Park just received an email from his division manager, explaining that he will be part of a virtual team starting Monday. Explain the significance of virtual teams and provide an example what Park might expect to experience as part of the team.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Student answers and examples will vary but should demonstrate understanding of virtual teams. A sample answer follows.

Virtual teams are teams in which the members are geographically dispersed, and interdependent activity occurs through electronic communications-primarily e-mail, instant messaging, and web conferencing. Although communications and group networking software is far from perfect, it has advanced to the point that it is possible for teams doing all sorts of work to function virtually. In fact, there has been an 800 percent increase in the number of virtual employees over the last decade. In addition to varying in their "virtuality," teams of any type can differ in the amount of experience they have working together. One way to understand this point is to consider what occurs in teams at different stages of their development as they progress from a newly formed team to one that's well established. Park will probably need to learn some additional technology in order to participate on his virtual team. He will be interacting with team members via technological devices, not in person. He may start his workday by finishing a project that was worked on in another location while he slept. He can also expect the virtual team to go through the same stages as other types of teams.