Management Assignment Samples

Question:- On the basis of research, write a paper addressing the following:

• Assess the purpose of the team and the contribution of key members to team purpose.

• Analyze four to six potential problems that virtual teams typically face. Is the hypothetical team you described susceptible to these         problems? What specific problems might it develop?

• Justify four to six viable solutions to make your team effective, including why these solutions will work. Provide at least three sources and cite them appropriately throughout your paper.

Answer:-

Introduction

This particular assignment focuses on building a virtual team. The chosen company for which the team is built is Verizon Wireless. It is a telecommunications company based in U.S. The assignment includes the purpose of the built virtual team. It emphasizes on each team members contribution toward the identified purpose (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014). The assignment sees the identification of the probable issues that a virtual team might encounter in the hypothetical team that will be created.  It further discusses the solutions that can be adopted to eradicate these issues. It also analyzes the viability of the adopted solutions so that it helps to maximize team effectiveness.

Virtual Team Building

In an age of technological advancement, the virtual team is an emerging concept all around the globe. A virtual team brings together all the members of a team who situated in a geographically dispersed location. There is the usage of a wide range of online communication modes in such teams. Virtual teams are the best way to mar the geographical boundaries, and the operations of these teams go beyond the bounds of space and time (Carlson et al., 2013). The team members coordinate among themselves with the help of the available online communication modes. The manager or the team leader of such teams acts as a route guide and is focused on the filling the cultural gaps which plays key to the communication gaps between team members. If this major obstacle is not looked into, then the virtual team will not be able to operate with maximum potential.

Formation of the team

Verizon Wireless aims to build a virtual team comprising of ten members situated in dispersed geographical locations. The company builds the team to implement the adopted international marketing plan for its landline and television as well as the FiOS services (Chang & Lee, 2013). The major objective of the team is to strategize and further implement the marketing plans.

The basic purpose of building the virtual team is the better implementation and channelizing of a global marketing plan. To attain this goal, the major project of the team is to develop a marketing campaign over email.

Team Details

Required Skill Sets

The team members are located in different states of U.S.  Every member of the virtual team has to be an affluent writer, have familiarity with the rules and principles of designing to the maximum extent. They must be having experience in marketing as a general skill. Knowledge and practical experience with providers of email service are an important criterion that every member fulfills. The thinking of the members has to be inclined towards metrics (Daim et al., 2012). The purpose and the outcome of the sent marketing emails should be clear to the members. Members must be efficient non-verbal communicators, detailed researches and should also be potent to handle tactfully a vast and diverse customer database. The members are expected to cooperate despite the inter-cultural differences.

Roles and divided Responsibilities

The team will further be divided into groups of two. Each group will handle different aspects of email marketing campaign. The team leader will be the manager of the entire campaign. There will also be the presence of strategists and analysts; marketer of the strategy; email composing specialists and cross checkers.

Two members with the help of the team manager will handle developing the strategy for email marketing. Strategizing would involve making and managing the list of the email recipient base, deciding on the kinds of campaigns and also the target base out of the list. The team lead would help these members to stay focused on strategizing by imparting a clear knowledge of the overall objectives of the company (Pienaar, Wu, & Adams, 2015). The role of the other two members is to maintain a calendar that enables proper management of this campaign and also certain follow-up projects. The email marketing will be balanced with promotion via social media and display advertisements. Another set of members would be engaged in this.  The next group is engaged exclusively in email composing which would require using catchy subject lines and good writing skills. Preferably the members of this group must have expertise in journalism. The other group design of the email keeping in line with the brand whose international marketing is being conducted (Dager, 2014). The members must be aware of the best practices related to designing. Lastly, the email analysts have the job of examining the success of the email analyzing the entire procedure of the campaign.

Pitfalls of Virtual Teams with the formed team

The major setbacks of Virtual teams are as follows:

• Disparity in the manner of thinking and analyzing
• Gap in the trust factor
• Lack of face to face interactions and discussions
• Cultural disparities increasing team dynamics
• Difficulties in determining tasks
• Decreasing team cohesiveness

The team comprises of individuals from diverse geographical locations. It is the primary fact that contributes to all the above mentioned drawbacks of the Virtual Team. In case of this Virtual team, there is no scope of face to face physical interaction owing to the geographically diverse member locations (Pangil, & Moi Chan, 2014). The cultural difference poses a threat to the effective operation of a virtual team. This cultural and social difference in turn leads to differences in the thought processes of the members. The drawbacks are in correlation with each other. They are in them self the cause and effect of the setbacks and are all applicable to the present scenario.

Solutions to ensure the effectiveness of the virtual team

It is important to develop certain methods that would rectify or at least lessen the pitfalls. The practices to facilitate effectiveness in the virtual team are as following:

• Acceptance of the diversity amongst team members
• Conducting online weekly meetings
• Implementation of communication technology for maintenance of trust
• Increasing the team's external visibility
• Highlighting benefits of participation on an individual basis

The team should be able to successfully function in spite of the presence of individuals belong to varied social and cultural backgrounds. Developing a directory of the expertise of each member can ensure the appreciation of diversity. Conducting audio-visual conferences and meetings will contribute towards the better and efficient operation of the virtual team (Saafein, & Shaykhian, 2014). It will ensure better distribution of tasks among the members of the team. These conferences and meetings can help to keep the members more involved and interested in the assigned work that will further assist the team leader to keep a track of the progress of each group in the team.

The team leaders and managers have to be well aware of the several requirements of the targeted customers and the stakeholders who are major sponsors of the ongoing project. Active participation in electronic discussions is can clear out the gaps in the levels of trust to a certain extent. It will also enhance team coordination and cohesiveness (Bartone, & Sciarretta, 2015). These online get-togethers will rejuvenate the members and can work as a self-evaluative measure. Conducting online reward parties, giving specific recognition to the team members for the individual effort and efficiency can be a great help in maximizing the effectiveness of the virtual team.

Conclusion

The assignment deals with the creation of a virtual team for a telecommunications company. The skill requirements and the roles and responsibilities of each member of the team have been focused on. The assignment gives a detailed analysis of the drawbacks and setbacks of the functioning of a virtual team in the given scenario. Accordingly, suitable solutions have been provided to ensure the effective functioning of a virtual team towards the success of a business.2 

Reference List

Bartone, P. T., & Sciarretta, A. (2015). Human Dimension Issues in Distributed and Virtual Teams. Journal Article| Jan, 19(11), 25pm.

Carlson, J. R., Carlson, D. S., Hunter, E. M., Vaughn, R. L., & George, J. F. (2013). Virtual team effectiveness: Investigating the moderating role of experience with computer-mediated communication on the impact of team cohesion and openness. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing (JOEUC), 25(2), 1-18.

Chang, W. L., & Lee, C. Y. (2013). Virtual team e‐leadership: The effects of leadership style and conflict management mode on the online learning performance of students in a business‐planning course. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(6), 986-999.

Dager, J. (2014). Simplify or Elaborate the Message in Virtual Teams.

Daim, T. U., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W., & Bhatla, A. (2012). Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams. International Journal of Project Management, 30(2), 199-212.

Hoch, J. E., & Kozlowski, S. W. (2014). Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), 390.

Pangil, F., & Moi Chan, J. (2014). The mediating effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship between trust and virtual team effectiveness. Journal of Knowledge Management, 18(1), 92-106.

Pienaar, J., Wu, P., & Adams, N. (2015). Development of Virtual Teamwork Skills for Distance Students through Simulated Global Virtual Team Projects.Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 05015003.

Saafein, O., & Shaykhian, G. A. (2014). Factors affecting virtual team performance in telecommunication support environment. Telematics and Informatics, 31(3), 459-462.

Siakas, K., & Siakas, E. (2015). A contemporary team process management model to enhance multicultural and multidisciplinary virtual team performance.International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 15(1), 65-79.