Building Effective Virtual Teams

1. Building Effective Virtual Teams Dane M. Partridge, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Management University of Southern Indiana Presented to the River Cities Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) February 2002

2. Building Effective Virtual Teams • Presentation based on research related to Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education Course Development Grant • Web Based Team Training Module • Project Director, Nancy Kovanic, Lead Consultant, OPD Group, USI

3. What Is Meant by Term “Team”? • Collection of individuals • Interdependent in tasks • Share responsibility for outcomes • See themselves and are seen by others as intact social entity embedded in larger social system(s) • Manage relationships across organizational boundaries • (Cohen and Bailey, 1997)

4. Threshold Work Design Questions • Is team necessary to accomplish task? • If so, then what type of team? • (Kline, 1999)

5. Organizational Context • Performance management/reward system • Must evolve from individually-based performance appraisal process toward focus on team development, team member contributions, and overall team performance • (Yeatts and Hyten, 1998) • Reward system must support team-based work design • Skill-based, gainsharing • Team-based reward systems don’t always produce intended results (e.g., Levi Strauss) • (Orsburn and Moran, 2000)

6. Team Characteristics • Goal Clarity and Adoption • Helping teams set goals highly effective intervention in team building (Kline, 1999). •  Role Clarity • Role conflict (for example, being a member of multiple teams), ambiguity (establish clear expectations as to what each member must do by when). •  Team Efficacy • Team’s belief in itself to accomplish work. Can be increased by identifying team members’ capabilities, identifying ways to better achieve goals, aligning team goals with organizational goals (Kline, 1999).

7. Member Dispositions (Individual Characteristics) • Members do not necessarily have to like one another to work well together. • Kline (1999) • Team-Player Ability • Degree to which individuals positively predisposed to working on team. •  Cooperativeness • Positively related to attitudes and performance of project teams • (Cohen and Bailey, 1997).

8. Member Dispositions • Team-Player Style • Contributor (task-oriented, setting goals, priorities, solving problems) • Collaborator (goal-oriented) • Communicator (team process) • Challenger • Kline (1999)

9. Work Process Effectiveness (Decision Making) • Is team right size? • Social loafing • (Yeatts and Hyten, 1998) • Does team have necessary interpersonal communication skills? • Does team have necessary task-relevant skills? • Is there allowance for diversity of opinion? • Team norms impact participation, communication, conflict management, meeting management, problem solving, and decision making • (Duarte and Snyder, 1999).

10. Work Process Effectiveness (Decision Making) • Does team assess alternatives before accomplishing work? • Are there understood performance norms? • Does team assess work progress before completion (goal accomplishment)? • Does team allow for modifications in process if alternative suggested?

11. Holding Effective Meetings • Technical advances such as groupware can assist teams in meeting without having to get together in person. • Increased use @USI of Blackboard (e-learning software platform) • Mngt 305, Management of Organizational Behavior, virtual team projects

12. Effective Virtual Teams • Importance of trust • “People tend to trust others who perform competently, act with integrity, and display concern for the well-being of others” • (Duarte and Snyder, 1999, p. 140). • Important to have members who have high propensity to trust • (Jarvenpaa et al., 1998).

13. Effective Virtual Teams • Team Building • Engage in team building activities as virtual team is initially created so as to develop sense of trust, cohesiveness, awareness of each other’s differences • (Kayworth and Leidner, 2000) • Virtual ice-breaker. First impressions especially important in VTs • (Cascio, 2000) • May be cultural bias to common team-building activities (e.g., sharing personal information, discussing results of personality inventories, competitive games). Uncomfortable for those from collective cultures? • (Duarte and Snyder, 1999).

14. Effective Virtual Teams • Trust negatively impacted by • lack of social introduction • lack of enthusiasm • unequally distributed communication • shallow ideas • lack of task focus • lack of individual initiative • little feedback • (Jarvenpaa and Leidner, 1999)

15. Effective Virtual Teams • Trust positively impacted by • early social exchanges • predictable communication pattern • strong individual initiative (and initiative from multiple members) • substantive feedback (responses to initiatives may be even more important than initiatives themselves) • (Jarvenpaa and Leidner, 1999) • Timely follow-through on commitments important to establishing perceived competence • (Duarte and Snyder, 1999)

16. Effective Virtual Teams • Computer-mediated communication may alleviate cross-cultural communication issues • lack of nonverbal cues eliminates evidence of cultural differences • asynchronous mode may reduce language errors • (Jarvenpaa and Leidner, 1999) • However, computer-mediated communication can negatively impact perceived concern for others, given that evidence indicates computer-mediated groups communicate more negative messages than face-to-face groups do • (Duarte and Snyder, 1999, p. 154)

17. Effective Virtual Teams • Virtual Collaboration Behaviors • Ability to exchange ideas without criticism • Develop working document in which various members’ ideas are summarized • Exchange working document among members for editing • Track comments in working document with initials • Agree on activities • Meet deadlines • (Knoll and Jarvenpaa, 1998).

18. Effective Virtual Teams • Virtual Socialization Behaviors [process norms?] • Ability to communicate with other members immediately • Solicit feedback on process team is using to accomplish tasks • Express appreciation for ideas and completed tasks • Apologize for mistakes • Volunteer for roles • Acknowledge role assignments • (Knoll and Jarvenpaa, 1998) • Initiative, results orientation, and integrity highly important • (Jarvenpaa et al., 1998).

19. Effective Virtual Teams • Virtual Communication Behaviors • Given inherent lack of rich face-to-face communication, groups must attempt to communicate frequently and consistently with constant feedback from team leaders. Setting specific agendas for discussion may be helpful. • (Kayworth and Leidner, 2000) • Ability to rephrase unclear sentences to achieve clarity, use e-mail typography to convey emotion. • (Knoll and Jarvenpaa, 1998)

20. Effective Virtual Teams • Perceived integrity of members • Integrity of co-workers is evaluated on basis of reputation, in the event actual performance cannot be consistently observed. • Positive reputation is function of consistent actions, fulfilled promises, consideration of others’ schedules, and prompt responses to phone-mail and e-mail. • Persons working in teams, especially virtual teams, must be attentive to way in which they are perceived by others. • (Kezsbom, 1999). • Is this “virtual EQ”?

21. Effective Virtual Teams • Self-limiting Behaviors • Based on literature on teams in general. • Includes • presence of someone with [perceived/proclaimed?] expertise • presentation of compelling argument • lack of confidence in one’s ability to contribute • pressures to conform to team’s decision [how is virtual groupthink expressed?] • Process observations from Mngt 305 students • dysfunctional decision-making climate • (Cascio, 2000). • Re: OD: virtual process consultation?

22. Effective Virtual Teams • Matching technology with task • Technology: synchronous and asynchronous. • Tasks: generating ideas and plans, solving routine problems, solving complex problems, negotiating conflicts. • Technology also impacts personal connection, information richness, and historical record of interactions. • E-mail most useful for generating ideas and plans, and collecting data; useful for routine problems; least useful for complex problems and negotiations. • Face-to-face best for negotiations. • (Duarte and Snyder, 1999)

23. Effective Virtual Teams • Determinants of Outcomes: Satisfaction • Some evidence that women more satisfied with VT experience than men. • Possibly due to nature of computer-mediated communication: lack of nonverbal cues and structure allowed for more equal group participation. • (Lind, 1999)