Managers today are waking up to a new reality - the Virtual Employee. Businesses are setting up remote offices in low-cost locations, staffing them with local talent. Globalisation and advances in communication technology have given rise to distributed workforces and a follow-the-sun approach to product or service development.

Running virtual teams, where there is hardly any face-to-face interaction, is a challenging task. Project managers need to adapt standard management techniques to the new virtual environment to fully harness the potential of virtual teams.

The Problem of Business Growth

Members of a virtual team may be dedicated virtual employees working from a remote office (both part-time and full time) or may even be working from home (P2P off shoring is a growing trend). Virtual team members may interact with regular on-site employees on the same project.

Here's are some tips to effectively manage that virtual team!

Managing Virtual Teams: Some Guidelines
Choose a variety of methods to communicate with your virtual team. Establish clear guidelines on which technology is to be used for what purpose.

Here's a Technology-Use mapping, which can be followed within virtual teams:

Communication Technology	Suggested Use in Virtual Teams
email	Group mails, project status updates.
Chat (text and chat)	Immediate clarifications, intra-team interaction, conflict resolution.
telephone	Inter-personal bonding, clarifications.
teleconferencing	group meetings.
Video-conferencing	Group meetings, project reviews, employee assessment, inter-personal bonding,
Webcasts	Training, company events, information dissemination for entire group.
White boards	Training, technical discussions, group meetings

In a study commissioned by Cisco systems in September 2006, it was found that rich-media communication such as video-conferencing aids in making better decisions among virtual teams and improves performance.
Create timelines for communication on projects

Since the project members are not located in the same office as management, it is important to establish a timeline for responses and status updates.

Here are some timelines that can be followed: Regular daily, weekly, monthly status updates. Weekly tele-conferencing, video-conferencing project reviews. 24-hour response time for emails, unless stated otherwise. Information on missed deadlines, meetings and leave.


Encourage trust and support within virtual team

Trust among virtual workers and managers has been identified as an important factor in determining job performance, work-satisfaction and productivity in a study by Raghuram, Garud, Wiesenfeld & Gupta, entitled "Factors contributing to virtual work adjustment". Virtual teams can function only if they have trust in the abilities of other members and their manager.

While it is easier for co-located teams to develop trust and support due to physical proximity, managers have to put in extra effort to develop the same in virtual teams.

Some methods a manager can use to develop trust among virtual workers are: Frequent, regular communication among virtual team members and managers. Use of video-conferencing often during the early stages of interaction and some face-to-face interactions, if possible. Regular feedback and acknowledgement of communication. Sharing of personal and previous professional information within the team. Sensitivity to cultural differences.
Make sure that knowledge and information are shared and retained.

Sharing information and knowledge can help in solving project problems more quickly. Retaining knowledge of processes and products can help in future projects. It is important that all team members have access to latest information regarding a project.

Some ways in which information can be shared and retained are: Create a shared space such as an online project status page. Create forums where exchange of ideas on technology can take place between team members. Encourage inputs from team members such as articles or tips which can be distributed through group mail or put up on the company intranet website. Maintain an online knowledge database.
The point is access to information should be easy for virtual team members. They should be able to capitalize on previous knowledge gained in the company and have access to templates and solutions to common problems.
Build unity and a sense of belonging in the virtual team.

Virtual teams may feel isolated and detached from the company and other workers because of a lack of physical proximity. This can reduce their level or quality of performance and also affect morale. It can also lead to more conflicts within the team or with management.

Some ways to build cohesion with a virtual team are: Encourage virtual workers to communicate on topics other than work - in informal chat rooms, in intra-company competitions like quizzes. Acknowledge achievements, professional and personal, within the team. Look out for conflict within the team and address them as early as possible. Spell out ways to escalate issues clearly to the virtual team. Invite participation from workers in company conferences and events.
Train virtual employees on how to be effective virtual workers.


The emphasis during training should be on communication. Make employees to participate actively in tele-conferencing and video-conferencing sessions, so that they can improve their communication skills constantly. After all, practice makes perfect!

Conclusion

Managers need to make an extra effort to create a collaborative virtual environment. Effective management will go a long way towards boosting productivity in virtual teams, which may surpass the performance of even on-site teams.