Managing Diverse Virtual Teams
As organisations merge and grow in a global environment, it is more likely that you will encounter a virtual team. The concept of virtual teams varies by organisations, and it can involve a variety of scenarios. All team members may work remotely; there may be several office locations and team members from each location; or it may be a mix of the two. Virtual teams allow organisations to provide longer business hours, reduced employee travel costs and flexible employee work schedules. Yet, performance issues may arise when working in virtual teams (Schermerhorn et al, 2012). Therefore, a manager may need additional strategies to help virtual teams address those issues.
During your consultancy for your scenario organisation, you are concerned with how the upcoming transition may impact employees. During and after the transition, many of the current and future employees may have to work remotely. Although a small percentage of the organisation (generally on the executive level) has participated in virtual teams, most of the employees are used to face-to-face teams. You suggest sending a newsletter to employees about virtual teams to help support a more successful transition. In this Individual
Assignment, you will recommend strategies for managing diverse virtual teams.
References
Schermerhorn, Jr., J. R., R. N. Osborn, M. Uhl-Bien, & J. G. Hunt, (2012)OrganisationBehavior, 12th edition, New York: John Wiley
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
- Review the Unit Introduction and the Learning Resources.
- Support your Individual Assignment with current academic literature beyond your Learning Resources.
- Think about your scenario organisation and consider the unique needs of diverse virtual teams.
- Review relevant theories, concepts and research and think about strategies to manage diverse virtual teams effectively.
To complete this Individual Assignment:
- Create a newsletter for current and future employees of your scenario organisation.
o The purpose of the newsletter would be to alert current and future employees of the upcoming transition, explain the upcoming need to work virtually for either a temporary or an extended period and provide strategies for working effectively in virtual teams.
- Provide two strategies to manage virtual teams effectively drawing from relevant theories, concepts and research in the Learning Resources and current literature. One of your strategies should include how managers in your scenario organisation will develop virtual teams comprised of employees from varying cultures.
- Please use your creativity while developing your Assignment. You may use the template provided for your Assignment, or you may create your own communications approach that addresses individual and team needs.
- Support your Individual Assignment with current academic literature beyond your Learning Resources.
You should fully state and justify any assumptions that you choose to make in relation to your scenario organisation.
Please recall any previous assumptions that you made about your organisation so that they will not conflict while preparing your Final Project. You will include information from this Individual Assignment within Section 2 of your HRM Consultancy Report.