However, a combination of individuals who communicate electronically does not transform it into a team. These individuals have to have a clear goals and specific tasks in order to reach those goals. Afterwards, they share the result of the completed work (Gibson & Cohen, 2003). Taking into account the virtual team is a social unit by any means, logically there issues in communication, technology, culture and project management. The thing is that these issues are not widely seen as team members do not stay in touch too often and they do not meet each other face-to-face (Vinaja, 2003). Thus, modern business organizations are striving to cope with managerial issues of virtual teams, as these teams have a significant advantage in terms of the design of global supply chains. It is a very difficult duty and requires a huge set of knowledge and experience. two Managers usually apply two major methods to control the virtual team: multi-criteria decision models (MCDM) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) (Daim et al., 2012). Using MCDM it is possible to discuss different decision alternatives and illuminate the most suitable one according to the list of specific criteria. AHP, indeed, is relatively connected with the MCDM. However, it helps managers to organize the decision making process conforming the priorities.
Still, for the most of project managers there is one major issue within virtual teams. This is a communication breakdown and the need to maintain a successful perception between team members 24/7. Most of the multinational enterprises hire very expensive project managers to work round the clock to keep the beneficial share of the information and to control the completion of the given tasks (although team members are usually independent in the ways of solving these task). According to Project Management Institute (PMI) it is again all about time and if the communication across the organization is provided in timely manner then it is possible to avoid any communication breakdown (Daim et al., 2012).
Indeed, there are many researches done on how to manage the virtual teams and what might the major issues with them. However, a few works talk about the impact of these teams on organizations’ welfare and global supply chains. Most of multinational enterprises keen on to remain the traditional ways of communication and they are not ready for the radical changes, taking into account the issue these companies may face (Daim et al., 2012). In this respect, it would appropriate to state that the positive impact of virtual teams is much underestimated and the more researches upon this problem are to be done.
References
Daim, T., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W., & Bhatla, A. (2012). Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams. International Journal Of Project Management, 30(2), 199-212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2011.06.004
Gibson, C., & Cohen, S. (2003). Creating conditions for effective virtual teams. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer.
Vinaja, R. (2003). Major challenges in multi-cultural virtual teams. Edinburg, TX: University of Texas-Pan American.
