OVERVIEW

The professional responsibility aspect of project management practices is increasingly receiving a greater amount of attention, primarily because it is being recognized that the behavior and performance of these professionals impact the profit loss status of the organization in significant ways. Given that professional responsibility is an individual issue, fundamentally it stays unchanged independent of whether the professional is a member of a traditional team or a virtual team. However, the project management professional may have to use modified means in order to discharge these responsibilities when working on a virtual team. Virtual teams create novel ethical and professional situations, whose solution requires exceptional forethought and extraordinary due diligence. The areas of distinction are founded on those behavioral features that make virtual teams a different entity from traditional teams, such as people interaction issues of the team. There is no question that seasoned project managers will be able to adapt to the new ethical situations reasonably well. However, a set of standards, procedures, and guidelines will illuminate the path even to those who have recently entered the profession.

The project management tasks and operations must be guided by two sets of policies and guidelines. One set addresses the project management processes, namely initiate, plan, execute, control, and close (Figure 6.1). These processes address the discipline-independent as well as discipline-specific issues. They are usually clear and relatively straightforward, at least once the team members become fully familiar with all of the steps of these processes. These processes in turn cover all...