Discovering Success Factors for Virtual Teams

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