Starting and Maintaining
Virtual Teams
ETM5110/MSIS5600
Managing Virtual Project Teams
Nicholas C. Romano, Jr., Ph.D.
Nicholas-Romano@mstm.okstate.edu
Paul E. Rossler, Ph.D., P.E.
prossle@okstate.edu
1
Overview
• What is the process of forming a virtual
team?
• What knowledge, skills, and abilities should
virtual team members possess?
• How do these competencies differ from
those required in face-to-face team settings?
• What types of interdependencies are found
in virtual teamwork?
2
• What are the key roles played by the team
leader?
• How should performance appraisal be
conducted?
3
Slow starters?
Research and experience suggest that virtual
teams often take longer to get started in
meetings and produce results than many
traditional teams do
– Match technology to task, type of team, team
life cycle, team members’ backgrounds
– Often need help in evaluating technology and
facilitating meetings
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Steps for starting a virtual team
1. Identify team sponsors, stakeholders,
champions
2. Develop a team charter
3. Select team members
4. Contact team members
5. Conduct team-orientation session
6. Develop team processes
Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. 2001. Mastering Virtual Teams (2nd Ed.).
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
5
Selecting sponsor, stakeholder, and
champion based on requirements
• Can remove roadblocks
• Has cross-cultural experience
• Is respected across functions or
organizations
• Organization has stake in outcome of team’s
work
• Can provide relevant technical or political
input
Source: Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001)
6
Eliciting support early in the
team’s life cycle
• Review mission, purpose, goals
• Share understanding of roles
• Identify potential risks and risk mitigation
strategies
• Develop preliminary schedule and establish
milestone review
• Agree on methods for sharing
Source: Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001)
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Identifying and selecting three
types of team members
• Core
– Accountable for direct task output
• Extended
– Provide expertise and advice when necessary
• Ancillary
– Review and approve team’s work and
deliverables
Source: Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001)
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Knowledge, skill, and ability
requirements (traditional) teamwork
I.
Interpersonal
A.
B.
C.
II.
Conflict resolution
Collaborative problem solving
Communication
Self-management
A.
B.
Goal Setting and performance management
Planning and task coordination
Source: Stevens, J. and M.A. Campion, The knowledge, skill, and ability requirements for
teamwork: Implications for human resource management. Journal of Management, 1994. 20
(Summer): p. 503 ff.
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KSAs for virtual teamwork
Project management
Networking
Use of technology
Self-management
Boundary management
Interpersonal awareness
Source: Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001)
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KSA relationships
Project management
Networking
Use of technology
Self-management
Boundary management
Interpersonal awareness
I.
Interpersonal
A.
B.
C.
II.
Conflict resolution
Collaborative problem
solving
Communication
Self-management
A.
B.
Goal Setting and
performance
management
Planning and task
coordination
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Establishing contact with team
members prior to initial meeting
• Call or visit each team member personally
• Provide mechanism by which team members can
find out about one another
• Send all team members information about the
team
• Make certain a forum exists for answering
questions
• Find out who has hardware or software
availability or compatibility problems
Source: Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001)
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Meeting face-to-face is best for
orientation session
• Orient everyone
– Review and discuss charter
– Review team members’ expertise and
accountabilities
• Develop list of team norms, technological
plans, communication plans
• Engage in team building
Source: Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001)
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Establishing team norms (and
culture)
• Virtual meeting etiquette and management
• Guidelines regarding timeframes for
returning calls and e-mails and use of voice
mail and pagers
• Guidelines about using e-mail
• Which meetings must be face-to-face,
which can be missed
Source: Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. (2001)
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• How work will be produced, reviewed
• How decisions will be made, how problems
will be solved, how conflicts will be
resolved
• Procedures for scheduling meetings using
group-scheduling systems
• Types of technological applications to be
used
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Example framework for
prioritizing problems or solutions
Not Urgent  Demands Immediate
Attention
Solvability Beyond Our Control  Can Solve
Ourselves
Scope
Easily Solved  Requires Extensive
Effort
AccountNot Individually Accountable  Fully
ability
Accountable
Feasibility Won’t Work  Will Definitely Work
Criticality
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Technology selection is driven by
decisions on how to work
Types of Work
• Parallel
• Sequential
• Pooled Sequential
Technology
Simple
Sophisticated
17
Traditional project management
techniques help manage the process
• Templates
– Scheduling, assigning tasks, reporting status,
gathering data
• Review points
– Milestones, plans, problems
• Documentation
– History, progress, how shared
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Myths regarding virtual teams
• Virtual team members can be left alone
– Reality: Time and space do not alter the
fundamental principles of team output and
accountability
• The added complexity of using technology
is greatly exaggerated
– Reality: Complexity of communicating over
time, distance, and organizations causes unique
problems, not easily solved
Duarte, D. L., & Snyder, N. T. 2001. Mastering Virtual Teams (2nd Ed.).
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
19
• The leader of a cross-cultural virtual team
needs to speak several languages, have lived
in other countries
– Reality: What is required is a sensitivity to
other cultures and an attempt to learn how to
communicate with team members
20
• When you can’t see people on a regular
basis, it’s difficult to help them
– Reality: Virtual environment doesn’t change the
fact that the leader must plan for team
members’ next assignments, career progression
• Building trust and networking are relatively
unimportant
– Reality: Trust is the foundation for performance
in a virtual setting
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• Every aspect of virtual teams should be
planned, organized, and controlled
– Reality: Managing a virtual team with rigid
controls and plans often erodes the team’s
ability to experience breakthrough performance
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A key challenge in virtual teams
• Balancing coordination and collaboration
with autonomy
– Also present in traditional teams
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Individual appraisal
or team appraisal or both?
• Individual level appraisal helps reduce
social loafing
– But ignores interaction and synergy that
characterize excellent team performance
• Team performance assessment provides
useful information
– But can ignore individual contribution, leading
to freeloading
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Other key questions
• What is rated?
– Behavior, competency, outcome, or all three?
• Who provides the rating?
– Manager, project leaders, team leader, other
team members, customers, self, coworkers
• How is the rating used?
– Development, evaluation, self-regulation (selfcontrol)
25
Team type influences
performance appraisal
Scott, S. G., & Einstein, W. O. 2001. Strategic performance appraisal in team-based
organizations: One size does not fit all. Academy of Management Executive, 15(2): 107-116.
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Appraisal methods
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Source: Scott, S. G., & Einstein, W. O. (2001)
Summary
• Starting and maintaining virtual teams is a
process, albeit a labor-intensive one
• The team leader plays a key role in
establishing this process
• The process used influences alignment,
team culture, and ultimate performance
results
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