SIM WISCONSIN CHAPTER
Leading, Leveraging & Managing
Far-Flung Teams
Dr. Arv Malhotra
The Kenan-Flagler Business School
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
[email protected]
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Agenda for the Talk
 Examples of Far-Flung Teams
 Technology-Use Practices of Far-Flung
Teams
 Leading Far-Flung Teams
 Managing Far-Flung Team Process
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Example: Telecom Infrastructure Provider
Component Supplier
Production
Ohio
Corporate HQ
NJ
Germany
Leading Customer
Germany
Global Logistics Group
Oklahoma
AIM: Global Demand and Supply Planning
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Example: Wireless Devices Manufacturer
Marketing Group
U.K.
Design Engineering Group
Marketing Group
Texas
Hong Kong
Marketing Group
Hong Kong
Marketing Group
Brazil
AIM: Test New Products (Pre-Launch) in Global Market
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Example: Automotive Engine Manufacturer
Customer’s Main Office
Customer’s Main Office
U.S.
U.K.
Design Engineering Group
Design Engineering Group
Germany
U.S.
Customer’s New Market
Mexico
Design Engineering Group
Brazil
AIM: Design New Engine for a New Market for the customer
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Example: Electronics Manufacturer
Cambridge
Berlin
Montreal
U.S. West
Boston
Tokyo
Italy
Bangalore
AIM: Develop a Global Standard Processes for the Co.
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Far-Flung Teams:
Virtual Teams Version 10.0
PURELY
VIRTUAL
GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE
GLOBALLY
DISTRIBUTED
FAR-FLUNG
TEAMS
REGIONALLY
DISTRIBUTED
VIRTUAL
TEAMS
FACE to
FACE
SAME
LOCATION
TEAMS
SAME
FUNCTION
SAME
COMPANY
MEMBERSHIP
VALUE
CHAIN
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Challenges of Far-Flung Teams
 “Communications challenged”
 most work/interaction through electronic media
 different kind of discipline needed
 “Culturally challenged”
 different countries, functions, companies
 “Task challenged”
 uncertainty in content of outcomes,
 uncertainty in processes,
 tough to coordinate because of team size, #
languages, # time zones
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Far-Flung Teams: The Key Benefits
 If working in a far-flung
“virtual” mode is so
challenging then why do it?
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Far-Flung Teams:
Top
5
Objectives
Far-Flung Team Objectives
Access to Specialized
Expertise
Think Global, Act Local
Job Flexibility
M&A - Integrating
Expertise
Cost Savings
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
% of Teams Reporting
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Technology Enabling Far-Flung Teams:
Points to Ponder
E-Mail is Be All End All
Rest is Just Fancy Shmancy
One or two “all team” audio-conference sessions
are more than enough
Things Could Be a Whole Lot Better
with Video-Conferencing
Face-to-face meetings are required for
brainstorming
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Simulating Reality:
Building a “Virtual Workspace”
Project Scheduling
Tool
Instant
Messaging
Audio
Conferencing
Virtual
Work
Space
Web
Conferencing
Electronic
Discussion
Threads
Team
Knowledge
Repository
Meeting
Scheduler
Templates
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Technology-In-Use in Far-Flung Teams
Audioconferencing
Knowledge
Repository
Instant Messaging
Electronic
Whiteboards
Synchronous
Application Sharing
Videoconference
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
% teams using the technology
100%
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Technology Enabling Far-Flung Teams:
Best Practices
E-Mail is Be All End All
Rest is Just Fancy Shmancy
Most successful far-flung teams banned use of
E-mail for team communications
One or two “all team” audio-conference sessions
are more than enough
Audio-conferencing is the lifeblood of all highly
successful far-flung teams
(SLICE team @ Boeing-Rocketdyne had 74 sessions in 9 months)
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Technology Enabling Far-Flung Teams:
Best Practices
Things Could Be a Whole Lot Better
with Video-Conferencing
Teams found web-conferencing (audio +
application sharing more useful)
Face-to-face meetings are required for
brainstorming
Far-flung team found electronic brainstorming (if
done correctly) much more productive
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Running Audio-conference Meetings
as Managed Events
 Review
discussion
items to
focus on
disagreement
 Assign
agenda
items
 Rotate
meeting
facilitation
 Create
feeling
of
team
as a
social
entity
 Refocus on
timelines &
progress
tracking
Pre
Start
 Keep
everyone
engaged
 Check-in
through
voting,
IM
 Application
sharing &
verbal
discussion
 CONVERGE
During
 Clear
allocation
of action
items
 Meeting
minutes
posted
rapidly
End
 Visibly
ensure
followup with
discussion
threads
 Update
timeline &
progress
tracking
Between
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Audio-conference Meetings:
Letting the Lifecycle Guide Frequency & Content
Zone 1:
ENTHUSIASM LEVEL
Building Team Spirit
Medium Frequency
Zone 3:
Converging Ideas
Low to Medium Frequency
Zone 2:
Conflict Resolution
High Frequency
TEAM LIFECYCLE
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
11 Key Capabilities of
Far-Flung Team’s Knowledgebase
 Know who contributed a piece of knowledge
 Find specific entries contributed by specific individuals
 Identify historical connection between entries
 Link external sources of knowledge to team’s knowledgebase
 Find summary as well as detailed information
 Link notes, multimedia info. and documents in the knowledgebase
 View multiple entries simultaneously for comparison
 Contains information about decision rationales that can be revisited
 Attached keywords to the entries for later retrieval
 Inform team about changes to the knowledgebase
 Easily be able to change the identifiers on entries as knowledge evolves
SOURCE: Majchrzak, Malhotra & John, 2005, Information Systems Research 16:1
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Instant Messaging:
A Technology Tool Whose Time Has Come
• Teams that used it swore by it
• Why they loved it
 Immediacy: expertise at hand
 Team visibility
 Water cooler
 Backchannel communications during
meetings (the Blackberry effect)
• Downside: security & loss of discussion
content
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
The “Virtual Workspace” Philosophy
“The wrong approach”
COORDINATION
“making coordination
embedded”
COLLABORATION
“making collaboration
easier”
“The successful far-flung way”
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Leading Far-Flung Teams:
Point to Ponder
Leading a far-flung team is all about
finding the right people to work on the team
… so what are the characteristics of an ideal far-flung
team member?
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
An Ideal Far-Flung Team Member
Broad Process Awareness
Deep Functional Expertise
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
An Ideal Far-Flung Team Member
 Cultural and functional sensitivity
 Ability to pick up subtle non-visual cues






Rich functional & geographical experiences
Excellent verbal communicator
Multi-tasker
Technology savvy
High ambiguity tolerant
Willingness to make personal sacrifices
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Leading Far-Flung Teams:
Points to Ponder
Far-flung team leadership means
“hands-off” leadership…
Let the team manage itself
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Leading Far-Flung Teams:
Communication Intensive Style
An effective far-flung team leader leads by …
 … walking the virtual hallways
 frequent one-on-one check-ins
 one-on-one mentor discussions
 … establishing communication norms
 closely monitor that norms are being followed
 be flexible to change the norms that are not working
 … motivating others through inclusion
 ensure all members are contributing & being heard
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Far-Flung Team Leadership:
A Distributed Leadership Style
 Virtual meetings facilitator
 Team knowledge manager
 Agenda maker and minutes taker
 Rolodexer
 Electronic discussion maintainer
 Team progress (schedule) tracker
 External presenter (written & verbal)
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Leading by Simultaneously
Encouraging and Controlling Diversity
Cognitive Diversity
Peak Performance
Behavioral Diversity
Source: Majchrzak, Malhotra, et al., “Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?” Harvard Business Review, May 2004
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Defining Far-Flung Team Leadership
He who talks the most,
leads the least.
Leading is being an
active listener and
passive controller
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Trust in Traditional Teams
EXPERTISE
BASED
TRUST
in traditional
settings
SOCIAL
CUES
BASED
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Trust in Far-Flung Teams
EXPERTISE
BASED
SWIFT
TRUST
in far-flung
teams
SOCIAL
CUES
BASED
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Trust in Far-Flung Teams is built through…
Establishing Communication
Protocols Early
(and being flexible to change)
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Developing a Far-Flung Team Communication Protocol …
RELATED TO VIRTUAL TEAM MEETINGS
 Who schedules the virtual meetings (and when)?
 Who facilitates the meetings & and what is the general expectation
from virtual meetings?
 Who will attend the virtual meetings & what etiquettes will be
followed?
 How agenda for virtual meetings will be developed & distributed?
 How team meetings’ minutes will taken & distributed?
 How often (and when) will virtual meetings be scheduled?
RELATED TO INFORMATION SHARING IN THE TEAM
 What are the expectations from team members between virtual
team meetings?
 How will information be shared between team members?
 How information will be stored & retrieved via the knowledge
repository?
RELATED TO EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
 What information (and how) will be provided to senior execs., business
partners, and clients?
 Who will provide this information (and when)?
&and
Majchrzak
2005
Adapted from: Mastering Virtual Teams©
byMalhotra
D.L. Duarte
N.T. Snyder
Trust in Far-Flung Teams is built through…
Clearly Specified (& Visible)
Timelines and Tasks +
Individual Accountability
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Building Trust:
Creating Interdependent Sub-teams
Sweden
SUBTEAM A
India
Brazil
Argentina
SUBTEAM B
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Leading by Making the Virtual Visible
STEERING COMMITTEE
Senior
Executive
Senior
Executive
Senior
Executive
Senior
Executive
Team Leader
FAR-FLUNG TEAM
Team
Member
Team
Member
Team
Member
Team
Member
Functional
Expertise A
Location A
Functional
Expertise B
Location A
Functional
Expertise C
Location B
Functional
Expertise D
Location C
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Measuring Team Success:
Using a Balanced Scorecard Perspective
TEAM PERSPECTIVE
OUTPUT
PERSPECTIVE
INDIVIDUAL
DIRECT
BENEFITS
Measure of
Far-Flung
Team Success
LEARNING &
GROWTH
PERSPECTIVE
INDIVIDUAL
PERSPECTIVE
PROCESS
PERSPECTIVE
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
Framework for Managing Far-Flung Teams
PEOPLE
• Picking the people for the team
• Leadership for far-flung teams
• Chartering far-flung teams
• Objectives of far-flung teams
STRUCTURE
• Corporate policies
that support far-flung
teams
• Structuring and
leveraging sub-teams
• Executive stewardship
STRATEGY
PROCESS
• Establishing norms to work together
• Creating common procedures
• Planning & conducting virtual
meetings
TECH.
of far-flung teams
• Using technology for coordination & collaboration
• Managing technology impact on group processes
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005
FINAL THOUGHTS
Far-Flung teams require a
special culture and
communication intensive
leadership that stresses
managing & sharing
knowledge by leveraging
collaborative technology
© Malhotra & Majchrzak 2005