Fractures in Virtual Teams

Teams do sometimes fracture — they break into subteams that contend with each other for control or dominance, instead of working together to achieve a shared objective. And virtual teams are particularly vulnerable to fracture. To treat these ideas with the care they deserve, allow me to begin with some meanings for three words: team, virtual, and fracture.

Team

In organizations, a team is a grouping of individuals tasked with performing functions that are intended to achieve a set of related objectives. Members of the team might provide different kinds of expertise and skills, or they might all perform similar functions. Usually there is a designated leader, and a manager who acts as the team owner.

Virtual

A virtual team is a team whose members are separated geographically by distances great enough to make coming together inconvenient or too costly. Some virtual teams meet face-to-face occasionally; some have never met, and some never will. They communicate by web conference, videoconference, telephone, text, email, and so on.

Teams — virtual or co-located — are composed to provide all capabilities their missions require. Some make planned adjustments to their rosters to meet needs that occur from time to time. But sometimes they require capabilities that no one anticipated. When that happens the team adjusts its roster to include the missing roles, and moves on.

Other difficulties are less amenable to solution, and that's when the risk of fracture is highest.

Fracture

Most teams are subject to the effects of organizational rivalries, destructive conflict, conflicts of interest, bullying, and the rest of the catalog of organizational dysfunction. But unlike other teams, virtual teams are subject to dysfunctions that arise, in part, from the structure of the team itself, and how that structure interacts with the structure and policies of the hosting organization.

An example of the unique vulnerabilities of virtual teams might be helpful. All agree that many parts of the organization must work together to complete the team's mission. If that weren't true, there would be no need for a virtual team. But what might remain unsettled is the relative importance of the various parts of the organization represented in the team. People physically located at one site might feel that they're more important than people located at another site. And because that ranking can change over the course of the engagement, there can be no final settlement of the ranking disputes. Ranking disputes can arise repeatedly and indefinitely.

For all teams, success is possible only if the team and all its elements succeed. When a team fractures into subteams, some subteams come to believe that they can succeed independently of the others. This is likely a false belief, because the team was assembled on the basis of an assumption of success based on interdependence.

Categories of fracture

Still, teams do fracture. [Whiting 2019] And when they do, they fracture in ways that can be analogous to the ways bones fracture. Here's a brief catalog of types of team fractures, guided by the categorization of bone fractures.

Greenstick fracture

In bones, this fracture is incomplete, and the bone is bent.

In greenstick fractures of virtual teams, some members at some sites feel that success is more likely if they work independently. To some degree, they are alienated from the team, and although they aren't alone in their perceptions, the team as a whole doesn't share their belief.

This sort of team fracture is more likely than others to have a strong personal component. Difficulties in relationships within one site are strongly indicated.

Transverse fracture

In long bones, the bone is broken at right angles to the bone's axis. There may or may not be displacement of the two parts of the bone.

In transverse fractures of virtual teams, members of the team located at a particular site openly acknowledge that they doubt that the team's success is possible if it continues along its current course. In some cases, multiple sites join forces to strike out in a different direction.

Intervention with the breakaway sites can succeed, but there is an elevated probability that they have good reason to have taken the action they did.

Comminuted fracture

In bones, the breaks result in several pieces. Displacement of the pieces is likely.

This type of fracture in virtual teams has much in common with transverse team fracture. However, in comminuted virtual team fracture, multiple sites decide to strike out in directions of their own.

Successful intervention likely requires reconvening all team leaders for a restart of the effort.

Buckled fracture

In bones, buckled fractures are caused by compression, usually along the axis of a long bone. The fracture is incomplete.

In virtual teams, a buckled fracture occurs when a team is under extreme deadline pressure that falls most heavily on one site. Team members at that site might experience high levels of stress that could threaten the health of their relationships with team members at other sites, or even their relationships with team members at their own sites.

Isolating the cause of the intense localized pressure that led to the fracture would be helpful in formulating an approach to healing the fracture.

Pathologic fracture

In bones, this sort of break is a result of a disease weakening the bone.

In virtual teams, pathologic fracture can be the result of rigid siloing, or organizational weakness, or the weakness of the organization's market position. For example, a weak market position can be the root cause of elevated voluntary terminations, or the inability to recruit capable personnel. Staff shortages can then expose the virtual team to fracture.

Interventions based on the proposition that the root cause lies in the virtual team are unlikely to be effective. Successful intervention must address the causes of organizational weakness.

Last words

The analogy between virtual team fractures and bone fractures is intriguing but imperfect. Use it as a guide for the intuition.  Top    Next Issue

Is your organization a participant in one or more global teams? Are you the owner/sponsor of a global team? Are you managing a global team? Is everything going well, or at least as well as any project goes? Probably not. Many of the troubles people encounter are traceable to the obstacles global teams face when building working professional relationships from afar. Read 303 Tips for Virtual and Global Teams to learn how to make your global and distributed teams sing. Order Now!

Footnotes

Your comments are welcome

Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrendPtoGuFOkTSMQOzxner@ChacEgGqaylUnkmwIkkwoCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Virtual and Global Teams:

Dispersed Teams and Latent Communications

When geography divides a team, conflicts can erupt along the borders. "Us" and "them" becomes a way of seeing the world, and feelings about people at other sites can become hostile. Why does this happen and what can we do about it?

Virtual Conflict

Conflict, both constructive and destructive, is part of teamwork. As virtual teams become more common, we're seeing more virtual conflict — conflict that crosses site boundaries. Dealing with destructive conflict is difficult enough face-to-face, but in virtual teams, it's especially tricky.

TINOs: Teams in Name Only

Perhaps the most significant difference between face-to-face teams and virtual or distributed teams is their potential to develop from workgroups into true teams — an area in which virtual or distributed teams are at a decided disadvantage. Often, virtual and distributed teams are teams in name only.

Mastering Messaging for Pandemics: II

When pandemics rage, face-to-face meetings are largely curtailed. Clarity in text messaging and email therefore becomes more important. Some sources of confusion that might not be noticeable in speech can cause real trouble in messaging.

Attributes of Joint Leadership Teams

The leadership of most teams, business units, or enterprises consists of a single individual. Others have joint leadership teams. What kinds of joint leadership teams are there, and what factors can affect their success?

See also Virtual and Global Teams and Workplace Politics for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming May 1: Antipatterns for Time-Constrained Communication: 2

Recognizing just a few patterns that can lead to miscommunication can reduce the incidence of miscommunications. Here's Part 2 of a collection of antipatterns that arise in communication under time pressure, emphasizing those that depend on content. Available here and by RSS on May 1.

And on May 8: Antipatterns for Time-Constrained Communication: 3

Recognizing just a few patterns that can lead to miscommunication can reduce the incidence of problems. Here is Part 3 of a collection of antipatterns that arise in technical communication under time pressure, emphasizing past experiences of participants. Available here and by RSS on May 8.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrendPtoGuFOkTSMQOzxner@ChacEgGqaylUnkmwIkkwoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info