Procurement - the virtual team member

For as long as I’ve been in purchasing and supply chain management functions, I’ve been a ‘remote’ buyer. Not that I've been 'telecommuting' or living in a remote area, but I've usually been located away from the end-users of our services. For instance, I was in a head office buying for various branches across Canada; when in retail I worked in a department located at the distribution centre, an hour’s drive away from the head office and nearest store. I’ve even worked for a centralized procurement branch for government where the majority of the people I worked "with" via phone/email but rarely met face-to-face. Recently I did some consulting work on moving a decentralized procurement function to a hybrid structure (after reviewing some research on the various adv/disadv of each structure conducted by Leenders/Fraser).

The following qualities I've accumulated from a number of procurement specialist postings - Client-centered, entrepreneurial, independent thinker, project management skills, organized. In reading these qualities, I would expect I'd see the same qualities listed for a 'telecommuter'. I wonder if organizations seeking to improve their bottom line might look to better manage their procurement staff the same way they would manage telecommuter or virtual team members. That is to 'include' them even if they are not physically present. There are a number of articles on managing telecommuters, which I won't reiterate here (although I will provide some links at the bottom). Below is a brief synopsis of what organizations can do to better work with a virtual procurement team and therefore obtain best value! This would apply whether procurement is through a head office; the organization's best-skilled staff located elsewhere; or via contracted resources/consultants.

• Remember they are part of the team - the exchange of some basic personal information significantly expedites the operations of virtual teams “The Virtual Handshake” - sometimes people forget this with their remote team members.
  
• Communications, trust, isolation, culture (not taken for granted) – managers must facilitate this)
• Frameworks and Routines Technology - Skype, video conferencing, intranets, shared servers, LiveMeeting, etc. Routinely check with the person for assistance.
  
• Use the Right person, regardless of location - hire people that you'll like working with
  
• Skills development – to work in teams, staff need training and support in team dynamics/personality 'types' etc – many past purchasing departments relied upon policy as their ‘bat'. They need to move away from that and learn customer-service skills.
  
• Proper workspace - they need the workspace to allow for working with the technologies/routines that will keep them included in projects. Plus, mentally, one needs a 'workspace' not a dining room table.

For further reading you can check out these links:
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/1997/04/14/focus5.html?page=1

http://www.inc.com/articles/1999/10/19238.html

http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/networking/teten-allen/052307-managing-virtual-employees.html