Gartner EXP Says Companies Need to Change Management Practices to Build an Effective Virtual Workforce

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Business Wire

Virtual working has become the reality of business today, however many organizations will fail to adopt management practices and processes to yield maximum results from a virtual workforce strategy, according to Gartner Executive Programs (EXP), a unit of Gartner Inc.

"The need for business growth and tapping into the talent resources across geographic boundaries, as well as the benefits of networking and collaborative technology, are easily recognized and understood," said Lily Mok, research director for Gartner EXP's human capital management content development group. "However, the challenge for managers is how to effectively manage and lead individuals into cohesive, high-performing teams in a virtual workplace setting."

Virtual work brings challenges to many traditional management practices primarily because of physical separation of locations of the manager from his or her subordinates. Practices such as "management by walking around" can no longer be applied to managing a virtual workforce. Because virtual workers are "out-of-sight" of their managers, they tend to become "out-of-mind" over time, which in turn negatively impacts their morale, productivity and performance level. At the same time, frustrations and concerns expressed by managers of remote workers are often associated with the shift in management powers of authority, affiliation and accountability.

"Virtual or remote offices change the ways in which people communicate and work with each other, transfer information, establish authority and rules, and perform and measure performance," said Ms. Mok. "Although emerging collaboration, networking and remote access technologies provide the necessary infrastructure to support the implementation of virtual workplace, changes in organizational culture and behaviors will be the key to drive success."

An effective virtual workforce strategy should include five key tactics:

--Conduct a due diligence analysis to determine whether the virtual workforce program is a right fit for what needs to be accomplished from the company and employees' perspective.

--Carefully identify jobs and individuals suitable for the new work environment. Choose criteria that helps to identify jobs/roles that are location independent and individuals that have the right skills, experience levels and the necessary behavioral competencies to perform work offsite, independently without compromising their performance level or work satisfaction.

--Reshape management practices for managing remote employees. Managers need to reevaluate their roles and capabilities as supervisors/managers. They should focus on changing their perceptions and belief on how they manage, motivate and influence their subordinates and teams for high performance in a virtual/ remote work setting.

--Establish communication protocols to ensure ongoing individual and team interactions and enable a greater degree of team work and collaboration. One of the biggest concerns of remote employees is being isolated from the center of action, loss of social networking, visibility, and opportunities for growth within the organization.

--Assess the effectiveness of the program for improvement. This can be done by managers carefully selecting a blend of short-term and long-term quantitative and qualitative measures.

For more information on purchasing the Gartner EXP Quarterly Trending Report "The Virtual World: Building an Effective Remote Workforce," please e-mail surveys@gartner.com.

Feb 13, 2006 - Business Wire
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