Traditional project teams replaced by Virtual teams
An exceptional article about project teams in new environment [The team is dead... long live the virtual team]. Traditional teams are disappearing, and new teams coming on the stage – Virtual teams. Virtual teams characterized by several properties, there is:
• Little loyalty on the team
• Trust between team members is limited to professional skills
• No friendship between team members
• Little shared experience and shared vision
• Varied belief system
This leads to increased conflicts and loss of control. There is no team vision in traditional sense in fact, there is a project vision instead. Virtual team must be built and managed to achieve a single goal – complete a project. Global company goals is out of Virtual team focus.
And what project managers should do to success with a Virtual team? There are several tips:
• Shared ownership of the project Business Case is the only mechanism that binds a Virtual team. Every team member should have a general project picture.
• In Virtual teams, trust is replaced with contracts. Always write the relationship down.
• People and task management is replaced by task management
• In Virtual teams, informal team cultures replaced with formal Code of Conduct that contains the main rules
Is everything wrong with Virtual team? Of course not. This is a common trend in changing world. In general, Virtual team’s members have to have higher level of professionalism (inexperienced team member have a good chance to survive in Traditional team, but a little one in Virtual team). Due to increased formalization, team’s members can be replaced more easily. And this is a plus from corporate point of view.
An exceptional article about project teams in new environment [The team is dead... long live the virtual team]. Traditional teams are disappearing, and new teams coming on the stage – Virtual teams. Virtual teams characterized by several properties, there is:
• Little loyalty on the team
• Trust between team members is limited to professional skills
• No friendship between team members
• Little shared experience and shared vision
• Varied belief system
This leads to increased conflicts and loss of control. There is no team vision in traditional sense in fact, there is a project vision instead. Virtual team must be built and managed to achieve a single goal – complete a project. Global company goals is out of Virtual team focus.
And what project managers should do to success with a Virtual team? There are several tips:
• Shared ownership of the project Business Case is the only mechanism that binds a Virtual team. Every team member should have a general project picture.
• In Virtual teams, trust is replaced with contracts. Always write the relationship down.
• People and task management is replaced by task management
• In Virtual teams, informal team cultures replaced with formal Code of Conduct that contains the main rules
Is everything wrong with Virtual team? Of course not. This is a common trend in changing world. In general, Virtual team’s members have to have higher level of professionalism (inexperienced team member have a good chance to survive in Traditional team, but a little one in Virtual team). Due to increased formalization, team’s members can be replaced more easily. And this is a plus from corporate point of view.
