on transport infrastructure
Less travel time
More productivity
Worker flexibility
Less pressure on housing in proximity to CBD areas and major commercial hubs
Issues with virtual teams
Feel isolated or marginalised
Who pays for office space and furniture, power, equipment, etc
‘Out of sight out of mind’
Social bonding more difficult
Reduction of informal communications
Organisations save money on office space
‘Sense of team’ diminished
Managing style may need to change
Different individuals respond differently (not one size fits all)
May be more difficult to resolve interpersonal issues
Security
Virtual team best practices – main themes
Organizations must provide a supportive environment for the team, in terms of providing necessary resources, autonomy to the team, and recognition and reward systems that are tied to the results that the team and individuals achieve.
Organizations must design teams that have the necessary diversity, in terms of skills, access to knowledge and resources, and backgrounds.
Team leaders of virtual teams have to establish clear goals and expectations such that a team can have a focus and a direction to pursue. If possible, building passion for a cause can be a powerful stimulus for everyone on the team to pull together in the same direction.
Pauleen, D. (2004). Virtual teams: Projects, protocols and processes, Igi Global.
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Virtual team best practices – main themes
Individuals need certain skills to be effective members of virtual teams.
Required skills include technical skills to carry out assigned parts of the team’s task, interpersonal skills, teaming skills, and skills to use electronic communication and information-sharing tools.
Individuals have to be motivated and self-disciplined so that they can manage themselves and their time effectively. Get the team together physically early-on
get the team together to know each other better, personally and professionally, as well to create a shared vision and a set of guiding principles for how the team will work
schedule in-person meeting early on, and reconnect regularly (semi-annually or annually) if possible
face-to-face communication is better than virtual
Pauleen, D. (2004). Virtual teams: Projects, protocols and processes, Igi Global.
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Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles … 1
Commit to a communication charter
guidelines on which communication modes to use in which circumstances
establishes norms of behavior when participating in virtual meetings, such as limiting background noise and side conversations, talking clearly and at a reasonable pace, listening attentively and not dominating the conversation
Leverage the best communication technologies
selecting the “best” technologies does not necessarily mean going with the newest or most feature-laden.
Build a team with rhythm
establish and share meeting agenda in advance
have clear agreements on communication protocols
start and finish on time
establish a regular rotation of meeting times to spread the load equitably (don’t place time-zone burden on team members)
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten/
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Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles … 2
Create a “virtual water cooler”
informal interactions share information and reinforce social bonds.
have regular virtual team-building exercises
use enterprise collaboration platforms with social networking features to help team members to feel more connected.
Clarify and track commitments
carefully designed tasks and conducting regular status meetings help getting team members to commit to define intermediate milestones and track their progress.
a “deliverables dashboard” (as an example) makes visible to all team members
Foster shared leadership.
shared leadership can increase engagement & keep team members focused and productive
Don’t forget the 1:1s
leaders’ one-to-one performance management & coaching interactions with their team members not only help to check status and provide feedback, but to keep members connected to the vision and to highlight their part of “the story” of what you are doing together.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten/
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Towards making virtual teams more productive - traits & practices
Invest in an online resource where members can learn quickly about one another.
Choose a few team members who already know each other.
Identify "boundary spanners" and ensure that they make up at least 15% of the team. ( Boundary spanners are people who, as a result of their personality, skills or work history, have lots of connections to useful people outside the team.)
Cultivate boundary spanners as a regular part of companywide practices and processes
Create an online site where a team can collaborate, exchange ideas and inspire one another.
Encourage frequent communication. But don't try to force social gatherings.
Ensure the task is meaningful to the team and the company.
When building a virtual team, solicit volunteers as much as possible.
Trust
defined as the “willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party, based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party”
Mayer, R.C.; Davis, J.H.; and Schoorman, D.F. An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 2, 3 (1995), 709–730.
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Trust
is a crucial medium for organizational action.
facilitates cooperation & coordination of organizations & their agents – otherwise, would have to more costly and time-consuming arrangements such; legal, managerial, and budgetary arrangements.
must be built - conventional ways of creating trust reflect the nature and rationality of conventional organizations - based on personal hierarchy or impersonal procedures or a mix of both.
is created in them through rituals of social interaction or through perceptions of procedural fairness and reliability.
Work or collaboration at a distance mediated by e-mail is difficult to structure using the means of social contact or formal rules. Underlying this difficulty is the fact that the organization of distance interactions, to be effective, relies on ethical, organizational, personality, and interactive assumptions that often are at odds with other widely practiced managerial and administrative styles.
Pauleen, D. (2004). Virtual teams: Projects, protocols and processes, Igi Global.
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Trust in Teams
a person trusts a group when that person believes that the group
makes a good‐faith effort to behave in accordance with any commitments both explicit or implicit,
is honest in whatever negotiations preceded such commitments, and
does not take excessive advantage of another even when the opportunity is available
shared social norms, repeated interactions & shared experiences facilitate the development of trust
the anticipation of future association promotes trust & cooperation
face‐to‐face encounters are considered irreplaceable for both building trust & repairing shattered trust
Jarvenpaa, S. L. and D. E. Leidner (1998). "Communication and trust in global virtual teams." Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication 3(4): 0‐0.
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Highest impact
Lowest impact
Virtual Project Performance Factors
Anantatmula, V. and M. Thomas (2010). "Managing global projects: A structured approach for better performance." Project Management Journal 41(2): 60‐72.
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Virtual Project Performance Factors
Anantatmula, V. and M. Thomas (2010). "Managing global projects: A structured approach for better performance." Project Management Journal 41(2): 60‐72.
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Effective Tools For Managing A Virtual Team …1
Google Apps for Business ‐ helps organisations to manage their teams, collaborate and work together remotely using Google’s familiar suite of office and communication tools
Highrise ‐ save and organize notes and e‐mail conversations, keep track of proposals and deals, and even get text messages or e‐mail the next time you need to follow up with a contact.
Yammer ‐ “social network for companies”. Helps virtual teams collaborate in a social media‐like atmosphere, similar to Facebook. Key features include microblogging, profiles, groups, private messaging, file uploads, robust security and a searchable knowledge base generated from your archived discussions and interactions.
https://ww w .america nexpress.com/ us/sma ll- b us ine ss/o p e n forum/ a r t icles/7-e f fective-tools-f o r-managing-a-virtual-team/
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Effective Tools For Managing A Virtual Team …2
GoToMeeting ‐ host an online meeting with up to 15 people to share training, tutorials and ideas.
Dropbox ‐ access documents, photos and videos anywhere they are (from a laptop, desktop or mobile phone)
Basecamp ‐ an online project management tool. It allows you to create various projects, share information and collaborate with your team and with vendors and clients. Plus it features to‐do lists, messages, file uploads and more.
Infusionsoft ‐ marketing automation platform (e‐mail marketing to CRM to E‐Commerce). Touted as the “swiss army knife” of all‐in‐one business solutions for small business owners.
https://ww w .america nexpress.com/ us/sma ll- b us ine ss/o p e n forum/ a r t icles/7-e f fective-tools-f o r-managing-a-virtual-team/
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Questions Would you prefer to work virtually or not ? Why? Discuss the limitations and advantages of virtual work. In what circumstances is virtual working advantageous? In what situations will virtual work not be an option? What actions as a manager can you take to facilitate effective virtual working? What is the impact on society of virtual work? How does virtual work impact assessment of work performance? What processes /practises should be put in place to increase the effectiveness of virtual work?
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