The classical characteristics of a team are in the same time the ideal requirements:
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Task related:
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Structural:
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External support related:
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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
