Project report

On
Increasing team effectiveness in virtual teams
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of
PGPM

Name of Students-
Ms Neha(22BSP1024)
Ms. Ishika Jain (22BSP0660)
Ms. Manvi Bindal (22BSP0907)
Mr. Pankaj (22BSP1119)
Mr Arpit (22BSP0292)
MS. Priya Panwar(22BSP1240)
Mr. Dollar Chhabra (22BSP0507)
Name of Faculty- Dr. Shubhangini Bhalla

ICFAI Business School

Gurugram

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-

Acknowledgement

We feel privileged to work for such a project which has helped me in gaining knowledge
about the subject.
We would like to thank my college who gave us the opportunity to study in such a prestigious
college from where I could avail various facilities.
We wish to express our deep sense of gratitude to the faculty member Dr. Shubhangini
Bhalla our faculty guide, for being the tower strength in completing the work. Her
dynamism, vision, sincerity and motivation have deeply inspired us. she has taught us the
methodology to carry out the research and to present the research works as clearly as
possible. It was a great privilege and honor to work and study under her guidance. We are
extremely grateful for what she has offered us. we would also like to thank her for her
friendship, empathy, and great sense of humor.
Finally, our thanks goes to all the people who have supported us to complete the research
work directly or indirectly.

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 DECLARATION OF GUIDE
Certified that the work incorporated in this project report “Increasing team effectiveness in
virtual teams” submitted by Ms. Neha Raghav (22BSP1024), Ms. Ishika Jain (22BSP0660),
Ms. Manvi Bindal (22BSP0907) ,Mr. Pankaj (22BSP1119) Mr Arpit (0292), MS. Priya
Panwar(22BSP1240) Mr. Dollar Chhabra (22BSP0507) is their original work and completed
under my guidance material obtained from other sources has been duly acknowledged in the
project report.
We hereby accept that there is no plagiarism in my project. If any plagiarism is found in my
project it is a complete responsibility of the group.

Date:23-08-2022

Signature of guide
(Dr. Shubhangini Bhalla)

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 DECLARATION OF LEARNER

This is to declare that we have carried out this project work in partial fulfilment of the PGPM
Programme at ICFAI Business School .
The work is original, has not been copied from anywhere else and not been submitted to any
other University/ Institute for an award of any degree/ diploma.

Date:23-08-2022
Place: Gurugram

Signature

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Table of contents
 Acknowledgement
 Declaration of guide
 Declaration of learner
 Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
4. Research methodology
5. Data analysis and key results
6 Conclusion

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Abstract:
Advances in communication and information technology create new opportunities for
organizations to build and manage virtual teams. Such teams are composed of employees
from different genders, experiences, back grounds and geographic locations. Virtual teams
have become a norm for organizations whose members work across disparate geographical
locations, relying primarily or exclusively, on the usage of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) for the completion of common goals. This paper attempts to explain the
role of vital elements like trust, information sharing and communication, in building virtual
teams. This study strives towards developing a set of factors using SEM that can be used by
managers of virtual teams for establishing an efficacious relationship amongst the members.
Introduction:
With the rapid development and extensive application of information and communication
technology, the virtual team offers opportunities for collaboration across time, space and
organizational boundaries and has become an important component of the organizational
fabric as it enables companies to cope with the accelerated market change. In many countries
across the world, the internet has helped in shrinking barriers between teams located across
diverse locations, and this has been possible because of what is termed as 'virtual teams'-
teams which are connected with each other in cyberspace. The virtual team, with advantages
such as including diverse staff, broad organizational boundaries, flexible organizational
structure and innovation resources allocation, etc., has been widely adopted in many fields
including Service Outsourcing, IT and Innovation, Research and Development, etc

Literature review
A team is a group of people who come together to reach a particular goal. A team consist of
at least two or more people who work together to attain the same goal. There are various
forms of team like work team, student team, HR team or any other team who works together
towards the same goal.
There are different types of teams which can be categorized based on how they are set up:
Following are the different types of teams which are based on their set up:
1. Self-Managed team: It gives responsibility to its members, allowing them to work
independently. These team members are able to work on their own. They don’t need direct
supervision. This is also called as self-directed team.
2. Virtual team- In virtual team members work collaboratively from different locations.
They communicate using various tools, various application since they are unable to meet
face-to-face.
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3. Problem-solving team- It include different types of teams that work towards fixing an A
common issue like project teams or work teams.
4. Cross-functional team- This team consist of persons who have different skills, these
teams collaborate by each member working on tasks within their specialty.

Different Types of Virtual Teams

1. Networked teams
Networked teams may be defined as teams which have members from outside the
organization and are composed of cross-functional members. The cross-functional members
are brought together in a networked team to share their knowledge and expertise on a specific
issue or topic. The network teams dissolve after the completion of their role and new
members are added whenever necessary. Networked teams are used in technology companies
and in consulting firms. To provide quality service to clients most consulting firms depend on
other external networks.
2. Parallel Teams
Parallel teams are teams which are composed of members of the same organization to
develop recommendations for a process or system. They are generally formed for a short
period of time. Parallel teams may take added parallel responsibility while performing their
primary assigned role hence the name parallel team. The members of a parallel team remain
intact until the goal is achieved i.e.. membership is constant.
3. Project or Product Development Teams
Product development teams are composed of experts from different parts of the world and are
the classic virtual teams which were developed as early as the 1990s. The team performs a
clearly outlined task involving the development of a new product, information system or
organizational process, with specific and measurable deliverables.
4. Work, Production or Functional Teams
They are formed from members of one role coming together to perform regular and ongoing
day-to-day single-type work. The members of work, production and functional teams are
given the work and the role independently. The end result is produced by combining the
outputs of the work done individually by the members of work, production or financial teams.
5. Service Teams
Service teams are formed by members from different time zones. Each member of the service
team works independently and produces work in the continuation of the work of the previous
member i.e.. they work together in continuation.
6. Management Teams
Management teams are formed by the managers of the same organization who works in
different cities or countries. The members largely come together to discuss corporate-level
strategies or activities. These teams are applicable to the organizations having their offices in
different geographical locations.
7. Action Teams

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The action teams are formed for a short duration of time for solving a problem and to respond
to immediate problems. They are actually ad-hoc teams and they disperse upon resolving the
problem.
About Virtual at IBM:
While colocation is a core practice for building a team, sometimes all members of a team
can't be in the same location. A team that has one or more remote team members is a virtual
team. Whether you're assembling a virtual team or establishing collaboration capabilities for
an organization, consider the people, process, and technology elements that help you make
the best of remote working.
It's important for all members of a team get to know each other and collaborate effectively,
even when they're remote. As team members get to know each other on a personal level,
work-related communication becomes easier. The following practices foster collaboration
when some or all team members are remote.
Be considerate about timing
When team members are in different locations, one of the most important collaboration
considerations is timing. Time zone considerations are critical. Schedule important team
meetings at a time when everyone on the team is available. Be sensitive to people’s need to
feel that they're connected to the team and respect their personal time and situation.
Dedicate time to team building

At the beginning of a project, the team decides how they work, decides what tools to use,
creates a backlog, and discusses the project design. In a virtual team, be sure to spend time on
icebreakers to allow the team to get to know each other and establish a shared sense of
purpose. As the team gets to know one another, set aside time to discuss family, vacations,
hobbies, and other interesting things. Get to know the team as people, not only as team
members. Create a team message group in a tool like Slack where team members can post
vacation plans, personal news, and other information that helps team members to get to know
each other. It's good to keep the socializing separate from the work discussion, so if you use
Slack, you use two different channels. A team where everyone is local except one or a two
people is harder to manage than a team where everyone is geographically distributed. It's
important to treat everyone equally and make an extra effort to prevent the 1 or 2 remote
people from feeling left out of the team’s activities.

Take breaks
Breaks are an important problem-solving technique. Sometimes stepping away is necessary
when you're dealing with a difficult problem. Taking a break can help you think of new ideas.
A collocated development team often takes breaks together, such as going for a walk or
grabbing tea. Similar habits can work when members work remotely. Turn off the code and
have a chat and a tea. Consider brief online-game breaks; shared happy experiences build
team strength.

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Adapt your processes
Some practices, such as daily stand-up meetings, playbacks, and retrospectives, convert
easily and go a long way to support collaboration for virtual teams. Run these important
meetings by using a video conference tool at a time that works for all team members.
When all or part of the team works remotely, you must sync more often. For instance, a daily
stand-up is enough when the team is all together, but when members are remote, it’s easy for
them to get out of sync. You don’t want them to wait until the next stand-up to get back in
sync. Consider a second brief stand-up in the afternoon or use a team Slack channel when
questions need to be answered before the next stand-up.
More processes and practices can be adapted for use by virtual teams with a little creativity
and tools that make things easier. You can conduct Enterprise Design Thinking workshops
through web conference by using a tool such as MURAL that can capture everyone’s input in
real time as though everyone is in the same room.
As you adopt your processes to accommodate virtual teams, remember to take time to
conduct retrospectives to learn what is working for your team and where more can be done to
facilitate better collaboration.
In some cases, you might be able to adopt or adapt practices that take advantage of the team’s
virtual nature. For example, voting works better in a digital tool, as it allows for more
anonymity.

Take advantage of technology

When team members work remotely, they must have the hardware, tools, and technology
they need to effectively collaborate. It's hard to work remotely if you are crouched over a
laptop on your coffee table. Do what you can to ensure that the team has the hardware, such
as a monitor, needed to work comfortably. High-speed internet is critical. Invest in tools that
make remote collaboration simpler and more effective:
 An instant messaging platform, such as Slack
 Video conferencing through Webex or Zoom
 An online Kanban board, such as Trello, for tracking the team’s work
 Storing and editing tools for shared documents, such as Box, Dropbox, or Google
Docs
Be aware of the tools that are approved for use by your company, the processes for getting
approval, and the security of what you're choosing to use.

Be deliberate about maintaining tool consistency

New technology capabilities allow remote collaboration to bridge team members anywhere in
the world, and the number of options is continually increasing. Scaling across an ecosystem
of users and partners requires a high level of consistency with tools. A core stack of tools for
chat collaboration, interactive ideation, project management, and meetings can achieve a

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large percentage of what you need. However, each organization has a unique prioritized list
of capabilities.

Prioritize security and compliance

Security concerns are the primary reason why some organizations hesitate to adopt remote
collaboration capabilities. When you select remote collaboration solutions, it's important to
consider multifactor authentication (MFA) and next-generation encryption. Essential security
controls, such as encryption and virtual private networks (VPNs) must be a strategic priority
for the entire remote collaboration program.
In addition to implementing the right security measures for remote collaboration, make sure
that you deploy technologies that comply with different regulated environments and
industries. Data sovereignty and privacy concerns are stronger than ever. Regional legislation
on data and privacy, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR), all have different postures on how and what data is stored and which data
repositories and systems of record are controlling and transacting data.

Make sure that regulatory compliance and management practices are in place to set clear
expectations and outline rules that govern remote collaboration. To efficiently manage your
remote collaboration practices, consider these policies:
 Sharing data across users
 Setting up hours for users to connect or be available
 Communicating clear objectives
 Keeping project timelines
 Maintaining business value

Software used by IBM for Virtual Team:

1. Slack:
Slack is a cloud-based, real-time messaging and notification system. Slack provides persistent
chat, which is a more interactive alternative to email for team collaboration. You can
communicate with your team on a dedicated channel or on a set of channels that is related
directly to your work. You can also share files and images through the channels or in direct
messages between two or more people. Chats and channel communications are retained and
you can search them.
Teams that use Slack can minimize distractions because they rely less on meetings and email.
Slack channels are critical in aligning development and operations; by having open
communication channels, development and operations can stay informed.
Slack integrates with many other tools, including New Relic, Sauce Labs, and Delivery
Pipeline in IBM Cloud Continuous Delivery.

Prerequisites
 You must have a Slack account.

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  Create your Slack workspace and optionally one or more channels for the team to
follow.
 Optional: Download the Slack application.

Configuring Slack
To use this tool, you don't need to take any special configuration or integration steps.

2. Webex
Whether your team is collocated or you work remotely, it's important to hold agile
ceremonies, such as daily stand-up meetings and playbacks. Cisco Webex Meetings (Webex)
is a video-conferencing application that remote teams can use to gather for such events.
If your team can't meet in person, you can schedule daily stand-up meetings and playbacks in
Webex rooms. Through screen sharing, team members can pair program and show their work
to the rest of the team during playbacks.

3. Trello
Trello is a collaboration and management tool that you can use to track teamwork. In Trello,
a board represents a project, cards represent stories, and lists organize cards by their stages of
progress. You can customize all elements of a board, including cards and lists, for your
project.
Two basic principles of agile methods are collaboration between business people and
developers and the ability for teams to be flexible and work productively. To meet these
goals, many teams use the Kanban board method to manage their work. Kanban boards are
visual representations of work in progress. They're a repository where you can manage user
stories. The board gives visibility to the entire team's work and helps to identify dependencies
and bottlenecks.
By using a rank-ordered backlog, each team member can determine the next most important
work item to begin. With a quick glance at a board, the team knows who is working on what,
what work is blocked, and what stage of completion it is in. Squad leaders can see where
each story is in the ranked backlog and follow it through development and testing to
deployment.

4. Box: Share files and collaborate

Box is a content management and file-sharing service that teams can use to securely share
files and collaborate.
Cloud file sharing helps teams to securely share files and work on them simultaneously,
allowing for IBM Garage Methodology practices, such as remote collaboration, social
coding and sharing architecture artifacts produced when creating just enough architecture.
Box is a secure content management and file-sharing service that provides a shared,
centralized, digital workspace where team members can collaborate.

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To use Box, you need either a web browser or the Box Drive desktop application. This tool
does not require any configuration.

Principal 1-Redesign reward structure for virtual teams

People working in virtual teams are usually less motivated, both perceived and real, to
perform than those that commonly exist in face-to-face teams. Virtual teamwork often lacks
the face-time and appreciation that comes with working at the office late and arriving early
the following day. The research was conducted in which people worked in virtual teams, and
the group leader wanted them to connect virtually on a daily basis so that they become
experienced in working virtually when any crisis awoke. However, this attempt to work
virtually failed as people did not log into their systems on time. After subsequent interviews,
it was revealed that the team members felt there was no individual benefit to working online.
Thus, successful leaders of Virtual teams should routinely evaluate and reward employees’
performance in order to motivate them and retain them in the organization.

Principle 2- Find new ways to focus attention on task

A large amount of diversity exists in an organization where people from different

backgrounds work together. Though diversity has its own advantages but disadvantages too,
it can lead to conflict among people due to differences in opinion, thought processes,
language barriers, etc. Virtual teams should agree on common terminologies and standards
throughout the project as it will prevent confusion and will result in the smooth functioning
of the project. This standard should be revised frequently as a team faces new challenges
every day

Principle 3- Design Activities that allow people to become familiar with each other
One of the shortcomings of virtual teams is that team member fails to establish meaningful
relationships with each other as compared to face-to-face teams, which naturally evolves
together as people usually interact with each other in informal meetings. Leaders of a virtual
team must design explicit activities to promote team building. One way is that in virtual
meetings, we usually can conduct an introduction round and share something about them that
may surprise others, or we can conduct humorous ice breaker activities that will make people
comfortable with each other while working virtually. These activities are necessary to
increase the effectiveness of virtual teams

Principle 4- Agree on Standards and Terminology

Generally virtual teams lack the focus required in order to complete the task as compared to
teams working in office together in which leader can easily figure out that employees are not
focussed in the task. In Virtual teams also the group leaders should take initiatives to ensure
that the focus of the employees is only on the task and not anywhere else. Research indicates
few tried and tested methods which a virtual team leader should adopt to ensure effectiveness
in team such as a call response method in which each member will be required to respond or
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speak something. It will motivate them to be attentive. Another method is that leader should
have access to what all is appearing on a person’s screen to avoid distractions from task
Principle 5- Be Explicit

Be more explicit. Virtual teams must define a detailed work process and communicate
concepts more clearly. A written mode of communication must be preferred chiefly while
working in virtual teams. Every virtual interaction should begin with a clear statement of
purpose and expectations to avoid miscommunications. For Example- the sender of an email,
while sending an email, may expect the receiver to reply, but the receiver may not get an
impression to reply to the mail, therefore, remaining unanswered. These kinds of
miscommunications can hamper the progress of an organization towards achieving its goal.

Principle 6 -Build a Virtual Presence

People working virtually at a distance tend to forget who is at the other end . a study revealed
that it takes only 10 minutes for some virtual team members to forget with whom they are
working, something that is uncommon with face-to-face teams. It is therefore important to
establish a virtual presence. There are simple ways to address this issue, as people working in
teams can have a moderator who can keep a written record of all the participants. This
reminds all participants who are participating and gives them a chance to contribute. Many
other technologies can also help in creating a virtual presence, such as displaying a roster of
active participants, an image displaying a virtual workspace with an icon representing each
participant, etc.

Principle 7- Trains Teams to Self-Facilitate

Facilitators are one who has complete knowledge of technology and group dynamics.
Facilitators are often used by virtual teams to help them apply technology appropriately to
pursue their goals. however, facilitators are scarce, expensive, and in constant demand.
Ideally, virtual teams can self-facilitate effective work processes independent of outside
expertise

Research methodology
The research design for this study was quantitative research. We came to the conclusion that
quantitative research would be the most effective way to collect data from a larger number of
population and the main purpose of the survey was to gain knowledge of “Team effective in
virtual teams”

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The survey questionnaire consists of 10 questions and estimated to take approximately two
minutes to answer. The survey was shared on multiple social media platforms including
Facebook groups, Instagram, WhatsApp and LinkedIn to reach as comprehensive data as
possible and gain answers from people of different baseline. The questions for the
questionnaire were designed and built closely upon the theoretical framework and to find out
how can we make a virtual team effective. Because people know they will not be judged or
have further consequences when their answers remain anonymous, they tend to answer to an
anonymous questionnaire honestly. The first part of the survey contained population related
questions such as names and number of teammates. The second part of the questionnaire
contained questions that would help the author’s to define effective ways of virtual teams. .
There are two types of data collected for this research: the primary and the secondary ones.
Secondary data, was reviewed and studied in order to get a better understanding on Virtual
team effectiveness. However, the paper is mainly based on primary data, collected through a
survey questionnaire conducted directly with employees. A random sampling method was
used, in probabilistic way, and each member of the population had same chances to be part of
the sample. The sample consisted of 20 participants. The questionnaire consisted of 10
questions, including Yes/No questions, filter questions, closed questions with alternatives,
closed questions with possibilities of adding more responses through the box "Others:", and
six-point Likert scale, asking respondents to evaluate their responses with rates from 0 to 5.
All questions were simple, understandable and clear, and the questionnaire was tested for
clarity in advance.
The results are interpreted and presented by using charts, tables, and descriptions by words,
in order to have a clearer presentation

Data Analysis and Key Result

Key Result – This pie chart data shows that 78.9% of the people feel connected to their
virtual teammates and 21.1% people don’t feel connect to virtual teams.

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Key Result- The above data shows that 84.2% of employees can quickly reach their
teammates when needed.

Key Result-The above data shows that 63.2% of people says “Recognise you point person” ,
“Let them see you” , “Make time to build connections” are the three important strategies to
build an effective team . 36.8% people says that “Make time to build connections” is more
important to make the the virtual team effectiveness.

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Key Result-The above result shows that 94.7% people are able to adapt new technology and
6.3% people finds it difficult .

Key Result-The above data shows that 68.4% people says the best approach to handle team
challenges would be “ priortising building trust “, “Focus on results”, “Embarce diversity”,
“Celebrate accomplishments “. 32 .6% people priortise only one of them .

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Key Result-The above results shows that 94.7% team member display high level of
cooperation and mutual support and 6.4% of people does not show mutual support .

Key Result-52.6% people feels that it is not easy to turn off the work mode at the end of the
day and 47.4% people feels that it is easy for them to turn off the day at IBM .

Key Result- 94.7% of the respondents says that they feel supported by the organization
however 6.3% of people don’t feel trusted and supported by the organization.

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Conclusion -

Organizations Like IBM works on many new initiatives which are purely online
operations which help them creating a new market also help in reducing cost
which occurred through physical availability. At the same time, virtual systems
provide better Accomplishment and Possibility for innovation and lots of new
opportunities to integrate with customers, Outside parties and internal
Colleague. Virtual teams helps organizations to find the talents, to give them
push and expertise of employees and non-employees by Removing time and
space problems. Virtual workforce also become IBM’s long term strategic
option it helps in reducing various costs like operating costs, real estate
expanses. these expanses may be associated with company’s employees, staff,
different facilities which are provided in an organization.

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