Posted: February 21st, 2023

Discussion Response essay

QUESTION

The PMBOK Guide defines virtual teams as “groups of people with a shared goal who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face” (PMI, 2017, p. 725).
1) The latest edition of the PMBOK Guide describes “virtual teams/distributed teams” as one of the trends and emerging practices in project resource management for optimizing resource utilization (PMI, 2017, p. 310). Chapter 9 explains some of the potential benefits and challenges of virtual teams (pp. 311, 333, 340). Pick one of these benefits or challenges, and explain how it impacted your PMAN 638 group. Cite the PMBOK Guide in your response.
2) Assume your global company is forming a new team, and several members with unique expertise for the team’s designated project are located in different countries. Your travel budget provides for one face-to-face meeting per year. After this first meeting, you must establish the “communications management plan” for this culturally diverse group. Identify 3 elements in your plan that would be different from the same elements in a “communications management plan” for a team composed of members who are all co-located in your project management office (PMO). Provide support from the “How to Manage Virtual Teams” article (see Week 10 Reading List) in your response.

CLASSMATE RESPONSE 1: (Ana Maria)
1) Virtual teams, benefits and challenges and explain how it impacted your PMAN 638 group.
The DCA group shared a common goal which was to complete the GCCM plan mostly asynchronously with no personal interaction or face to face communication. The availability of technology such as audio-video conferencing, email and web-based meeting has made the virtual teams feasible (PMI, 2017, p. 333). To complete timely deliverables, the DCA team utilized several different methods of communication that enabled the team to stay connected and informed despite working mostly asynchronously and in different time zones. The DCA team used google meet for weekly team meetings, google docs to draft, edit, share and store all project deliverables. Deliverables included schedules, agendas, meeting minutes, group drafts and final group deliverables. In addition, group text was used for real time communication and for group questions, sharing of announcements and quick team coordination. The DCA team greatly benefitted from the use of communication technologies which contributed to the excellent communication among team members. The current pandemic has taught us all to work in virtual teams. We were lucky and never experienced any challenges with communication as we always were able to have good access to the internet to communicate synchronously and asynchronously.

2. Establishment of “communications management plan” in global culturally diverse team. Identify 3 elements in your plan that would be different from the same elements in a “communications management plan” for a team composed of members who are all co-located in your project management office (PMO).
The elements/values that organizations should embody when establishing a culturally diverse global team include cross-cultural awareness/understanding, social skills/team-work and the use of user friendly resources for group virtual communication.
Cross-Cultural Awareness: Embracing a global mindset provides virtual teams with an environment that is conducive to dispersed teams (Siebdrat et al, 2009). Organizations conducting business overseas should spend time learning about the local culture, traditions, mindset and working styles. Having a better understanding of cross-cultural differences can enable a more empathetic and collaborative team. According to Siebdrat, virtual teams can outperform their non-virtual counterparts when they are set up and managed in the correct way (Siebdrat et al, 2009). An example that comes to mind is having a clear understanding of evolving gender roles when working with diverse teams. For example, a high performing female Technical Director in the US might be ok having meetings outside business hours but another high performing female Technical Director in Cambodia might not do the same due to generally accepted gender roles which dictate that after business hours women need to exclusively attend the home. Finding the adequate and sensitive time to conduct business virtual meetings can make a huge difference in communication. Understanding cultural differences is vital when engaging and keeping culturally diverse teams motivated to performed at their highest potential.
Teamwork and social skills: Finding staff with the correct level of technical competency is crucial when recruiting team members. However, social and team working skills are just as important to develop high performing teams. Social skills is a major prerequisite for good teamwork (Siebdrat et al, 2009). In the example, before the diverse team has their face-to-face meeting it is important for team members to virtually interact and collaborate. Having strong virtual communication before meeting in person will enhance face to face interactions and teamwork during the annual meeting. To increase teamwork and team cohesiveness virtual team could also benefit from virtual coffee or happy hours as venues to learn more about each other outside of a task that needs to be completed. If the team members lack teamwork skills, the manager should coordinate training to increase team-work and social skills among team members.
Resources allocated for communication: Keeping order and structure in virtual teams is key for its success. Project Managers and organizations should provide team members with reliable and user-friendly technology for virtual communication. If the work needs to be completed 100% remote. Access to internet, computer, necessary software and virtual communication platforms or applications is key. Managers should also have mitigation plans in place on what to do when a team member is unable to connect to the internet or access a virtual platform.

2. CLASSMATE RESPONSE 2: (OLUWASEUN A virtual team comes with its benefits and challenges. Our team benefits from the virtual team by using communication technology. Communication technology helps build a harmonious environment for the collocated team and a better understanding for the virtual team, especially those working in different time zones (PMI, 2017, p. 340). Our team used Google Meeting video/audio conferencing to host our weekly meetings. This tool can be used not only on a computer but on a mobile device. It created flexibility in scheduling as anyone could join the meeting without officially in front of a desktop. Some of our teams are just leaving work, and they can effortlessly join. For example, I sometimes must rush out of the house after teleworking to get groceries or do some errands. When I could not get back home on time, it is easy for me to join using my mobile, and all documents shared by the team can easily be view on my mobile.
There are three elements that I would suggest for not co-located in the same project management. The three elements are motivation, cultural norm, and language. I believe it is relevant to have this in every GCCM as we must understand everyone has their ways of the handle and interpreting information, particularly in a diverse group. When cultural norms and language are values, it will empower sharing and combing ideas. To boost the performance of its teams, a company needs to implement the appropriate mechanisms for boosting socio emotional (Seibrat et al., 2009, p. 66). A project manager should bring out the best in the team by finding a universal way to motivate every group member to complete a project to their best abilities.
References:
Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Sixth Edition: Vol. Sixth edition. Project Management Institute.
Siebdrat, F., Hoegl M., & Holger, E. (2009). How to manage virtual teams. MIT. 50412.indd (mit.edu)

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