You are a virtual group working on a team paper so that is what you are being asked to analyze! As you know, virtual teams are increasingly common in our interconnected global workplace. There are positives and challenges to working as a group in a virtual environment. Answer the following questions in relation to virtual teamwork in organizations:
Identify one challenge that causes workgroups to fail, a recommendation to address each challenge, and the role of the group’s leader in implementing each recommendation.
Introduction
The Workgroup or virtual team may face many challenges in an organization. These challenges can create barriers for team members to achieve goals and objectives. The most important thing for virtual team management is to identify the challenges and make an effective strategy to enable team success and sustainability.
Challenge That Causes Workgroups to Fail
The major challenge that a virtual team usually faces is diversity. Managing or maintaining group diversity is the big challenge, and it can lead to group failure. People come from different cultures along with different skills, experience, and qualifications. The difference regarding the skill, experience, and qualification is good for the team. However, the diversity regarding the culture is a prominent challenge, and it creates barriers to working collaboratively. For instance, the organization can shape the virtual team to streamline the new solution to old problems. However, diversity can cause a lack of collaboration. It seems tough for the team management or a team leader to out a right team member at the right spot to make him a great contributor (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006).
In the global virtual environment, managing diversity is a key challenge, which also hinders dynamic complexity and team development. Normally, a global virtual team may be shaped by the company to achieve common goals; However, due to diversity, several contradictions may occur. The global virtual environment requires better interaction and understanding. Normally, team members do not accept differences. Thus, the lack of collaboration occurs, and it leads towards failure (Devine, 2002).
Recommendation to Address Challenge
Managing team diversity is a big challenge regarding the virtual team. However, it can be tackled through containing the open-door policy for every team member. Interestingly, virtual team members, especially working in a global working environment, perceive that team leadership or management is not listening to them. Having the open-door policy opens ways for these virtual team members to communicate effectively. Apart from communication, the open-door policy can also enhance work collaboration. The best thing that the team leadership or the management can do to face this challenge is to use the democratic approach. Open door policy is a depiction of the democratic approach. It motivates team members to gather at the same point and work on the generally accepted agenda. Different people in the global virtual environment contain different ways of raising concerns. Therefore, open door policy motivates these members to be assertive (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt, 2005).
Role of the Group’s Leader in Implementing Recommendation
The role of the group leader in the implementation process is in the limelight. For Instance, the virtual group leader must understand the concerns and take some immediate actions. Listening and acting are two prominent roles of the group leader in the team, which can help the team survive in the competitive work environment. The virtual team has to identify the challenge of diversity and related management processes to make it purposeful and result oriented. During the implementation process, team members are the main stakeholders for the group leader. However, it is important to navigate both internal and external factors, which revolve around diversity (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt, 2005).
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that the group or team diversity in the virtual work environment is effective because it enhances the group thinking and multitasking. However, the group leader can play a vital role to eliminate this challenge and focus on the situational needs of the team. The group leader can enable the growth, development, and success of the virtual team for a long run through these strategic considerations.
References
Devine, D. J. (2002). A review and integration of classification systems relevant to teams in organizations. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 6(4), 291-310.
Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., & Jundt, D. K. (2005). Teams in organizations: from input-process-output models to IMOI models. Annual Review of Psychology, 56(1), 517-543.
Kozlowski, S. W., & Ilgen, D. R. (2006). Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 7(3), 77-124.
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