Week 6 Discussion Forum a
Discuss the challenges associated with managing a virtual project team.
Which challenges do you believe would be the most difficult to overcome, and how would you go about overcoming them if you were a project manager?
In addition to your main response, you must also post substantive responses to at least two of your classmates or instructor’s posts in this thread. Your response should include elements such as follow-up questions, further exploration of topics from the initial post, or requests for further clarification or explanation on some points made by your classmates.
Providing evidence or information from external sources in your posts will strengthen the points you are making and improve your overall score on the weekly Discussion Board activity.
Week 6 Discussion: Virtual Project Team
There are virtual issues or challenges associated with managing a virtual project team, and some of them are stated below-
Differences in communication style– One of the issues in the virtual project team is the communication style. Every person has their own style and action of communication which may not be understood by all which also creates conflict at work (Lee, 2021, p.5). Every person has some preferences in communication like someone is more comfortable with email than a virtual communication style. These differences in communication style led to the arising of differences with each other, ultimately hampering the work as well.
Slow response time– One of the most common issues which arise at the organization in the virtual team project is the slow response time. The slow response time is an issue that takes place virtually. The reason for it is due to network or time issues. There are chances that all the employees are based in various countries, so all the employees can’t be available at the same time and resolve the query at that instant time. So, getting the response slowly becomes a common problem, or the other employees must wait long hours for the work. The network is a common issue in the slow response of the work (Chappell & Schermerhorn, 2021, p.45).
Lack of office culture- The other challenge with managing a virtual project team is maintaining the office culture. It is challenging to create an office culture when people need more office. There are chances that the colleagues may need to speak to each other or know each other. The absence of a proper culture creates issues in enthusiasm to work effectively. It is because the environment is not the same, and no culture is there to be maintained.
Dissenting environment– The working environment is an essential factor in the organization. If the work is done in virtual mode, then distraction can take place. The distractions are also there as people are remotely working from their homes or on their holiday packages. The virtual project can suffer due to the dissertation from the background and affects the working conditions (Gallego, Ortiz-Marcos & Ruiz, 2021, p.5). Distraction takes place as people are not working in the same environment. People get more focused when they get a good environment to go to work.
Distrust– It is mainly seen that the employees cannot trust each other at work. If the person’s presence is not there at work, then trust issues the work can also take place. Distrust is the most severe challenge that takes place for the digital team.
According to my perspective, the most challenging thing to overcome is the slow responses at work. It is one of the serious issues that arise everywhere digital work is taking place (Zuofa & Ochieng, 2021, p.1085). Due to these issues, the deadline of the work gets missed, and with that, the work still needs to be completed, and disagreement is also created due to the slow response at work. To overcome this proper management in the work is required.
References
Chappell, D. S., & Schermerhorn, J. R. (2021). Introducing international business experience through virtual teamwork. In Teaching and Program Variations in International Business (pp. 43-59). Routledge.
Gallego, J. S., Ortiz-Marcos, I., & Ruiz, J. R. (2021). Main challenges during project planning when working with virtual teams. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 162, 120353.
Lee, M. R. (2021). Leading virtual project teams: Adapting leadership theories and communications techniques to 21st– organizations. Auerbach Publications.
Zuofa, T., & Ochieng, E. G. (2021). Investigating barriers to project delivery using virtual teams. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 1083-1088.
