Business Research for Decision Making

Part II

Literature Review

Collaborative technology in virtual business teams acts as a facilitator of corporate globalization. One of the most effective tools that is being embraced in contemporary organizations is the use of virtual teams as a way of encouraging corporate globalization (Beranek and Martz, 2005). In the current competitive market, virtual teams represent a growing response to address the need for fast time to market, as well as low-cost and rapid solutions, especially to complex corporate problems. The use of virtual teams through the advanced modern technologies enable corporates to pool talents and employee expertise by eliminating barriers of time and space (Beranek and Martz, 2005). This literature review focuses on the collaborative technology in virtual business teams that seems to facilitate corporate globalization on multiple dimensions.

According to Beranek and Martz (2005), generation diversity is one of the most essential strategies that can be used to realize fully the talents of this generation as they bring into the globalized workforce. As per Beranek and Martz, (2005), if the leadership is about getting results, it is the role of the leader to develop the optimum strategies to achieve the desired results, in what is regarded as winning strategies. It is these strategies that are considered more than intentions as they describe the process of an organization and means they will be employed to achieve the desired goal (Beranek and Martz, 2005). As a leader, it is highly important to understand the people of diverse cultures. As a result, a cultural adaptability is one of the core leadership imperative, which would guarantee the realization of a globalized workforce (Beranek and Martz, 2005). Such a leadership approach is essential in the modern business where organizations entail workforces from different cultural and regional backgrounds of the world.

As per Chudoba et al., (2005) innovation and sustainability are two elements of leadership that pair together to support leadership efforts yield more positive outcomes. It is essential to acknowledge that the role of sustainability in risk management has not yet been widely accepted. However, for the companies or organizations that have embrace sustainability, the results have always turned out to be tremendously promising, with major growth rates and huge profits being very much common. For example, a company that is based in Chile can be experimenting to expand its sustainably harvested wood across the entire South American region (Chudoba et al., 2005). On the other hand, innovation is another important aspect that involves the application of creativity in such a manner that business value is achieved. Leaders should embrace a culture that encourages thinking of innovation as the end goal or a value that can be used to increase business performance of an organization. Although innovation should not be confused with creativity, it entails a process whereby individuals and teams strive towards achieving value through creation and implementation of new and valuable ideas. For example, the IT giant, Microsoft Corporation has in the past developed new ideas that have tremendously increased the sales of the company’s products multiple times (Chudoba et al., 2005). In this regard, sustainability and innovation are crucial concepts that can be utilized hand in hand to improve performance of organizations in multifold.

Gibson & Cohen (2007) analyzes how virtual teams can be used to enhance corporate globalization and employee motivation. According to Gibson & Cohen (2007) the rise of the virtual teams has been the most rising dominant trend in companies either by design or by necessity as more and more individuals are working outside the office. The most important thing for the leaders of the company is to know the members of the virtual teams and they should also put their time to find out how they like to communicate with one another. The leaders will then be able to use the information they acquire to motivate the team members and to evade any pitfalls that may occur in that virtual environment (Gibson & Cohen, 2007).

Nemiro (2008) presents a study on the performance of virtual teams and their effectiveness towards the realization of globalization. According to Nemiro (2008), virtual teams in companies are a great and effective method to promote teamwork in situations whereby the individuals are not in the same physical location. Such virtual teams are used by companies to cut costs of business, travel as well as relocation. The use of virtual teams in organizations helps to build presence globally, enables outsourcing of operations as well as enabling the company to need skills and expertise less from people who are not willing to travel to the meeting location. Therefore, it is essential to formulate the answers to certain questions such as: how will the virtual teams be created, will the virtual teams dissolve the existing teams, what benefits will the virtual teams bring to the organization and how will the members of the virtual teams be motivated (Nemiro, 2008).

As per Narasimharao et al., (2013) the main reason as to why the study is being performed is to examine how the members of virtual teams that have been created in organizations will be motivated for them to work efficiently and effectively with one another. The study of Narasimharao et al., (2013) aims at essentially examining what exactly virtual teams are and why they will be more effective in a company compared to the previous teams that existed in the organizations. Virtual teams are becoming a trend in most organizations nowadays, and this study hopes to unfold how the employees of these companies are motivated by creating and working effectively with the virtual teams.

Parker (2013), the documented the significance of the study of virtual teams and corporate globalization to identify the importance of motivating employees of an organization to start working with virtual teams. Leaders of the organization also have the responsibility to find out the best people to place them in the virtual teams and how to keep them motivated because not everybody is capable of working virtually. The study by Parker (2013) also provide the answers to what benefits will come from motivating the employees to work with virtual teams in the organization. To scholars, the study by Parker (2013) will contribute to a vast amount of knowledge on the impacts of motivating employees to work with virtual teams.

References

Beranek, P.M. and B. Martz, 2005. Making virtual teams more effective: improving relational links. Team Performance Management, 11: 200-213

Boutellier, R., O. Gassmann, H. Macho and M. Roux, 1998. Management of dispersed product development teams: The role of information technologies. R&D Management, 28

Chudoba, K.M., E. Wynn, M. Lu, Watson-Manheim and M. Beth , 2005. How virtual are we? Measuring virtuality and understanding its impact in a global organization. Information Systems Journal, 15: 279-306.

Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2005). Business Research Methods (McGraw-Hill. London, UK: Mcgraw Hill Book Co Of Aust P/l.

Guffey, M. E., & Almonte, R. (2010). Essentials of business communication.

Gibson, C. B., & Cohen, S. G. (2007). Virtual teams that work: Creating conditions for virtual team effectiveness. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.

Narasimharao, B. P. R., Kanchugarakoppal, S. R., & Fulzele, T. U. (2013). Evolving corporate education strategies for developing countries: The role of universities. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Nemiro, J. E. (2008). The handbook of high-performance virtual teams: A toolkit for collaborating across boundaries. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Parker, G. M. (2013). Team players and teamwork: New strategies for developing successful collaboration. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.