September 11 – 13, 2012 Reston, VA ELA On Demand sponsored by Managing Virtual and Remote Teams Page 1 Insert Session Name Page 1 Managing Virtual Teams

September 11 – 13, 2012 Reston, VA

ELA On Demand sponsored by

Managing Virtual and Remote TeamsPage 1

Insert Session NamePage 1

Managing Virtual Teams

Rahul Dogra

[email protected] www.rahuldogra.com




Managing Virtual Teams

• We will:– Identify how to work in a virtual world – Focus on where it matters:

• Building relationships• Managing communications • Delivering tasks

– Create a prescriptive approach to cultural understanding




What Challenges Are Faced in a Virtual World?

?




Identifying Virtual Working

• Virtual working occurs when people collaborate towards a mutual goal, using facilitated tools, such as telephone, email and video conferencing

• Your virtual situation may appear as working:– From home (telecommuting)– On a different floor of a building – In a different region or country

• These approaches have associated challenges• This is was a relatively new paradigm shift in the way we operate

– Now becoming the norm




Determining the Rationale

• Why are so many businesses keen to undertake virtual working?– Employees demand it

• A recent survey of graduates by Price Waterhouse Coopers found that the number one motivation to work with any company was not the money or opportunities for travel, but the work / life balance offered

– Customers want to reap the benefits – Reduces operational costs – An outcome of globalization




The Benefits of Virtual Working

• Take the task to the people not the people to the task

Task




Costs – The Zero Sum Game

• If all organizations view virtual working as a means to reduce costs, then where is the differential?– If they outsource they will leave a country when it becomes to

expensive and move to anotherThe price differential between IT workers in the United States and their counterparts in India is five fold today, says Frances Karamouzis, a research director with Gartner, Inc. Within four or five years, she says that differential will have dropped to three fold, or maybe even as low as two fold. *

• Consider the impact on effective knowledge transfer– The goal should be on transferring knowledge and increasing the

institutional memory of the organisation

* http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3583621/Rising-Costs-Threaten-Indias-Hold-on-Offshore-IT.htm




How We Work

Focussing on Tasks

(Getting work done)

Communicating effectively(Proactively adopting tools)

Developing and maintaining effective partnerships(Individual and organizational)

Culture

LanguageTime-zones

Geographical dispersion




Creating Effective Partnerships

• We work well with others, once a relationship has been formed• In a virtual setting, the tendency is to focus on the task and see the

relationship as not being important– Ignoring this impacts the ability to achieve the task

• In a virtual environment it is important to focus on:– How to motivate individuals – Understanding how people work with each other– Creating engagement

Individual Relationships




How People Interact

• We relate to others if we understand each other • Factors that influence this include:

– Personality – Your life outside of work – The work being undertaken– Upbringing and culture





101 Personality

• If we can develop an understanding of different personalities then we can understand the drivers of individuals

• Joe Luft and Harry Ingham (hence ‘Johari’) produced a way of understanding the difference between self–images

Common knowledge

My areas of ignorance

My secrets My unconscious self

What I see of myself

What others see of me





Myers Briggs Type Indicators

Extrovert IntrovertWhere do you get your energy from to make sense of your world?

Sensing IntuitionWhere do you get your information from to make sense of the world?

Feeling ThinkingHow do you process the information?

Judging PerceivingWhat is the payoff for making sense of the world?





What Happens in a Virtual World

• The focus is on the task not on:– Forming relationships– Understanding the individual – Developing effective communications

• Trust has not been built or maintained

Trust = Credibility + Reliability + Degree of opennessSelf-orientation (me, me, me)

• The sole focus is on the task and task alone

They become an email address [email protected]





Characteristics of An Effective Team

• A belief in shared aims and objectives• A sense of commitment• Acceptance of group values and norms• A feeling of mutual trust and dependency• Full participation and involvement in the decision

making• Open expression of disagreement• Resolution of conflict by members• Free flow of knowledge





Dimensions of Managing a Virtual Team

Focus on virtual dynamics

• Tendency to look at the task and the virtual dynamics together

On-boarding

• Needs of new team members

Review progress

• Celebrate success

• Continually improve

Feedback

• Performance is impacted by feedback

Virtual Management By Walking About





Project Start-Up Meetings

• It is generally agreed that a start up meeting is crucial in establishing a project success– Undertaking a project without one will increase risk

• The focus is on:– Establishing customer success – Communicating the needs of the stakeholders– Creating the team ground rules– Create clear roles and responsibilities– Building the spirit of the team– Form the communication plan





How We Work

Focussing on Tasks

(Getting work done)



Culture

LanguageTime-zones





Focussing on Communications

• In a virtual team, you need more communications not less, when compared to co-located working – Not a case of quantity but quality

• Most virtual issues occur due to a lack of communications

• What do we mean by communications?– The tools used – How they are used– The frequency – Selecting a tools specific to the

message being delivered

Communications




Human Communications

• To understand how to communicate better in a virtual setting, we need to understand the complexities of human communications

Transmit EncodeEncode DecodeN

oise

Feedback

Communications

Communications channel used




Using Tools to Replicate Human Communication

• Humans communicate using three modes:– Visual

• See and read – Auditory

• Listen and speak – Kinesthetic

• Touch and do• If we receive a message in a single style, how will it be received?

Communications




• Email• Telephone

• Video conferencing• Desktop

communication• Desktop conferencing• Web based

collaboration

• Social networking

Communication Tools AvailableCommunications

Emerging

Legacy

Emerging




Effectiveness and Richness

Communication Richness

Com

mun

icati

on E

ffecti

vene

ss

Face to Face at a WhiteboardFace to Face conversation

Video conferencing Phone conversation

Email Paper

Source: Alistair Cockburn “Agile Software Development” (2001)

Communications




Managing the Communications

Team Leader

Member 1 Member 2 Member 3

Member 4 Member 5

Member 6 Member 7 Member 8

Communications




How We Work

Focussing on Tasks

(Getting work done)



Culture

LanguageTime-zones





Assessing the Impact of Culture

• Culture is seen as a main contributor to the nuance of managing a virtual team

• Culture exists at many levels including:– Regional– National – Within the organization

• Edgar Schein 1985 Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View suggests that the organization's culture is designed to cope with its environment– Managers success will depend, to a great extent, upon

understanding organizational and national cultures

Culture




Organisational Culture

• The impact of culture is looked at from a national perspective but there can be significant issues from an organizational perspective– Each organisation will have its own culture and structure – Individuals have preferred cultures– A number of factors influences the culture including: people,

technology and history

Can a culture be changed?Is there a world business culture?

What is the most important culture?

Culture




Defining National Cultures

• A perspective that differentiates one category of people from another • It is the norms by which things are done

– Experiencing a culture that is different from yours can become uncomfortable

– What is normal?– Our perception of reality would be different if we put ourselves in

their shoesAsk a colleague from another country what they had for breakfastWould you eat that food in your own country, for breakfast?– It is a question of perspective

Culture




Cultural Visibility

Basic assumptions

Values and Beliefs

Artefacts

Source: Schein, E (2005) Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd ed, Jossey–Bass

More visible

Less visible

Culture




Artefacts

• These are the most visible actions that we can observe allowing cultures to be distinguished– Easy to research and identify

• Some examples include:– Not using the left hand in middle eastern countries– American versus British approach to a business dinner – Coffee in Italy compared to the UK– Exchanging business cards in Japan– Business hours in Norway – In Korea not smoking or drinking in front of elders– Meeting someone for the first time in Chile

Culture




Values and Beliefs

• The underlying beliefs of a society, where you may experience culture shock– Communications styles – Approaches towards conflict – How to undertake a task

• Compare the East versus the West

East West

Passive Assertive

Understand meaning Understand workings

Relationships followed by the task

Task, followed by the relationship

Culture




Basic Assumptions

• These are the fundamental cultural values such as:– Time– Relationships – Status and power – Proximity and gestures – Communications – Manners and mannerisms– Morals – Respect – Business relationships – The concept of keeping face

Culture




• Introverted • Respectful

listeners

• People orientated • Emotional • Unrestricted body

language

• Task orientated • Organized • Planners

Lewis – Categorizing Cultures

Source: “When Cultures Collide – Leading Across Cultures”, (2005) Richard D. Lewis

Hybrid

290 M

Linear-Active600 M

Multi-Active3.3 Bn

Reactive1.7 Bn

Satis

fact

ory Diffi

cult

Time consuming

Culture




Lewis’s Countries

Linear Active

Multi ActiveReactive

Switzerland, Germany, USA

Netherlands

Norway

Australia

Denmark

Belgium

France

Russia

Italy

Spain

Hispanic American

Vietnam China Korea Indonesia Philippines India Iran Turkey Arab Peninsula Saharan Africa

UK

Sweden

Finland

Canada

Singapore

Hong Kong

Japan

Culture




Culture Rules

• Avoid instant judgements or assumptions about people• Undertake research on any culture you work with

– Have lunch with them • Consider how will your style be viewed through the lenses of others

– How do you modify to suit the context • Issues may not be cultural specific and may be simply personality or

technical based• A good idea is a good idea regardless of where it originates• When communicating with people who are speaking a second language

– Use visual aids and give the benefit of the doubt• Well functioning teams co-operate across cultures

Culture




Take Away

• Focus on developing relationships, communications then the task • Leverage the diversity, by understanding the individual• Look at the message and then identify the tool• Focus periodically on how the team is operating virtually • Find out out about other peoples cultures

– Cultures may not communicate, but individuals do

Documents

September 11 – 13, 2012 Reston, VA ELA On Demand sponsored by Managing Virtual and Remote Teams Page 1 Insert Session Name Page 1 Managing Virtual Teams