Introduction

• What are the critical levers when managing virtual teams? What specific challenges do they present?

• How can managers facilitate communication and prevent conflicts in virtual teams?

• How can I strengthen relationships that are very diverse in nature?

• What tools and technologies can be used to support and increase the effectiveness of geographically dispersed project teams?

The prevalence of virtual teams has been one of the most relevant organizational trends in recent years. Enhanced communication and information technologies have allowed companies to reach new international markets and tap into previously inaccessible talent pools in search of streamlined production processes and lower development costs. Despite these potential advantages, managing a virtual team presents technical and social challenges that don’t arise in traditional work settings.

Create Effective Virtual Teams will provide strategies to help participants work across different time zones and work schedules, maintain transparency in the decision-making process and minimize the conflicts that frequently arise when integrating diverse geographical, organizational and social contexts.  

Top

Key Take-Aways

• Examine the nature of distributed teams
• Analyze the unique challenges inherent in designing and managing multicultural teams
• Learn how to implement mechanisms that minimize conflict and foster a climate of cooperation and collaboration
• Learn about IT tools conducive to more effective virtual collaboration

Top

Program Structure

Building Trust in Virtual Teams
Trust is a key factor in any team. A myriad of team benefits arise from enhanced levels of trust, including increased efficiency, motivation, unity and loyalty. A team’s success is highly dependent on the level of trust developed and therefore a proactive trust-building strategy must be in place. While traditional, collocated teams benefit from spontaneous “water cooler” conversations and routine courtesy behaviors, virtual teams are unable to take advantage of such face-to-face interactions. Nonetheless, managers of virtual teams can employ subtly different mechanisms to create the right environment and obtain the required results.

Fostering Effective Communication
In traditional work environments, companies continue to struggle to create effective communication, a challenge that is significantly magnified across geographical, temporal, cultural and linguistic barriers. As a result, the opportunities for improvement in this field are enormous. Skilled managers must have the appropriate communication skills to address the needs of the team and individual situations. They must promote open and collaborative group discussions and capture the unique and innovative ideas that arise. In addition, they should also know which levers to use in order to enable efficient collaboration and motivate team members.

Leveraging Diversity in Global Virtual Teams 
Diversity is a given in virtual teams, especially when team members reflect different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Such diversity sometimes leads to misunderstandings and represents a source of tension and conflict. To ease this situation, managers and team members should have access to relevant training, tools and frameworks that help identify and decipher the diversity inherent in virtual teams. Only then can managers tap into innovation and talent pools and
harness the team’s full potential.

Developing Leadership in Virtual Teams
Virtual teams have become a corporate necessity and their proper management, a must. However, geographical distances and cultural differences make managing virtual teams a much greater challenge than conventional teams. Leaders need a new skill set to confront these unique challenges and specific strategies to foster a climate of efficient collaboration.

Supporting Virtual Teams With Technology
The recent rapid development of web and mobile technologies has taken the work of virtual teams to a whole new level and enabled companies to capture the full potential of virtual teams like never before. However, the range of tools available and the challenges in their adoption pose significant challenges. Virtual team managers must have a thorough understanding of existing and emerging tools to facilitate virtual collaboration and know how to approach implementation to ensure that the technology delivers maximum value to the team.

Top

Approach

The program incorporates a number of highly dynamic and interactive teaching methods, including role play, group discussions, class lectures and the case study method.

Widely used in executive education, the case study method is an intense, challenging approach that demands participants to make business decisions and take action by analyzing, arguing and defending their recommendations against a multitude of equally plausible solutions.

Top

Who Should Attend

The program is aimed at virtual team managers, regional directors, first-line managers, project managers, human resource professionals and IT directors.

Past participants share their thoughts

Top

Faculty

	Carlos Rodríguez Lluesma Assistant Professor of Managing People in Organizations Prof. Rodriguez-Lluesma holds a Ph.D. in Organizations from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Navarra and an MBA from IESE Business School. A member of IESE Business School’s faculty since 2001, he has also taught at Stanford University and the University of Piura. Professor Rodriguez-Lluesma has gathered valuable hands-on experience as a freelance consultant in such industries as financial services, biotechnology, consumer goods and management consulting. He serves as an advisor to a political consulting start-up in Silicon Valley. Prof. Rodríguez-Lluesma Carlos has published two books, several book chapters and research papers on cultural studies, anthropology and business.
	Evgeny Káganer Assistant Professor of Information Systems Ph.D. in Business Administration (Information Systems), Louisiana State University Evgeny Káganer teaches MBA and executive courses in IT management and online business strategy. His research examines IT innovation diffusion, industry transformations and web-enabled business models. Other recent projects include work on the enterprise use of social media and the development of online sourcing marketplaces. Prof. Káganer has presented at international conferences and his research has appeared in the Journal of the Association for Information Systems and European Journal of Information Systems.
	Yih-teen Lee Assistant Professor in the Department of Managing People in Organizations Ph.D. in Management, HEC, University of Lausanne Master in International Business, National Taiwan University Bachelor in International Trade, National Taiwan University Before joining IESE, he taught at HEC University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Angers Graduate School of Business ESSCA (France), the American Graduate School of International Management Thunderbird Europe (France), and Lung-Hua University of Science and Technology (Taiwan, R.O.C.). One of Prof. Lee’s papers on culture and the person-environment fit, titled “Satisfaction and Individual Preference for Structuring: What is Fit Depends on Where You Are From,” won the Best International Paper Award of the Organizational Behavior Division at the 2006 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, and was one of the three finalists of the academy-wide Carolyn Dexter Award. In addition to papers published in scientific journals such as Journal of Management, and Personality and Individual Difference, Prof. Lee also co-edited the books Les compétences culturelles (cultural competences, L’Harmattan, 2007), and the Cultural Contexts of Human Resource Development (Palgrave, 2009). He participates actively in research activities in cross-cultural comparative studies, cultural identities and cultural competences, and leadership in multicultural teams. He is also passionate about developing endemic cultural knowledge of the Chinese business context.
	Sandra Sieber Associate Professor of Information Systems Ph.D. in Management, IESE  Sandra Sieber’s main areas of interest include ICT-enhanced innovation and the changes in the workplace brought about by the adoption of new technologies, with a particular interest in industries that have been transformed by technological advances, such as telecommunications, banking, and media and entertainment. Her research also underscores the need for improved user knowledge about IS, especially when it plays a strategic role in the organization. Prof. Sieber has published scholarly and general articles in national and international journals, magazines and newspapers, and has contributed to several books.

Top