Virtual team comprises of individuals who team up together with an intention or aim of achieving certain mutual goal (Paré and Dubé, 2009, p. 65). The team may be diversified basing on different ethnic groups, different time grounds, cultures or tongues. In general, virtual teams are formed temporarily to achieve a given task. Since the team is made up of diversified group of individuals various shortcomings are likely to be experienced. Some of the challenges faced by virtual teams are discussed below;
Poor Communication
One of the key problems facing virtual group is poor communication among individuals. This might be caused by misunderstanding brought about by unique communication challenges which include lack of face to face communication. Research from Paré and Dubé (2009, p. 98), shows that approximately a larger percentage of communication is usually nonverbal. Body language and virtual signals which are very crucial in offering understandings are often lost in virtual exchanges. Another problem which poses a bigger challenge is language or cultural differences. Individuals from different part of the world or different regions within the same state practice different cultures and communicate using different languages (Lee-Kelley " Sankey, 2008, p. 76). Moreover, differences brought about by accents or expressions contribute to this problem. Failure of technology is another problem that is likely to happen (Foltz, 2017, p. 80). This may cause network connection failure during an important virtual exercise. In my group, this problem causes noise which hinders communication. Lack of priorities and goals poses problems in virtual teams (Foltz, 2017, p. 80). In cases where virtual teams do not set the priorities and targets to attain there is possibility that they are likely to lose focus, leading to failure of the whole course work. The remedies to the above mention problems include; allowing individuals to interact in person to enhance nonverbal communication and apply videoconferencing as a measure to eradicate the same problem as well (Ko, Jang, " Ho, 2015, p. 87). There is need for the virtual teams to introduce cultural training programs to create awareness on various cultural practices of different ethnic groups or states. This will help solve the problem caused by different ethnicities and cultures. Teams can overcome the problem of not setting priorities and goals right by ensuring that desired goals are effectively communicated in various meeting agendas, this is to bring it clearly to every participant’s mind. Where technology malfunctions proper plans for this issue must be put in place. This include setting budgets for software’s or hardware’s resolutions. The above remedies have helped in finding solutions to communication problems and aided in success of various team projects across the globe. Another important factor that hinders effective communication is lack of trust. Trust is a very important virtue that determines the success of a virtual team. If for instance an individual or some individuals among the team mistrust others within the same team, most likely communication would a problem since sharing of certain information would be limited to some individuals. Productivity of the members will decline and thus general output decreasing hence failure. To cure problem caused by lack of trust, individuals in the team should have confidence in one another by embracing team work and finding solutions of different shortcomings as a team. Openness and transparency among individuals encourages team building.
Time Zone Differences
Participants in the virtual team work mostly come from different background and geographical locations. These people come different parts of the world where there is difference in time at an instance. In my group, this makes the process of setting up meetings for the whole group hard since at the instance when the meeting is supposed to take place it may be nightfall in some other parts of the world. This hence means that the appropriate time for one is the time that is not conducive for another. Trying to get this team together at one instance is like juggling a bunch of balls in a bowl (Paré, and Dubé, 2009, p. 480). In an instance that one person in China and the other member is in Brazil convening a meeting would be hard since the two countries experience changes in time such that when its day in Brazil its day time in China making hard for the leader of the group to find the perfect time for convening meetings. . People’s beliefs change considering the change in the time zones, these beliefs often affect the level of cooperation that people in different time zones have in respect to work. These beliefs often work against the goals of the virtual teams. This diversity is depicted in thee difference in people’s ways of life. Another example, is the case of the different beliefs by the Chinese people and the Americans which therefore affects their individual perspective on work and hence affect the well running of virtual teams.
To work against the disadvantage brought by time new ways are needed to communicate and guide the group. One way of doing so is by empowering the group so as to minimize the interactions in the group. This encourages the coming up of the breathing space that is fundamental foe every team work. This is demonstrated by ensuring that the team gets the tool it needs to get the work done and put your trust in them that they will do the work perfectly. The trust one places on his or her team shows an act of empowerment since they will gain the confidence they need to work harder (Rubin " Babbie, 2015, p. 90). The members are given their space to make their own decisions and not to report to leader every now and then. Secondly, a person will be on the clock each and every time such that everyone is always doing his or her work. This is better demonstrated where a person works on his or her best time and when he or she signs off the work is passed to the guy who has just signed in to continue with the work. This demonstrates an efficient way of managing energy and time during work (Rubin " Babbie, 2015, p. 90). The third remedy to this is by the change up of meeting times avoiding fixed meetings hence informing the employees that you are aware of different time zones they are located avoiding boredom and motivate them more into working.
Another method of overcoming this problem is using lumps. Companies these days have succeeded in combining different talents together to improve productivity which however do not cater for the problem of lack of team proximity which an asset to the company so whenever possible and appropriate the supervisor lumps the workers closely as possible (Liao " Chen, 2015, p 76). However, the company using this method should not set the in-stone rule to allow the workforce of the company to come from different geographical locations. This improves efficiency whereby people from the same time zone work better than those in different time zones. These possible solutions discussed above have effectively worked on improving the efficiency in team work more so the virtual team work where it has led to appreciation of the fact that people experience different time at a go in different parts of the world and led to the coming up of the best possible solution to the problem.
Work Life Balance
Although there is no parameter used to measure the work life balance of a worker we only estimate the balance according to the work ethics. In my group, the factors that undermine this balance include pregnancy in women which alters the schedules of women variably where women at this stage give more attention to their social issues rather than the issues associated with work (Zakaria, Amelinckx and Wilemon, 2004, p.15). The problem of cultural beliefs also affects the work life balance where some beliefs discourage some activities that could otherwise make the worker productive. In some occasions some people focus more on work such that they neglect the fact that they need the time to rest their bodies. When any of these two occurrences happen there is a negative impact on the life work balance. Also, when a company has the triangular method of administration where one is answerable to two or more people these employees are likely to develop problems with either parties to whom they are answerable to since there may be issues outside the work stations between the worker and the supervisor. Therefore, they may attach these issues relating to their private lives into their work lives (Liao " Chen, 2015, p. 90). This may hinder the ability of a worker to perform the duties assigned to him to the perfection. Another point is that one should let go perfectionism where people who have achieved high goals previously stick to their jobs for longer periods in order to perfect their work hence distorting the balance in their work life balance. They do this though perfectionism is expanded and can be hard to achieve. The same people burn out with time trying to keep up with being perfect. These imbalances translate to lower social interactions and increase work monotony. Practicing body exercise and meditation may help to reduce stress associated with work. This helps the body feel relaxed and relieved from boredom.
The ability balances the work life activities leads to the classifications of workers into the following groups. The first group includes the flexible workers who are offered contracts that cater for the extra time they are willing to work after the other workers have left or for the hours worked after the normal working time (Liao " Chen, 2015, p. 90). The second group includes the part-time workers who work fewer hours in a week than the workers who are employed full time. These workers are always employed on contractual basis and work for a specified period.
This problem involving the work life balance often is solved by setting a schedule and sticking by it so as to eliminate the tendency of on using the time that had been allocated for work activities for leisure and also avoid straining so much on work that you forget to have some personal time (Lee-Kelley and Sankey, 2008, p. 87). Also, social gatherings may help one break that work monotony that one is used to after a long period of time. These gatherings ensure that the workers maintain their home lives. Moreover, taking a break from your e-mails may serve the purpose of ensuring that you take a break from work. By this, there is an improvement in the home lives and the social standing of a person (Zakaria, Amelinckx and Wilemon, 2004, p. 76). The remedies above to the problem of work life balance have proven to be the functional solutions to the problem where it has looked at harmonizing all the factors influencing the work life balance and found the best answers to the problem.
SMART ACTION PLAN
Problem
Cause of the problem
Possible solutions
Outcome from the solutions
Time zone differences
Different geographical locations
use of lumps
staying on the clock
empowerment
Harmonizing
Work life balance
Time management
keeping schedules
social gatherings
High work efficiency
Poor communication
Malfunctioning of technology
Difference in languages
Lack of priorities and goals.
Lack of trust
software and hardware solutions
use of non-verbal communications
Discussing goals and prioritized work in meeting agendas
Encouraging openness and transparency in individuals work
Improved communication
Source (Liao " Chen, 2015, p. 90).
Conclusively, virtual teams are faced by many challenges which include poor communication, time zone difference and work life balance that form some of the main drawbacks of efficient virtual groups. These challenges however can be solved by developing schemes to reduce or even face out its effects. These schemes include improvement of communication, high work efficiency and harmonization of the people from the different time zone to encourage togetherness of members of a team and inspire high productivity from every member of the same team. This paper hence shows that the problems that face the virtual teams do have solutions.
Question 2
Management of Listening Skills
The diversity among today’s workforce has made listening more difficult than before since there are people from different backgrounds in the same workforce (Ting-Toomey " Chung, 2005, p. 89). If not careful one is likely to understand less than 25% of the conversation not because of poor memory but because of diversity in the workforce (Moran, Abramson " Moran, 2014, p. 86). Even on the occasions that they may speak the same language, people in an organization may not well understand each other since they have different pronunciations and the speech patterns vary. To maximize performance in such an organization means that there should be maximum listening (Yamazaki " Kayes, 2004, p. 363)
To communicate well between different cultures, one ought to listen closely to the pronunciation of words and understand their meanings (Beebe, Beebe " Redmond, 2000, p. 90). This is called active listening where one closely listens and grasps the meaning of the words said by the other person from the other end and avoiding making assumptions or just waiting for your turn to speak without listening (Ting-Toomey " Chung, 2005, p. 89). The listener too ought to listen with empathy where he or she tries to connect the other person’s feelings or thought which involves training the ear to monitor the voice characters such as voice variations and therefore know one’s feelings from the same. A good listener must go beyond the verbal form of communication and be keen on the non-verbal forms. For example, in some communities nodding the face denotes a sign of saying ‘no’ (Yamazaki " Kayes, 2004, p. 65).
Some employees at multicultural joints have undergone a training program named “Cultures at Work” where they are trained on “low-context cultures” such as German and Italian which are often verbally used and whose people always have conversations with one another ((Yamazaki " Kayes, 2004, p. 65). People study the” high-context cultures” such as those used in Asia and their conversations have the character of quietness (Yamazaki " Kayes, 2004, p. 65). The point of learning all these is to train one to be sensitive and cross-cultural listener. Americans and Italians often have an explosive conversation where people mostly physique a rapid-fire cords of conversation where one person adds onto extra thought before the person initially speaking finishes.( Yamazaki " Kayes, 2004, p.155) . This poses a tricky situation as opposed to that where one speaks and then he or she pauses hence leading to one having a dexterous intellectual. When people don’t listen to what others have to say carefully, they often make assumptions that most of the times are not true about what was meant by the person who was speaking.
Listening skills should be managed to ensure active people listen across all cultures and draw the meaning meant by the person communicating (Ting-Toomey " Chung, 2005, p. 89). An example of this case is the difference between the British and the American English. The American English involves the use of more adjectives than the British English and so when a Briton describes something Americans feel that they have not been adequately described (Ting-Toomey " Chung, 2005, p. 89). To understand the message passed across here between these two parties on must be an active listener. Therefore, addressing the issue of listening skills allow people to understand their common ideas and work towards a specific direction.
For efficient communication to take place one should possess the qualities of good listener which involves patience and the act of being active which enables one to grasp the information passed across (Ting-Toomey " Chung, 2005, p. 89). The information is then processed and feedback is given back to enable efficient communication.
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