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Can Virtualized Teams really work?

I’ve been seeing this as a growing trend in business. The term “Virtualized” is more of the idea that a team can work from anywhere and come together and collaborate on business issues. Most companies today do not function like this because….

a) the role they fill is one that demands them to be “physically” there

b) There company believes that in order to get the most productivity out of an employee they must be in a physical location

Most people and companies don’t work like this yet because of “fear of the unknown” but I see this making up a larger part of businesses that can get away with it because of the lack of physical overhead, the freedom it gives an employee and the potential for greater productivity and the fact that most people in Canada and the US have a computer or two laying around at home. The hardest thing that I could think of is if teams choose this model for attracting workers and then find out that they are less productive and a threat to doing business but then again managers and employers in a physical offices face the same issues having the person right there.

What prompted me to write this was reading, Trizoko’s Article on “How Virtual Teams rock” which is definitely worth reading if you have a minute. Would you build a business that could be virtualized?

Lucas