Sheila works for General Electric’s (GE) energy company in the wind turbine manufacturing division as an inventory controller. Her job duties include receiving the wind turbine components into GE’s inventory when vendors provide the required documentation and then moving them out of inventory when the components reach the wind field site. She handles primarily the large components including tower segments, blades, machine heads, and hubs. The tower segments are made by firms in the United States and China and are received into inventory once the signed inspection tags are emailed to her. For the blades, they are shipped to the port of Houston, and once they are unloaded and pass inspection they are entered into inventory. The machine heads and hubs are made by GE at three different plants and go into inventory once completed and ready for shipment.....

Discussion Questions

1. How does trust and respect facilitate the virtual teams’ ability to operate?

2. What processes and procedures are important to making the teams work?

3. Why do you think Sheila is having trouble in her role on the new team?

4. What factors should you consider when putting together a virtual team?