Despite much discussion on the subject, a single clear and concise definition of just what a virtual team is does not really exist. Some will use the term to describe any situation where one or more team member is working remotely to the balance of the workforce, others will use it only to describe specific situations such as large and complex organisational structures where teams of personnel work remote to each other. Then just to confuse matters the terms ‘work share’ and ‘distributed team’ also appear from time to time. In an earlier article I discussed the differences between virtual team and work share, and realistically distributed teams and virtual teams are interchangeable terms, both describing essentially the same form of work practice.

There are many varied understandings and concepts of a virtual team, ranging from a organisational structure where one person works remote to the rest of the team through structures where groups work remotely to one where a large number of individuals all work separate from each other.  There are also different durations of participating in the team, ranging from short term membership where one or more persons join a virtual team from a matter of a few days to those where everyone is permanently part of the distributed group.

Forms of virtual teams

With the broad possibilities of form of a virtual team it is worth considering the different structures they can take to better understand the challenges and benefits each brings.

* Individuals working remote from each other – Though less common than some of the other forms of virtual teams described below, there are many different situations where single individuals work collaboratively while not meeting face to face to perform their work. Typical among these are organisations with a representative in each city or state with responsibility for the operations or marketing, and some research structures where individuals will work in their home research organisation on collaborative projects without actually meeting to work.

* Large co-located teams with individuals working remotely – This form of team is quite common, where a technical specialist or a support person is not located with the rest of the group. The specialist may be separate because they are needed in their base location or because they are not needed as part of the main team for any number of operational reasons, typically those located remote to the team will be assigned specific tasks and a clear point of interface, will undertake their assigned work and deliver their outcomes to the main team. In many instances the remote team members may be known to some members of the core team and will have previous professional relationships with them which can make the separation easier to manage but where this is not the case, specific vigilance is important to ensure the remote team members are included in group discussions and information sharing.

* Several teams working separately from each other – This form of virtual team is found in organisations and projects where specific skills are found are available in clusters, such as several design centres working collaboratively on a project. Typically the teams will be brought together for the project with each assigned a series of tasks and an area of the project to work in.  Coordinating these teams falls to a number of key interface managers and an overall team or project manager and the teams will collaborate until one or all finish their assigned work then they will disperse.

Duration of Virtual Teams

Virtual teams can be either a short term temporary structure or a long term and permanent part of an organisation.