MGT508 1 WRITING ASSIGNMENT

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Module 2 - Home

Supportive Team Climates

Modular Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

•Case ◦Discuss and evaluate ways of establishing a supportive team climate.

•SLP ◦Identify and analyze your own team climate and how the choice of collaborative tools influences effectiveness.

•Discussion ◦Develop tips for virtual teams with your virtual team members.

Module Overview

This module is concerned with the social context of effective teams. The task here is to encourage people to work together. The underlying question is "What does it take to build a strong sense of connection between and among team members?"

To do this, we will be considering three different team-building processes:

•Establishing Interdependence

•Management and Team Competencies/Conditions

•Selecting the Appropriate Collaboration Tools

Interdependence

Fostering a sense of interdependence is critical to team functioning. Each member must feel that he or she is accountable to all other team members and that the other team members can rely on him or her. There are three factors that must be managed during this process.

1.Connection

Team members must feel a sense of connection on two levels. The first is task connection. This involves a commitment on the part of each member to the goals of the team. The second is interpersonal connection, which leads to information sharing, loyalty, and trust.

2.Barriers to Connection

Perhaps the greatest challenge in building connection is establishing clear and open communication. This can be especially difficult in virtual teams because the lack of face-to-face contact limits many avenues of communication. Typically, interactions in virtual teams lack nonverbal communication and involve less rich channels. In addition, the isolation and anonymity of members can lead to less inhibited and more assertive interactions than might be expected in a co-located team. Finally, cultural differences/diversity can further inhibit clear information exchange.

3.Purpose and Goal Clarity

Purpose and goal clarity are the essential ingredients in building both task and interpersonal connection. Shared vision is more important than detailed implementation plans, and trust must be built early. Trust is the "social glue" that holds teams together and may develop more slowly in virtual teams than in co-located ones.

Management and Team Competencies/Conditions

A supportive team climate does not emerge naturally. It requires that management and team members commit to certain conditions and develop specific competencies that will encourage and support connection and interdependence. These include:

1.Creative Tension

In order for teams to take advantage of differing perspectives, opinions, and approaches, the team climate should be characterized by what is called "creative tension." This involves an environment where differing points of view are accepted and members feel comfortable and safe in contributing their ideas. Input from all members is encouraged and honesty is a norm that is supported—even when that honesty means that others' views are questioned. On the other hand, unwarranted criticism is not a characteristic of creative tension.

2.Challenge

Supportive climates for teamwork are those that present the task in a challenging manner. This may involve an urgent deadline, a perplexing problem to solve, or just a change from the routine way of approaching the task.

3.Collaboration

This involves the ability to pull together and work collaboratively on a difficult task. It involves a certain "surrendering" of the ego in order to set aside one's own personal interests in favor of those of the group. It is a competency that is essential to interdependence and effective team functioning.

4.Freedom

Management must be willing to grant the team freedom from micromanagement, excessive surveillance, or other forms of intrusive evaluation. Freedom also involves the autonomy to determine how work is scheduled and accomplished.

5.Supportiveness

Management and team members can greatly increase team effectiveness by encouraging and empowering the group to take initiative. It should resist the temptation to rely on the status quo, but instead urge the team to discover new methods and solutions.

6.Resources

The willingness of individual team members and the organization to commit sufficient resources is essential. Resources can include time, effort, information, technology, funds, and manpower.

Selecting the Appropriate Collaboration Tools

One of the fastest growing fields in information technology is the development of collaboration tools. This is a good thing for teams of all sorts but is especially critical to virtual teams whose very existence depends on these tools.

Virtual teams may use a number of collaboration tools such as:

•Conference Calls

•Video Conferences

•E-mail

•Application Sharing Tools

•Faxes

•Other tools

In considering how to build supportive team climates, the choice of the correct collaboration tools can make or break a team’s effectiveness. We will be reviewing the types of resources that are available and examining the factors that managers and teams must consider in order to choose and implement the most appropriate tools for the task.

Communication Challenges in Virtual Teams

Dispersion is the most obvious challenge virtual teams face. Since they are not co-located, team members must overcome obstacles raised by differing time zones, differing levels of technical availability and proficiency, and differing cultures.

The very speed of communication that technology makes possible creates difficulties that also must be managed. With greater use of rapid communication technologies, there may be less time to carefully encode and process information. Information overload is possible when it is easy to replicate and distribute large amounts of data. Finally, when the technology is asynchronous (see below), there can be delays in feedback.

Many of the methods of communication used by virtual teams lack in "richness." Media Richness Theory is a framework that categorizes communications methods according to the amount of information if is capable of conveying. For example, a phone call correctly conveys the sender’s words, but cannot transmit non-verbal messages such as gestures or facial expressions. This makes it inferior to video conferencing, which is able to communicate body language, at least to some extent. Importantly, Media Richness Theory makes us realize that the more unstructured and uncertain a task is, the more we need a rich type of media that is capable of handling ambiguous messages. This is a particularly important consideration virtual teams. In working with virtual teams, we must be continually aware of how our messages are understood or interpreted. Often, we think we are being clear about our comments or instructions, when the receiver of the message is confused or even insulted. Read the following short article about Media Richness Theory:

Cordialism. (2011) Media Richness Theory. Retrieved from https://cordialism.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/media-richness-theory/

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Modes of Communication

One of the main decisions that teams need to make in choosing the appropriate resources for collaboration is whether to use synchronous or asynchronous tools. This deals with the issues of time and place. Teams can be either co-located or dispersed (place), and even if co-located, members may not all be available at the same time. The chart below illustrates some of the methods and products that are appropriate for different conditions of time and space. (from http://www.seanet.com/~daveg/technolo.htm)

Same Place

Different Place

Same Time

Face-to-Face Meetings, Open Space Technology (PCs, Electronic Whiteboards, Projectors)

Virtual Meetings, Distance Learning, Help Desks, Telework, Group Authoring, Video Conferencing, Open Space Technology (Live Meeting, NetMeeting, Interwise, WebEx, Instant Messaging, Windows Messaging, PCs, Electronic Whiteboards, Projectors, Cameras, Telephones, Audio Bridges, Moodle)

Different Time

Team Rooms

Electronic Mail, Group Time Management, Distance Learning, Wikis, Podcasts, Computer Conferencing (Outlook, Voice Mail, Telephones, Groove, Moodle)

Module 2 - Background

Supportive Team Climates

Start by reading the information and articles on the home page for this module. On this home page, task and interpersonal connection were cited as being essential to building high-performance teams. In the following article, read another viewpoint on how to build connection. Try to determine which of the activities the author describes build task commitment (goal clarity), and interpersonal commitment (loyalty, trust, and information sharing). Consider how you could accomplish these activities in a virtual team.

Ferrazzi K. (2014) Managing Yourself. Harvard Business Review 92(12):120-123. (Available in Business Source Complete)

Virtual Teams and the Importance of Building Trust

Trust is mentioned briefly on the home page for this module and in the reading above, but building trust is an especially tricky thing in a virtual team. Trust essentially involves the belief that:

•People will do what they say they will do.

•Information will be accurate.

•Feedback will be honest and constructive.

•Members have the necessary ability and expertise.

•Confidentiality will be respected.

There are some tried and true ways that team members can build trust. Here are a few:

•Positive experiences with the team and its members (this takes time).

•Establishing expertise (enables members to trust each other's judgment).

•Maintaining accountability.

This last factor may be easier when operating online. Technology involves more records and documentation—often with a time and date stamp! But team members can also show personal accountability by answering e-mails quickly, attending virtual conferences and meetings, and being on time. The following article is fairly old, but it still is one of the most definitive works available on how to build trust in virtual teams.

Read:

Greenberg, P. S., Greenberg, R. H., & Lederer, Y. (2007). Creating and sustaining trust in virtual teams. Business Horizons, 50(4). 325-333 (Available in ProQuest).

Collaboration Tools and Resources

We have established that collaboration and resources are essential competencies/conditions for high-performance teamwork. There is no question that virtual teams could not exist if it were not for sophisticated tools/technologies designed to assist communication and coordination of virtual work. Many if not all companies have voice and data computer networks that can serve as the base infrastructure for workflow, collaborative, and portal solutions. However, corporate networks do not solve the infrastructure needs when group members are widely geographically distributed or when they work for different organizations. That is where the Internet comes in. There are numerous resources to assist teams of all types in operating more efficiently. The following website offers a comprehensive list of tools available to virtual teams seeking to increase their effectiveness.

Osman, H. (2013) The ultimate list of virtual team technology tools. The Couch Manager. Retrieved from http://www.thecouchmanager.com/2013/05/21/the-ultimate-list-of-virtual-team-technology-tools/

Here is a shorter list of free tools you might want to try with your team for this class:

Falconer, J. (n.d.) 10 free tools for collaboration. Lifehack. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/10-free-tools-for-collaboration.html

Here's an article from the Trident Library that paints a picture of how technology is changing the way meetings are held and attended. People who are familiar with social networking, interactive collaborative tools, virtual conferencing, and working with far-flung groups will have a strong advantage.

Ting, D. (2013). Meeting the Future. (cover story). Successful Meetings, 62(6), 28-32.

Optional Reading

Georgina Harell, Tugrul U Daim. (2009) Virtual teams and the importance of building trust. IT Professional Magazine. Washington: Vol. 11, Iss. 6; p. 46.

King, C. (2007). Building trust in global virtual teams: An innovative training model. Training & Management Development Methods, 21(3), 315-310.

Siebdrat, F., Hoegl, M., and Ernst, H. (2009). “How to Manage Virtual Teams” MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved from: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-manage-virtual-teams/

CASE ASSIGNMENT

Module 2 - Case

Supportive Team Climates

Assignment Overview

On the home page of this module, six different management and team competencies/conditions were described. In this case, you will reflect on how these competencies/conditions act either alone or with others, to create task and interpersonal connection.

Case Assignment

Read the following article:

A. T., Alsever, J., Hempel, J., & Roberts, D. (2014). The New Teamwork. Fortune, 169(6), 78-82.

You can find this article in the TUI library, in EBSCO, Business Source Complete database.

Then address the following:

•Discuss how each competency and condition leads to either task and/or personal connection by contributing to goal clarity, loyalty, trust, or information sharing.

•Explain your reasons with reference to the background materials and examples from the case reading or other research if needed.

Assignment Expectations

Your paper should be 4-5 pages and will be evaluated using the following five (5) criteria:

•Assignment-Driven Criteria (Precision and Breadth): Does the paper fully address all assignment expectations? Are the concepts behind the assignment addressed accurately and precisely using sound logic? Does the paper meet minimum length requirements?

•Critical Thinking (Critical Thinking and Depth): Does the paper demonstrate graduate-level analysis, in which information derived from multiple sources, expert opinions, and assumptions has been critically evaluated and synthesized in the formulation of a logical set of conclusions? Does the paper address the topic with sufficient depth of discussion and analysis?

•Business Writing (Clarity and Organization): Is the paper well written (clear, developed logically, and well organized)? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary appropriate for graduate-level work? Are section headings included in all papers? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of responding to the Keys to the Assignment, or is justification/support instead conveyed through excessive use of direct quotations?

•Effective Use of Information (Information Literacy and References): Does the paper demonstrate that the student has read, understood and can apply the background materials for the module? If required, has the student demonstrated effective research, as evidenced by student’s use of relevant and quality (library?) sources? Do additional sources used in paper provide strong support for conclusions drawn, and do they help in shaping the overall paper?

•Citing Sources: Does the student demonstrate understanding of APA Style of referencing, by inclusion of proper end references and in-text citations (for paraphrased text and direct quotations) as appropriate? Have all sources (e.g., references used from the Background page, the assignment readings, and outside research) been included, and are these properly cited? Have all end references been included within the body of the paper as in-text citations?

Turn in this 4- to 5-page paper by the end of the module.

Assignment 2

3 paragraphs with reference page due by wed 10am, eastern U.S. time.

Module 2 - SLP

Supportive Team Climates

In the Session Long Project for this course, you are working with several classmates as a virtual team on a competitive project. This project involves assessment of both group and individual work. Your team's process and task output will serve as the material for this SLP. The Discussion is the "default method" to communicate with other team members, so respond to the Discussion that is set up for your team.

Review the rules for the team project, Virtual Teams: 101 Tips (Module 1 SLP). By now you should have met with your team several times and decided on a short list of tips to submit.

SLP Assignment Expectations

By the end of this module, submit your list of tips along with a 2- to 3-page analysis that addresses the following questions:

•What did your team do to establish task and interpersonal connection? Be specific and incorporate the concepts for building task and interpersonal connectedness from this module's materials.

•Did your choice of collaboration tools support your efforts to establish connectedness? Explain why or why not.

•What barriers did you encounter in trying to establish connectedness?

•Did your team try to address these barriers with any of the methods described in the readings for this module?

Keys to the Assignment

•The paper should have an Introduction, Main Body with Subsections, Conclusions, and Bibliography. Use APA style for references.

•Be sure to take an analytical approach. I am more interested in "why" and "what you did that resulted in that outcome" than I am in mere description.

•Be sure that each team member uploads a copy of the team paper for documentation purposes.

•It works best if you break out your list of tips from the rest of the text and locate the bulleted list at the beginning of your paper.

Your paper will be evaluated using the following five (5) criteria:

After all teams have submitted their papers, you will be able to see the names of the highest scoring teams listed in the Hall of Fame in the next module’s discussion.