Time management prevents arguments about who does what and when as well as the resulting conflicts. To be an effective task manager you need to possess the following skills: decision making skills, communication, delegation, planning, estimating, analysis, scheduling, and thinking. Members of a virtual team need to be self-disciplined. That is why it is important to switch from the mind-set of time management to that of "task management."" Becoming effective task managers allows people and relationships to triumph over time and distance.
The best way to avoid time management conflicts within a virtual team is to delegate a project manager or team leader. The team leader should make use of time management techniques and strategies for goal setting, prioritizing tasks, handling time wasters, analyzing time use, and creating and maximizing the team schedule (Saunders, Vogel & Van Slyke). The team leader should engage the team in setting expectations about behavior and performance and formally record the team's decisions and commitments to each other. It is also important to clearly define member responsibilities and to use rigorous project management disciplines to ensure clarity. A good team leader should practice proactive behavior, empathetic task communication, positive tone, and frequent interaction. The interaction should include acknowledgement of and detailed responses to prior messages. The leader should also strive for a good faith effort in complying with the team norms and commitments, be honest in team negotiations, and not take advantage of others or of the situation. From the outset the leader should encourage social communication that accompanies task completion and be enthusiastic in e-mail dialog; they should look for predictable, substantial, and timely responses from members. A virtual team requires more formal communication than in traditional same time/same place teams; these communications should be kept in a shared database for use in new member orientation (Semler, 2001).
