Virtual Team Management
Abstract
This wiki-article is created to identify and analyse how virtual teams are managed and the challenges that implies in such teams. Businesses has become more and more global, thus most international company’s have virtual teams to some extent. Many projects run across different countries, or even continents, with resources located in different geographical locations. Because of this, virtual teams are reliant on communication technology like email, video-conferance, etc. [1] However, interactions through communication-channels like these can lead to a higher complexity and uncertainty, thus lead to more conflicts and disagreements. Particularily with stakeholders that require a more face-to-face approach during projects. This article will therefore identify these challenges and how these are managed with respect to different aspects, such as:
- Communication
- Conflict management
- Resource management
- Transparancy
- Stakeholder management
- Information distribution
- Etc
It is clear that these types of teams might impose many challenges with respect to the four perspectives; purpose, people, complexity and uncertainty. Therefore, analysing how these are managed can be helpful to identify the different challenges virtual teams are exposed to. However, virtual teams also has its benefits. For this reason, pros and cons of this managerial method will be analysed, and how a virtual team might improve or limit a project’s success. As a project manager, there are many things to consider when managing a virtual team, but how can the project manager ensure this? A suggestion identifying key points on how a virtual team should be managed, providing particular managerial tools that might be beneficial for project success, will be developed.
