Transcript Document 7108546

Lessons Learned in Leading and
Managing Virtual Teams
ETM5110/MSIS5600
Managing Virtual Project Teams
Nicholas C. Romano, Jr., Ph.D.
[email protected]
Paul E. Rossler, Ph.D., P.E.
[email protected]
1
Overview
• What has the collective knowledge to date
uncovered about leading and managing
virtual teams?
2
“A meeting is a gathering where
people speak up, say nothing, and
then all disagree.”
(Source: T.A. Kayser, Mining Group Gold.
El Sequendo, CA: Serif, 1990)
3
The new converging conference room walls
helped make meetings short and to the point.
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Why people meet
Make Decisions
Surface Perspectives
Monitor Project Progress
Review
Allocate Resources
Share the Vision
Synergy
Share Information
Avoid Decisions
Prioritize Tasks
Share Work
Solve Problems
Build Consensus
Build Trust
Develop Project Plans Socialize
(Source: Romano)
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Collaboration is difficult
Waiting to speak
Domination
Fear of speaking
Misunderstanding
Inattention
Lack of focus
Inadequate criteria
Premature decisions
Missing information
Distractions
Digressions
Collaboration
Wrong people
Groupthink
Poor grasp of problem
Ignored alternatives
Lack of consensus
Poor planning
Hidden agendas
Conflict
Inadequate resources
Poorly defined goals
Source: Nunamaker, J.F., R.O. Briggs, and D.D. Mittleman, Electronic meeting systems: Ten years of
lessons learned, in Groupware: Technology and applications, D. Coleman and R. Khanna, Editors.
1995, Prentice-Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ. p. 149-193.
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Meeting purposes: Almost 2/3
involve complex group processes
29%
Reconcile conflict
26% Reach group decision or judgement
11% Solve a Problem
11% Ensure that everyone understands
5%
4%
4%
2%
Facilitate staff communicaiton
Gain support for a program
Explore new ideas and concepts
Accept Reports
2% Demonstrate a project or system
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
(Monge, P. R., McSween, C., & Wyer, J. 1989)
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Key lessons for outstanding
participation
• Anonymity increases the amount of key
comments contributed
• Parallel nature of interaction increases
participation
• With good process, adding participants
(almost) always improves the outcomes
– Good ideas are a function of the quantity of
ideas generated
(Source: Nunamaker, J.F., R.O. Briggs, and D.D. Mittleman)
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• When participants anonymously criticize
ideas, performance improves
– It keeps the group searching for better answers
• Any idea may inspire a completely new idea
which would not have otherwise occurred
– Develop activities that encourage frequent
generation of new ideas
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• Provide feedback to groups to let them
know how each activity they take maps to
the entire agenda
– Groups stay better focused if they understand
how what they are doing ties into the big
picture
• In face-to-face groups, peer pressure keeps
people moving.
– Distributed groups tend to lose momentum
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Key lessons about leadership in
“virtual” teaming
• Technology does not replace leadership
• Technology can support any leadership style
• Some people resist electronic meeting
systems
– The game has changed, oral/verbal skills and
ramming an agenda through are not as
important
(Source: Nunamaker, J.F., R.O. Briggs, and D.D. Mittleman)
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• Loss of engagement for distributed teams
– Lack of visual and nonverbal cues and low
accountability appears to reduce involvement
• Change of emotional engagement for faceto-face teams
– More exciting for some, mundane for others
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Satisfaction as a Function of Task
Hi
Idea Generation
Idea Organization
Prioritizing
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1 1/2
1/2
Policy Development
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Time
1-2
• Need to develop group incentives
• Willingness to accept criticism of you and
organization
• Make sure there is an individual incentive to
contribute to the group effort
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Some of you may be having trouble
with the concept of “Groupware.”
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Lessons about
electronic voting
• Voting clarifies communication, focuses
discussion, reveals patterns of consensus,
and stimulates thinking
• Anonymous polling can surface issues that
remain buried during direct conversation
(Source: Nunamaker, J.F., R.O. Briggs, and D.D. Mittleman)
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• Voting can demonstrate areas of agreement
– Allowing the group to close off discussion in
those areas and focus only on areas of
disagreement
• Electronic polling can facilitate decisions
that are too painful to face using traditional
methods
• Care must be taken to ensure that voting
criteria are clearly established and defined
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We don’t vote here, we arrive
at a natural consensus
Key lessons from facilitators and
session leaders
• Preplanning is critical
• Find a fast, clean way to do idea
organization – people hate it, and you lose
them if you take to long
• The group must always see where they are
headed and how each activity advances
them toward the goal
(Source: Nunamaker, J.F., R.O. Briggs, and D.D. Mittleman)
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• Be cognizant of nonverbal interactions;
Even small nonverbal cues can tell a
facilitator a lot
• Expect that ideas generated will change the
plan and the agenda
• Group dynamics can be affected by the
selection of technology interfaces
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Summary
• Collaboration in virtual team meetings is
more likely if process losses are addressed
• Technology doesn’t replace leadership or
the need for facilitation in virtual teams
• Anonymity eliminates power intimidation
• Virtual teams, like face-to-face teams, must
always see where they are headed
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