I found “Virtual Teams” (p.241) meaningful because I think I’ll experience virtual teams in the future. One of my Japanese friend works at IBM Japan, and he told me about the experience of the virtual team.
When he joined the virtual team, he did not have much job experience and never been to abroad, so he had no idea how he could communicate with other team members. As our text book says, he had a language barrier and different working habits. While he wanted to complete tasks early, his team members in other countries did not start it until due was coming. He was very frustrated because he could not communicate with his team members, and he asked him supervisor whether or not he could have different team. Then, his supervisor suggested him to meet with team members.
After my friend met his team members and shared some conversation, his working style changed. He could understand other members’ working behavior, and he could work much better.
He said, it was very important to have face-to-face communication at least once because he could not have effective communication otherwise.
I can’t imagine that I work with somebody who I’ve never seen, and it would be so hard for me to built trust in virtual teams. I’m kind of curious to know how people in virtual teams feel while they work with people whose faces are unknown. Well, I’m now communicating with somebody I’ve never met.
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading your post on virtual teams. The story about your friend was interesting.
I have experience working in a virtual team when taking an on-line course last semester. We had to complete a group project, and the class was an on-line only class with no face to face meetings. I agree with what you said about it being difficult to work in a group with someone you have not seen face to face. I found it a bit difficult at first, but as we got to know each other more each day by communicating on-line I felt like I knew them already, and we became close friends. When we finally did meet, it wasn’t until the final project was almost completed, and it was kind of fun to see the people that I had become close to in person. Virtual teams are becoming more common as businesses expand. It is up to us to learn how to use virtual teams effectively, and I find that a rather easy task. It’s much like e-mail you use, or a blog, and talking on the phone, you don’t necessarily need to meet in person in order to be able to effectively work together in a team.
I'll also attest to the value (need?) of having at least one face-to-face meeting with the members of your virtual team.
Given the current state of technology, I tend to see online collaboration tools and virtual teams as an enhancement to real teams -- not a replacement.
Virtual teams can in some sense force us to adopt even another identity performance. Fluency in language, proficiency with computers, even typing speed!, can all be barriers to effective virtual teams.
Think of earlier chapters that related the importance of non-verbal communication and the idea that we "cannot not communicate". Online collaboration technology is definitely an ENHANCEMENT to real teamwork, but it's no REPLACEMENT for it.
I'm open to improved online collaboration. I could imagine technology that allows us to stand in front of a three dimensional projection of another person or team of people in a room.
But for now, I feel virtual teams disconnect us from the real teams of people that they represent. It's still very dehumanizing. I'll save it for a complement to real teams, not a replacement.
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