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Is anyone out there? A Guide to Virtual Team Working and Leadership

Part 2: Types of virtual team

The length of time that any virtual team needs to exist can vary greatly. In the case of organising a conference the team might only need to work together for a few weeks, whereas a company-wide initiative to develop and bring to market a new product could last for several years. Timelines apart, there are essentially four types of virtual team:

• Department Virtual Teams are made up of people who all work for the same department but are based in different locations, for example a team of sales reps working for the same manager but who spend most of their time out of the office or working from home. The team members have common objectives, work under the same day-to-day management and have a detailed understanding of each other's responsibilities and working conditions.

• Company Virtual Teams made up of people who all work for the same company but within different departments and, most likely locations. For example a product development team pulled together from research and development, design, manufacturing, marketing and customer care divisions. Although the team members have an overriding shared goal - to produce a successful new product - they do not report to the same line of management and have very different day-to-day roles and responsibilities.
They are unlikely to know one another personally but will be used to working within the same corporate culture and have shared working conditions and hours.

• Organisation Virtual Teams made up of members who do not all work for the same organisation. For example a marketing team that works in partnership with an external agency responsible for carrying out creative work on their behalf. The team members will most likely have no existing relationship, work under different management and working conditions, have conflicting ideas about what their objectives should be and have no awareness of their colleagues' other responsibilities or big projects.

• Multiple Virtual Teams made up of a mixture of virtual teams. For example a cross department team, all based in different locations, that also works with an external supplier based in another country. In addition to the issues highlighted above there will be more complex communication issues that will make it a challenge difficult for members of this team to co-ordinate their thoughts and ideas collectively.

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© 2004 Copyright MaST International Group plc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Any opinions or views contained in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Training Reference.

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