Virtual teams and the use of them, have become increasingly more popular with the growth of the Internet, but the idea in general can still be a blur to employers and employees. What does it mean to work with a virtual team? To set the record straight, virtual teams are not rows of robots pumping out paperwork, but regular people who enjoy working together virtually. This could mean a group of people in the same town or team members from different countries, who communicate through virtual pathways like e-mails, telephone, videoconferencing or websites.
Companies began introducing virtual teams into the work force mainly to provide flexibility among employees. Employees that preferred the lifestyle-driven scheduling approach to making a living are the main reason for this growth. Being a part of a team that doesn’t follow the basic 9am-5pm work day allows not only for great flexibility in hours, but also provides variety as well as options for applying specialized skills and knowledge. It allows companies to put together a successfully collaborative and creative team.
Being a part of and employing virtual teams can produce a lot of pros, with minimal cons. Aside from providing flexibility, virtual teams can also lower costs in certain areas (less company utility bills and eliminating certain office inventory) and cause green effects for the company (no more commuting.) If you’re part of a team that includes individuals from different countries, the time zone factor can be both a pro and a con. On one hand, you will have people working around the clock on projects, but it may become difficult to facilitate an online meeting that everyone can attend. Another downfall may be that, while you believe in everyone on the team, some people may be less motivated or focused than others. This can be hard to monitor when the team is not meeting face-to-face on a regular basis. For virtual teams, trust can only be measured by the reliability of each team member. A major pro of working with remote teams is the chance to work with professionals you may not have been able to work with previously, which could create a collaborative team that is successful and creative.
So the question is not what is a virtual team, but instead, is a virtual team right for you or your employer? The trend of giving employees control over how, when and where they work, as well as the importance of flexible hours is growing exponentially in various services, and it might be about time you and your employer take the leap into the virtual world.
© Zoe Begopoulos, DemGen Inc 2013
