Mastering Virtual Teams: Strategies, Tools, and Techniques That Succeed, Third Edition

Chapter Five. Starting a Virtual Team

This chapter highlights the process involved in starting a virtual team and suggests a six-step plan for doing so. It is possible, however, to enter the process at any of the following steps:

1. Identifying team sponsors, stakeholders, and champions

2. Developing a team charter that includes the team’s purpose, mission, and goals

3. Selecting team members

4. Contacting team members

5. Conducting a team orientation session that focuses on explaining the task, team norms, technological planning, communication planning, and team building

6. Developing team processes, such as status mechanisms, review points, and documentation

Certain parts of this chapter apply more to network, parallel, project, product, and action teams than to management, service, production, functional, and work teams. The latter types of teams are usually preexisting rather than starting up. Nevertheless, some of the principles covered in this chapter can be applied to management and work teams after a reorganization, a reengineering effort, or transition to a virtual work environment. In such cases, activities such as rechartering, selecting team members, developing norms, and planning for communication and technology become relevant.

Many aspects of the six steps are also appropriate for functional, work, production, service, and management teams even if they have not just undergone a transition or change. Each step has the underlying objective of providing structure and support in bridging time ...