A Virtual Team is a group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by online communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose, have independent performance goals, and share an approach to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Virtual teams do not replace regular teams (face to face meetings, even incidental, have unique benefits that are important to the success of team). Virtual teams are built on common trust and the drive within the project, just like in normal teams, but this may not reveal to be apparent in the virtual team environment. Therefore, supplementing virtual team working over internet, it is recommended to have face to face meetings and the common trust relationship that should part of any team.

Critical success factors of virtual teams:

  • The existence of availability standards.
  • Ample resources to support reliable communication and collaboration tools for all team members.
  • The existence of business memory system such as lessons learned databased.
  • The existence of written goals, objectives, project specifications, and performance metrics, results orientation.
  • Managers and team members with a better-than-average ability to accurately
  • A lower-than-normal ration of pusher to pulled information.
  • Team communication is prioritized by the sender.
  • Good access to technical training and information on how to work across cultures.
  • Training methods accommodate continual and just-in-time learning.
  • There are standard and agreed on technical and “soft” team processes.
  • A “high trust” culture: teamwork and collaboration are the norm.
  • Team leaders and members exhibit competence in working in virtual environments.

Virtual Team Sociology

Within the virtual connection is an opportunity for efficiency and team synergy unrealized in traditional teams and worker interaction. The realization of these possible outcomes is reliant upon the development of new team sociology inclusive off all virtual team members with their varying geographies and cultures, including contingent workers from outside the immediate organization.

Building blocks of the “new” sociology:

  • Team members must adopt and adapt to new technology
  • Members must be more adaptive – “resilient” to a changing variety of assignments and tasks during the life of any team.
  • Team membership more dynamic with changing tasks and responsibilities.
  • Roles will be more dynamic because virtual teams are more flexible regarding organizational responses to market needs.
  • Members are required to have superior team participation skills; team membership is fluid requiring team members who can quickly assimilate into the team (the responsibility for assimilation is primarily for new members).
  • Virtual teams will be expected to be able to repeatedly change membership without losing productivity; little time will be available for team members to learn how to work together.
  • Technology such as intranet can streamline socialization of new members by coming up to speed quickly with archived written information, video etc.
  • Employees will have to learn to join teams and accept new members without the benefit of time-related socialization. Norms and role expectations must be expressed explicitly to new members who must quickly acculturate.