The classical characteristics of a team are in the same time the ideal requirements:

Task related:

• Challenging and complex tasks
• Tasks that create interdependence

Structural:

• Stability of the team
• Size – small is beautiful
• Expertise that fits the needs
• Physical proximity
• Rules and procedures
• Diversity

External support related:

• Training (technical, social skills, business understanding, etc)
• Team-based rewards

A virtual team (Geographically Dispersed Team – GDT) – is a group of individuals who work from different spaces and on different time schedules linked by communication technology.

Advantages of a virtual team:

• The global workday is 24 vs. 8 hours – a global team has no time constraints
• Access to talent everywhere – your best employee might be on a different continent
• A flexible organization is more competitive and responsive to the marketplace
• A “high trust” culture based on teamwork and collaboration

Risks of a virtual team

• Miscommunication
• Members must be more adaptive and face changes in assignments and tasks during the life-cycle of a project
• A virtual team must have the ability to change membership often without losing productivity
• If norms and role expectations are not expressed explicitly to new members, they will not adapt

Types of virtual teams

• Network team – a group of individual that work in a collaborative manner for a common goal with no fixed membership
• Parallel Team – a team formed only for providing recommendations on a modification of a process or system
• Product-Development Team – project based
• Production Teams
• Service/Action Team – support role for customers or response in emergency situations