CHAPTER 5

No Time to Lose

Ben was beside himself as he stood in his pajamas staring at the glowing blue screen in the darkness of morning. He hadn’t even had a cup of coffee when he reached for his phone and started checking his e-mails. There was a long chain of notes outlining a major issue in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region. As he searched back to the original mail, it appeared that the advertising firm the company had hired didn’t deliver exactly as promised on their new campaign. The remaining e-mails were the resulting fallout. It seemed that because Ben was inaccessible, someone had approved the budget for a rework of the problematic campaign. This infuriated Ben, as he felt that given the fact that the responsible party was the Ad group, they should cover the costs of the delay and relaunch of the campaign. Ben could already tell that it was going to be a very, very long day at work. He immediately started shooting e-mails to his European team and by the time he arrived at his office, his inbox was full again. It was only 8:30 a.m. California time, but it was already 16:30 in London. The workday in Europe was almost done, and Ben was rushing to fix this problem as soon as possible. He picked up the phone and decided to make some calls. As the line kept ringing, he let out a heavy sigh.

Dealing with the temporal or time differences was quickly becoming a massive challenge for Ben. Some days he had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to manage projects, and this created stress for both him and his family. Due to lack of sleep, some days he was tired and groggy. He also felt bad for his team in Europe and Asia, who were often working very late into the night. This made work–life balance difficult and created stress on both sides of the ocean. It often felt like certain members of his team were at a breaking point. Was there something he could do? Could there be some solution to facilitate this process and help drive efficiencies that would limit the impact of temporal differences? Ben had many questions, but, ironically, no time to search for answers. He decided to take an hour of his day to research the problem. Surprisingly, he found that, while there is little a manager can do to change the problem, there are some techniques that can be incorporated that will at least alleviate the issue and make working across time zones more bearable.

The concept of time is a complicated and ubiquitous notion (Sarker and Sahay 2004). Arguably, one of the greatest challenges of geographically dispersed teams is that of temporal separation, or time differences, between multiple international regions. As we have seen in the case of Ben, time differences can cause tremendous stress and difficulty for a virtual team, and many managers struggle with this issue each day. According to an experimental, quantitative investigation called the Virtual Teams Survey Report, just over 80 percent of respondents within the study indicated that operating asynchronously across multiple time zones was the biggest hurdle in their team (Virtual Teams Survey Report, 2016).

Surprisingly, however, working across time zones is not all doom and gloom. There can be advantages to working with temporal variance in remote teams. For example, one benefit of working across time zones is that the team can literally be working on a project for 24 hours. Of course, this advantage also presents challenges, as it can be complicated to set up meeting times that are convenient for all members of the team. Additionally, members of teams working within a synchronous (same time zone) environment have the advantage of access to instantaneous information and answers to key questions from their peers, whereas teams working in asynchronous environments do not have the same benefit, which can potentially lead to delay, confusion, and conflict without some form of a temporal coordination mechanism (Montoya-Weiss, Massay, and Song 2017). Also, due to the difference in time zones, the process of decision making can be delayed as there may not be an overlap of working hours. This can result in emotional stress due to the lack of opportunity for synchronous communication (Flynn 2014).

This is what happened to Ben. Had he not been in bed sleeping, he could have quickly solved the problem. However, instead he woke up to find that agreements had been made, projects approved, and actions completed, which created a complicated mess and an extra day of work. This often happens when a member of the team ends his or her workday, and another team member arrives to their office in another continent. The work is continuous, but bad things can sometimes happen. Nonetheless, some of these problems can be lessened by setting up meetings at different hours instead of fixed times, so that the responsibility of working outside of normal hours falls on different members of the team at different times (Virtual Team Builders n.d.).

Accompanying the challenge of temporal separation is the concept of temporal diversity, which relates to the idea that each individual employee has a unique perspective on time management and urgency (Kahai 2011). The reality is that temporal separation can be much more than a simple time difference, but rather it can also be a disparity in culture and temporal perception (Espinosa and Carmel 2004). This can become important when a manager uses temporal leadership in setting up meetings and providing team communications (Kahai 2011). This concept can be imperative, as a leader must understand how to relate high-priority and low-priority tasks, pace important duties, and remind teams about deadlines in a virtual environment where team members across continents may have very different perspectives.

One example of the complexities of temporal diversity is the marked differences between monochromatic (linear/low-context) versus polychromatic (high-context) cultures. Monochromatic cultures value timeliness and tend to focus on one task, whereas polychromatic cultures often engage in multitasking and may not be as focused on specific time scheduling (Hall 2000). Furthermore, the context of temporal separation is affected by not only geographic cultural norms, but also functional, organizational, and departmental norms. For example, within a given company, groups such as marketing, finance, human resources, etc., may be working under different sets of processes that can affect virtual teams (Egelend 2010). Given the social context of asynchronous teams, a virtual manager must effectively facilitate temporal coordination of synchronous and asynchronous conversations to help develop stronger relationships within the team (Nemiro n.d.).

A manager should also choose varying meeting times when possible, as opposed to always setting meetings for the convenience of one time zone. This flexibility makes it easier for all team members to connect and demonstrates that the manager has respect for all team members (Chhay and Kleiner 2013). Other possibilities that can alleviate some of the challenges of temporal management of virtual teams include scheduling meetings well in advance (when possible), showing appreciation for those who sacrificed the most to be present within the temporal constrictions of the meeting, attempting to have meetings within the constraints of all time zones, and asking team members to coordinate a time that is best for them (Virtual Team Builders n.d.). Leadership of temporal variance and understanding the importance of individual perspectives on time can result in a much more successful virtual team in the long run (Kahai 2011).

Another important element that can potentially help a virtual team deal with the problem of working across multiple time zones is open access and communication with the manager, so that the manager is open to his or her team and verbal, written, or visual connection occurs with great frequency (Mochal 2007). A virtual manager can even encourage open dissent among his or her team members when they don’t agree with the manager or his or her idea. This can be an important tool that demonstrates to the team that when they have their own opinion, they are free to express it (Garrett 2013). In this way, a manager can encourage open communication with his or her team and provide an opportunity for cohesiveness. Additionally, in the modern environment of e-leadership, when a virtual manager is open to his or her team, they can be more proactive in setting task goals and monitoring response times and task achievement more closely within their groups through greater communication guidelines and networking skills (Snellman 2014).

Proper planning in the virtual environment is also of incredible importance. This can help virtual teams remain competitive and function more smoothly (Zofi 2011). In addition, regular and open communication and team employee’s ability to freely access their manager can help build trust and team cohesiveness (Snellman 2014). Not only does it behoove the manager of a virtual team to allow open access for his or her team in order to increase the richness of communication and facilitate trust building, but it may also provide a greater confidence for team members to emulate this open style of communication across the team and therefore build stronger and more cooperative team relationships in the long run (Ferrell and Herb 2012).