Dispersed Team Management Part-1

I would like to start set of new articles on Dispersed team management. Many of the people have idea on dispersed team management and few may not know what exactly dispersed team management is. My first article explains about the basics of dispersed team management.

Simply put, a dispersed team has members who are not located in the same place. Like virtual teams or cross-functional teams, which can span organizational boundaries, dispersed teams also span boundaries. But their distances are measured by country, culture, and time zones. Their members come from different cultures and can bring with them radically different perspectives.

Dispersed teams bring together in one intriguing work unit the phenomena of human-technology interactions, teamwork, and communication among people separated by time, culture, and distance. Such features give rise to distinct challenges to effective performance and to the development of interpersonal relationships among team members.

Dispersed teams have gained some prominence in organizations because of the influence of international markets. Dispersed teams that span cultures, for example, can help ensure that an organization’s products and services are a good fit with the cultures in which they are offered, which may be quite different from the originating culture. Coordinating the efforts of team members across differences and, at the same time, maintaining and boosting team effectiveness make up the challenge of leading a dispersed team.

Uma Mahesh