Virtual (虚拟) Teams
Virtual teams are a great way to enable teamwork in situations where people are not sitting in the same office at the same time. (1) This isespeciallyso for businesses that use virtual teams to build global presence, or need less common skills or knowledge from people who are unwilling to travel.
Virtual teams are governed by the same basic principles as traditional teams. (2) It is the way the team members communicate. They rely on special communication channels enabled by modern technologies, such as emails, faxes, and teleconferences, and alike. Due to more limited communication channels, the success of virtual teams is much more sensitive to the type of project the group works on, what people are selected, and how the team is managed.
(3) One challenging case is the projects that rely heavily on integrated work. That is to say, when each person’s work depends significantly on what someone else is doing at the same moment, like in a sports team, there is an ongoing heavy exchange of information in real time, and the tasks have to go through a strict order within a short time.
Not everyone can perform well in a virtual team environment. (4) Another important quality is communication skills. The team members must be able to communicate clearly and positively.
Managers of virtual teams need to pay much more attention to having clear goals, performance standards, and communication rules. People have various assumptions (猜想) on what to expect from each other. (5)
One of the biggest challenges of virtual teams is building trust between the team members. Trust is important for unblocking communication between members and increasing motivation of each person in the team. The issue of trust needs special attention at any stage of team existence.