This document summarizes information about the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. It provides details on the company's founding, brands, employees, revenue, mission and headquarters location. It also outlines best practices for managing virtual teams, including establishing clear leadership, communication, vision, roles and collaboration. Challenges of multicultural virtual teams like different time zones and cultural misunderstandings are discussed. Recommendations include comprehensive performance evaluations, team agreements, building trust, and addressing cross-cultural issues.

1. Eli Lilly
TONYA BAILEY - AMSTERDAM
MATTHEW HARLOE – AUSTRALIA
FALLON CARRICO – INDIANAPOLIS
(HEADQUARTERS)

2. About Eli Lilly
▪ Founded by a 38-year old pharmaceutical, chemist, and
veteran in 1876 – Eli Lilly.
▪ The company is responsible for many well-known brands
such as: Cialis, Cymbalta, Methadone, Prozac, and Zyprexa.
▪ Employing more than 38,000 people worldwide.
▪ Net Profit (as of 2013) – $23.1 billion.
▪ Eli Lilly Company Mission – “Make modern medicines that
help people live longer, healthier, and more active lives”.

3. Abstract
Our team worked to develop an analysis of virtual team issues
relating to cultural and international factors. We outlined our set of
recommendations to evaluative procedures, as well as
recommendations for addressing these issues. The result is a set of
best practices for managing multicultural virtual teams regardless of
environmental, cultural, or social barriers.

4. Part One - Set of Best Practices
for Managing Multicultural Virtual
Teams in an Online Learning
Environment

5. Leadership
▪ A leader must be chosen for each project.
▪ A leader needs to be an effective communicator, have strong
organizational skills, and be able to multi-task.
▪ Determine what each team member’s role/responsibility is, as
well as budget, timelines, and deadlines for the project.
▪ Set team expectations for each assigned project, and ensure
members understand the foundation of the team objective.

6. Communication
▪ Geographical distance between team members can cause
miscommunication, misunderstanding, or conflict.
▪ Speak clearly so others can understand what you say—as language
barriers may misconstrued context.
▪ Ask questions, so that you and all team members fully understand
duties, and responsibilities.

7. Vision
▪ Ensure all team members understand the goal and vision of the
project by creating ways to support one another: coach team when
needed, provide feedback, and offer awards and incentives.
▪ Constructive criticism is usually welcomed and encouraged to help
coach each team member along the way.
▪ The feedback will help keep the team engaged and more in tune in
how each team member is contributing to the project.
▪ Peer awards will be available to help encourage team members
and allow peers to recognize each other for a job well done.

8. Roles
▪ Team members must understand their roles, check in regularly
and fulfill their commitments.
▪ Each team member will have the opportunity to report what they
contributed to the project during the meeting– allowing all team
members to know that everyone is carrying out their
responsibilities.
▪ All concerns, questions, and issues can be discussed during the
duration of the meeting with a follow-up resolution.

9. Collaboration
Effectively collaborate with various face-to-face alternatives.
Eli Lilly Tools for Communication (but are not limited to):
▪ GoToMeeting – share documents and computer screens.
▪ Lync – instant messaging, sharing documents or computer
screens.
▪ SharePoint/OneDrive – manage documents collaboratively.
▪ Skype – instant messaging, and video conferencing.

10. Part Two – Analysis of
Cross-Cultural/International
Issues in Virtual Teams

11. Benefits of Cross-Cultural/Multi-National Virtual
Teams
▪ Working in a virtual team with diverse cultures can lead to many
opportunities, and contain a number of liabilities.
▪ Undeniable opportunities brought on by global virtual teams
include: limiting costs (e.g. transportation, travel), gaining access
to diverse skills or knowledge, expanding the organization, and
learning about diverse global markets.
▪ Working with co-workers with different backgrounds can inspire
new ideas, and bring in different perspective.
▪ Due to the rise of globalization, working with different cultures is
vital to organizations looking to expand their business.

12. Difficulties facing Geographical & Time Zone
Distance
▪ Without face-to-face communication, trust and shared
understanding are two important aspects that many virtual teams
find challenging to generate.
▪ Team members that work together from a distance are less likely
to get to know one another, and absorb their working habits.
▪ Some virtual team members could be a day behind, or ahead on
assignments—depending on their locations.
▪ Time zones can also make synchronous communication (e.g.
telephone, video conferencing) efforts difficult.

13. Difficulties facing Multicultural/International
Virtual Communication
▪ The cultural difference between a sender and receiver of a
message can make all the difference in successful virtual
communication.
▪ Some cultures prefer to be direct and clear about what they are
trying to get across—even though it may come off confrontational,
or rude.
▪ Multi-cultural virtual teams have diverse resources of information,
personal opinion, and emotions—all cultures typically believe that
their way is superior, or more efficient than others.
▪ It is also likely that some cultures may not be able to have access
to some of the collaboration-preferred technologies.

14. Part Three –
Recommendations for
Managing, Monitoring,
and Evaluating Virtual
Team Issues

15. Performance Evaluation
Performance evaluation can be one of the larger challenges that
managers will face when leading a virtual team.
Factors such as:
▪ physical observation
▪ isolation
▪ knowledge barriers
▪ emphasis on output

16. Comprehensive Assessment Process
▪ Must be developed to cater to the unique characteristics of a
particular virtual team.
▪ Company values, process improvement, team input, customer
feedback, and individual goal metering are all good components to
form the foundation for a solid appraisal process.
▪ This assessment also serves as a base for future evaluative
measures.

17. Team Agreement and Work Plan
▪ This document serves as a custom contract for each virtual team
that addresses: accountability, vision, conflict management,
deliverables, guidelines for communication, self-assessment
methodology, and the course of action for team decisions.
▪ This is a dynamic document that should contain the input of all
team members and, once finalized, signed.
▪ By outlining clear metrics, consequences, and shared values there
is no confusion of what is expected out of each member, and from
the team.
▪ A team agreement and work plan should be revisited regularly to
ensure its scope is still appropriate to the team’s goals.

18. Trust
▪ Solid trust leads to effective and predictable communication.
▪ It is important to supplement the social interactions lost in a
virtual team by setting aside time during team meetings to discuss
what is happening, both personally and professionally, in
everyone’s lives.
▪ When the members of a virtual team trust one another, the need
to collaborate and communicate is spread evenly, rather than the
burden being carried by one or two individuals.
▪ In order to maintain the trust that has been built, it is important to
share and rotate power.

19. Dealing with Cross-Cultural/International Virtual
Team Members
•Carry an open mindset.
•Assume responsibilities.
•Create trust and validity within team.
•Create a shared understanding within the team.
•Have meaningful conversations with team members.
•Take into consideration the different time zones, and distance between team members.
•Listening actively – As a sender or receiver of a message in cultural differentiated teams,
clarification may be necessary. Don’t feel hesitant to request verification, or seek additional
information of what the sender is trying to communicate.
•Have virtual team agree on recommended procedure for cross-cultural/international issues,
and conflict/resolution management style.

20. Recommended Procedures when Addressing
Cross-Cultural/International Issues
•Determine virtual team politics—organizational hierarchy, team roles, and tasks.
•Specify virtual team goals, objectives, and deadlines.
•Cultural training programs and practices to educate virtual team members.
•Defining multi-cultural virtual team communication norms, and universal
language.
•Virtual team conflict/resolution management.
•Team member technology capability and access.
•Synchronous/Asynchronous communication management.
•Creating trust and shared understanding.
•Social Integration—cliques in virtual teams are sometimes formed due to
demographics, geographic, psychographics.

21. In Conclusion
▪ There are many factors for managing a virtual team that will ensure your
team works together efficiently and productively.
▪ One of the major limiting factors is the lack of social interaction one
might experience when working in the same office, or a face-to-face
team.
▪ A work plan or team agreement is essential for any virtual team as it
aids in cohesion and in the understanding of expectations.
▪ With a solid foundation, and clear communication, you can begin work to
grow trust.
▪ The benefits of a virtual team far outweigh the challenges presented by
multi-cultural and international issues. As organizations look to gain a
competitive advantage, virtual teams are becoming more common
place.

22. Works Cited
▪ Drug Watch. (2015). Eli Lilly & Co. Retrieved from Drug Watch: http://www.drugwatch.com/manufacturer/eli-lilly/
▪ Eli Lilly. (2015). Key Facts. Retrieved from Lilly: https://www.lilly.com.au/en/about/key-facts.aspx
▪ Eli Lilly. (2015). Key Issues. Retrieved from Lilly: http://www.lilly.com/about/key-issues/Pages/key-issues.aspx
▪ Eli Lilly. (2015). Lilly Foundation. Retrieved from Lilly: http://www.lilly.com/about/lilly-foundation/Pages/lilly-foundation.aspx
▪ PBR. (2015). Eli Lilly and Company. Retrieved from Pharmaceutical Business Review: http://www.pharmaceutical-business-
review.com/companies/eli_lilly_and_company
▪ Wikipedia. (2015). Eli Lilly and Company. Retrieved from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Lilly_and_Company
▪ Ferrazzi, K. (2012, October 8). How to Build Trust in a Virtual Workplace. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2012/10/how-
to-build-trust-in-virtual/
▪ Fitzpatrick, R. (2015). Challenges and Interventions in Monitoring and Evaluating Virtual Team Performance. Retrieved from eSalesTrack:
https://est05.esalestrack.com/eSalesTrack/Content/Content.ashx?file=e004e188-1b41-4cdc-820b-2dc3c526896e.pdf
▪ Gibson, C. B., & Cohen, S. G. (2003). Virtual Teams That Work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
▪ Nemiro, J. (2004). Creativity in Virtual Teams - Key Components for Success. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
▪ Nemiro, J. (2008). The Handbook of High Performance Virtual Teams. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
▪ Polane, M. (n.d.). Cross-Cultural Management in a Virtual Project Team Setting. Retrieved from Academia:
http://www.academia.edu/528072/Cross_Cultural_Management_in_a_Virtual_Project_Team_Setting