Dispersed Team Dynamics - Assignment Example

Dispersed Team Dynamics Working in the corporate world was a new experience for me as it had its own unique customs and practices, and the corporate culture has been really a broad area for research. Retrospectively, when I first started working in the corporate world that had exposure to virtual teams, I wished I knew how to establish trust in dispersed team, how to create a team culture of trust and camaraderie, and how to build collaborative workplace relationships. And luckily, now I have deep knowledge in all these areas.

When I had the first exposure to virtual/distant teams, it was one of my main doubts that how it could be possible to establish trust in dispersed teams where team members do not interact face to face or communicate each other frequently. I knew that building trust in a work team was inevitable for promoting the value of team spirit and to improve the team outcomes. Now I understand that virtual team members have no other option but to trust his colleagues in the beginning stage, and therefore, a distant team begins its operations in a positive atmosphere of swift trust (Crisp & Jarvenpaa, 2013).

Managers capitalize on this swift trust and they take intense efforts to keep team members informed of the skills and competencies of each other. Through this practice, a team member can understand how his colleagues would respond to various situations. I was also keen to know the way a team culture of trust and camaraderie – which is the key to the successful performance of every team – was developed in virtual teams when team members were not in close touch with each other. To add to my doubt, I recognized that it was difficult for managers to promote a team culture of trust even in real work teams.

However, now I know that managers rely on technologically improved communication networks to foster interpersonal relationships among virtual team members and thereby create a team culture of trust and camaraderie (Gibson & Cohen, 2003, p.77). When a team member maintains strong interpersonal relationships with each other in the team, they would be bound more strongly, and such a situation may facilitate the creation of a high degree of trust in the organizational environment. Similarly, I wished I knew how collaborative workplace relationships were built in distant teams where members found it extremely difficult to spend time with individual colleagues.

To augment my surprise, I came to know that collaborative workplace relationship is really vital to promote effective information sharing and to improve overall organizational productivity. Later I identified that managers help the team members to develop great understanding of the team’s goals and objectives so as to keep them committed to the firm’s strategic objectives (‘Managing a Geographically Dispersed Team’). More importantly, a manager tries to provide his team members with a virtual platform to socialize after work or at free time with intent to build a collaborative worksite environment.

From the above discussion, it is clear that I was uninformed of many policies and practices followed by virtual team leaders to build the culture of trust and collaborative workplace relationships in a distant team. However, the working experience in the corporate world helped me clarify my doubts. References Crisp, C. B. & Jarvenpaa, S. L. (2013). Swift trust in global virtual teams: Trusting beliefs and normative actions. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 12(1), 45-56. Gibson, C. B & Cohen, S. G. (2003).

Virtual Teams That Work: Creating Conditions for Virtual Team Effectiveness John Wiley & Sons. Managing a Geographically Dispersed Team: Achieving Your Goals Together, While Apart. (n.d.). Mind Tools. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_40.htm