Global Virtual Teams Teigland

Leading in a global networked organization Robin Teigland Center for Strategy and Competitiveness Stockholm School of Economics [email_address] www.knowledgenetworking.org April 2008

Leading from a distance is an absolute necessity in our industry. It will be that way in more and more industries. It is a hard skill. People who have never done it don’t even recognize it as a separate skill.

Connaughton & Daly

Why the growth in global virtual teams?

What can you do to improve effectiveness in global virtual teams?

What are some new tools for working in a global networked organization?

Today’s discussion

A world of rapidly growing knowledge …. > A person’s lifetime 18th century One week 2008 Fischbowl 2007

… that becomes quickly outdated …. 50% knowledge relevant 50% knowledge outdated First year of technical-based education Third year of education Fischbowl 2007

Watch the following video

Did You Know: Shift Happens 2.0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U

How is your organization affected by these external trends?

A world of rapidly growing knowledge.. Growth Time Output of information and knowledge Human absorptive capacity Cohen, WM och Levinthal, D A, Absorptive Capacity: A new Perspective on Learning and Innovation, Working paper, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pennsylvania, October 1989

… and increasing connectivity.

The information age in which we live allows both large and small businesses to thrive on a global scale. Technologies like the internet, mobile phones, etc. have made our shrinking world even smaller.

Kingsley 2005

Increasing degree of globalization

The extent to which networks of individuals and organizations, markets, and technologies are interconnected across geographic and cultural boundaries

Beech and Chadwick 2004, Friedman 2002

From a multi-domestic company to a successful global firm Multi-domestic Global Integrated Sub7 HQ Sub10 Sub9 Sub8 Sub13 Sub11 Sub3 Sub5 Sub4 Sub1 Sub2 Sub6 Sub14 Sub14

Decade of collaboration at Shell

1997

“ Networked Community” project initiated at Shell Oil; key exec drives collaboration as he advances up hierarchy

1998-2000

Knowledge management, communities of practice, and virtual working projects undertaken across Group: consistent methodology for virtual working implemented; key teams launched

2001-ongoing

Technology for virtual working implemented in Livelink by Group IT organization

2002-03

Pilot collaboration between EP business and Global IT stressing “new ways of working” and simple tools

2004-present

Key European Business with support from IT. HR and Learning invest consistently in collaboration experiments and education

Lipnack & Stamps 2007

What are the benefits of global networks?

Profitable growth through higher efficiency and innovation

Preventing the waste of valuable resources - avoid reinventing the wheel

Ensuring the use of leading-edge technology and thinking across the firm

Increasing customer satisfaction through shorter lead-times and consistent behavior

Creating a competitive cost structure

Facilitating breakthrough and incremental innovations through combination of technologies and ideas from across and outside the firm

An attractive workplace that encourages cross-functional co-operation across the globe

Attracting and retaining key individuals

What are the benefits of global networks?

Cap Gemini – NCN MS Electronic Community

Background and objective

To provide programmers working with Microsoft products a forum to help each other solve problems

Organization

345 programmers across Nordic countries

Activities

Helping each other through posting questions and responses on listserv nicknamed “L2A2L” (Learn to Ask to Learn)

Critical success factors

“ Eldsj ä l ” – one who burned for the community and walked the talk

High level of reciprocity

Teigland & Wasko 2003

Performance differs based on one’s network Firm A High creative Low on-time High on-time Low creative Teigland 2003 High creative Virtual community Firm B

… and on the networks within the firm Teigland et al 2000

Hewlett-Packard (1990s)

Networking activities recognized and rewarded at individual and unit levels

Management support for informal and formal networking activities across internal and external boundaries

Extensive socialization : personnel rotation, cross-office teams

A visionary organization

Clearly defined mission: ” To make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity”

Supporting core values, e.g., teamwork

Company-wide goal of World’s Best Laboratory

Teigland et al 2000

But the move from a multi-domestic company to a globally integrated one is challenging

Proximal collaboration

When people are more than 50 feet apart, the likelihood of them collaborating more than once a week is less than 10%.

Allen 1984

Islands of competence despite management’s continuous efforts Stockholm London Brussels Helsinki Madrid Copenhagen Transferred from Stockholm Teigland 1998 San Francisco

Trust & reciprocity are essential for knowledge exchange in networks

… and most importantly, management cannot mandate social relationships John Eva Hans Miguel Paul Jan Lars Pia Anna Nils Bill Erik Mike Al Alex

Increasing use of Global Virtual Teams Manager Team Member Team Member Team Member Team Leader Manager Manager Manager GVT: A group of people often with complementary skills not normally together in one location at the same time functioning across boundaries of space, time, and organization, working together to achieve a shared purpose, and supported by technology

Great potential from GVTs!

Resources

Getting the best people, no matter where they are

Different perspectives from several locations

Better resources for problem solving

Process

Improved quality of decision making, eg test ideas in multiple contexts before making final decisions

Greater commitment to tasks

Results

Improved creativity and innovation

Higher motivation

More individual need satisfaction

Higher organizational commitment

Reduced employee burnout due to travel

Reduced expenses related to travel and office costs

Schermerhorn 2004

Creation of the whole > sum of its parts

What are the key challenges to GVTs?

Think for 1-2 minutes individually about the challenges with virtual teams that you are experiencing, have experienced, or have seen around you.

Discuss these with others at your table for 10 minutes.

Select the 3 most crucial challenges per table.

Appoint a spokesperson to present them.

Share with the group.

Baan 2005

What are the key challenges to GVTs?

Three key aspects make working in virtual teams different from working in collocated teams:

You’re dealing with greater complexity ,

of which you see less, i.e., reduced visibility ,

while having to rely on “handicapped” communication

within the overall theme of greater cross-cultural diversity.

Baan 2005

Improving GVT performance Lipnak & Stamps 2007, Coleman 2006

Achieving collective competence through collaboration Collective competence Group’s ability to work together to solve problems and achieve common goals Shared norms Shared routines Shared language Shared understanding Created in the course of joint action and problem solving Ruuska & Teigland 2008

Collective competence It’s really important to get a collective perspective in order for everyone to understand the project’s core and to develop the project’s goals and outcomes…a critical point is when everyone is on the same page and is able to look at the project with the same ”set of eyeglasses”. Ruuska & Teigland 2008

GVT collective competency framework Team Tasks Technology

Complexity scorecard

Team configuration

Virtual team roles

Project charter

Team processes

Communications planning

Level “playing” ground

Right technology

Manage by the task

Standard guidelines

Leadership

GVT collective competency framework

Project charter

Team processes

Team Tasks Technology

Team configuration

Virtual team roles

Leadership

Right technology

Managed by the task

Standard guidelines

The complexity scorecard

How does your team rate on a scale of 1-low to 5-high:

Organizational diversity

Members from multiple functions?

Members from multiple divisions or organizations?

Members with multiple jobs/tasks?

Flexible member composition, ie changes over time in size and members?

Geographical diversity

Wide geographical spread (number of time zones spanned)?

Members from multiple national cultures?

Members with different native languages and fluency?

Differences in cross-cultural fluency?

Technological diversity

Differences between members regarding access to communications and technology facilities?

Differences in ability to use various communication technologies?

Motivational diversity

Members with different underlying goals

Adapted from Baan 2005

Diversity presents additional challenges to achieving performance

Surface diversity

Ethnic background, age, gender

Structural diversity ( difficult to see )

Different training/educational and occupational backgrounds

Learning histories, i.e., own patterns of information acquisition and use

Perspectives on analyzing and solving problems

Example: Basic researcher vs politician vs salesperson

Ruuska & Teigland 2008

Cultural differences affect GVT behaviors “ Work-to-live” culture Risk avoidance + — + Teigland 2003 Knowledge acquisition Knowledge sharing

We live in different worlds – researchers focus on creating new knowledge/ publications while companies want to develop products that can be sold. And it’s difficult to achieve real cooperation even if you understand one another. There are always culture crashes when researchers meet people from the public and private sectors…it takes time to build bridges between the different worlds. Ruuska & Teigland 2008

Team configuration matters! Fully dispersed Three subgroups Two subgroups Least conflict Most trust Most conflict Least trust Polzer et al 2002

Clearly define virtual team roles Coleman 2006

GVT collective competency framework

Team configuration

Virtual team roles

Team Tasks Technology

Project charter

Team processes

Leadership

Right technology

Managed by the task

Standard guidelines

Develop a clear project charter …

Spend sufficient time specifying

What are the vision, purpose, and goals/objectives?

What are the roles and responsibilities of the members?

What are the “rules of the game”?

How are decisions to be made?

How are conflicts to be resolved?

When and how are resources to be supplied?

Why spend the time? Reducing complexity to something manageable Identifying priorities and importance, sequence of activities Highlighting interdependence between actors and tasks Creating a common language My view…. Making views explicit

Increase interdependency Pooled Sequential Reciprocal High Low Interdependence Thompson 1967 Collective competence increases but so does the potential for conflict Task Task Task

Conduct joint problem solving tasks

Ensure participation by all members in joint tasks from the very beginning of the project

Example: Development of project objectives

Use boundary objects to facilitate understanding

We started to draw pictures for one another. ”Let’s make a simple sketch, what should the website look like?” We started by drawing something on the computer, something visible around which we could discuss. Ruuska & Teigland 2008

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Communicate timely and continuously

Use at least two communication channels for important messages

Link “big picture” with “little picture”

Balance and respect member interests

Don’t take silence for agreement

Develop a rhythm in meeting frequency

Face-to-face meetings pump oxygen and blood into the life of the team and its relationships between members - heartbeats

Rhythm determined by frequency and type (eg face-to-face, phone) of meetings

Time between “heartbeats” depends on task (interdependence, complexity, schedule) and degree of collective competence

Face-to-face meetings do not need to coincide with major decision points! Rhythm is more important.

Adapted from Maznevski 2001

Heartbeat evidence – Ineffective team

No established rhythms of face-to-face meetings

No rhythm of contact for virtual meetings

1 3 9 7 5 11 13 Maznevski 2001 Month

Heartbeat evidence – Effective team 1

Meets face-to-face every four months

Irregular virtual meetings

1 3 9 7 5 11 13 Maznevski 2001 Month

Heartbeat evidence - Effective team 2

Meets face-to-face every six months

Meets by formal telephone conference every two months

1 3 13 9 7 5 11 Maznevski 2001 Month

Create trust through open, balanced communication

Provide open forum for discussion between all partners, e.g., virtual project space

Stretch time, don’t overload it

High performing teams stretch time, ie leverage time differences and technology

Low performing teams overload time, ie meeting together simultaneously too often

Team Member Team Member Team Member Team Leader

Team configuration

Virtual team roles

Project charter

Team processes

Leadership

Right technology

Managed by the task

Standard guidelines

Teams that focus on the issues of being “virtual” sometimes do well, but often don’t

Teams that focus on being a team and getting their job done well generally figure out the technology anyway

But equal technology support for all team members is essential!!

Each team needs to customize its own communications strategy based on members experience and skills

Technology is not the most important part! Adapted from Maznevski 2001 90% people + 10% technology

Survey on collaboration technologies

Survey of >100 people

Over 50% are top executives

50% in US and 50% elsewhere

Working on teams

62% work on team over 50% of time

72% not sure how to apply collaboration technologies

65% have fear of using collaboration technologies

Coleman 2006

Some simple rules

Facilitate a level “playing” ground

Choose the right technology

Manage meeting frequency and technology by the task

Develop guidelines for using technologies

Keep the technology simple!

Rule 1: Facilitate a level “playing” ground

Give people access to good training

Make available as many communication technologies as possible to all

But use lowest common denominator in terms of skills across members

Remember this is dynamic! What you set up today is probably not how people will work in one year

Rule 2. Choose the right technology

Face-to-face

Videoconference

Telephone – 1 person

Teleconference

Instant messaging

Email – 1 person

Email – List

Wiki

Blog

Fax

Letter

Media are richer to extent that

Allow for feedback

Allow one to communicate using multiple modes (senses, channels) at same time

Lo High Adapted fromMaznevski 2001 Technologies are characterized by their richness

Rule 2: Choose the right technology

The more complex the message, the richer the medium required

More complexity:

Earlier stage in the decision-process

Number of messages in the same interaction

Greater degree to which information depends on context to be understood (tacitness)

Number of cultural, organizational, professional, geographic, or time boundaries crossed

Degree to which the message must generate commitment from the receiver

Complexity = Richness Maznevski 2001

Rule 3: Manage by the task

Most important task factor is

Amount of Required Interdependence

Maznevski 2001 Pooled Sequential Reciprocal High Low Interdependence Task Task Task

Rule 3: Manage by the task

The more interdependence the task requires…

… the more frequen t the communication should be; and

… the more complex the messages usually are, the richer the media (see Rule 1).

Interdependence = Frequency + Richness Maznevski 2001 The task may require different amounts of interdependence at different stages

Heartbeat evidence - Effective team 2

Meets face-to-face every six months

Meets by formal telephone conference every two months

1 3 13 9 7 5 11 Maznevski 2001 Month

Rule 4: Develop guidelines

Example: Email

Answer messages promptly

Update your outgoing message when out of the office

Keep distribution lists current

Clearly identify the subject in the subject line

Prioritize mail by coding top of message with either “Requires action” or “For your information (FYI)”

Send short, straightforward messages (no scrolling required)

Use attachments sparingly

Use websites to communicate large documents

Check spelling and grammar

Send group mail when all recipients actually need it

Forward messages with care and consideration

When replying to a mail, only keep the relevant part of the mail

Only write what you are willing to see in the newspaper

Avoid irony

Do not use for urgent messages (use voice-to-voice or face-to-face)

Agree that email is a supplement and not a substitute for personal interaction

Reeves-Lipscomb 2001

Rule 4: Develop guidelines

Example – Telephone conference

Send out agenda in advance: name and contact information of person calling meeting, meeting purpose, start time and expected length, names of attendees, connection information (phone numbers, URLs, connection passwords, login IDs, etc.), list of topics

Limit participation to no more than eight active participants

Leader starts conference a few minutes in advance

Be punctual

Preface all comments with name

Avoid interrupting others (unless otherwise agree)

Use mute feature when not talking

Remember that others cannot see you

Let others know if have to leave meeting

Take “coffee breaks”

Summarize conversation at end

Distribute minutes within two days

Team configuration

Virtual team roles

Project charter

Team processes

Tools selection & code of conduct

Training needs analysis

Shared workspace

Leadership

Leading is looking in all directions Management Project Team Project Leader Stakeholders Downwards Outwards Forwards Inwards Upwards Backwards Briner et al 2004

Characteristics of high-performing teams

A clear and elevating goal

A task-driven, results-oriented structure

Competent, committed members who work hard

A collaborative climate

High standards of excellence

External support and recognition

Strong and principled leadership

What is project success? Two types of project outcomes 1. Objective – Fulfillment of objectives on budget and on time 2. Subjective - Satisfaction with project by members Leverage differences among participants to produce innovative and synergistic solutions Ruuska & Teigland 2008

What characterizes strong GVT leadership?

Think for 1-2 minutes individually about the challenges of leading virtual teams that you are experiencing, have experienced, or have seen around you.

Discuss these with others at your table.

Share with the group.

Baan 2005

Our project leader really understands the different worlds of the project since he has worked both as a practitioner and as an academic. He is good at networking and communicating with everyone.

Avoid creation of an “inner circle”

Ensure information equity

Avoid informing local team members before distant ones

Make information open to all

Link “big picture” with “little picture”

Pay attention to those who are distant

Avoid giving more attention to those team members who are closer geographically or organizationally

Aim to have weekly / bi-weekly one-on-one chats with all team members where concerns can be raised and feedback given

Provide access to other connections in your network

Don’t assume anything, silence does not mean people agree/disagree, care/don’t care. Constantly check in and get involvement

More difficult in GVTs!!!

Accessibility and attention matter more than physical closeness

“ The frequent interactions with people you have here [at headquarters] are often attributed to trust. And over distance you have a complete void there. So you are missing one of your fundamental tools. Somehow you’ve got to overcome that. And that’s where the one-on-one calls come in…”

What can you do with your interaction to make it more personal?

Encourage distributed leadership …

Make every member responsible for recognizing when task and/or maintenance activities are needed and taking actions to provide them

Leading through task activities focuses on solving problems and achieving performance results

Leading through maintenance activities helps strengthen and perpetuate the team as a social system

Reassign virtual team roles periodically

Make sure you are well connected Manager Team Member Team Member Team Member Team Leader Manager Manager Manager

Foster trust to build relationships Coleman 2006 Practices and discipline build trust, not who you are in virtual environments

Learning how to move on the axes Caulot 2006

Team configuration

Virtual team roles

Project charter

Team processes

Right technology

Managed by the task

Standard guidelines

Leadership

How well does the organization support GVTs?

Human resource policies

Training development

Standard organizational processes

Electronic communication and collaboration technology

Organizational culture

Leadership

Competence

Duarte 2006

Evolving global collaboration at Volvo IT

Available methods and tools at Volvo IT

Virtual team guide and exercises

Numerous virtual team space tools… Coleman 2006

… and external social media sites Rey 2008

The new channels of communication

Traditional

Town Hall meetings

Email

Static web content

Newsletters

Conference calls

Social media

Global Town Halls, blogs

IM, Facebook

Wikis

Video/Podcasts

WebEx, SecondLife

Sun Microsystems

Match the tool to the goal

Text messaging/IM

Quick connections

Blogs

Build reputation

Share information

Wikis

Collaboration and knowledge sharing

Forums & message boards

Get employee feedback

Solve mutual problems

Facebook, MySpace, Ning

Build relationships, share

Second Life, QWAQ, other virtual worlds

Build relationships

Collaborate

Replicate the “water cooler”

Using wikis: Target (Retail chain in USA)

Purchasers work with vendors all over the world

Have seasonal deadlines to purchase items

Email did not facilitate interaction

A purchasing agent set up wiki-based GroveSite (took only 20 minutes to set up)

Invited her vendors to be part of the team

Posted drawings and requirements for next season’s fashions

Got much better response from vendors

Vendors felt much more part of process and more of a partner of Target

Coleman 2006

Facilitating the virtual workforce

Completely private virtual business worlds offering tools to conduct business and collaborate

Fortune 500: Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Motorola, Intel

Improving global collaboration

Creating immersive workspaces in virtual worlds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnPBQAxUuDE

Unilever’s pilot in Second Life

IBM’s jam sessions in Second Life

How can social networking sites be leveraged? ringsidenetworks.com

Facebook Fridays – Embracing social media

#1 Applications Lifecycle Management (ALM) & business mashup

96 of Fortune 100 as customers

800 employees in 18 countries across globe

One hour every Friday to Facebook to find fun and connect with co-workers, customers, family, and friends

Five common goals with social media

Connect with friends and co-workers quickly

Collaborate

Build communities

Get what you want (not what someone else wants you to have)

Share

In 2008

3 900 Sun blogs

4 800 Sun employees in Facebook

Sun Microsystems embraces social media

The future manager portal at Cisco

Tomorrow’s meeting

Telepresence by Cisco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfNC_x0VvE

Why use these new tools? What is our business purpose? Melcrum 10/07

But open boundaries mean knowledge leakage… We pass over the nondisclosure agreements of different companies and trade company secrets all the time. Teigland 2003

Dual, and at times conflicting, loyalties Loyalty Loyalty Organization Professional network

Individuals make choices about how they use their knowledge…

Knowledge resides in the minds of individuals

Individuals make own choices about knowledge

Share openly for the benefit of the organization

Protect and use only in work practice

Perception that an individual’s value is diminished if share knowledge

Knowledge is power

Protect and use only in external relationships for own benefit

Knowledge leakage

Leave the firm and take knowledge with them

And if you are on the fence…

By the end of 2008

At least 70% of companies without official support for blogs and wikis will have multiple unofficial deployments

Enterprise social software will be the biggest new workplace technology success story of this decade

Gartner: “Predicts 2007:Web 2.0 and Consumerization Forge Into Enterprise” “Wikis and Social Software, 2007”

Young people ”demand” to have collaboration tools/social media, they will not want to work in the company otherwise (HR)

Legal, security reasons for slow deployment, not CIO (technical)

Create company guidelines for using social media

Trust your employees, and don’t ban social media

Use wikis to enable employees to create the company guidelines, eg IBM

Yahoo’s best practice guidelines for blogging (http://jeremy.zawodny.com/yahoo/yahoo-blog-guidelines.pdf)

Be respectful of your colleagues

Get your facts straight

Provide context to your argument

Engage in private feedback

When trusted, employees feel empowered to do the right thing!

There are many examples online Download the guidelines as a 6-page PDF. http://www.wordbiz.com/x9ksp38/IBM_Blogging_Policy_and_Guidelines.pdf

Tomorrow’s workforce is…

… building skills today Xfire.com, MMPORG.com, June 2007

World of Warcraft

Collaborating and leading across geographies, demographics, and cultures

Creating and executing strategies

Collaborative decision making under pressure

All virtually with no face-to-face interaction

In pairs, list five things you’ve learned today about working in a global networked organization.

Share at least one of your ideas with the group.

Team configuration

Virtual team roles

Project charter

Team processes

Right technology

Managed by the task

Standard guidelines

Leadership

Leading and learning Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” - John F. Kennedy Leadership, teaching, and learning are inextricably interlinked. - Jack Welch

” No one knows everything,

everyone knows something,

all knowledge resides in humanity.”

networks. Adapted from Lévy 1997

Sources

Coleman, D. Virtual Team Spaces, 2006.

Connaughton, SL & Daly, JA, “Leading from Afar: Strategies for Effectively Leading Virtual Teams” in Virtual Collaborative Teams: Process, Technologies, & Practice (S. H. Godar & S. P. Ferris, Eds.).