Virtual Teams: Do the Challenges Outweigh the Benefits?

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Communications Management   Talent Management   Teams  

The use of virtual teams is far outpacing the physical need for them. Many organizations are using virtual teams in place of face-to-face teams not for logistic reasons, but merely for financial one--they don’t want the travel costs. These organizations have been seduced by a multitude of online meeting and collaboration tools out there, thinking that there are only cost savings to be had without any other tradeoffs--discounting and marginalizing the value of face-to-face, shoulder-to-shoulder efforts. Sometimes--especially on global projects--the need for virtual teams is real. But all too often, it is merely a choice--good or bad.

With virtual projects come virtual teams and the associated tradeoffs. The question that looms large is this: Do the challenges of virtual teams outweigh the benefits? If you have been part of a virtual team, you have experienced many of the challenges this article will explore.

A recent survey on the challenges of working in virtual teams, by training and consulting group RW³ Culture Wizards revealed the following:

• 46% of virtual team employees never met the teammates
• 30% indicated they had only met once a year

In addition, the survey also identified the following challenges:

• Inability to read nonverbal cues and body language (94%)
• Insufficient time in virtual meetings to build relationships (…

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