Virtual Teams Quality Management Management Essay Paper

Virtual Teams Quality Management
Latisha Carter
University of Maryland, University College
PMAN 639
Professor Andrew Nyakaana Blair
September 23, 2018
Question
How does technology virtual setting impact quality management?
Abstract
The use of technology has dramatically revolutionized world economies. Over the years, project management has benefited from the technological inputs allowing project managers to control project processes with higher success rates. With technology advancements, virtual teams work on projects locally and internationally which has vastly expanding globalization. The main focus of this paper is separating the focus from technology and considering one of the most crucial elements of quality management within any project, human resources. Regardless of how advanced technology is, it is the human element that determines the success of the project. This paper evaluates the importance of the human quality element in virtual projects.
Introduction
Technology is a pillar that is undeniably one of the strongest pillars in business relations. More importantly, technological advancements have become an invaluable asset when it comes to project management. Technology has directly made a positive impact on globalization.
Project managers now have the luxury of forming teams with expertise all across the globe. Virtual team management is a reality today due to the technology advancements. Teams can collaborate their efforts while never having to step into a boardroom together, physically. Every team member makes their contribution from wherever they are and collaborate with the rest of the team leaders to effectively manage projects (Hamilton, Hodgkinson & Byatt, 2010). The project management industry has elicited massive research into ways of integrating the various project management processes using technological advances to enhance every other element.
With the advancement of technology and globalization, it is important to analyze and understand the elements of virtual project management that relate to human factors. Much of the research in the past has concentrated on the technological tools of collaboration while neglecting the human touch in the project management. This is not to refute that technology is a vital element when it comes to virtual project management and quality enhancement in the teams' efforts. Rather, it is to bring out the most crucial part of any team, human resources (McEwan, Ruissen, Eys, Zumbo & Beauchamp, 2017). Human resources are an essential component of the virtual project management, the quality of any results depends on the team rather than the tools that they have at their disposal, more significantly (Hamilton et al., 2010).
To achieve the objectives of the paper, primary research is conducted on previous research findings, by evaluating insights to identify significant aspects of virtual quality management which is a necessity in today's multinational corporations. Key elements of virtual teams, globalization, virtual team challenges, and effective quality management will be analyzed. Findings will represent the vital relationship of technology, human resources, and quality management within virtual project management. This paper makes a significant contribution to the field of project management relative to developing more profound insights into the most crucial factors of quality control. The research offers a shift of focus into the future of virtual teams and enhanced quality which may deviate focus from technology to human resources when it comes to maintaining quality in virtual teams.
The virtual technology setting affects quality management due to the various elements of the virtual team, the challenges that are faced in its formation and operation, and the understanding of the aspects that are necessary for quality management.
Key Elements of Virtual Teams
Having project phases is one of the most important qualities of a virtual team. Each of the phases plays a substantial role in ensuring that all the members of the team are up to date with what is expected of them. The project phases ought to have sufficient details as well as the roles that will be played by each of the team members. As a result, this makes the work of the management easy because the employees are aware of what is expected of them. Also, this means that each of the employees does not require much guidance for them to meet the team's goals. The project phases may include the project planning section, carrying out the real project and an evaluation to determine whether the project was a success. Different projects have different phases and, therefore, the management must ensure that they have the best plan for each of the projects. As a result, this contributes to the overall quality delivered by the virtual team. The better the planning that is made regarding the project phases, the better the quality that will be delivered. Hence, a virtual team cannot function well without project phases (Barnwell, Nedrick, Rudolph, Sesay & Wellen, 2014).
Also, globalization is another essential element when it comes to virtual teams. The definition of virtual teams includes the fact that it is a group of individuals working on the same project from different locations. They use technological tools to coordinate the activities of the project. Therefore, globalization would play an important role in ensuring that they maintain a good relationship with the members of the society in different environments. Globalization is also a key in expanding their operations to more locations in the world as compared to non-virtual teams.
Virtual Team Challenges
The main challenge faced by virtual teams is cultural diversity, which in turn, affects the quality of the management. Given the fact that virtual teams operate in different geographical locations in order to meet their organizational goals, the members face the challenge of fitting in an environment with people from a different culture from theirs. The external environment is an essential part of any organization, and hence, they determine the success of the organizational goals (Purvanova, 2014). Therefore, in a case whereby the environment does not support the organizational activities due to different cultural beliefs, then it becomes difficult for the management to deliver. On the other hand, if the new culture is supportive of the organizational motives, then the management is bound to deliver quality work.
Also, establishing the virtual team is also another challenge because the management has to ensure that they choose individuals that are the best fit for the work. The quality of the work delivered by the management depends on the cooperation that they receive from the rest of the team members. Hence, to ensure that the management delivers quality work, they have to choose individuals who have experience in running a virtual team (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014). However, getting such individuals remains a challenge given the fact that most people can fake their experience in order to secure a job. This means that there are high chances that the management team will end up with the wrong employee. The outcome is poor-quality management due to the difficulties in coordination and letting the team members aware of what they should and what they should not do.
There are a lot of technological changes in today's world of business, and hence the technology alignment becomes a challenge when it comes to the management of virtual teams. Technology alignment allows individuals to correct the business terms to meet the current standards. This enables the team members to coordinate well because they understand one another. However, given the vast technological changes, business terms keep on changing their meaning and in the event whereby the team has not incorporated technology alignment in their lines of work, then they can end up delivering the wrong information. As a result, this has a huge impact on the quality delivered by a virtual team. The members are expected to keep up to date with the new technical terms used in the world of business. This is not an easy task in the case of virtual teams.
Also, virtual teams are faced with the challenge of building trust among one another. The team members rely on the information presented by one of them across the technological devices made for communication. They have no option other than believing such information because the distance between them is too large for a physical conformation to be made. The lack of trust affects the quality management because the management does not know the exact information that they should rely on. The larger ...