Outline

Session 4University of Southern California

ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Outline

• General

– Always have your name and assignment on all files

– Always have a single document for your individual or team homework

– Future inputs for lecture – single PowerPoint slide with your name at the bottom. For multiple topics you may submit multiple slides in separate files. If it is part of the homework, it should also be in the text there – brevity is the soul of wit!

• Discuss Homework – I’ll comment next week after I have read them

• Assign homework

• Roles and Competencies

• Virtual team:

– Meetings

– Dynamics


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Roles and competencies

Balancing coordination and collaboration

Coordination and collaboration roles

Ambassador

Conveyor of information

Coordination with team members

Building and maintaining trust

Share learning

Autonomy roles

Manage self

Take responsibility

Clarify ambiguous tasks

Address conflicting loyalties


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

From my experience, the "Crossing Boundaries" and "Interpersonal Awareness" are two of the most important facets of Team Member Roles. The one thing the authors' assume is a strong leader to aide in the development of these skills or highlight them to the team. Situations where a leader who is not well versed in these types of situations may actually build boundaries instead of crossing them or bridging them, is not considered.

(cont on next page)


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input (cont)

I understand the presentation of the material for an ideal team setting or even the flexibility required but what is missing is the trouble shooting or corrective actions required for mistakes from team members or their leadership.

The matter of trust is also important and covered well in the text. It also covers some of the potential issues with selective trust and "in groups" where some team members may get left out. This again is the responsibility of the team leader to build a bridge and break down boundaries within their own team or across functional teams. Again the authors cover the potential pitfalls but do not address a corrective action or recovery approach. This would be helpful.

Justin Albright

I think that corrective actions are pretty ad hoc and would be difficult to prescribe. This course of necessity is one of building awareness – the practice has to be developed by each of you.


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Inputs

The difficulties and extra strain on virtual team members are described. What is not discussed is how relating virtually can improve conditions. The extra effort necessary to coordinate and collaborate may cause virtual team members to relate better than members at the same location. Table 6.1 Team Member Role Assessment would show this: virtual teams would have more “Quite a bit” and “Continually” answers than teams at the same location.

Can you think of any companies these days that don’t have virtual teams? It seems all companies have employees or customers they must communicate virtually with- therefore, virtual competencies should be possessed by everyone.

-Gretchen

Excellent point!


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Areas of competence

Project Management

Networking

Use of technology

Self – management

Crossing Boundaries

Interpersonal awareness


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

One of the key topics discussed in Ch. 6 was about how virtual team members need to be competent in crossing cultural, functional, and organizational boundaries. While the complexity of crossing cultural boundaries has been discussed to a certain degree already in the class, an equally complex area is the culture within individual IPTs and how that can vary from IPT to IPT. This is especially prevalent on my program, where certain IPTs have extreme difficulty working with each other. Part of this problem can be attributed to how my company has merged with other companies and each has its own unique “heritage” way of doing business. This heritage business mindset is so ingrained that the IPTs are unable to see any other way of doing business other than their own particular way. This unwillingness to try other approaches has been a detriment to resolving various issues and almost always requires a third party to mediate. Therefore, I feel crossing boundaries is a particularly important competence that team members need to be successful at.

Nelda Howell

Insightful upper management immediately embarks on creating common cultures after mergers and acquisitions – few are

Always explain acronyms! (IPT)


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Inputs

Group 3 was able to coordinate our work successfully. Also, after hearing that Group 2 used Webex for their team, including non-Boeing members, I've tested that group 3 is able to this tool too. Which works out really nice since some of us, mostly me, have some issues with the DEN tools.

--Brian


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Comment:

Under “virtual team member competence,” I find that crossing boundaries (page 130) would be the most difficult skill area to master. I think it would take a great amount of experience working in cross-cultural teams to truly understand how cultural perspectives influence work and collaboration.

Harry Arsene

This made me think of my work in Japan and Europe

In Japan, the difference were fairly obvious and we were all very aware on both sides

In Europe, the differences are much more subtle, especialy in England where we share a language and a heritage


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

From CY

Question:

How to reduce the impact of culture difference in virtual teams?

Awareness and sensitivity – think before you act (e.g. write e-mail in word and paste)

Study the other cultures

Comment:

Culture difference is a serious issue in team roles and trust in virtual teams. To reduce the impact, it is important to let all the team members understand the condition of culture difference and problems brought out. Team members must accept and respect other members’ culture to reduce the conflict. Based on the respect to individual member’s culture and team goal, teams have to form their own team culture. [very good point] In addition, to standardize the message format, working processes and methods can help communication to avoid misunderstanding because of culture difference.


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Chapter 6 describes the competencies necessary for success within a virtual team environment. While each is important, the sections on interpersonal awareness and crossing boundaries stand out as highly important. My experiences indicate that they are the most difficult to manage in a virtual vs. co-located team and they result in magnified problems when not attentively managed. It is difficult to understand how you may come across via e-mail, phone or video conference. Most use sight as a primary sensory and communication method. Virtual teaming limits this method, thus making it difficult to gage the intent of other's actions (and how people will receive your own). Add cultural differences to the mix and tension may build. The author points out that it only takes one or two e-mails in the beginning to cause the entire team building phase to sour.

(cont)

MH


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input (cont)

I've experienced this first hand, particularly in classroom situations when team members have no previous experience (or responsibility) with each other. Duarte's suggestion for questioning others regarding your interpersonal actions is a good one. Though, I believe it would take significant practice as most are uncomfortable with such topics (especially with unknown people).


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Building Trust

Categories

Performance and competence

Integrity

Concern for well being of others


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Building trust is very important in a virtual team. Especially with team members you have never met in-person. Trust isn’t just truth. It’s also in effort and action. In the beginning as teams are formed, each team members are given the benefit of the doubt. It’s very easy to trust people in the beginning. However, there are people with ‘bad’ habits. I’m not saying these people are bad nor have bad intention. They could have the best intention, but with bad habits they could affect the projects in means of time, money, and schedule. How do you know if the person you’re working with will put in 110% effort? They could be all talk and no action. By the time you discover what’s going on, it’s too late. How do you avoid situations like this early in the project?

Test people early with small requests

Sam Ho


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Inputs

In Checklist 7.1 (pg 144-146), I believe there is a significant TrustFactor missing under Concern for the Well-Being of Others:

Showing respect for other's time.

I remember how disrespected I felt in my earlier professional life when any supervisor expected me to drop whatever I was doing to run to his office to answer a trivial question.It was as if my time and my efforts could not possibly be as significant as that of my supervisor. It caused the team to not fully trust the supervisor to care for their well-being. I believe one of the notable reasons I have been trusted by my subordinates and teammates is that in day-to-day interactions I treat their time and efforts with respect. This used to mean doing things like walking to their cubicle or office to ask a question.


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

This reminds me of a manager who always started a phone call with “Do you have time to talk or come to my office?”

“When you get a chance, please….” and most impressively, of a meeting was approaching 11:30 A.M. , he would remind me that it was time for my noon run (we had a gym at work and we used to run to the beach and back – 6 miles – during an elongated lunch – we came in early to compensate)


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

How would a team member or a team lead regain trust from other team members once it is lost? In addition, what should a team member do if his team lead has no concern for his work-life balance or career development. [Try to discuss this with him/her – a lot depends on the overall environment in the organization. They range from very helpful to totally insensitive]

However, because the team lead can deliver results, the upper management does not do much to improve the team members’ concern. In a situation like this, would team member also lose loyalty and trust to their company? [It depends on how they responded to you’re your concerns when you voiced them, assuming that you did – if they ignored you, then definitely]

PC


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

TS

Personally I think, periodic report about their progress and problems to their leader or appropriate person is one of the most important part of team member competence.

In my experience, a member who did not contact to other members constantly always took a wrong way in his part from our team goal. So, it caused us to fix our whole work again and again.


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

While chapter 7 doesn't list communication explicitly as a key factor, I believe that communication is the pivotal element for success of the key factors. Silence is deadly to a virtual team. A lack of communication can break down trust and cause the illusion of poor performance. Communication should be positive and constructive and never accusatory. On our team, a simple misunderstanding resulted in a more serious breakdown after a team member accused another of mistrust instead of considering that a simple miscommunication had occurred. In a virtual team environment, trust cannot be left as something team members must earn. It must be given freely and given early in order to ensure success of the virtual team.

BZ


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input (cont)

With my current virtual teams, it means using "chat"technology such as Windows(r) Messenger(tm). It allows me to get aquick answer to a question without being too distracting. It also shows respect for my team's time when I respond to their chats. Email is also an option, but it tends to not be an "instant" response to a question, and often a quick answer is needed. Phone calls are also problematic because the team member is often sitting in a meeting or on a telephone conference call. Chat has proven to be a significant productivity and trust enhancer for my virtual teams.

JM


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Building Trust – attitudes and behaviors

Power distance

Uncertainty avoidance

Individualism

Long term perspective

Context


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

(Chapter 7)

I just want to be clear on the concept of high/low –power distance cultures. I understood this to mean low-power-distance groups are those teams who continually consult their group members and assess member’s opinions before making a decision and high-power-distance are groups involving people who have greater authority and thus can make group decisions without the consent of other team members. Is this correct?

If so, it seems to me that this form of decision making is not necessarily culture specific, i.e. there could be both high and low-power distance cultures within American culture (depending on dynamics of the group). Do you agree? HA

My interpretation is somewhat different – We are talking about the attitude towards higher power positions in different cultures – for example the use of familiar or formal address that is part of most languages other than English, or whether you would feel free to address a higher power person at all, even if you had not been spoken to.


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Dynamics - Modified Model (after Tuckman)


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Dynamics - Brainstorming

“The combination of the lack of normal conversational give-and-take and the drama of using technology to generate a large quantity of ideas or to quickly exchange documents sometimes may suboptimize the quality of solutions.

Some adaptive tasks require deep thought and debate that require time, face-to-face contact, and productive conflict.

More than one team has been happy with the quantity of ideas and plans it has generated, only to discover later that there should have been deeper thought about the quality of the ideas.

Unfortunately, some teams never even make the discovery!


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Working Adaptively

Adaptive environment – no set rules on how to solve the “problem”

May not know what the “problem” is

Uncertainty and discomfort

Challenge

Opportunity for new experiences and knowledge

Technical environment – known rules, structures and approaches


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Adaptive environments

Working outside one’s comfort zone??? ( I always thought that this was normal engineering work) Examine the overall context

Identifying the adaptive challenge

Maintaining healthy levels of stress (to what purpose?)

Focusing and creating a sense of urgency (do we really need it?)

Not feeling compelled to provide all the answers

Staying the course

Learning


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Adaptive environments

Maintain disciplined action

Distributed intelligence – put the pieces together

Leadership by all


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Page 1 of 2

Two points that came to mind after reading Chapters 6 and 7. I'd be interested to hear what the rest of the class thinks about these two items.

Chapter 6: Chapter 6 frequently mentions that members of virtual teams have to perform activities traditionally performed by the team leader.

I'm wondering what effect that will have on the team members. If team members are put into a position where they are performing team leader activities, (such as interfacing with upper level management, resolving team conflicts, etc.) will they feel as though they are performing the team leaders job?

Will they begin to resent the team leader? Will they expect team leader type compensation?

I could see this becoming an issue if the team members feel they are doing too much "leading" and too little work on the product.

AD


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Page 2 of 2

Chapter 7: On p. 140 Duarte states that "If a team leader or team

member appears to have little or inappropriate experience...it may

erode the trust that team members have in the importance of the

team and their belief that it can perform effectively."

Can a leader with little experience gain the teams trust through other

means (like follow-through and obtaining resources) or will the team

leader find him/herself in a constant battle to win over the teams

trust?


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

I agree with the author that coordination and collaboration of virtual teams is difficult.

My own team is finding this difficult because we have been unable to meet all at once due to conflicting schedules and such.

I believe that coordination and collaboration is important for a team because it helps define how well a team can work together and reflects how much each individual is committed to the team.

I also believe trust is a critical factor in a team's success.

Without trust, a teammate may not put in all his/her efforts because he/she does not believe in the team leadership, which can lead to doubts of whether the team will succeed.

PN


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Chapter 6: I believe the key competencies listed for virtual team members: project management, networking, use of technology, self-management, boundary management, and interpersonal awareness are not only necessary for virtual teams, but all teams.

I have participated on just a handful of virtual teams and many co-located teams. I have used these key competencies with my co-located teams, especially interpersonal awareness. Several times throughout my career, team members and outside coworkers approach me needing assistance or information.

These requests for assistance are sometimes the result of emergent issues and require immediate attention, while the majority are routine tasks that have several day flow times. I have learned to not ask when the internal customer needs the assistance, because the typical response is right away. I will usually state that I have several things in work, and that I can complete their work and respond to them at a specific point in time, say 1:00 pm today or 8:00 am tomorrow morning. Most people agree to my proposal.

This allows me to complete their task after I have completed the tasks I was planning on completing before their request for help, and allows the internal customer to return to their work area to complete other tasks.

When I ask for assistance from others, I ask what their current workload is and explain what I need assistance with, and when I need it completed.

JG


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

I question if you can fully trust someone in a virtual situation the way you would in a face-to-face relationship with daily interaction. I believe that while you can have a trusting relationship on a virtual team, it is not the same as one you might find in a deeply bonded team.

In a virtual setting, it is difficult to have personal interaction and feel that a fellow team member cares about your well-being. Often it seems that it is the little things that purvey this feeling, such as noticing that someone is too busy to leave their desk for lunch and offering to pick them up a sandwich. It’s the things that happen ‘around the water cooler’ or over a coffee break that often show team members care about one another.

This is not something one can easily do in a virtual setting. Purposeful and directed teambuilding would be necessary to create a similar environment for a virtual team. Similarly, with effort, the team leader can show noticeable concern for a team member’s well-being by helping with career advancement and looking out for opportunities for that team member. Perhaps this is all the trust that is required for a virtual team to function effectively.

KD


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Page 1 of 2

As part of my job, I manage a multi-disciplinary virtual project team with teammates from several companies around the country. While the team has been working very well together, an issue has arisen in recent weeks that is causing an erosion of my trust in one of the member companies. This particular company is one of two that are not putting in their own money to participate in the project, but are instead being paid for their contributions. The specific issue that came up recently is that they ran out of money and even overspent their budget without communicating it to me or even knowing it themselves.

Given the monthly tracking data I get from my finance/business folks, I knew their funding was running out, but I did not feel the need to micromanage their expenditures to the extent I do with my own in-house folks. Regardless, it seems pretty clear that the folks involved on their end are lacking in project management skills or are not being held accountable by their own F&B folks.

(cont on next page)

BP


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Page 2 of 2

This represents a corporate culture disconnect in that my company requires all senior engineers and management staff to work very closely with F&B staff to track expenditures for the projects they lead, and I assumed the same would be true of the other companies I'm working with. Anyway, I guess in addition to telling this story,

I have a discussion question. While it seems clear to me that I should require formal reporting of their weekly expenditures to me personally, should I ask my teammates to set up a meeting between myself and their management to escalate the issue on their end or will that just serve to cause more trust issues?

I would try and resolve the issue with the people that you have been communicating, before going to their management


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Looking at Checklist 6.1, I think the most important area of competence is self-management. Of course, you need to assess yourself on this checklist before you asses anyone else. But that is the most important because you need to learn to manage yourself before you can manage anyone else, or work with anyone else. By doing a thorough analysis of yourself, you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses. Then you know your limits so you can lean on others on the team when you are dealing with your weaknesses. You can also take a leadership position on the team when dealing with one of your strengths.

After doing a thorough analysis of self-management, then you can move on to the other areas of competence to determine your level of skill and experience. But I don’t see any of those other areas, even though they are very important, being as important as self-management

CR


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Chapter 6 and 7 emphasize roles of members in a virtual team. Besides performing his or her tasks, a virtual team member must take active role in coordinating and collaborating with other members with autonomy. It seems that virtual team members have more involvements in team building than a co-located team members such as coordinating and collaboration with other teams in organization and partners; networking; resolving conflicts; sharing learning from experiences; building trust; communicating appropriately with high level management; cost controlling; self-management on work limit, career and skills management; understanding and communicating effectively with other cultural different members; aware of the differences in cultural, working style, business practice, and interpersonal styles or behaviors among team members. Creating and building trust are important to team's success, performance, and collaboration. Contributing to a trusting relationship with others includes good interaction, competent performance, acting with integrity, sharing critical information with all members, and living up with commitment. Team member must support and stand behind team and all its members. It also important to know that appropriately and effectively using technology not only bring trusts to team but also encourages more ideas, opinions, performance from team members, and reducing fear of recrimination.

KT


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

It is interesting to note that the author on page 126 notes the competencies I have encountered as part of me working in a virtual environment. In reality, I think these are normally qualities that are more prominent in managers. Competencies such as project management, networking and self-management are what I consider to be the most important of the group, but at the same time I believe these are competencies that are the least likely to be adopted initially by your typical employee.

At times, employees may feel that the competency is not truly in their job description. While to some extent this may be true, these competencies ensure that you provide yourself with the best work environment that will be conducive to performing well. Not only is it important to trust the other members on your team, but it is also important to trust in yourself so that you will be comfortable and confident in making decisions and communicating with all levels of your organization.

SV


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Chapter six of Duarte provides an excellent framework for virtual team competencies, and provides ways for a virtual team leader to assess which team members may be better than others in certain areas of team competencies. These competencies (project management, networking, technology use, self-management, boundary management, and interpersonal awareness) are critical for a team leader to understand about each virtual team member. Chapter six also stresses that cultural influences may bias an individual’s performance in one of the competency areas.

(cont)

CH


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input (cont)

Chapter seven focuses on the necessity of building trust in virtual teams, and how that trust relies on three critical areas (performance and competence, integrity, and concern for others). The book recommends an initial trust-building exercise to immediately foster trust in other team members.

[I do not remember any of these – inputs would be appreciated] The most important concept was the radius of trust, especially with respect to multicultural virtual teams. Teams must expand that radius over time, or they can never fully develop.


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

I agree that communication is very important in building trust in a team. I’ve had experiences where lack of communication caused the team to rush to finish at the end.

When a team member misses a meeting and doesn’t explain why, it gives the perception that the team isn’t important to that team member. I trust and enjoy working with people who are responsive, communicate well, and deliver when promised.

I think it is very difficult to build trust and very easy to destroy it. Sometimes it is very difficult to stand up for one’s own convictions, especially in power distant cultures.

EL

Very good points!


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Chapter 7 of Duarte described why trust is so important to virtual teams, and how to build it. In my experiences the building of trust among teammates located across distances is the most important aspect of a team. In various situations I have seen teammates lose touch with the team, and being under utilized because of a lack of trust. When this occurs, it is usually not temporary and low profile. Most of the other team members can quickly see that someone has lost trust in someone else and will also start to lose faith in them. This can quickly spiral out of control and leave the teammate in a very bad position with the team.

(cont)

FM


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input (cont)

Chapter 7 of Duarte provides many details about how to make sure that trust stays consistent within a virtual team. It also explains how things like power-distance can start to erode trust. A question for the class: Once you have lost a significant amount of trust in a coworker, is there any way they can regain it in your eyes?

I think a solid performance on a task should put a person back in good graces

Also, do you think it is harder for someone to regain trust in a virtual setting as opposed to face to face?

I am not sure that it makes a difference, as long as the task mentioned above is visible to team members, or is made so by the team leader


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

According to Chapter 6 “Team member roles and competencies”, communication and collaboration are the two most important factors in team success. It can be better sometimes to wait until team members get to know one another as dependable and competent before initiating team building. Chapter 7 “Building Trust in Virtual Teams” states that trust depends on performance and competence, integrity, and concern for the well being of others. Information overload can slow down a team's decision-making process.

The use of technology requires a different skill set than meeting face-to-face, for example, using emails to communicate with team members about their performance can lead to misinterpretation, while speaking with the team member in person would not.

PK


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Since team members usually have diversity in one aspect or another it will be beneficial for the Team Leader to outline and discuss the areas of roles, competency and trust at the beginning of the team’s work and through the duration. This will direct the energies of the team members to the team’s purpose so they are not hampered by misperceived observations. One facet of a meeting agenda that I’ve seen is a meeting check at the end of every team meeting. [See material on meetings] This can be valuable especially when team members are candid about their perceptions of positives and negatives. When team members know about each other’s perceptions, they often work to improve those areas. As team members openly evaluate and discuss the meeting their trust can grow and benefit their work on the team’s assignment.

JB


ISE544 June 2, 2009

Geza P. Bottlik

Input

Trust in virtual teams is easy to lose, especially when people do not respond with acknowledgement of messages or communicate the status of a job. The example of Sara’s team keeping a log of their commitments is a good idea but may be hard to enforce with a large virtual team.

In my own experience I have noticed that the people who respond and communicate results are the ones you will email the most. When you do not get a response from somebody it is easier to leave them out of the loop, and go to somebody else the next time you need information

TL

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