MGT 6209 Final
Individual Blog Reflection 2013
Students: LU,
Yuhua (Joyce)
Students NO.:
52932661
Discovering Success Factors
for Virtual Teams
For our final group project
of our virtual expansion of building Virtual-B&B.com, there is virtual
collaboration between morning team 11 Kite&Wind and our evening team 11
Chopsticks. After our innovative virtual collaboration, I did some
self-reflection on teams cooperation practices and processes especially its conflicts.
rom this learning journey, I was discovering success factors for Virtual Teams.
Team Practices
During our group project, there were more difficulties
than ever. Because it is a group project of virtual collaboration between two
teams. Analysis provided by Eclipse Research Consultants in 2004 that teams are
groups of people with complementary skills who are committed to common purpose
and hold themselves mutually accountable for its achievement. So there are even
more possible drawbacks of teamwork by people cannot seat together face to
face. I did an assessment on its “The Effective Teamwork Matrix”. It identified
six key aspects of effective teamwork in different levels of team practices.
The result is not promising and belongs to low level.
We have weak Team Identity. Although we have made
commitment on our common task in the beginning, the focus of our two teams is
on the task that individual members need to solve. For Shared Vision, we did have common objectives,
but we have not developed collaboration well.
In the first place, team members actively and openly
share their knowledge and ideas about the common added value on the virtual
collaboration between two industries. However this surrounding was changed by
some members who was not openness enough and just passed instruction strictly.
Conflicts happened unavoidably. During virtual communication, we used technology facilitating our team work. Such as e-mail, Skype,
WhatsApp and QQ. Here to take an example of strict instruction in “need to know” basis from
documentation of WhatsApp. Quoted from one of our team members: “I will read Strategies
for Virtual Organizing and A person you read the other or give it to B
person”. So our teams Communication and Collaboration & Participation were
not open enough. Team members felt discouraged.
Our Issue Negotiation and Resolution was fragile
too. When problems arose before our presentation, we were not able to arrange a virtual group chat by Skype or QQ. So I only sent out suggestion by
e-mail about timing and structure by an Excel sheet which it remarked about
roles and responsibility too. It was the way we made decision and implementation in
the very end. On the other hand, we seldom had Refection
and Self-assessment during
practices. Luckily, we got our presentation done.
Team Processes
We used technology to communicate in order to
accomplish our work across time and space virtually. Jon Katzenback and Douglas
Smith in Harvard Business Review defined a work team as a group of people with
complementary skills who are committed to a common mission, set of performance
goals and task approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
Virtual teams possess these same qualities with the added ability to employ
geographically dispersed people who use technology and communication to accomplish
their work across time and space, according to Michelle LaBrosse in Employment
Relations Today.
Thereby maximizing
virtual team effectiveness, it involved virtual team member selection,
leadership and process. The ability of a virtual team leader to establish
ground rules, build trust, develop self-management skills among team members,
model appropriate communication, empower the team and address conflicts
effectively will determine the success or failure of the team (Golnaz Sadri and
John Condia 2012).
There are five
stages of development of Ground Rules. For the first stage of Forming, our team members communicated
effectively by video conference through Skype and understand well the goal of
the virtual collaboration between two industries. The second two stages of Storming and Norming, was unpromising. It was
difficult to divide jobs and our progress was put on a hold. After tension,
struggle and arguments, we worked out a rough structure. I committed to handle
industry introduction and the reason for virtual collaboration; and email
slides a few days before committed timeline. Then we come to the fourth stage
of Performing. During our stumbling performing, conflicts were still happening. The existing norms were
challenged. For me, I concerned a lot about the theme was challenged and the
argument made it too far away. We shall emphasis more on the positioning, like
to work out a bright slogan. However, I did not want to further share my point
of view after many times of blocking. Finally, we did come to Adjourning. We tried to find ways to get the
job done smoothly and effectively. We did complete a high quality project from conflicts. I
think our project will be a real business model someday.
Team
Conflicts
I have to admit
that we did not handle the team conflicts well. Our team conflicts were due to
poor communication, lack of openness and failure to respond team members need.
Sometimes, we wasted time and energy in disputes.
We had Task Conflicts over content and goals of the
project. In the very beginning, I brought out an idea of virtual collaboration
between MTR (metro railway) and restaurant communities. This idea comes from my
daily life. I was forced to buy a piece of bread from the shops inside of MTR
station since rush in every morning. I have no time to visit a restaurant
in another parallel street to get a wonderful breakfast. It is impossible for me to spend time to line up;
order; wait for cooking & packing. On the other hand, it is sad to see that HK style
restaurants closed down one after another. Because of inconvenience for customers
and high rental. So I have an idea to set up pick-up points inside of MTR station
and all the HK style restaurants deliver they packed meal to MTR for passangers' collection. The ordering procedure would be handled virtually. Then, both the
passenger flow for MTR and customers for HK style restaurants must be
increased. However, it was been banned. As there was no more proposal coming out
except the other collaboration between McDonald and Fitness Company, my idea was able to
process. But there was a condition that only I changed MTR to KMB (Bus Company). So I made this Compromise, although there is no persuasive
reason. At that time, I really wanted to achieve temporary settlements to complex
issues and arrived at expedient solutions under tine pressure. But to compromise
with unwillingness, it did make me have disappointed impression and worried for
the following process. I deeply understood the description on Win-Win Negotiation:
Expanding the Pie. Negotiators often mistake win-win negotiations for
equal-concession negotiations. Equal concessions or “splitting the difference”
dose not really ensure that a win-win negotiation has been reached. Compromise
pertains to slicing the pie, not expanding the pie.
The most
despondent was that we had Relationship Conflict
based on interpersonal relationships. Sometimes, we did not have open
communication. Communication is the essential part for team building. Group
cohesiveness benefit from good communication. Participation somehow seems not
to be encouraged by some team members with authoritarian behaviors. In the last
day before presentation, our partner team asked a question “Why passengers use
App? They can just call the tea restaurants directly to order breakfast.” This
question seems our partner team still was not clear the true value of this
virtual collaboration between these two industries. Within the later four
minutes, one of our team members replied six messages back without breaks. It was really an
ineffective way of communication. That was the reason why our partner team still were
not able to catch the idea provided by our team from the very beginning to the
end. How the team collaboration is in high performance if one of the partner even is even not clear about the value from the very beginning. Communication is the
process of transmitting and understanding information and ideas so the team
develops shared understanding. I sometimes was emotional during this poor communication
performance. So I chose Avoidance. Although I know it is not a good
conflict management style, I perceived there was no chance of satisfying my
concerns. After proposed the project structure for presentation, I worked on my
own. I seems there was no choice. I just did not want to compete with some teammates whose voice was louder. My only expectation was to strengthen our high performance in team
project and avoid relationship conflict with some team members who were not
open and in serious authoritarian behaviors.
Before getting
project done, we had Process Conflicts.
There were full of disagreement during preparing the presentation. For the
presentation structure, we divided content to each party. However, timeline was
not obeyed well by some of our team members. My worry was there were more
difficulties to the counter party about the presentation. Because our counter
party need to prepare their presentation with completed slides. Also, they
should have question to our team about the theme, the purpose or details for
each slide. When issues are more important to others than to yourself and to
satisfy others and maintain cooperation. So I chose Accommodation
for handling this conflict. I just hoped to minimize the loss and and kept harmony and stability.
Success Factors for Virtual Teams
Three areas need to be addressed to maximized
productivity for virtual teams, (Golnaz Sadri and John Condia, 2012). They are
suitable task for virtual collaboration, helpful supporting and appropriate
approach.
Before proceeding
cooperation, we should analyze the nature of the Task.
Can the task be done virtually? Like our project that this is a cooperation between
KMB and HK-style restaurant community. It is added value for both parties to
set up a virtual platform for providing better service and gain more market
share. So it is a suitable task for virtual collaboration.
During the process
of this project, our professor provided lots of Support
to facilitate us. We were provided lectures and readings about guideline,
strategies, managing method, conflict resolution, would-be challenges, exciting
examples of exiting virtual cases etc. Also there were supporting by team
members knowledge, experience, capability, leadership style, even personality.
Lepsinger and
DeRosa provided a structured Approach to
enhancing virtual team efficiency and effectiveness called relationships,
accountability, motivation, process and purpose(RAMP). During our this virtual
project, human skill is the most important element in collaboration. If team
members can build up reliable relationships and have a common purpose, each one
can show their accountability and gain their motivation during process.
Virtual teams collaboration offers both opportunities
and challenges. To build a valuable high-performing virtual teams is to
communicate effectively through computer-mediated
channels. The Effective Teamwork Matrix provides identification of
high performance team practices, which includes Team
Identity, Shared Vision, Communication,
Collaboration & Participation, Issue Negotiation and Resolution, and
Reflection and Self-assessment. On the other hand, during team process,
teams should develop Ground Rules that is Forming,
Storming and Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. During the virtual
collaboration, there are conflicts which would possibly give opportunities for
better cooperation. We should find a effective method of handling for Task Conflicts, Relationship Conflict and Process Conflicts.
How well you handle those conflicts depends on the styles and behaviors, like Competition, Collaboration, Avoidance, Accommodation and
Compromise. So to make virtual teams success is to let team members to
have common goals of Task with Supporting, and have appropriate Approach.
Reference:
Eclipse Research Consultants, Effective Teamwork, 2004
Jon Katzenback and Douglas Smith, The Power of Virtual Integration: An Interview with Dell Computer's Michael Dell, Harvard Business Review, 1998
Golnaz Sadri and John Condia, Managing the Virtual World, Industrial Management, 2012
