Communication + Virtual Teams

Communication

“Communication: the transmission of information, idea, emotion, skills, etc., by the use of symbols-words, pictures, figures, graphs, etc. It is the act or process of transmission that is usually called communication” (Berelson and Steiner, 1964).

According to the class presentation about this topic, Communication has 2 dimenssions, which are Interpersonal communication and Technological Communication.

Interpersonal communication refers to the “Communication between two or more people in an organization”. (1), which cannot be replased by technology and is characterized by 4 elements: (1) the communicator: person that generates the mesage, (2) the receiver: person that receives the message, (3) perceptual screens: the window through which we interact with other people, that manipulates the clarity and quality of the communication and (4) the message: opinions, thougths, ideas, feelings, etc. that the communicator wants to be understood by the receiver.

Inside organizations we can find different types of effective managers, which may know how to express their ideas and thoughts, maintain their workers updated with relevant information or even know how to listen to each others and be concerned about their problems. Indeed there are 5 types of effective managers:

1. Expressive Speakers: This type of managers express their ideas, feelings, opinions and thoughts, letting the employees know where are they standing and how is their development being conceived by their bosses.
2. Empathetic Listeners: This type of managers are good listeners, are patient and concerned by other people.
3. Persuasive Leaders: This type of managers like its name indicates, prefer to persuade employees instead of giving or imposing orders.
4. Sentivity to feelings: This type of managers are really concerned for other’s feelings, self-image and self-esteem, being very confidential and constructive inside their organization.
5. Informative Managers: This type of managers like to do the apropriate and selective difussion of the information, wanting to keep employees well informed.

For having an effective communication, people must have: clarity and consistency in their messages, a complete, understandable and clear objective that they want to transmit, they should do the adequate feedback and take into account the time that they should spend in that communication.

References:

• (1) Nelson, Debra L. and Quick, James Campbell. “Understanding Organizational Behavior” chapter 7 Communication.
• Berelson B & Steiner G A. Human behavior: an inventory of scientific findings. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964. 712 p.
• Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?” Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.39 – 46

Virtual Teams


Virtual teams “consist of team members who are geographically dispersed and who come together by way of telecommunications technology (e.g. video conferencing). Each team member may be located in a traditional office setting, but the offices are not proximate to one another” (Kurland & Bailey, 1999, p. 56).

Virtual teams are composed by communications, global operations and integration of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices. They have several characteristics; some of them are:
• People belonging to virtual teams are located in different time zones.
• They have a common purpose.
• Virtual teams use technology to communicate among them.
• Members of virtual teams may belong to different companies, etc.

There are 4 types of virtual teams depending on the number of members and their degree of interaction. These types are:

1. Telework: People use telecommunication to interact with each other. They work outside their workplace almost all the time, saving costs and time and being more flexible.
2. Virtual Groups: Are composed by various teleworkers, which report their work to the same boss. They don’t have a common goal or objective and develop independent tasks and activities.
3. Virtual Teams: Members of the virtual group interact with each other, working inside the organization towards achieving a common goal.
4. Virtual Communities: Are larger entities with common purposes and norms, in which members communicate through internet.

Virtual Teams have some advantages compared to traditional teams, like savings in time and costs, getting in contact with experts that are geographically dispersed, having more flexibility, etc. However, they also have disadvantages, such as: technological costs, people having to deal with cultural differences, having possible misunderstandings because they are not communicating face to face, among others.

“Unlike conventional teams, a virtual team works across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technologies”. (Lipnack and Stamps, 1997).


References:
• Kurland, N.B. and Bailey, D.E. (1999.) Telework: The Advantages and Challenges of Working Here, There, Anywhere, and Anytime. Organizational Dynamics, 28(2): 53-68.
• Kuruppuarachchi, Palitha R. 2009. "Virtual team concepts in projects: A case study." Project Management Journal 40, no. 2: 19-33.
• Lipnack, J., Stamps, J. (1997), Virtual Teams: Reaching Across Space, Time, and Organizations with Technology

Question

Communication is a process that allows organizations to send/receive messages within their own boundaries but also to interact with outside entities (customers, suppliers, the media, etc.). Messages are send/received not only through oral and written statements, there are many channels and ways that need to be considered when discussing effective organizational communication. In that sense, the use of sounds has become increasingly important.

Based on the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”*, Please discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages. You need to integrate the use of key concepts relating to the topic of communication to support your answer.

Organizations should formulate strategies to decide how they want to communicate their brands, products, services or even the entire company. When doing this, managers work hard to create a clear message that can be received by external entities and their target market exactly as they want to, trying to avoid any kind of misunderstandings with it.

When organizations intend to send an effective message for external entities, they need to be aware of the people’s senses (touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing) that they want to perceive this message. For example, messages send by T.V. commercials are perceived by the receiver with sight and hearing, allowing people to remember the message transmitted for a longer period of time.

In the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?” Intercontinental organization wants to communicate what their company is and means through a specific melody that can be recognized by everyone, inside and outside the organization. Implementing this strategy could bring potential advantages to the organization in the way that this melody could reinforce the organization’s identity and become a memorable message in people’s mind.

Sound is one of the most powerful senses in humans’ retentive, therefore creating a short distinctive melody or a jingle could be a good way to reach consumers and place the brand and the company’s name in their mind. In this way when people listen to that specific melody they will immediately associate it with the organization, generating recognition and remembrance.

Creating a melody to be recognized by people also has some disadvantages. In this precise case of Intercontinental organization, when managers started working with the producers that were going to help them create the melody, they found out that they actually needed to modify their mission, vision and strategies if they were willing to reach consumer’s mind with that sound and communicate the message they wanted.

When an organization focuses on creating a new way of communication, like a sound or a melody, managers could forget about other senses and could be concentrated only in hearing, which might be really important, but is not the only one. The other 4 senses should be taken into account when sending messages that we want people to remember for a long time.

For all these reasons exposed above, we can conclude that it is a real challenge getting people to recognize and remember an organization with a simple melody, but if we do it, can be a very effective strategy for the company that no one will forget through time.

According to Simon Osborne in his article “ Organization Communication”: “If properly planned and delivered, communication will ensure that everyone understands what your goals are, what their part in achieving them is and what they can do to make sure that the goals are achieved. The time lost through lack of direction and misunderstandings will be dramatically reduced”.

References:
• Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31 Iss: 4, pp.39 – 46
• http://www.businessperform.com/articles/workplace-communication/organization_communication.html
• May, Steve and Mumby, Dennis K. 2005. "Engaging Organizational Communication Theory and Research." Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Images taken from:
• http://es.dreamstime.com/thread_8914
• http://www.leadingvirtually.com/?p=93