Reading I NEED HELP ON MY HOMEWORK

COMM 122 Group project

Project Proposal

Our group has opted to hone in on Flexible work and Virtual Collaboration, not only because we have several connections relating to this specific topic, but also because we believe that Flexible virtual work provides many boons for both employers and employees alike. Flexible work can entail a variety of different meanings in regards to workplace, but in order to tie this into the second half of the topic, we’ve opted to intertwine flexible work and virtual collaboration with remote work, in which employers are able to hire from not just a local pool of potential hirees, but rather can go cross-country or internationally in order to find someone who best suits their needed position. Not only does virtual work benefit employers, but also employees in the sense that virtual/remote work allows for a greater degree of flexibility when it comes to improving work-life balance, productivity, and overall motivation. In regards to the profession/job industry in which we can locate remote workers, just about every single field one can think of will have some sort of virtual collaboration. We plan on interviewing Brad’s boss at JLeon Construction Company, LLC for whom he works remotely from California to Texas, the cofounder of Z Potentials, the Vice President - Corporate Controller at Deckers Brands, and the appointed Chair of UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Education. Some general questions we plan on asking our potential interview candidates include the benefits and disadvantages of remote work through their perspective, whether or not they personally approve of this style of work or traditional work, and whether they believe whether or not remote work will continue to rise in regards to popularity or of society will slowly return to traditional in-person employment

Interview Plan (Pt. 1)

Interviewers	Interviewee Profile	Organization Profile	Interview Schedule
Brad	Founder of respective construction company located in Texas	JLeon Construction Company, LLC - Construction company focused on gas and fiber lines throughout Texas.	· Conducted by Brad · Will occur within 2-3weeks · Conducted via ZOOM or Phone Call · Estimated to last about 30min-1hr · Will most likely not be recorded
Alexis	Vice President - Corporate Controller at Deckers Brands	Deckers Brands - Deckers Brands is a global leader in designing, marketing, and distributing innovative footwear, apparel, and accessories.	· Conducted by Alexis · Will occur before 07/20 · In-person interview · Will be recorded (audio) · 30/45 min
Shayla	Cofounder of Z Potentials	Z Potentials - an information and technology company that harnesses the power of the latest technological waves	· Conducted by Shayla · Will occur within 2 weeks · Conducted via ZOOM · Estimated to last about 30 min
Feiyu	Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft	American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington.	· Conducted by Feiyu · Will occur within 2 weeks · Conducted via ZOOM · Estimated to last about 30 min

Interview Plan (Pt. 2)

Self-Introduction:

(Interviews will be held individually).

I am a representative from a group within a class at the University of California - Santa Barbara, titled Organizational Communication. Our purpose here today, is to gain an in-depth perspective from work professionals relating to a specific topic that our group has selected to write about, specifically Flexible and Virtual Collaboration.

Regarding confidentiality, none of your answers, nor your name will be discussed nor distributed outside of our classroom, anything that may or may not have been recorded or noted will be deleted by the end of the Summer 2024 Session A quarter.

The main reason for this interview is to discuss the part that remote work plays within your field of work. We ask you to speak freely whilst holding nothing back whether your thoughts be negative or positive so that we may gain as honest a perspective about this subject as possible, as this will all be held in confidentiality.

Background Information:

Now that we’ve introduced ourselves and our purpose for being here today, we’d like to get some information regarding yourself and your place of work.

· What is your name?

· What is the name of the organization that you work for?

· What title/position do you hold at the aforementioned organization?

· What roles/responsibilities are you expected to uphold at your respective organization?

· What qualifications (Undergrad/Postgrad if any)/ Pre-requisites did you require in order to successfully acquire this position?

· Do you have any previous experience relating to what you currently do at your organization?

Thank you for providing that information.

Effect of Remote Work in your workplace

Now that we’ve gotten some background information about you, we’d like to ask you some questions relating to how remote work plays a role in your organization.

· How much of the work is remote / How many of your employees are working remotely?

· How do you determine which positions in your organization should or should not be a remote position?

· How do you manage workplace conflict/misunderstandings in the context that one party involved is working remotely, and one is in person?

· What do you believe to be the advantages and disadvantages of remote work?

· What technologies have you found most helpful for remote communication, and is it difficult to communicate with remote employees?

· How long has it been since your company has decided to adopt remote working?

· How long did it take for your company to transition into partial remote work, and was the transition easy to accept for yourself and your colleagues?

· (In the case that the interviewee participates in remote work) How do you feel that working remotely has affected your work-life balance?

· Do your fellow employees agree or disagree with the following statement: Remote work is beneficial for our organization?

· How did training differentiate between remote and in-person employees?

Thank you for your responses.

Wrap-Up

Before we end things off today, we have a few closing questions we’d like to inquire about;

· Is there anything that I haven’t already asked that you’d like to mention regarding remote work?

· Would you like for your real name to be used in our interview results, or would you rather use a fake name and if so, what would you like that to be?

Thank you so much for your time and answers, your responses have provided critical insight for our group in regards to learning how remote work has affected the professional field.