Working together at a distance.

Marion Cliff was baffled and frustrated with the way that people were working in her virtual teams. After much contemplation, it dawned on her that there were some important differences between working with her teams on-site in Taiwan and her teams in the Texas office. For instance, what about having to wait up late or into the wee hours to have a Skype meeting with your colleagues in another continent when you have already devoted a good 9–10 hours at the office that day? Working with people who miss deadlines regularly because they perceive time as flexible and feel that timelines can be adjusted and stretched based on their schedule? Working with people who keep silent when things go wrong because they feel that they should try to solve it—until it’s too late and things can no longer be fixed? Many other things occurred to her that might be equally incomprehensible to her team members. Not only was she working with people who were at a distance, but they were also strangers to begin with. This was very different from working on-site at an office, where you know everyone’s strengths, weaknesses, and personal quirks!