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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeRosa, Darleen M., 1970-
Virtual team success : a practical guide for working and leading from a distance / Darleen M. DeRosa and Richard Lepsinger. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-53296-6 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-470-77059-7 (ebk)
ISBN 978-0-470-87240-6 (ebk)
ISBN 978-0-470-87241-3 (ebk)
1. Virtual work teams. I. Lepsinger, Richard, 1948- II. Title.
HD66.D466 2010
658.4’022–dc22
2010019248
To my husband Joe and son Andrew; to my parents, Michael and Marianna, who always provided endless love and support; and my grandmother, Tina, who taught me the importance of perseverance. —D.D.
To Bonnie, with love. —R.L.
Chapter One
Table 1.1 Top Challenges of Virtual Teams
Chapter Three
Case Study: Pharmacorp
Table 3.1 Evaluating Your Responses
Table 3.2 Checklist for Virtual Team Leader and Team Member Selection
Figure 3.1 The Purpose Pyramid
Exhibit 3.1 Monitor Your Sense of Purpose
Exhibit 3.2 The RACIN Model
Table 3.3 Virtual Team Technology Assessment
Exhibit 3.3 Parker’s Team Player Styles
Exhibit 3.4 Checklist for Virtual Teamwork
Chapter Four
Case Study: ShingleSeal
Table 4.1 Evaluating Your Responses
Table 4.2 Quick Reference Guide
Chapter Five
Case Study: Raygen Company
Table 5.1 Evaluating Your Responses
Exhibit 5.1 Virtual Team Leader Self-Assessment
Exhibit 5.2 Self-Assessment: Interpersonal Communication Skills
Exhibit 5.3 Self-Assessment: Empowering Others
Table 5.2 Leader Quick Reference Guide
Chapter Six
Table 6.1 Virtual Leadership Continuum
Table 6.2 Balanced Response “Do’s” and “Don’ts”
Chapter Seven
Table 7.1 Tips for Leaders/Facilitators
Table 7.2 Virtual Meeting Outline
Table 7.3 Intervention Techniques
Table 7.4 Strategies to Deal with Common Virtual Meeting Challenges
Table 7.5 Selecting the Most Appropriate Technology
Table 7.6 Summary of Virtual Meeting “Do’s” and “Don’ts”
Appendix
Figure A.1 Team Makeup
Figure A.2 Tenure on the Team
Figure A.3 Virtual Team Memberships
Figure A.4 Skill Development or Team-Building Activities
Table A.1 Title, Level, and Function of Participants in the Study
Figure A.5 Meeting Frequency
Figure A.6 Percent Agreeing They Had Proper Technology
Figure A.7 Frequency of Face-to-Face Meetings
Figure A.8 Timing of Face-to-Face Meetings
Figure A.9 Team Leadership Changes
Table A.2 Length of Time Worked with Leader
Figure A.10 Team Results Dimension
Figure A.11 Performance Dimension
Table A.3 Highest-Rated Items
Figure A.12 Tenure of the Teams vs. Effectiveness
Figure A.13 Relationship Between Meeting Frequency and Effectiveness
Figure A.14 Relationship Between Frequency of Face-to-Face Meetings and Performance
Figure A.15 Impact of Face-to-Face Meetings on Performance
Figure A.16 Impact of Meeting Frequency
Figure A.17 Impact of Team Building and Skill Development
Figure A.18 Team Member Ratings of Leaders
Figure A.19 Relationship of Team Members to the Leader
Figure A.20 How Long Team Members Have Known Leaders
Figure A.21 Location of Leaders
Table A.4 Rating of Leadership Competencies
Table A.5 Top Challenges
We are grateful to many people for their help and support during the writing of this book. In particular we’d like to thank:
Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, whose insightful books and articles on virtual teams were a major source of inspiration to conduct work in this area. Angela Travagline, who partnered with us throughout the research study and provided valuable insights that helped shape the book. Donald Hantula and Ned Kock, who collaborated with us on several research studies and articles that were a catalyst for our applied research.
Our business partner, Jennifer Forgie, whose suggestions and feedback were invaluable in helping refine and focus the chapters. Max Wolfe whose research and data gathering where tremendously helpful.
The companies, virtual team members, team leaders, and various stakeholders who participated in OnPoint’s global research study. Their time and commitment added richness to the cases, examples, and guidelines that make up the book.
The people who are experts at working from a distance who generously shared their stories and experiences: Laszlo Bock, Mark Feurer, Mark Gasta, Jay Moldenhauer- Salazar, Karen O’Boyle, Kevin Squires, Swroop Sahota, Cleo Stockhoff, and Theresa Zeller.
Dottie DeHart and her team at DeHart & Company, who partnered with us to enhance the book’s content and readability.
And last, but certainly not least, to our spouses. To Joe DeRosa, who was a pillar of strength during the seemingly endless writing process. To Bonnie Uslianer, who endured months of being a “book widow” while providing unconditional support and encouragement.
When Darleen asked us to write the foreword to her book, we were immediately inclined to do so. With a Ph.D. in organizational psychology for which she wrote a dissertation on virtual teams and subsequently having conducted two substantial research studies on the topic as a management consultant, she has the bona fides to write authoritatively on the subject.
That Darleen and her co-author and business partner, Rick Lepsinger, have chosen to tackle the sore spot of virtual teams—why they fail—is testament to their expertise, energy, and insight.
A decade ago, Darleen’s earliest work in this field was a research study of how “naturally” virtual teams perform over time using different kinds of media. While the technology studied then seems primitive by today’s standards, her foresight in tackling this topic when few others were considering it is laudable. Technology, she concluded, plays a role, but other factors in real work settings may prove equally or more important.
She continued her work in the putative “real world” as a management consultant, teaming up with Rick, and ultimately leading to this comprehensive examination of what trips up virtual teams and what leaders can do about it.
Here you will find numerous research-based “devices” for clearing the hurdles that virtual teams present. It’s not enough in a 24/7 global work environment to take the old face-to-face techniques and apply them when people are not co-located. Failed projects and missed deadlines in countless organizations indicate that we need new ways to work. The demands of contemporary work environments—distributed, asynchronous, multicultural, and without the benefit of hallway time—require us to think—and behave—differently.
The many frameworks, guidelines, checklists, and recommendations in this book will make life easier for the newest managers, those leading virtual teams. There’s no school for this yet, but when the first is established, Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance will certainly be the core curriculum.
—Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, authors of Virtual Teams, The Age of the Network, and many other books