Virtual Teams

Team ‘virtuality’ has been described by Linstead as a multifaceted concept that involves
synchronous and asynchronous e-communication between team members distributed across a
wide geographical area (2011). One of the major challenges facing virtual teams is that
conflict and coordination problems in virtual teams may escalate quickly as there lacks the
communication richness apparent in face-to-face team communication. To mitigate the
problems associated with virtual teams, Lee (2021) suggests measures such as developing
organizational policies to ensure thorough and safe information processing, team alignment,
and conflict mitigation. Apparent herein is the need for virtual teams to foster psychologically
safe dialogues in the Covid 19 period by setting clear team goals, formalising team processes,
and developing built-in structural solutions to identified virtual communication problems
(Ozcelik & Barsade, 2018).

Another limitation of virtual team communication concerns with its associated reduced
helping and pro-social behaviour among team members. While helping behaviours among co-
workers may be expected to be affected in the near term by the physical distancing directives
resultant from the pandemic, Ramarajan & Reid (2013) assert that this ought not to be the
case since people are inclined to be more willing to offer quality help during times of crisis
than they usually are during ‘normal’ days. Some of the impediments of help seeking by team
members stem from feelings of embarrassment, awkwardness, discomfort, among other
psychological barriers especially apparent among virtual team members. To mitigate this,
studies suggest that organizations need to implement measures aimed at reducing
stigmatization, maintaining personal privacy, and providing prompt response to help requests.