{"id":1244,"date":"2013-01-17T21:07:34","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T20:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2013-06-12T12:55:44","modified_gmt":"2013-06-12T11:55:44","slug":"virtual-teams-from-merely-working-together-to-truly-collaborating-with-one-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/2013\/01\/17\/virtual-teams-from-merely-working-together-to-truly-collaborating-with-one-another\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Teams: From Merely Working Together to Truly Collaborating with One Another."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rw-3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/Global-Team.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1246\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/files\/2013\/01\/Global-Team-300x217.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/files\/2013\/01\/Global-Team-300x217.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/files\/2013\/01\/Global-Team.jpg 535w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\u2018It&#8217;s like monopoly on a global scale, with people, factories, offices, and ideas, crisscrossing the world to get the job done in time and on budget\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>In my opinion, this metaphor that a recent <a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2011\/10\/27\/business\/global-workforce\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">CNN<\/a> article mentioned serves as a fitting description for today\u2019s globally dispersed business environment, and as a great introduction for a blog post on global virtual teams.<\/p>\n<p>As global businesses adjust to these \u2018monopoly\u2019 settings, managing global virtual teams quickly becomes the norm. Although they are very attractive cost wise, and may also help to save time , managing global virtual teams effectively is still a challenge. There is limited face-to-face interaction, work occurs across different time zones, and collaboration involves different cultural and language backgrounds \u2013 all of which make virtual teamwork and virtual leadership quite a difficult task. This is probably one reason for why entering \u2018virtual team\u2019 into any Internet search engine results in a sheer endless number of publications with \u2018to do\u2019 and \u2018top tips\u2019 lists in their headings. And although the majority of recommendations for managing traditional teams would also serve well for virtual teams (e.g. specify roles, create a common meaningful goal, value all team members), the differences should be evident.<\/p>\n<p>Lacking face-to-face interaction makes virtual teams much more vulnerable to \u2018merely working together\u2019 instead of truly collaborating with one another. What happens naturally in groups who see each other daily should be deliberately fostered in remote virtual groups. In this context, a relevant HBR blog <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.hbr.org\/cs\/2012\/03\/global_team_leaders_must_delib.html\" target=\"_blank\">article<\/a> suggests that global team leaders must deliberately create \u2018moments\u2019. Drawing from her own practical experience the author Tsedal Neeley argues that there are four types of these \u2018moments\u2019, that may help increase cohesion and performance of globally-dispersed teams.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Social interaction as a key to community feelings in virtual teams<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First of all, Neeley proposes to structure \u2018unstructured\u2019 time. In other words.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deliberately creating opportunities for employees\u2019 social non-work interaction, which happens so rarely in virtual teams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Indeed, virtual co-workers do not have the \u2018kitchen corner\u2019 where chitchats normally take place and employees relax and bond with each other. However, such unofficial bonding is part of team cohesion, which according to social psychologists (e.g. Carron, 1982) comprises not only commitment \u00a0to the same goals (task cohesion), but also covers friendships and affiliations (social cohesion). Practically speaking, such deliberate chat can be initiated by a common daily life matter or question, which is brought up \u2018by chance\u2019 (e.g. choosing a new personal computer brand).<\/p>\n<p>As an alternative to chats during virtual meetings, social media can be used as another \u2018group-feel\u2019 remedy common in our times. Several companies implement virtual communication platforms \u2013 blogs, wikis, social networks \u2013 which can be used by employees for both personal and work-related communication, thus creating feelings of participating in a community. Indeed, it can be <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.workingsolutions.com\/can-culture-exist-in-a-virtual-work-environment-yes\/\" target=\"_blank\">argued<\/a> that social media can help create a culture, a glue that holds an organization together, not only in traditional, but also in virtual work environments.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Diversity of virtual team members should serve as a benefit<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Arguably, virtual meetings can be less productive because the lack of certain characteristics of face-to-face conversations (e.g. non-verbal communication) may create a less engaging environment, in which participants are less likely to fully contribute to the process. In a way, it is easier to express a different opinion during a \u2018heated\u2019 discussion with all the participants in the same meeting room, and also easier to hold back an opinion when involved only distantly. Moreover, the cultural differences in global virtual teams may also add up to the \u2018humility\u2019 of personal opinions. Therefore, the HBR blog article suggests creating moments of disagreement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Moments of disagreement should be deliberately created and emphasized, encouraging team members to express themselves openly and value the diversity of opinions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, disagreements may be productive only if the diversity of opinions and differences in backgrounds of colleagues are valued. To accomplish that, positive differences should be stressed.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create moments of \u2018good differences\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Differences are one of the main assets of culturally heterogeneous teams as I described in an earlier <a title=\"Winning through Diversity? The Case of Multicultural Management Teams\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/2012\/11\/02\/winning-through-diversity-the-case-of-multicultural-management-teams\/\" target=\"_blank\">post<\/a>. However, rather than creating attitudes of \u2018us\u2019 versus \u2018them\u2019 and enhancing stereotyping, the emphasized differences should concern personal factors and not cultural categorizations. Individual differences may refer to work experience, training, mindset and personal skills. Practically, this would imply that a group where Joe is a great negotiator, Martha speaks French, Daniel studied marketing and Ted has experience in beverages markets, will be more productive than a group where French employees are better experts in wines, while British team members are reliable to follow regulations and bureaucracy requirements. Hence, individualize, instead of categorize.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Mutual understanding &#8211; a requirement in virtual teams<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, global team leaders should create \u2018awareness\u2019 moments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Working side-by-side, as opposed to occasional virtual meetings, allows people to observe not only \u2018what\u2019 the colleagues are doing, but also \u2018how\u2019, namely the context of the work environment. Such information allows for better understanding of colleagues\u2019 attitudes, behaviors, and motivations. Unfortunately, all that is missing in virtual reality, where such basic things as time zones and documentation handling can become serious challenges. Therefore, either through some site visits, or extended online interactions, global team leaders should continuously try to enhance mutual understanding, and hence foster communication and trust.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><em>Further reading:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Carron, A.V. (1982).\u00a0Cohesiveness in sport groups: Interpretations and considerations. <em>Journal of Sport Psychology, 4<\/em>, 123-138.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018It&#8217;s like monopoly on a global scale, with people, factories, offices, and ideas, crisscrossing the world to get the job done in time and on budget\u2019. In my opinion, this metaphor that a recent CNN article mentioned serves as a fitting description for today\u2019s globally dispersed business environment, and as a great introduction for a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18330],"tags":[18421,44815,44833,18427,44853],"class_list":["post-1244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-views-and-news-about-expatriates","tag-cultural-diversity","tag-distant-leadership","tag-global-leadership","tag-global-organizations","tag-virtual-teams"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1439,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions\/1439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}