Track: Human Factors and Ergonomics

Abstract

Globalization and advances in information and communication technologies has catalysed the use of virtual teams. In the virtual competitive environment companies are obliged to produce more rapidly, effectively and efficiently to mark their presence round the global market. It is mandatory for them to put along different capabilities and services with the organisational goal, through cooperation between suppliers, service providers and customers to achieve the objective with high quality.For a team that is geographically dispersed and remotely managed, management structure and culture should be strong with inclusion and diversity being the pillars and the uniting factors, achieved through bringing together and valuing staff with diverse backgrounds, talents, perspectives, cultural identities and experiences on a single platform.

Internal environment of a virtual team refers to the factors of an organisation that impact its performance comprising of the structure of the organisation, the policies, culture, the role management plays, and the way in which management and employees perform their tasks for achievement of the organisational goals.This work is an attempt to research the influence of internal factors on team innovation by focusing on leadership processes within a team and describing how team leadership can archive a perfect combination of employer and the employee with maximum utilisation of the available sources inside and outside a team, then, arriving at a point from this inclusive, team-centric view of leadership and fellowship, an attempt is made to identify the functions that help teams satisfy their critical needs and regulate their behaviour in the service of goal accomplishment. This integrative view of internal team environment of a virtual team enables the summarization of past work  and identification of potential areas of Virtual team success.

Key Words: Virtual teams; leadership actions; Environment of a team;team performance: communication ;trust