Virtual Norms To Live By - Case Study Example

?Virtual Norms To Live By In this age of globalization, people find ways to work better with technology. It is not uncommon to find teams collaborating on projects online. It reduces the stress one gets from travelling to the office for meetings or running around town to coordinate with people involved in the project. The virtual world makes it possible to interact with each other without being physically present. The availability of email, chat rooms, video conferencing, texting and calling on mobile and landline phones makes virtual collaboration more convenient. As it is with groups working face-to face, virtual teams also need norms to live by. Karten (2003) explains that team norms should be formed in order for team members to be guided accordingly as to how they interact, communicate and conduct themselves as members of the team. It follows that such norms should be agreed upon and clearly understood and interpreted by all the members of the group. Norms are not really set in stone. Should some norms prove to be ineffective or unsuitable already to the group, then they may be amended. I have enumerated ten norms that I believe will work with virtual teams and help them work together better. Communication Norms 1. Be open to each other’s ideas. Give each other the chance to communicate them and listen well without judgment. Objectively listening to other people’s ideas can actually be an enriching experience. Richmond & McCroskey (2005) defines organizational communication as “the process by which individuals stimulate meaning in the minds of other individuals by means of verbal or nonverbal messages in the context of a formal organization.” (P. 20). Each individual is capable of thinking up of great ideas that may be contributed to the team project, hence, everyone deserves to heard when they share their opinions, insights and perspectives regarding issues that relate to the project at hand. Shooting down a member’s idea even before it is heard out completely and considered is not only rude, but can dishearten members from speaking out and actively contributing their ideas to the group. 2. Be conscious of each other’s personal schedules as they are not available to render service to the team on a 24/7 basis. One limitation of the virtual world is that face-to-face communication is not available all the time. When one sends a message to another team member, it may be possible that the recipient is not online to receive the message at that particular moment, so the sender needs to give allowance of time before his message is received and acknowledged. It must be considered that members are not online on a round-the-clock basis and is also living a life offline that is has no relation to the project. This should be clearly understood so that disappointments are avoided. If there is an urgent message to be expected, one should be informed by mobile phone right away so he can check his email. 3. Acknowledge receipt of messages. In relation to the previous communication norm, it is but polite to acknowledge the receipt of a message so that the sender is aware. If there is a question in the message, it needs to be answered by the recipient as soon as he can so there is less time wasted on waiting. 4. Ask questions if things are not clear. This is a very basic practice. Members should not be intimidated to ask questions because it is crucial that they are clear on what they should do. If one is unsure of what to do and just goes by what he just feels is right without clarifying with the others, he might end up doing it wrong, hence, repeating the whole process. Asking questions and getting the right answers for it saves the team a lot of time and effort. 5. Always be motivating to others. Members of a team should be constantly motivated and encouraged to go on with the tasks in order to achieve the set goals. Motivation may come in many forms - intrinsic motivation or the inner drive to learn which leads to personal fulfillment; extrinsic motivation, which consists of rewards or a prize for performing well; social reinforcement, an example of which is praise and approval from significant persons in an individual's life; and achievement, or the attaining of the learning goal. Having an interplay of the various kinds of reinforcement is the most effective way to motivate a member to perform well in his task and to pursue more knowledge and acquire more skills (Stoll, L., Fink, D. & Earl, L., 2003). Task Norms 1. Delegated tasks should be clearly communicated and known by everyone so that there is accountability. When one is delegated a task, he develops ownership of that task and becomes responsible for its outcome. It should be known by everyone which tasks are delegated to whom so that there is no confusion or overlap which can later be a source of conflict and an issue for credit. 2. Tasks should be plotted in a schedule and the progress of tasks should be regularly reported to the team. To further organize the team’s schedule, a huge calendar should be posted wherein deadlines are indicated along with the tasks that need to be done by a particular date and who are in charge of such tasks. Each member should report the progress of his tasks to the team so each one knows the pacing they need to adopt with their own tasks. 3. Members who are new to the tasks delegated to them should be guided by members who have more experience until such time when they can independently do it themselves. This norm encourages mentoring. A mentor is someone revered by a mentee as a knowledgeable guide molded into wisdom by his vast experiences in a field desired by a mentee to be part of. He takes special interest in the mentee, or his protege, as he takes her under his wing and guide her in decision-making, attitude, behavior and specific tasks related to the field he is mentoring her with. It is essential that the mentor or more experienced member of the team set the goal of making the mentee stand on her own two feet so she can do the tasks on her own and in good quality (Nunn, 2008) 4. Leadership should be rotated among the members so each one gets to head some projects. It would be good for all of the members of the team to experience heading projects, so a good norm to be introduced is the rotation of leadership among the members. This way, each member acquires various skills and values to enhance their personal and professional development. Taking on both leader and member roles widens the perspective of each member of the team. 5. Evaluation of performance in the tasks should be done at the end of the project and noted improvements to be done should be part of the goals for the next project. In order to further improve as a team, assessment and evaluation of each member’s performance is necessary as well as the assessment and evaluation of the final project. London (2007) distinguishes between assessment and evaluation. Assessment can diagnose learning gaps and determine interventions that will improve group process. Evaluation refers to determining the quality and quantity of group and individual outputs, often to make decisions about the individuals in the group (pay, promotion, continuing them on the group) and about the group as a whole (e.g., whether to disband or maintain it, change its goals, reward all group members equally, etc.). Action Plan In order for communication and task norms to be formed by the team, an objective facilitator who is not part of the team makes sure that all members should agree that they will follow them and understand the reason for it and the benefits it will bring the team. In the first place, the whole team should have the same vision and mission that they inherently believe or else, the team will not survive. This may be checked by discussing as a group what they believe in terms of the team’s goals and objectives. Then they cite their own personal norms that they can bring in to the team. After a thorough discussion of these personal norms, the team can choose which ones they would want to adopt as a team. If there are disagreements, neutral members can settle the issue. Karten’s (2003) advise on refining and honouring the norms should follow. Regular reminders may be sent to the members via email especially if some norms are being neglected or ignored. Members who violate the norms should be warned and if they violate it more than three times, then they should accept their removal from the team. References Karten, N. (2003). Creating Team Norms. Retrieved August 2009 from http://www.stickyminds.com/sitewide.asp?Function=edetail&ObjectType=COL&O bjectId=6736 London, M. (2007) Performance Appraisal for Groups: Models and Methods for Assessing Group Processes and Outcomes for Development and Evaluation, Practice and Research, Vol. 59, No. 3, 175–188 Nunn, M. (2008) Mentoring for Early Career Professionals. Southern Cross University Richmond, V.P. & McCroskey, J.C. (2005) Organizational communication for survival: making work,work. Retried on January 17, 2008 from http://www.ilstu.edu/~llipper/com329/mccroskey_chapter.pdf Stoll, L., Fink, D. & Earl, L., (2003) It’s About Learning. Read More