Write 2 paragraphs each on the networking and culture opportunities relating to
ID: 361573 • Letter: W
Question
Write 2 paragraphs each on the networking and culture opportunities relating to this case study
Part I: An Introduction to Virtual Teams
Lauren is assigned team leader of a cross-functional team for a very important project to the company. Lauren reviews the profiles of the six team members her boss gave her. She is both intrigued and anxious when she sees that team members are geographically dispersed.
Lauren works in the Atlanta office. One team member is in India; another is in Germany; and the rest live in the United States, but in different time zones. Two staff members are in the eastern time zone (Virginia and North Carolina) and two staff members are in the central time zone (Texas and Louisiana).
Lauren has never managed a virtual team and is unsure what special skills it will take to be successful. She begins to wonder what competencies are necessary for virtual team leaders and members. She studies the team member profiles and creates a matrix to evaluate each member’s strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of working virtually. She includes herself because she realizes she needs to evaluate her own strengths and weaknesses. Lauren thinks about the challenges and opportunities she will face managing this virtual team.
In your assigned groups, you are to:
Review the supplied team member matrix.
Brainstorm the challenges and/or opportunities Lauren’s team might face.
Team Member Matrix
Team Member
Location (Time Zone)
Communication Preferences
Virtual experience
Strengths
Weaknesses
Lauren (Team Manager)
Atlanta, GA (Eastern)
No
Building and maintaining trust.
Performance management and coaching.
Networking.
Appropriate use of information technology.
Developing and adapting standard team processes.
Managing across cultures.
Santosh
Pune, India (GMT+05:30)
Instant messaging
Yes
Interpersonal awareness.
Use of technology.
Self-management.
Project management.
John
Wilmington, NC (Eastern)
Telephone
No
Networking face-to-face.
Use of technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Joyce
Norfolk, VA (Eastern)
Yes
Self-management.
Project management.
Networking.
Helga
Berlin, Germany (Central European)
SharePoint; Webconferencing (with video)
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Project management.
Adam
Dallas, TX (Central)
Instant messaging, discussion boards
No
Networking via technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Use of technology.
Brenda
New Orleans, LA (Central)
Instant messaging; blogs; SharePoint; e-mail
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Networking.
Spanning boundaries.
Self-management.
Team Member
Location (Time Zone)
Communication Preferences
Virtual experience
Strengths
Weaknesses
Lauren (Team Manager)
Atlanta, GA (Eastern)
No
Building and maintaining trust.
Performance management and coaching.
Networking.
Appropriate use of information technology.
Developing and adapting standard team processes.
Managing across cultures.
Santosh
Pune, India (GMT+05:30)
Instant messaging
Yes
Interpersonal awareness.
Use of technology.
Self-management.
Project management.
John
Wilmington, NC (Eastern)
Telephone
No
Networking face-to-face.
Use of technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Joyce
Norfolk, VA (Eastern)
Yes
Self-management.
Project management.
Networking.
Helga
Berlin, Germany (Central European)
SharePoint; Webconferencing (with video)
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Project management.
Adam
Dallas, TX (Central)
Instant messaging, discussion boards
No
Networking via technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Use of technology.
Brenda
New Orleans, LA (Central)
Instant messaging; blogs; SharePoint; e-mail
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Networking.
Spanning boundaries.
Self-management.
Explanation / Answer
(i've attached the challenges and opportunities to the same matrix, please scroll to the extreme right of the matrix to view the challenges and the opportunities, thanks)
Managing across cultures.
To be able to use technologies and software platforms like SLACK or ASANA to manage team projects, scheduling, resources. tasks completion etc. Lauren would also have to bring all team members into one common communication platform like Telegram or SLACK rather than operating in several different medium of communication.
Project management.
Spanning boundaries.
Project management.
Team Member Location (Time Zone) CommunicationPreferences Virtual experience Strengths Weaknesses Challenges Opportunities Lauren (Team Manager) Atlanta, GA (Eastern) E-mail No Building and maintaining trust.Performance management and coaching.
Networking. Appropriate use of information technology.
Developing and adapting standard team processes.
Managing across cultures.
To be able to use technologies and software platforms like SLACK or ASANA to manage team projects, scheduling, resources. tasks completion etc. Lauren would also have to bring all team members into one common communication platform like Telegram or SLACK rather than operating in several different medium of communication.
She'll have an opportunity to work with team members across different business functions and learn how to leverage their complimentary skills. Santosh Pune, India (GMT+05:30) Instant messaging Yes Interpersonal awareness.Use of technology. Self-management.
Project management.
Lauren's greatest challenge with Santosh would be to get him to be more task oriented in his work. She'll need him to be self motivated and driven to complete his delegated tasks in ease. Lauren will have the opportunity to leverage Santosh's skills in technology to support other team members into transitioning into her team and provide tech support and assistance for other team members John Wilmington, NC (Eastern) Telephone No Networking face-to-face. Use of technology.Spanning boundaries.
Lauren's greatest challenge with john would be to get him to use the common tech and communication platforms that the team is using and to help him transition into it smoothly, Santosh could help John do that. Lauren has the opportunity to leverage John's networking skills to drive sales and to help out other team members with their general tasks since he's good with face to face communication. Joyce Norfolk, VA (Eastern) E-mail Yes Self-management.Project management. Networking. Lauren could use John to help Joyce with her networking skills because her biggest channel with Joyce would be to help her integrate and communicate well within the team. Lauren has the opportunity to help Santosh build the necessary skills to motivate and manage himself by using Joyce to train and mentor him in that field . Helga Berlin, Germany (Central European) SharePoint; Webconferencing (with video) Yes Use of technology. Interpersonal awareness.
Project management.
Lauren's challenge with Helga would be to help her manage her own projects that have been assigned to her and to completed the tasks delegated to her in the given span of time. The ability to do so can be honed by pairing her with Joyce in project since she has the best project management experience so far. Lauren's opportunity with Helga would be to leverage her use of technology to communicate effectively to other team members, support and help Lauren with to improve the team's use of technology. Adam Dallas, TX (Central) Instant messaging, discussion boards No Networking via technology.Spanning boundaries. Use of technology. Lauren's challenge with Adam would be to get him accustomed to the use of the new technology platforms that the team is working on. This would prove to be challenging for Lauren. Santosh and Helga could her him transition into the use to the technology that the team is using. Lauren's has the opportunity to leverage Adam's ability to network and use communications technology to network for international business development and business communication. Brenda New Orleans, LA (Central) Instant messaging; blogs; SharePoint; e-mail Yes Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Networking.
Spanning boundaries. Self-management. Lauren's challenge with Brenda would be similar to Santosh's , o be able to manage herself and her projects effectively, They could request Joyce to help compliment their challenges in self management. Lauren has to opportunity to use Brenda for a support role and to over see delegated tasks since she has the most balanced skill sets among all the other team members.
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