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Professional Log
MANAGING PROJECTS AND TEAMS IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
The third week of Managing Digital Work by Dr Benjamin Marent focused on the complexities
of managing projects and teams within the virtual space. The past week was an eye-opener to
the way in which work dynamics are transformed by the integration of digital technologies in
team management, which was supported by key academic literature that critically examined
the impact of such integration on the structure of organisations and individual roles.
The lecture demonstrated the shift from traditional project management in a regular
organisation to virtual teams by comparing the regular organisational tasks with the project
route. According to Feldman and Pentland (2003), a project can be explained as a dynamic and
goal-oriented activity that is not as common as a routine activity executed in an organisation.
This knowledge is key for understanding why and how virtual teams can be seen as a
technology extension and a new way of reconsidering the working dynamics by demonstrating
the agility and flexibility of typical features of the digital space. The fundamental idea of this
week’s learning is the seminal definition of VPTs by Townsend et al. (1998), which defines VPTs
as a group of entities enabled by a combination of information and telecommunication
technologies to complete their activities in a distributed way across organisational and
geographic boundaries. This framework is vital for understanding the dual impact of digital
work; however, as it creates a historical legacy and unprecedented convenience, it also has
challenges, such as cultural and temporal differences, communication barriers and loneliness,
which are not spared by Morrison-Smith and Ruiz (2020). These problems are not peripheral,
but they are of the essence of digital work, and the efficiency of digital instruments depends on
adequate management methods that can tackle these problems.
During the workshop, I was able to apply Newman and Ford’s (2020) strategies in a virtual
project management scenario, which showed the practical implications of these theoretical
views. Communication, one of the most important principles of the framework, was put into
practice in real-time, and the results showed that digital tools could both simplify and
complicate the aspects of teamwork. This activity especially illustrated the central role of
leadership in virtual environments where the lack of physical cues needs more deliberate and
frequent communication to maintain project alignment and team spirit. Nevertheless, the VPTs'
advantages, such as operational flexibility and access to a global workforce, were covered by
the readings and discussions (Griffith, Sawyer and Neale, 2003); the impact of digital work on
the different global contexts was sometimes ignored. Ignoring that all team members have
equal access to digital tools or the same digital proficiency levels is the most important
omission, showing a gap in the research. This shortcoming necessitates a more discerning
approach to digital inclusion and strategies customised to different digital infrastructure and
literacy levels.
Therefore, combining the theoretical topics from the readings with the practical
implementation during the workshops improved my knowledge and broadened my perspective
on working in the digital world. Such changes include the development of a distributed and
flexible organisational culture and the necessity of constantly adapting management practices
to new technologies.
Reference
Feldman, M.S. and Pentland, B.T. (2003) 'Reconceptualizing organisational routines as a source
of flexibility and change,' Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(1), pp. 94–118.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3556620.
Griffith, T.L., Sawyer, J.E. and Neale, M.A. (2003) 'Virtualness and knowledge in teams:
Managing the love triangle of organisations, individuals, and information technology,'
Management Information Systems Quarterly, 27(2), p. 265.
https://doi.org/10.2307/30036531.
Morrison-Smith, S. and Ruiz, J. (2020) 'Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature
review,' SN Applied Sciences/SN Applied Sciences, 2(6). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-
020-2801-5.
Newman, S.A. and Ford, R.C. (2020) 'Five steps to leading your team in the virtual COVID-19
workplace,' Organizational Dynamics, 50(1), p. 100802.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100802.
Pinto, J.K. (2003) Project Management: Achieving competitive advantage.
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB01912958.
Townsend, A.M., Demarie, S.M. and Hendrickson, A.R. (1998) 'Virtual teams: Technology and
the future workplace,' the Academy of Management Perspectives/Academy of
Management Perspectives, 12(3), pp. 17–29.
https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.1998.1109047.
