Based on the matrix, what are challenges and/or opportunities Lauren’s team migh
ID: 352567 • Letter: B
Question
Based on the matrix, what are challenges and/or opportunities Lauren’s team might face?
Ideas for an agenda for Lauren’s kick-off meeting?
Lauren is assigned team leader of a cross-functional team for a very important project to the company. Lauren reviews the profiles of the six team members her boss gave her. She is both intrigued and anxious when she sees that team members are geographically dispersed.
Lauren works in the Atlanta office. One team member is in India; another is in Germany; and the rest live in the United States, but in different time zones. Two staff members are in the eastern time zone (Virginia and North Carolina) and two staff members are in the central time zone (Texas and Louisiana).
Lauren has never managed a virtual team and is unsure what special skills it will take to be successful. She begins to wonder what competencies are necessary for virtual team leaders and members. She studies the team member profiles and creates a matrix to evaluate each member’s strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of working virtually. She includes herself because she realizes she needs to evaluate her own strengths and weaknesses. Lauren thinks about the challenges and opportunities she will face managing this virtual team.
Team Member Matrix
Team Member
Location (Time Zone)
CommunicationPreferences
Virtual experience
Strengths
Weaknesses
Lauren (Team Manager)
Atlanta, GA (Eastern)
No
Building and maintaining trust.
Performance management and coaching.
Networking.
Appropriate use of information technology.
Developing and adapting standard team processes.
Managing across cultures.
Santosh
Pune, India (GMT+05:30)
Instant messaging
Yes
Interpersonal awareness.
Use of technology.
Self-management.
Project management.
John
Wilmington, NC (Eastern)
Telephone
No
Networking face-to-face.
Use of technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Joyce
Norfolk, VA (Eastern)
Yes
Self-management.
Project management.
Networking.
Helga
Berlin, Germany (Central European)
SharePoint; Webconferencing (with video)
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Project management.
Adam
Dallas, TX (Central)
Instant messaging, discussion boards
No
Networking via technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Use of technology.
Brenda
New Orleans, LA (Central)
Instant messaging; blogs; SharePoint; e-mail
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Networking.
Spanning boundaries.
Self-management.
Team Member
Location (Time Zone)
CommunicationPreferences
Virtual experience
Strengths
Weaknesses
Lauren (Team Manager)
Atlanta, GA (Eastern)
No
Building and maintaining trust.
Performance management and coaching.
Networking.
Appropriate use of information technology.
Developing and adapting standard team processes.
Managing across cultures.
Santosh
Pune, India (GMT+05:30)
Instant messaging
Yes
Interpersonal awareness.
Use of technology.
Self-management.
Project management.
John
Wilmington, NC (Eastern)
Telephone
No
Networking face-to-face.
Use of technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Joyce
Norfolk, VA (Eastern)
Yes
Self-management.
Project management.
Networking.
Helga
Berlin, Germany (Central European)
SharePoint; Webconferencing (with video)
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Project management.
Adam
Dallas, TX (Central)
Instant messaging, discussion boards
No
Networking via technology.
Spanning boundaries.
Use of technology.
Brenda
New Orleans, LA (Central)
Instant messaging; blogs; SharePoint; e-mail
Yes
Use of technology.
Interpersonal awareness.
Networking.
Spanning boundaries.
Self-management.
Explanation / Answer
Based on the matrix, what are challenges and/or opportunities Lauren’s team might face?
Though four out of seven team members are having a virtual experience, Laurence herself in not well-aware of it. This will act as a weakness for the team because she, as a leader, first need to get accustomed to the system which includes a multi-cultural team and Information system. Moreover, there is a chance of lack of control because four other members have better experience compared to Laurence. Furthermore, few of the team members (including the leader) are challenged in terms of the use of technologies and thus they need to be trained first. This process will delay the process of team coherence and may hamper the deliverables of the project till the time all members are aware of the technology platform and are conversant with the mode of communication. Finally, some of the members have their weaknesses regarding the project management process itself and this will create, at least for the first few periods, an inferior response from their side which will affect the communication flow in the team.
However, Laurence can surely take the silver lines on some aspects of her team where strengths of the team members are evident. For example, five out of seven members have preferred either e-mail or instant messaging as a communication medium. It should not be very difficult to at least connect using these two media among the members to share the thoughts and decide the appropriate course of action. Moreover, the leader is good is building trust and thus she may create an environment where the four members who have virtual experience can help other grow in this area. Furthermore, networking is a common trait present in many of the members which will help build a good team relationship and team behavior.
Ideas for an agenda for Lauren’s kick-off meeting
In my opinion, Laurence should plan this meeting in the form of a video conferencing in order to have a face-to-face interaction. In this meeting, she should let the members introduce themselves to the team mostly informally. Laurence should share her own experience in this field as well. After that, she should create an awareness among the team members regarding her style of managing the process and should seek the opinion of the members. Once a unanimous style or mode has been decided, the team should discuss the issue of communication mode in light of the style decided. One/ two mode(s) of communication is to be finalized based on the strength of the team and then the team should elaborate on the project itself, the deliverables, and its expected timeline.
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