Organizations are increasingly transcending country boarders and physical space limitations. What are some effective strategies to motivate dispersed team members in a virtual setting? What are some emerging trends that deal with this challenge in your field? Provide an example.

Response to Brandy 2.2

It is necessary that organizations be innovated with their strategies to motivate team members in a virtual setting. In any industry there has been a consumer behavior shift. It has been more than a decade now where consumers have been purchasing products and services through ecommerce. For the last decade ecommerce has dramatically continued to increase. This is forcing industries and organizations to rapidly be innovated with technology (Friedlein, 2015). Technology is now not an after thought it is the first thought. Organizations must make their innovation with technology their priority. Organizations must be innovated with their strategies to motivate team members virtually. Organizations are hiring employees across the world. These employees are not reporting to a cooperate offices punching in and out on a time clock. Organizations need to be innovated in their strategies to motivate their employees through a computer screen. Employees are often working from anywhere. They are working from home, on the train, on planes, at a café and any other geographic setting. Employees are often faced with constant distraction. Though all of this it is up to the organization to keep the employees motivated. The key to keeping employees motivated is communication. Communication and feedback should be constant, and mandatory. There should be mandatory virtual meetings set up by the organization. The organization needs to build a relationship with employees. Employees need to feel like their contribution is needed and required. It is also important for organizations to recognize some virtual members often do not leave their homes for days, weeks, or even months. Healthy and satisfied employees are assets to the organization. The organization should develop methods to keep employees healthy and satisfied, even the virtual employees. Organizations can develop activities and incentives to keep employees active and to receive professional satisfaction. Lastly, organizations need to make professional relationships a priority. Professional relationships are key to keeping employees engaged. Building relationships will assist keeping employees engaged. Professional relationships are important to build because it assists building trust and loyalty between employees (Caramela, 2020).

My organization is new to the virtual world. Pre- covid there was little to no virtual settings in my organization. My organization and my industry had to move quickly to become participants in the virtual world. My organization has implemented new technologies that assist us staying connected. Before Covid we had little software that we could access remote. When Covid hit the United States, our campus is in a state that was the first state hit with a large volume of cases. The organization was forced to close our campus. My organization quickly set up many different technologies to keep all the employees productive and connected. Then the organizations top management had to quickly learn and train all the employees on the new technology. It was my opinion that my organization did a terrific job at quickly implementing new technology. It was executed in a short amount of time. If my organization had been innovated with technology, it would have not been an extreme adjustment for the organization. My organization had fallen behind in the industry with technology innovation. The technology should have been implemented years ago. My concern is after the short amount of time the employees were working virtually my organization brought back 100% of the employees into the campus offices. There was no option for employees to work virtually at any time. My campus also refuses to hire any virtual employees. This is a concern because it limits technology innovation. If there is “no need” they do not feel that it is a priority to continue to advance in technology. It will reduce the competitiveness of the organization in the industry.

Caramela, S. (2020). How to keep remote workers engaged in a virtual team. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7228-engaging-remote-employees.html

Friedlein, A. (2015). Three Digital Marketing Megatrends for 2015. Marketing Week (Online Edition), 1.