Leading and managing virtual teams may require different considerations than face-to-face teams

Leading and managing virtual teams may require different considerations than face-to-face teams. The I/O psychology profession might be of great assistance to organizations and their HRM in developing high-performance virtual teams, as well as other effective virtual work practices, such as leading teams composed of members who work under varying work arrangements (such as full-time, part-time, contractors, et cetera).

Many of these individuals are all on the same team, but the team leader might have very different incentives and rewards available to use in motivating the team and applying a performance assessment that's appropriate for different work situations, such as onsite versus remote employees. Some members of the team might not be eligible for traditional motivational incentives and rewards, such as raises and promotions, that a leader might otherwise be able to provide.

Based on the required readings and your own searching of peer-reviewed articles in the library, discuss the following:

• How might I/O psychologists assist in the facilitation of teams such as this?
• What contributions could I/O psychologists make to HRM in regard to optimizing the benefits of "virtuality"?
• After examining existing research and literature on this topic, what areas of future research would you propose? What benefits could this future research present for the application of I/O psychology in HRM?

Response Guidelines

Respond to two other learners. Your responses to other learners are expected to be (a) substantive in nature and to reference the assigned readings, as well as to (b) synthesize and cite peer-reviewed journal articles found in your search of the library's journal databases and other empirical and theoretical literature to support your views and writings.

Learning Components

This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:

• Compare and contrast tools and methods (performance appraisals, job descriptions) used in the workplace by psychological practitioners.