Weisband and Arwater (1999) reported that because virtual team members cannot benefit from social and nonverbal cues in getting to know each other, the process of developing cohesion is slowed. The interaction among virtual team members often deal less with relationship building and more with logistics and task requirements. There can also be cultural differences among members in the need to establish interpersonal relationships as a prerequisite to task performance (see Cross-Cultural I/O Psychology : Human Interaction in Virtual Teams).
The concept of a virtual work team violates many of the tenets of traditional organization stricture. The most fundamental violation involves the control and supervision of employees. Cascio (1999) stated that managers of employees in virtual teams are asking, How can I manage them if I can’t see them? Wiesenfeld, Rakhuram, and Garud (1999) examined various aspects of virtual teams in comducting work. They described a professional conference attended by individuals whose job responsibilities involved spearheading virtual work programs in their organizations. These virtual work team coordinators reported that the primary obstacle to theexpansion of virtual work programs in their own organizations was the resistance of managers – those who must supervise virtual employees. According to the virtual work team coordinators, the resistance of middle manager lowers the rate at which employees participate in, and hinders the success of, virtual work programs.
Wiesenfeld et al. also noted that the degree to which employees were satisfied and productive as virtual team members was closely related to whether or not their supervisors were also virtual. Virtual workers who were supervised by virtual managers were more likely to feel trusted, reposted being more satisfied and more productive, and were less likely to feel that their virtual status would have a negative impact on their career progress. In contrast, virtual employees whose supervisors were “desked” (i.e., who worked from tradition centralized offices) were less satisfied and were more likely to expect that virtual team work would have a negative impact on their careers.
It remains to be seen what role virtual technologies will play in the conduct of work in the future. Current trends indicate they will continue to be implemented, especiallyin global businesses. The costs of international travel alone make virtual work technologies a viable alternative. It seems likely that advance in electronic communication in the future will increase our propensity to use virtual work teams. The growing body of literature on this topix (e.g., Heneman& Greenberger, 2002 ;Lipnack, 2000) suggests that virtual teams are not a passing fad.
Personnel Selection for Teams