Exploring the presence of trust within virtual team structures and the impact on team performance as a result

1. Background In recent years, a shift has taken place in the dynamics of working patterns fuelling a difficulty in the management ofa successful work life balance e.g. an increase in dual-earner couples and people taking on responsibilities for elderly care. As a
consequence, more and more research has been undertaken to explore the intersections of work-life balance (Oren and Levin, 2017) and ways in which employers can support their employees in achieving such a balance without hindering productivity. With
globalisation on the rise, the world is becoming increasingly interconnected and thus changing both the way we live and work as well as where we live and work (Hurd & Dyer, 2017). As a result of changing practices, heightened flexibility and dynamism organisations are moving away from traditional team structures to the utilisation of virtual teams as shown in the work of Ford et al, (2017). Whilst virtual teams have been argued to have the potential to be high performing and successful there are inherent challenges which exist surrounding their utilisation and effectiveness which this study aims to explore. 2. Research Objectives RO1: To critically examine how organisations can effectively utilise virtual teams to stimulate positive work relationships. RO2: To explore the mechanisms [from an employee perspective] which can support the development of trust within virtual teams to stimulate knowledge exchange/transfer. RO3: To critically examine the challenges associated with virtual teams and the barriers to building trust to their effective use within financial institutions. 3. Literature Review An increase in technological capabilities, allows organisations to continuously strive towards streamlining processes and introduce greater efficiencies within their business (Leung and Wang, 2015). Webster and Wing-Fai highlight that this change has occurred through the widespread application of technology and more recently through the rise of the internet and new media. As a result, new types of work have been introduced such as virtual teams (Alsharo et al, 2017). A virtual team can be defined as a collection of people based in different locations, in possession of different skills that are complementary Virtual teams also enable organisations to access talent from different locations, to promote collaboration, brainstorming and problem solving (Jones and Graham, 2015). Despite the rise of virtual teams, it is recognised that challenges exist which can impede its effectiveness. Alsharo et al (2017) suggest that through the utilisation of technology, team design has shifted from being in a central location, to now configuring teams across multiple locations both nationally and internationally. Berry (2011) argued that with the creation of virtual teams comes a new type of working pattern, changing decision making styles and how relationships are forged. Therefore, posing new challenges and questions on the effectiveness of virtual teams in comparison to the effectiveness of traditional teams, which may no longer be relevant or even effective (Berry, 2011). Knowledge sharing is arguably crucial for successful virtual team collaboration and therefore team members must put the success of the team ahead of their own tendencies to keep the knowledge to themselves (Alsharo et al, 2017). As a result, Van den Bosch et al (1999) have previously claimed that this reluctance to share knowledge is a hindrance to any team collaboration, with negative consequences in achieving team objectives and this proposal argues this could be heightened through the use of virtual teams. Research has highlighted that a key component of improving the effectiveness of virtual teams is through trust; in order to allow for social and co-operative relationships to forge as well as facilitating effective teamwork (Brahm and Kunze, 2012).