Is Anybody Out There? The Impact of Trust in Virtual Teams

Literature Review from the year 2021 in the subject Leadership and Human Resource Management - Miscellaneous, grade: 2,7, Maastricht University, language: English, abstract: This literature review examines the impact of trust on virtual team effectiveness and derives implications on how trust can be developed in virtual work environments. Organizations are increasingly deploying virtual teams to meet technological and societal developments. However, virtual teams face the challenge of building trust, which is crucial for team effectiveness. To establish a foundation for trust, managers must consider the team member’s characteristics and skills when assembling the team. For this purpose, it is also important that they clearly define the behavioural norms, expectations, and responsibilities of each member. In the onboarding process, managers should provide opportunities for team members to get to know each other to create a sense of familiarity and team cohesiveness, which can be achieved through face-to-face meetings or online team-building activities. Moreover, open and regular communication between team members fosters a trusting environment. It is also useful to provide valuable feedback and create a supportive communication climate. With these measures, managers can establish and maintain trust within virtual teams and thus increase their effectiveness.