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Abstract
In the 1990s, a new type of team emerged-the virtual team. Largely driven by economic and political factors, virtual teams are fast becoming the vehicles by which organizations conduct business today. Yet, in recent years researchers have learned that with this growth, team members receive little to no instruction on how to establish beneficial relationships with their teammates-many often from other cultures-or how to create effective, productive virtual teams. So what needs to happen to ensure their greatest productivity? What makes working with virtual teams more challenging than traditional workplace teams? What are their impacts on organizations, organizational culture, and vice versa? What can organization development (OD) scholars and consultants offer leaders to help make virtual teams more effective? Answers to these questions are the focus of this article.
Keywords: virtual teams, virtual team trends, virtual team best practices, virtual team effectiveness, essentials for virtual teams
While workplace teams in general have been around for years, in the 1990s, a new type of team emerged-the virtual team (Bergiel, Bergiel, & Balsmeier, 2006; Furst, Reeves, Rosen, & Blackburn, 2004). Its growth is opening new vistas for organizational development (OD) research as well as opportunities to apply unique organization development and change (ODC) interventions.
The use of virtual teams (whose members are in various locations) has become increasingly more attractive to organizations over the past decade. Company geographical expansion has often resulted in employees working from distant locations in shared work spaces, in homes (telecommuting), and even in hotels (Ferrazzi, 2014). As with so many business decisions, economic impact has been a key driver in the increase of virtual teams. In addition to economics, global political fluctuations with their accompanying visa regulations can make moving or hiring a logistical nightmare (Dua, 2017).
Because of their ubiquity, virtual teams have become the vehicle through which global business is conducted today. For example, in a 2016 report on trends in virtual teams, out of 1,372 corporate respondents from 80 countries, 85% reported that they worked on virtual teams with 63% reporting they work on one to three virtual teams, and that almost all corporate teams are now virtual; 41% rarely meet in person, and nearly 20% spend at least 50% of their workdays engaged in virtual team...