Preparing business students for workplace reality – using global virtual teams in logistics and SCM education

• Pages: 886-907
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-01-2015-0003
• Date: 14 November 2016
• Published date: 14 November 2016
• Author: Alexander Trautrims,Cliff Defee,Ted Farris
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

Preparing business students

for workplace reality –using

global virtual teams in logistics

and SCM education

Alexander Trautrims

Department of Operations Management and Information Systems,

Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham, UK

Cliff Defee

Department of Aviation and Supply Chain Management,

Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA, and

Ted Farris

Department of Marketing and Logistics,

University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to present and examine the use and effects of global virtual

teams as a tool in the logistics and supply chain management classroom to prepare students in a

simulation environment for the demands of their future careers in the profession.

Design/methodology/approach –Literature of logistics and supply chain management education is

combined with streams from management learning literature. The way the tool of global virtual teams

was applied is explained, followed by an analysis of quantitative and qualitative participant response

data. From the data analysis the effects of individual factors in the design and application of the global

virtual team are isolated and recommendations are extracted for future use of the tool.

Findings –The paper finds that the application of global virtual teams helped participating students

to develop the management skills required for a career in logistics and supply chain management.

Although students perceived the international nature and the lose frame provided by the tool as

challenges, most learning effects were caused by these challenges. The paper also shows that the set up

by the involved educators is crucial for the learning effect in particular toward similar weights of the

assessments and the number of group members from each geographical area.

Research limitations/implications –The paper does not examine all potentially amendable factors

but focuses on those that were seen as relevant and practically achievable under the available

resources to ensure the tool can be easily scaled up by adding further institutions and participants.

Originality/value –The paper is the first application of global virtual teams in logistics and

supply chain management education. It provides the theoretical foundations and rationale for its

application and is relevant to educators by giving them access to this tool for improvement of their

students’career preparedness.

Keywords Global virtual teams, Displaced workgroups, Logistics management education,

Supply chain management education, Supply chain manager of the future

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Modern supply chains are complex, requiring the efforts of multiple organizations

managing a variety of operations across many regions of the globe to efficiently and

effectively deliver goods and services to consumer markets worldwide (Mentze r, 2004).

The rise of supply chain management as a discipline has come about as a means of

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 27 No. 3, 2016

pp. 886-907

©Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-01-2015-0003

Received 5 January 2015

Revised 3 July 2015

Accepted 20 October 2015

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

886

IJLM

27,3

bringing order to this complexity. While the discipline has grown and defined itself

over the past two decades supply chain management course content has generally

aligned with the procurement, logistics, and operating needs of business.

Higher education has lagged behind, however, in preparing students for their

chosen careers in a method of work necessary in today’s supply chain environment.

Business school pedagogy has not changed much in decades. One-way, lecture-driven

content delivery remains a staple of the typical college of business course (Mangan and

Christopher, 2005). This is perplexing given the dynamic and rapidly evolving nature

of supply chain management and the explosion of communications technology options

available today.

As supply chain networks have become increasingly global (LaLonde and Ginter, 2008)

an important change in work force dynamics has occurred –the emergence of the virtual

team. Simply stated virtual teams bring together people from multiple locations across

multiple echelons to solve supply chain issues. These teams may be short lived and focus

on point problems or ongoing to support continuous improvement objectives. Whatever

their duration virtual teams are a critical resource used routinely by world class supply

chain organizations. Traditional team-based activities which are frequently leveraged in

business school education are inadequate in creating experiences interacting with distant

colleagues. Thus, we believe it is critical that supply chain education incorporates virtual

team training to ensure students are adequately prepared to enter a global, highly

interactive supply chain working environment.

This paper is organized as follows. It starts with a background chapter identifying the

need for qualified supply chain personnel and portraying the skills requirement for future

logistics and supply chain managers. It then explains the requirements for delivery of

higher education content through online formats, what global virtual teams are and the

particular skills students can acquire from their application in the classroom.

Afterwards we show the use of global virtual teams in an international multi-

university exercise involving participants from several logistics/SCM courses and the

underlying objectives in the exercise’s design and execution. The student learning

experience is analyzed from quantitative and qualitative student feedback; leading into

faculty reflections on the exercise. The paper eventually concludes with the learning

objectives achieved by students through participation in the exercise.

Background

This chapter outlines the skills set required by future logistics and supply chain

managers and the work environment they are facing in an increasingly globalized field

first before explaining the nature of global virtual teams and how their use relates to

these required skills and their transfer to students in a higher education setting.

The future logistics and supply chain manager

Fawcett et al. (2008) identified the barriers to effective supply chain management as

coming from organizations and the people within them. These barriers include poor

collaboration between organizations within the same supply chain, an absence of trust,

and a lack of training for new mind sets and skills. Through interviews with supply

chain professionals, they identified human behavior as a root cause for most barriers of

effective supply chain management. As a consequence, people are the key to successful

collaborative innovations, and teamwork skills need to be an essential part of supply

chain education and training. Incorporating the development of teamwork skills and

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Virtual teams

in logistics

and SCM

education