The Covid pandemic normalized virtual team working, fueled in large part by robust evidence that virtual teams were often as effective as their face-to-face peers. The propensity of virtual working also supported various studies into how virtual teams can be most effective.
For instance, research from the University of Maryland School of Social Work in Baltimore found that HR plays a crucial role, but that success requires a distinct change in approach across the lifecycle of the employee, from how they’re hired to how they ultimately work with colleagues.
For instance, during the recruitment phase, it’s likely that there will be a redefinition of roles and job descriptions. This shift serves to establish clear expectations regarding the modus operandi of virtual teams. It’s also likely that the onboarding process will need adjusting with some degree of in-person interaction to facilitate connection and organizational integration.
The right mix
Research from Deakin University, in Australia, suggests that it is also important to find the right blend of interdependence between teams and teammates. The researchers argue that virtual teams are at their best when all participants have access to the requisite information and resources. They also believe, however, that workflows need to be designed so that team members can work effectively together.
“Virtual teams, which include people who work from varied locations, are a bit different in how they work because a lot of their processes and communication require the use of digital tools,” they explain. “Previous research shows some virtual teams underperform, so we wanted to better understand what helps and hinders virtual teams to work more effectively.”
The study saw over 100 virtual teams experimented on, with the degree of task interdependence manipulated to govern the workflow between team members. So-called “resource interdependence” was a workflow that governs how much reliance team members have on one another to ensure they have access to the right resources and information. This is particularly common when senior members of the team have access to key bits of information that no one else does.
By contrast, “process interdependence” is a work structure that explores the collaborative nature of work between team members. For instance, sometimes teams can function independently before piecing the puzzle together, while other times there is much more of a collaborative co-creation approach.
The study found that virtual teams were often at their most effective when all members had access to resources (ie resource interdependence was low) and that they worked collaboratively (so process interdependence was high).
Managing virtual work
“These results are important for managers and organizations in thinking about how they can design work for virtual teams to help them improve their performance,” the researchers explain. “For example, if you work in a virtual team, it’s important to have a shared folder where everyone has the same access to information and resources so they can be effective.”
The study suggests that if managers want to get the best out of virtual teams, they need to give some thought not only to how teams interact with one another but also how workflows are structured. It’s inevitable that virtual teams will be less connected. It’s an approach the researchers believe could also be valuable when looking at hybrid teams.
“This approach is useful when thinking about hybrid teams too, which are also increasingly common post-pandemic,” they say. “It’s important to think about what tasks we need to do when we’re all in the office together and what is better to do when we’re alone and be very deliberate in how we break up work in this way.”
Technical support
The researchers believe that the current generation of virtual workplace tools, such as Teams and Slack, are increasingly designed to support this way of working, with a central repository for easy access to shared information and ample tools to support collaboration.
“These online tools allow teams to work more organically with virtual teammates,” they explain. “They allow real-time, live collaborations where people can work concurrently on the same item without creating version conflicts.”
As teams increasingly interact either entirely virtually or via a hybrid setup, these studies will play a crucial role in ensuring that teams are able to function efficiently and effectively. With software being designed to make the right approach the default one, it takes pressure off of managers who are already having to adapt considerably to the new ways of working. That makes it all the more likely that virtual teams will be managed successfully.
