Colin Sims

Managing Virtual Teams

March 8, 2019
A. Introduction and Summary
Karl Henderson, a senior manager for Metrionic Systems in Santa Clara, has been tasked
with leading a team to develop advanced network-security devices for the U.K market in the
next five months. Henderson’s VP arranged a team to help Henderson accomplish this task
and although they are all well qualified, the team consists of members from five different
continents. Henderson is confident he can deliver the product within the five months but is
now facing the issue of scheduling a team which consists of members from so many different
countries and time zones. Henderson is contemplating how to contact each of the members,
when to hold the first meeting, through which point of contact communication should run
through, and the issues arising from differing technological databases.

B. Statement of the Problem

a. The virtual team Henderson is managing is split across five different continents and
this is a time sensitive project.
i. Symptoms:
1. The team consists of members from different time zones.
2. All communication will have to be done over the internet.
3. Different members may use different technological databases due to
being in different areas of the world.
ii. Root Causes:
1. The VP was not told to keep the team limited to any one place or
time zone.
2. The most talented possible team happened to consist of members
from different continents.
3. The product is bound for the U.K market but is headed by someone
who is from America which necessitates that need for outside help.
iii.Henderson must decide how to overcome the issue of his team being split
across different continents and find a way to ease communication and
cooperation.

C. Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions

a. An effective solution would overcome to obstacle of the team being split across
continents by providing clear communication, accessible meetings for all parties,
and would allow for the project to move along smoothly to ensure the project gets
done within the five months.
b. Alternative Solutions:
i. Henderson could have all the team members relocate to Santa Clara, CA
where he is currently living or some other central location.
ii. The team could set up a group on an online talk platform such as Skype or
Discord to ensure smooth communication and use a file sharing service to
ease the sharing of relevant project files.
iii. Henderson could simply gather another team which is more localized than
his current international team.
D. Recommended Solution
a. The team could overcome to the issue of being an international team by setting up a
group on an online talk platform such as Skype or Discord to ensure smooth
communication as well as using a file sharing service to ease the sharing of relevant
project files. The initial meeting should be held at 6:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (Santa
Clara’s Time Zone) as that provides the best possible time for all the team members in
the different time zones. It is impossible for the initial meeting to be held at a time which
is within the business hours of all time zones by this meeting time would ensure that the
earliest time is the PST zone and the latest is 11:00 PM in Sydney. The time and effort it
would require to either relocate the team to more immediate locations or to find an
equally qualified team would be immense and given the time constraints of the project, it
is simply not justifiable. This means that the only solution would be to set up clear
communication networks, in this case the online talk platforms and email, and to ease the
sharing of files, in this case Dropbox or similar secure platform, to replicate a non-virtual
team as much as possible. The risks of this are the risks that come with communication
and file sharing being an online, namely that internet access may falter in the locations of
the different members as well as the security concerns. The internet issue is one that must
be addressed by ensuring a secure internet connection is available in the different areas so
that information may flow freely between the members. The issue of security is a much
more complicated issue but can be alleviated by using secure platforms to share
communication and restricting access to the information being shared between members.
These risks are no more prevalent than those that arise from sharing emails and files with
coworkers within the same building.