Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communications - Essay Example However, from a communication perspective managing a virtual team can pose problems in maintaining rapport among members, bridging cultural gaps, and orchestrating for them to do their designated tasks at specified dates. As opposed to members who meet face to face, virtual teams have yet to build a strong relationship through virtual interactions in order to maintain the efficiency and accuracy of the work which the company wants each member to undertake. The initial meeting of the virtual team should be designed in order to overcome the distrust and anxiety that the members feel toward each other. Thus, in order to facilitate this meeting, it is recommended that teleconferencing be used in order to develop a warm and more social atmosphere. This get-to-know-each-other stage should not be a venue to tackle serious and formal matters but should be designed in order for team members to feel at ease with the prospect of working together in the future. Thus, teleconferencing will allow each other to talk and view each other while the first meeting is conducted. The first meeting should be facilitated by someone from the headquarters of SWC. At first, there should be an ice breaker by allowing members to introduce themselves and communicate casually with each others. The latter portion will be more serious by as it will be on the establishment of the team's goal and clarification of the roles and responsibilities of each team member. Before this discussion, an overview of how things work in the company should be presented in order for members to know how their different tasks can contribute to the overall process taken to attain corporate goals. Special discussions should also be conducted to tackle the following questions within the group: agreement on team ground rules, turnaround time of emails, calls, etc; information sharing; giving and receiving feedback; using media effectively; conflict management; and stakeholder satisfaction (Jude et al 2000). The facilitator should give each member pitch in his or her ideas in these situations in order to avoid further conflict in the future. Key Interactions Key interactions in the company will be facilitated through different communication channels. Conference calls should be used in order to conduct the needed trainings. As each member will be closely working hand in hand, training them together through conference calls will be beneficial in further defining their tasks and specific responsibilities. The use of email will be to facilitate sending large files and documents to the members as well as different questions and clarification on everyday communication. Emails will therefore be the primary means of communication. NetMeeting will also be used in order to facilitate the periodic meeting of each team member. Aside from these work related communications, SWC should also look into conducting team building strategies in order to solidify team relationship. If possible, it can set up a face-to-face meeting with its team members in an annual basis in order for them to further get acquainted with each other as well as instill