Virtual teams are made up of people who are not physically stationed together but have the same aims or purpose. As technology progresses, virtual teams have grown in popularity as video conferencing and email have enabled long-distance collaboration (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014). In that circumstance, a team leader must build the skills and capacities required to meet the team's objectives.
According to the case study, the team has a clear goal and strategy. Unfortunately, the team is ineffective due to a lack of a collaborative environment. In which case, some members of the team send emails to their partners, but due to commitment to other tasks on the ground, they have no time reading the emails (Northhouse, 2015). With proper commitment, it is evident that the team members will be able to plan for meetings, coordinate contributions as well as communications.
Recommendation
Monitoring
Since the team is starting, the members are finding it difficult to work on several projects. In that case, I think it is proper for the Jim Towne to take an immediate action. In that case, the team leader should consider taking action at both internal and external levels. At the external level, the leader should ensure proper networking and sharing of information among the team members (Northhouse, 2015). At the internal level, the leader should take a relational action by ensuring there is a proper commitment among the members (Northhouse, 2015). It is outrightly clear that the members are committed their projects and not the common goal making them ineffective.
Leadership Function
Leadership is an important aspect of any team. Thus, it is proper for Jim Towne to execute different functions of leadership to facilitate the effectiveness of the information technology team. In the current situation of the team, it is proper to implement organizing by assigning roles that are appropriate to individual abilities (Zaccaro, Rittman & Marks, 2001). In doing so, the team members will feel less overburdened and well-coordinated as they undertake different projects.
References
Hoch, J. E., & Kozlowski, S. W. (2014). Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), 390.
Northhouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman, A. L., & Marks, M. A. (2001). Team leadership. The leadership quarterly, 12(4), 451-483.
