Stage 5

Stage 5 - Implementation

Who Does What, When, Where?
Stage five is the first step toward taking the team from the conceptual phase to the action phase. Together team members answer questions critical to effective action: "Who will do what?", "When will they do it? ", and "Where will they do it?". Answering these questions will result in clear processes that are aligned with team purpose and goals. The team will also be disciplined in its execution (Sibbet, 2011).





Structural contingency theory (Simon, 1999) supports the fact that the effectiveness of an organization or team is dependent upon the ability to adapt to factors within the context of that organization or team. There is no one single effective way to structure communication or tasks, but it is affected by internal factors and environmental influences. For virtual teams, the uncertainty within the implementation is compounded by geographical factors.


Planning
Mission analysis, strategy formation, tactical design, and careful execution will take a team from commitment to implementation. Timing and scheduling create a plan for execution of the organizations vision and goals.  It involves tactical application of the specialized skills of the individual members in order to effectively utilize the knowledge and experience (Maynard, Mathieu, Rapp, & Gilson, 2012). Planning involves…
  • Accomplishing work with an overall plan of how each unit fits into that work.
  • Balancing clarity and structure with flexibility and responsiveness

CLICK HERE for a link to a website that contains a variety of software available to assist with virtual team planning and project management.



Alignment
An experimental study conducted with virtual teams confirmed that communication predictability has a positive effect on team alignment (Olson & Olson, 2012). This alignment can be produced through communication that is synchronous or asynchronous, as conditions allow, but it must allow team members to sense a connection with each other.  Alignment is important for…
  • Having the correct information and critical message flow up, down, and around.
  • Encouraging progress toward the goal while minimizing the distractions that can occur from information ambiguity or overload.
CLICK ON THE TABLE BELOW OR HERE to access a chart that compares the different communication mediums available to virtual teams and suggested uses for alignment.

(Hamilton, Byatt, & Hodgkinson, 2010)

Integration 
Virtual teams must find ways to go beyond simple knowledge exchange and critically engage with each other in mutual discovery, collaboration, and synthesis (Dossick, Anderson, Iorio, Neff, & Taylor, 2012).  It is an alignment of task, technology, and people that supports active and dynamic interactions across geographical boundaries that increase team learning. Integration involves…
  • Creating coherence as a whole with common processes, task alignment, overlapping roles, cross-integration teams, and purposeful networking.
  • Sharing visualizations of work to challenge interpretations and build off each other’s interpretations to further the creative thinking of the team.
If Stage 5, Implementation, is unresolved...
Teams that do not plan build clear systems for planning, communication, and integration of work can face some potential pitfalls…
  • Redundancy or missed opportunities costing the organization time and money.
  • Disjointedness or nonalignment that affects efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Conflict and confusion as the members get into each other’s way or lack clarity in each other’s activities. 
CLICK HERE for guidance on team assessment and what to do when a stage's core question is unresolved.

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CLICK HERE for references

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