Question

Describe your experience of working in virtual teams for the course. How different was it from working in teams that get to meet in a face-to-face setting? Make sure to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with an exclusive online setting. What could you have done differently?

Answer 1

My experience in working for a virtual team was after the lockdown. The difference in working for a virtual team and a face to face setting is that there is no micro-management in a virtual team. The team only communicates via emails, chats, and zoom calls. In a face to face setting, managers could have one-on-one meetings easily than a virtual setting. One of the challenges about face-to-face setting is that you are constantly worried about being watched. In a virtual setting, there is freedom to work autonomously​ and there is flexibility.

The other challenge about face-to-face setting is that the arrival time. People are not always punctual and work gets delayed due to the factors like traveling and other obstacles while traveling. In a virtual setting, this is absent since employees can start working immediately and are not late. This also doesn't delay work as much as the face-to-face setting. Employees are more productive in a virtual setting in my experience than a face-to-face setting.

What could have they done differently? In my organization, the productivity enhanced in numbers when employees started working virtual. However, there was a disorientation in communication. The company could have used better channels to communicate effectively as it lacked to observe updates of the performance.