17.

13 Virtual Teams

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 Virtual Teams

 The combination of increasing globalisation,

competition and widespread developments in ICT
has given greater emphasis to the opportunities for,
and need of , virtual teams.
 Virtual teams are a collection of people who are
geographically separated but still need to work
together closely.

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 Virtual Teams

 Primary interaction among members is by some

electronic information and communication process.

3
 Virtual Teams
 Virtual teams enable organizations to function away
from traditional working hours and the physical
availability of staff.
 Computer-based information systems and increased
wireless connectivity further the opportunities for
virtual working.
 Virtual teams are likely to be largely self-managed.
 Virtual teams may lead to an increase in productivity
through a reduction in commute time and greater
personal flexibility.
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 Virtual Teams
 Organisations are able to establish a greater world-
wide presence.
 Virtual teams can comprise people with different
types of knowledge, help to reduce discrimination
and provide wider employment opportunities.
 A potential difficulty is maintaining effective
communications, the lack of body language and non-
verbal communication.

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 Virtual Teams
 Virtual teams demand good leadership and
management , including competence in ICT.
 It is important to have a remote working strategy.
 Some people welcomes virtual working.
 Some people do not enjoy working on their own.
 They miss group membership, social structure,
contact and interaction.
 They may feel ignored by the organisation and
experience an increasing feeling of isolation.

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 Virtual Teams
 For some people, trust is
difficult when they cannot
see the other person.
 Without direct personal
interaction, some people
find it difficult to motivate
themselves.
 A sense of discipline and
self-motivation is
important for effective
remote working.
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Leadership and Motivation

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 Leadership and Motivation
 In virtual teamworking, the leader cannot influence
by physical presence.
 Managing dispersed teams requires a range of
different leadership skills.
 It is important to develop mutual trust and a
democratic approach of shared control and decision
making.

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 Suggestion for helping to organise the virtual
team ( Garrett )
• Say hello
• Build trust
• Recruit with care
• Do not rely on email
• Encourage dissent
• Use technology thoughtfully
• Measure outcomes
• Do say
• Do not say
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 Cultural Diversity
 One reason for the growth in virtual teams is
increasing globalisation and team members working
and living in different countries.
 This gives rise to potential difficulties of cultural
diversity.
 The more culturally diverse the members, the more
difficult it is to manage a virtual team.

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 GROUP ACTIVITY!

Discuss an example virtual team.

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17.14 Role Structure of the
Organisation

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 Role Structure of the organisation

 In order for the organisation to achieve its goals and

objectives, the work of individual members must be
linked into coherent patterns of activities and
relationships.
 This is achieved through the ‘role structure’ of the
organisation.
 A role is the expected pattern of behaviours
associated with members.
 It occupies a particular position within the structure
of the organisation.
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 Role Structure of the organisation

 Role structure also

describes how a person
perceives their own
situation.
 The concept of role
differentiation helps to
“clarify structure” and
“define the pattern of
complex relationships”
within the group.

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 Factors Influencing Roles
Situational Factors Personal Factors

• Requirement of the tasks •Values

•Nature of technology employed •Culture

•Time scales •Attitudes

•Style of leadership •Motivations

•Position in the communication network •Ability

•Personality

 Everyone within a group is expected to behave in a

particular manner and to fulfil certain role expectations

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Formal organizational relationship

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18
Role Set

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 A person’s role set

 In addition to the role relationships with members of their

own group – peers, superiors, subordinates – the
individual will have a number of role-related relationships
with outsiders, for example members of other work
groups, trade union officials, suppliers, consumers.
 This is a person’s role set.
 The role set comprises the range of associations or
contacts with whom the individual has meaningful
interactions in connection with the performance of the
role.

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Status Set and Role Set

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22
23
 Role incongruence

 An important feature of role relationship is the

concept of role incongruence.
 This arise when a member of staff is perceived as
having a high and responsible position in one respect
but a low standing in another respect.
 Difficulties with role incongruence can arise from
the nature of groupings and formal relationships
within the structure of the organisation.
 Difficulties with role incongruence can also arise
line-staff relationships.
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Role expectations

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 Role expectations

 Many role expectations are prescribed formally.

 They indicate what the person is expected to do, their
duties and obligations, and provide guidelines for
expected behaviours.
 Examples are written contracts of employment, rules
and regulations, standing orders, policy decisions, job
descriptions, or directives from superiors.
 Formal role expectations may also be derived clearly
for the nature of the task.
 They may be defined legally.
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 Self-established roles

 Some members may have the opportunity to

determine largely their own role expectations.
 Opportunities for self-established roles are more
likely in senior positions, but also occur within
certain professional, technical or scientific groups.

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17.15 Role Conflict

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 Role Conflict

 Role conflict arises from inadequate or inappropriate

role definition.
 Role conflict needs to be distinguished from
personality clashes.
 These arise from incompatibility between two or
more people as individuals.
 In practice, the manner in which a person actually
behaves may not be consistent with their expected
pattern of behaviours.

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 Role Conflict

 This inconsistency may be a result of role conflict.

 Role conflict can include :
• Role incompatibility
• Role ambiguity
• Role overload
• Role underload

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Role Conflict

31
Role Conflict

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33
 Role Conflict (role incompatibility)
 Role incompatibility arises when a person faces a situation in
which simultaneous different or contradictory expectations
create conflict or inconsistency.
 Compliance with one set of expectations makes it difficult or
impossible to comply with other expectations.
 Example – the person ‘in the middle’ such as the supervisor
or section head, who faces opposing expectations from
workers and from management
 Another example – the situation of a manager who believes in
a relaxed, participative style of behaviour but whose superior
experts a more formal and directive style of behaviour.

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 Role Conflict (role ambiguity)
 Role ambiguity occurs when there is insufficient information
or lack of clarity as to the precise requirements of the role.
 The person is unsure what to do.
 The person’s perception of their role may differ from the
expectations of others.
 It is likely to arise in large, diverse groups or at times of
constant change.
 Uncertainty often relates to such matters as method of
performing tasks, extent of the person’s authority and
responsibility, standards of work, time for completion, and
evaluation and appraisal of performance.

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 Role Conflict (role overload)
 Role overload is when a person faces too many separate roles
or too grate a variety of expectations.
 The person is unable to meet satisfactorily all expectations
and some must be neglected in order to satisfy others.
 This leads to a conflict of priority and potential stress.
 Role overload – the person has too many separate roles to
handle (total role set )
 Work overload – there are too many expectations of a single
role – that is , a problem of quantity

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 Role Conflict (role underload)
 Role underload can arise when the prescribed role
expectations fall short of the person’s perception of their role.
 The person may feel their role is not demanding enough, and
that they have the capacity to undertake a larger or more
varied role, or an increased number of roles.
 Role underload may arise, for example, when a new member
of staff is first appointed or from the initial effects of
empowerment.

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