Managing Virtual Teams

1. Managing Virtual Teams Rahul Dogra dograrahul@aol.com www.rahuldogra.com

2. Managing Virtual Teams • We will: • Identify how to work in a virtual world • Focus on where it matters: • Building relationships • Managing communications • Delivering tasks • Create a prescriptive approach to cultural understanding

3. What Challenges Are Faced in a Virtual World? ?

4. Identifying Virtual Working • Virtual working occurs when people collaborate towards a mutual goal, using facilitated tools, such as telephone, email and video conferencing • Your virtual situation may appear as working: • From home (telecommuting) • On a different floor of a building • In a different region or country • These approaches have associated challenges • This is was a relatively new paradigm shift in the way we operate • Now becoming the norm

5. Determining the Rationale • Why are so many businesses keen to undertake virtual working? • Employees demand it • A recent survey of graduates by Price Waterhouse Coopers found that the number one motivation to work with any company was not the money or opportunities for travel, but the work / life balance offered • Customers want to reap the benefits • Reduces operational costs • An outcome of globalization

6. The Benefits of Virtual Working • Take the task to the people not the people to the task Task

7. Costs – The Zero Sum Game • If all organizations view virtual working as a means to reduce costs, then where is the differential? • If they outsource they will leave a country when it becomes to expensive and move to another The price differential between IT workers in the United States and their counterparts in India is five fold today, says Frances Karamouzis, a research director with Gartner, Inc. Within four or five years, she says that differential will have dropped to three fold, or maybe even as low as two fold. * • Consider the impact on effective knowledge transfer • The goal should be on transferring knowledge and increasing the institutional memory of the organisation • * http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3583621/Rising-Costs-Threaten-Indias-Hold-on-Offshore-IT.htm

8. How We Work Geographical dispersion Culture Language Time-zones

9. Creating Effective Partnerships • We work well with others, once a relationship has been formed • In a virtual setting, the tendency is to focus on the task and see the relationship as not being important • Ignoring this impacts the ability to achieve the task • In a virtual environment it is important to focus on: • How to motivate individuals • Understanding how people work with each other • Creating engagement

10. How People Interact • We relate to others if we understand each other • Factors that influence this include: • Personality • Your life outside of work • The work being undertaken • Upbringing and culture

11. 101 Personality • If we can develop an understanding of different personalities then we can understand the drivers of individuals • Joe Luft and Harry Ingham (hence ‘Johari’) produced a way of understanding the difference between self–images What I see of myself What others see of me

12. Myers Briggs Type Indicators Extrovert Introvert Where do you get your energy from to make sense of your world? Sensing Intuition Where do you get your information from to make sense of the world? Feeling Thinking How do you process the information? Judging Perceiving What is the payoff for making sense of the world?

13. What Happens in a Virtual World • The focus is on the task not on: • Forming relationships • Understanding the individual • Developing effective communications • Trust has not been built or maintained Trust = Credibility + Reliability + Degree of openness Self-orientation (me, me, me) • The sole focus is on the task and task alone They become an email address name@company.com

14. Characteristics of An Effective Team • A belief in shared aims and objectives • A sense of commitment • Acceptance of group values and norms • A feeling of mutual trust and dependency • Full participation and involvement in the decision making • Open expression of disagreement • Resolution of conflict by members • Free flow of knowledge

15. Dimensions of Managing a Virtual Team Virtual Management By Walking About

16. Project Start-Up Meetings • It is generally agreed that a start up meeting is crucial in establishing a project success • Undertaking a project without one will increase risk • The focus is on: • Establishing customer success • Communicating the needs of the stakeholders • Creating the team ground rules • Create clear roles and responsibilities • Building the spirit of the team • Form the communication plan

17. How We Work Geographical dispersion Culture Language Time-zones

18. Focussing on Communications Communications • In a virtual team, you need more communications not less, when compared to co-located working • Not a case of quantity but quality • Most virtual issues occur due to a lack of communications • What do we mean by communications? • The tools used • How they are used • The frequency • Selecting a tools specific to the message being delivered

19. Human Communications Communications • To understand how to communicate better in a virtual setting, we need to understand the complexities of human communications Communications channel used Noise Transmit Encode Encode Decode Feedback

20. Using Tools to Replicate Human Communication Communications • Humans communicate using three modes: • Visual • See and read • Auditory • Listen and speak • Kinesthetic • Touch and do • If we receive a message in a single style, how will it be received?

21. Communication Tools Available Communications Legacy Emerging Emerging

22. Effectiveness and Richness Communications Communication Effectiveness Face to Face at a Whiteboard Face to Face conversation Video conferencing Phone conversation Email Paper Communication Richness Source: Alistair Cockburn “Agile Software Development” (2001)

23. Managing the Communications Communications Member 1 Member 2 Member 3 Team Leader Member 4 Member 5 Member 6 Member 7 Member 8

24. How We Work Geographical dispersion Culture Language Time-zones

25. Culture Assessing the Impact of Culture • Culture is seen as a main contributor to the nuance of managing a virtual team • Culture exists at many levels including: • Regional • National • Within the organization • Edgar Schein 1985 Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View suggests that the organization's culture is designed to cope with its environment • Managers success will depend, to a great extent, upon understanding organizational and national cultures

26. Culture Organisational Culture • The impact of culture is looked at from a national perspective but there can be significant issues from an organizational perspective • Each organisation will have its own culture and structure • Individuals have preferred cultures • A number of factors influences the culture including: people, technology and history Can a culture be changed? Is there a world business culture? What is the most important culture?

27. Culture Defining National Cultures • A perspective that differentiates one category of people from another • It is the norms by which things are done • Experiencing a culture that is different from yours can become uncomfortable • What is normal? • Our perception of reality would be different if we put ourselves in their shoes Ask a colleague from another country what they had for breakfast Would you eat that food in your own country, for breakfast? • It is a question of perspective

28. Culture Cultural Visibility More visible Less visible Source: Schein, E (2005) Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd ed, Jossey–Bass

29. Culture Artefacts • These are the most visible actions that we can observe allowing cultures to be distinguished • Easy to research and identify • Some examples include: • Not using the left hand in middle eastern countries • American versus British approach to a business dinner • Coffee in Italy compared to the UK • Exchanging business cards in Japan • Business hours in Norway • In Korea not smoking or drinking in front of elders • Meeting someone for the first time in Chile

30. Culture Values and Beliefs • The underlying beliefs of a society, where you may experience culture shock • Communications styles • Approaches towards conflict • How to undertake a task • Compare the East versus the West

31. Culture Basic Assumptions • These are the fundamental cultural values such as: • Time • Relationships • Status and power • Proximity and gestures • Communications • Manners and mannerisms • Morals • Respect • Business relationships • The concept of keeping face

32. Culture Lewis – Categorizing Cultures • Task orientated • Organized • Planners Hybrid 290 M Difficult Satisfactory • People orientated • Emotional • Unrestricted body language • Introverted • Respectful listeners Time consuming Source: “When Cultures Collide – Leading Across Cultures”, (2005) Richard D. Lewis

33. Culture Lewis’s Countries Switzerland, Germany, USA Linear Active Netherlands UK Norway Sweden Australia Denmark Finland Belgium Canada France Russia Singapore Italy Hong Kong Spain Japan Hispanic American Reactive Multi Active Vietnam China Korea Indonesia Philippines India Iran Turkey Arab Peninsula Saharan Africa

34. Culture Culture Rules • Avoid instant judgements or assumptions about people • Undertake research on any culture you work with • Have lunch with them • Consider how will your style be viewed through the lenses of others • How do you modify to suit the context • Issues may not be cultural specific and may be simply personality or technical based • A good idea is a good idea regardless of where it originates • When communicating with people who are speaking a second language • Use visual aids and give the benefit of the doubt • Well functioning teams co-operate across cultures

35. Take Away • Focus on developing relationships, communications then the task • Leverage the diversity, by understanding the individual • Look at the message and then identify the tool • Focus periodically on how the team is operating virtually • Find out out about other peoples cultures • Cultures may not communicate, but individuals do