Features of Better Communication of International Workgroups1

Arcadio Viveros-Guzmán2
Introduction

“The single most critical component that makes teamwork possible is effective communication”
(Jones, Oyung, & Pace, 2005 p. xviii). Organizations that conduct virtual interactions and have
team members dispersed in other parts of the world have to rely heavily on online communication
tools (Johnson, 2004) and digital telecommunications technologies (Leonardi, Jackson, & Marsh,
2004). Currently, team members have to learn how to effectively use emerging communication
technologies to improve their work and minimize communication problems that may emerge
when working virtually (Ferris & Minielli, 2004). Virtual interactions and online collaboration
efforts should be embraced by organizations as a facet of their communication strategy to
gradually promote effective adoption of virtual communication tools (Hertel, 2004).
To describe the characteristics of conducting a better communication process in the virtual work
environment (synchronous and asynchronous), this paper is structured in two main sections:
Personal and Interpersonal-Professional. The two sections will provide some of the most
important elements that describe what an effective blended model of communication looks like.
Due to the close relationship that they share, the interpersonal and professional categories have
been fused. There is also an emphasis on the asynchronous virtual context. A blended model
refers to a combination of virtual and a face-to-face interactions and communication in the
workplace when working on international projects for development. These projects may be
conducted by government agencies, NGOs, schools, and universities. The objective of this paper
is to present a compilation and description of the key characteristics for effective communication,
and also those that improve learning, adaptation, and collaboration processes when working in
virtual and face-to-face environments at an international level.

1
Final paper prepared for the course 802.6 Historical and Theoretical Foundations of
Educational Technology. Instructor: Dr. Richard Schwier.
2
M.Ed. Student – Educational Communications and Technology Program, Department of
Curriculum Studies, College of Education. University of Saskatchewan. Saskatoon, SK.
Canada. May 7, 2009.
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I strongly believe that a broader view and understanding of communications (such as an
integrated approach) enhances the learning, adaptation, and collaboration of team members who
deal with international projects for development.

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1. Personal Setting

1.1. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence has been described by Daniel Goleman as the capacity of being aware of
both personal and interpersonal feelings and emotions (Holt & Jones, 2005; Hughes & Terrell,
2007). Emotional intelligence allows individuals, teams, and organizations to succeed. Managers
who display effective performance in their organizations show high levels of emotional
intelligence. These managers have high levels of productivity and their influence increases the
productivity of their colleagues. Empathy, productivity, efficiency, and commitment are evident
when organizations promote self-awareness in their team members. To survive in a globalized
world, these factors are indispensable when building a healthy organization and promoting
learning among team members (Holt & Jones, 2005). Both emotional skills and social skills
create opportunities for synergy and help individuals deal more effectively with the demands that
their lives and workplaces require. Emotional intelligence also includes the concepts of
adaptability, stress management, and a general mindset: adaptability is the capacity of adjusting
to new environments; stress management is related to how much stress individuals can tolerate
and how they deal with it; and a sensible mindset is a key feature in individuals who typically
feel happy and face challenges optimistically (Shmueli, Dolan, & Cerdin, 2005).

1.2. Social Intelligence

Hughes and Terrell (2007) declare that since individuals do not live in isolation, it is convenient
to see them as social entities. Hence, the combination of emotional and social intelligence is
necessary. One of the products of effectively practicing that combination is the collaborative
intelligence that provides the energy that allows teams to succeed. To obtain that energy, teams
need to know what factors can help them reach optimal levels of emotional-social intelligence
(ESI) and work productively in a comfortable environment.

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Kumar, Rose, and Subramaniam (2008) mention that social intelligence comprises several
capacities such as understanding how human relations work, making wise decisions,
acknowledging one’s own and others’ perceptions and behaviours, knowing how to get along
with people, and perceiving non-verbal communication. In short, social intelligence helps people
understand how to interpret social information. There are seven skills that help teams develop
ESI (Hughes & Terrell, 2007): team identity, motivation, emotional awareness, communication,
stress tolerance, conflict resolution, and a positive mood.

1) Team identity deals with the concept of synergy, which emerges when the team members
identify with the team as a whole and then become a system capable of solving problems. Teams
can reach identity when they develop a sense of purpose, acceptance among individuals,
perception that the team is unique, commitment, pride, clarity about roles and responsibilities,
and flexibility.

2) Motivation. Motivation literally means “move.” To be motivated, team members must have a
desire to grow, inspiration, goals, reinforcements, and rewards.

3) Emotional awareness is the perception and communication of feelings and their causes.

4) Communication is a skill that every team member can develop by learning the basic
components of communication: sender, receiver, message (verbal and non-verbal content),
meaning, feeling (gestures, tone, eye contact), and technique (respect, listening, reflecting,
rapport).

5) Stress tolerance, as it relates to ESI teams, refers to the physical reactions of our bodies to
new modifications of our social environment. To reduce stress in the workplace, team members
need to be assertive, accept themselves, and be flexible and humble (Hughes & Terrell, 2007).
Furthermore, building a friendly work atmosphere where team members experience humour and
do not worry about the small things is recommended (Dewar, 2006; Hughes & Terrell, 2007).

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6) Conflict resolution involves a process for solving disagreements. There are some styles that
individuals can use to solve conflicts: cooperation, confrontation, competition, or collaboration.
Collaboration is the most important because it suggests that team members can always see the
conflict as an opportunity to grow. There are some factors that help when solving conflicts:
patience, approach, collaborative communication, empathy, assertiveness, a predictable resolution
style, and gratitude (Hughes & Terrell, 2007). An approach of compromise also contributes to
managing and solving problems or discrepancies by negotiating a mutually beneficial solution
and acceptance of responsibilities. Research has shown that team satisfaction correlates with a
collaborative method of solving conflicts (Liu, Magjuka, & Lee, 2008) and poor communication
is usually the cause of conflicts (Johnson, 2004).

7) A positive mood of optimism or happiness. The outcome of exhibiting these seven skills is a
work environment where teams achieve the four collaborative results: empathy, trust, loyalty, and
better decision-making (Hughes & Terrell, 2007).

1.3. Cultural Intelligence

According to Kumar et al. (2008), emotional intelligence refers to the capacity of being aware of
one’s own and others’ emotions, but this does not necessarily mean that individuals will
acknowledge these emotions in a different cultural setting. Consequently, an emotionally-
intelligent team member may show this intelligence in his or her own cultural context but not in a
different one. Thus, cultural intelligence is the capacity of adjusting to cultural differences and
adapting to its unknown situations. To develop cultural intelligence, team members need to
question, reflect, and think about their own cultural concepts in order to understand and value
other mental models of thinking, norms, values, traditions, and assumptions (Kumar et al., 2008)
because each culture approaches life from different perspectives (Nathan, 2008). Cultural
intelligence is a component of social intelligence; team members should be provided with a
comprehensive training program to learn more about the three intelligences (emotional, social,
and cultural) and how they work together (Kumar et al., 2008).

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1.4. Reflection

Høyrup (2004) indicates that reflection is a dialectic process by which individuals commit to act
to make changes, and to stay alert about their feelings, experiences, ideas, and concepts.
Reflection helps to acknowledge and interpret internal and external influences that make us think
about our own existence and also help us to further our capacity of enquiry. Thus, reflection gives
us the opportunity to learn about ourselves and others because it is a process by which team
members can periodically step back to appraise the meaning of what is happening with us, with
others, and with our environment. Individual and collective reflection is paramount to improving
the learning processes in organizations. To work, reflection should be practiced on a regular basis
and go beyond our own introspection (Høyrup, 2004).

1.5. Leadership

Leadership plays a vital role to help organizations succeed either in virtual, semi-virtual, or face-
to-face environments (Griffith & Meader, 2004). Regardless of the type of collaboration
environment, leaders should be conceived of as agents of change (Gilley, Gilley, & McMillan,
2009). Leading the virtual interactions of teams is a more complex duty than leading face-to-face
interactions, and uses different skills than those required by traditional face-to-face encounters
(Connaughton & Daly, 2004a; Nemiro, 2004).

Nemiro (2004) comments that some of the competencies leaders and managers need to develop
include proficient use of communication technology, cross-cultural facilitation, an ability to
coach team members (online and geographically distributed), and distant project management
skills. A permanent leadership model works efficiently when the decision-making process needs
to be centralized; however, leaders can consider rotating team leadership among team members
or designating specific coordinators or facilitators for special or unexpected tasks rather than
appointing a new leader. A blended model (centralized and rotated) is also recommended
depending on time, resources, and the nature of the tasks (Nemiro, 2004).

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Nemiro (2004) comments that another factor that develops good leadership skills is establishing a
systematic process of feedback regardless of the type of interaction (virtual, semi-virtual,
synchronous, asynchronous, face-to-face, or a combination). Leaders, managers, and team
members need to be aware that feedback is more effective when it is socially constructed since
individualistic feedback might be considered biased or open to multiple interpretations (Nemiro,
2004).
It is useful for leaders and managers to adopt a systems-thinking approach in order to capture a
broader view of the processes emerging from the integration of virtual work into traditional face-
to-face work. This approach will help leaders to anticipate problems or unwanted situations
(Lewis, 2008). A coaching approach may also work well because it provides individualistic
feedback all the time. Consequently, all participants should learn how to receive and give
constructive feedback and positive criticism when working virtually (Horwitz, Bravington, &
Silvis, 2006; Nemiro, 2004). However, feedback works better when it is solicited rather than
imposed by an organization’s policy. Feedback should be clear, direct, and given on time—
otherwise, indirect feedback can be misinterpreted (Friend & Cook, 2003). If feedback causes
disagreements, leaders will have to play the role of advocate (Horwitz et al. 2006). Useful traits
to practice when receiving or providing virtual (synchronous, asynchronous) or face-to-face
feedback can include active listening, empathy, concentration, acceptance, objectivity,
understanding, sincere interest, being natural, being original, attention, and willingness (Nemiro,
2004).
Pauleen & Rajasingham, (2004) mention that when coordinating virtual work, good leaders
should have ample social influence in the work environment, help team members to overcome
problems of distance, and use technology wisely to communicate by constructing the right
balance of unit and task motivation. Managers or leaders in charge of the facilitation or
coordination of virtual interactions of teams are expected to devote about 70% to 80% of their
time to this task (Nemiro, 2004). Good leaders anticipate situations; for example, when it comes
to participating in international projects, leaders have to assess the cultural and language
challenges in advance so the workgroup receives important information, advice, or training about
how to face those challenges (Pauleen & Rajasingham, 2004). Organization leaders should look
at both the individual and collective improvement of teamwork. Good leaders have high self-
esteem and they share that trait with others and love what they do (Rampersad, 2008).

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2. Interpersonal-Professional Setting

2.1. Intercultural Competency Development for Team Members

Kealey, Protheroe, MacDonald, and Vulpe, (2006) comment that when working on international
projects, team members, as individuals, have to learn how to acquire knowledge and develop
skills and attitudes by learning more about the following eight competencies:

1) Adaptation, which is the ability to face and overcome culture shock and the differences of
living in a foreign culture.

2) An attitude of humility as a means of showing respect and interest in the local people and their
culture. Humility helps to show a willingness to listen to the other team members’ opinions
before jumping to conclusions.

3) An understanding of the organizational culture in the workplace.

4) A real desire to learn more about the host country and an understanding of how this knowledge
can enrich the intercultural project under study (Kealey et al., 2006).

5) Intercultural communication skills to provide clear messages and avoid confusion and
ambiguity (Kealey et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2008).

6) Relationship-building skills to engage in harmonious connections for project collaboration.

7) International management skills to show a willingness to provide suggestions on how to

improve the organization’s project management and its international environment. For instance,
the intercultural leader could be the cultural ambassador that expands the network locally.

8) A professional commitment to reach the project’s goals and a personal desire to enrich one’s
personal life while living in a different culture (Kealey et al., 2006).

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2.2. Intercultural Competency Development for Organizations

According to Kealey et al. (2006), organizations engaged in international projects need to take
into account eight other major factors to establish harmonious relationships with partner
organizations and obtain better results.

1) Establishment of mutually-beneficial agreements: organizations need to match objectives

and priorities with the partner organizations so the relationship becomes cooperative and
motivational.
2) The selection of the partner organization should be based on an analysis of the similarities
between how the organizational cultures and management practices are perceived and
conducted.
3) Establish clear agreements at the beginning of the relationship, especially in terms of
setting realistic goals and performance targets.
4) Develop a solid and precise governance approach to distribute the roles and
responsibilities between the different project managers and partner organizations.
5) Select the best management traditions of the host country and integrate them into your
model.
6) Evaluate the social, political, and economic settings of the project on a regular basis.
7) Design a training program for team members to develop cultural sensitivity when
immersed in a different culture. The training will help to build better interpersonal
relationships; for instance, professional development courses in environment analysis,
community relations, and team building are useful. Managers need to make sure that their
professional development program is conducted with a participatory approach so other
stakeholders are invited to design the training programs. To assist the professional
development program, intercultural mediators or interpreters can play an important role
providing feedback and guidance because they are familiar with the local environment
and are bilingual.

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8) Establish a trustworthy and friendly environment outside the virtual work world.
Organizations need to become engaged and get involved with the host community by
organizing cultural events and promoting education. For example, offer local students
scholarships, sponsor sport teams for uniforms and equipment, or organize international
and indigenous cultural events for learning and spreading local knowledge and traditions
(Kealey et al., 2006).

2.3. Cooperative Freedom

Paulsen (1993) indicates that the theory of cooperative freedom is a perspective that focuses on
the socio-cultural to encourage learning activities through problem-based and self-oriented
approaches; this way, learners are in control of their learning expectations. In order to motivate
participants in a distance-training context, they should have a learning environment that allows
them to find cooperation and freedom. Cooperation means that learners can participate
voluntarily and experience individual flexibility within their learning community, where freedom
means that participants can freely choose the learning components they prefer so the distance-
training program does not become rigid. Consequently, participants in a distance-learning
community should have the freedom to choose the best time for them to communicate, the space
(at home or at work), the means, and the curriculum. For example, participants should be
provided with a wide range of courses to choose from and internships for practice, and the
possibility to transfer credits between programs and universities. Cooperation and freedom
become stronger when a social unity is constructed within the distance-training environment
(Paulsen, 1993). Organizations might need to integrate this approach to provide the most suitable
online interaction and learning environment for the team members that participate in online
communications and distance interactions.

2.4. International Project Management

Keeling (2000) indicates that some of the primary reasons why international projects fail are due
to poor human relations, inappropriate organization, and misunderstandings of other cultural
backgrounds and behaviours.

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Uday-Riley (2006) points out that knowledge about the principles of project management
improves the organization’s performance. In addition to the leader of the project, team members
also need to learn basic project management principles. Organizations should perceive projects as
“living entities” since they can either fail or succeed, and avoid thinking of international projects
as just standard projects. Furthermore, stakeholders need to understand that international projects
are more complex than uni-cultural projects due to the necessity of learning about a different
culture and overcoming the challenges of adapting to the new cross-cultural partnership. Leaders
and team members should develop a habit of keeping records of plans, schedules, performance,
and risk management indicators to avoid problems. For example, local traditions and holidays
should be respected. It is also necessary that organizations involved in international projects
develop a network of team members with multicultural perceptions to design more
comprehensive indicators to evaluate the progress of the project. When it comes to technology,
team members and leaders need to be aware that technology per se, when used to conduct certain
project processes, does not guarantee a better communication and project management.
Technology sometimes prevents team members’ awareness of the necessity of developing cross-
cultural sensitivity and interpersonal receptiveness (Uday-Riley, 2006).

When working on international projects, team members have to develop solid collaboration and
communication skills to succeed. Managers and leaders should avoid making assumptions about
any project issue to avoid confusion since international management practices are highly complex
and social (Dewar, 2006; Staber, 2006; Uday-Riley, 2006). Organizations conducting
international projects should create a work environment where the concept of culture is not static
and structuralist; instead, the concept of culture needs to go beyond the organization per se and its
individuals—the concept needs to be socially constructed with the participation of all the
stakeholders (Staber, 2006). Uday-Riley (2006) says that a cultural concept in one country may
be perceived very differently in another. It is also important to listen to the domestic team
members of the organization who have had previous experiences in the partner country. Similarly,
leaders and team members can listen to the foreign team members who already work for the
organization to learn directly from them about their cultures (Uday-Riley, 2006).

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2.5. Knowledge Transfer and Workplace Learning

Virtual interaction generates valuable dividends since individuals gather and exchange
information and knowledge across organizations (Cheng, Sager, Corbitt, & Gardiner, 2008).
Kayes, Kayes, and Yamazaki (2005) believe that a willingness to learn is a vital competence that
increases the chances of success in international collaboration within and across organizations.
Experiential learning (EL) refers to the ability to learn by doing new things, so new individual
knowledge and experiences need to be shared with the others in order to build a learning system
in the workplace (Olsson, Bjöörn, & Jönson, 2008). Kayes et al. (2005) indicate that EL is key in
this context because individuals can take advantage of their day-to-day events, so they acquire
and multiply their knowledge and experiences. EL facilitates the knowledge transfer process
because individuals acquire a broader view for better understanding of the work environment. By
combining personal and shared experiences, individuals acquire the ability to document their own
observations, detect problems, collect and process data, generate new information, and then
construct and translate knowledge.
To translate knowledge, leaders need to effectively encode and decode complex ideas and
concepts from the home language into the host language to make knowledge meaningful for both
cultures. The knowledge transfer process is a cycle that can be adjusted to the organizations’
goals, their environment needs, and consensus (Kayes et al., 2005).

All participants must embrace their jobs as permanent learning environments where the
acquisition of experience is an authentic participatory learning process that emerges from the
socialization of knowledge and information among participants (Florén, 2003; Moore, 2004;
Schaffer, Lei, & Reyes-Paulino, 2008; Sense, 2004). Learning informally with peers helps build
an integrative and harmonious collaboration environment (Florén, 2003; Macneil, 2001; Picherit-
Duthler, Long, & Kohut, 2004) and is especially helpful in speeding up the learning process and
adaptation of newcomers in both the virtual and face-to-face environments (Picherit-Duthler, et
al., 2004). Therefore, organizations should establish their set of norms and values for socializing
knowledge and information in order to improve the organizational communication process and
knowledge and information sharing. All participants are important sources of knowledge.
Consequently, leaders can coach team members either virtually or face-to-face.

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Coaching can be conducted at an individual level by providing direction, mentoring, and
feedback to each of the team members about their performance. Leaders and managers should
also design the organization’s model to teach team members how to receive and provide feedback
to enhance the work learning processes (Staples, Wong, & Cameron, 2004).

In the workplace, knowledge and information sharing can emerge at different levels—individual,
team, or group, organizational, and societal. Knowledge and information can be shared
electronically and face-to-face among all the actors within and outside the organizations (Hornett,
2004). However, knowledge and information sharing are not enough; therefore, personal life-
experiences, attitudes, and aptitudes have to be added to the organizations’ model of professional
development competencies. Furthermore, learning from successes and mistakes, and learning
from new challenging job-tasks trigger meaningful learning experiences (Paloniemi, 2006).

Tynjälä & Häkkinen (2005) believe that the individual and collective learning processes and the
development of online learning tools can be improved by combining online and face-to-face
methods and by the promoting individual reflection practice. These characteristics are connected
to pedagogical issues and software design, so leaders have to promote collaborative processes to
address both solutions (Tynjälä & Häkkinen, 2005). Furthermore, it would be useful for
organizations to allow team members time off from work to practice reflection (Bryson,
Pajo, Ward, & Mallon, 2006).

Finally, organizations can draw their own “curriculum” blueprint to improve learning in the
workplace as their own cultural production (Moore, 2004) and include online learning
opportunities to enrich experience-based learning (Svensson, Ellstrom, & Aberg, 2004).
However, informal learning among peers and coworkers cannot be completely pre-designed
because it is difficult to predict learning outcomes due to the internal and external variables that
influence the learning process (Macneil, 2001).

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2.6. Team Structure and Virtual Teamwork

Liu, Magjuka, and Lee (2008) say that team structure refers to the equitable distribution of
responsibilities and tasks among team members according to personnel roles: organizations can
structure their teams hierarchically and non-hierarchically. Team members with a unique role and
expertise build a hierarchical structure, whereas non-specialized roles shape a non-hierarchical
structure. Research has suggested that organizations exhibiting an important work distribution
and group division (e.g., duos, teams, subteams) tend to have employees with better individual
performance due to avoidance of work overload (Liu et al., 2008).

Neece (2004) declares that research has developed sufficient theory to support the idea that the
structure of a team that maintains virtual interactions should be egalitarian. For instance, team
members can occasionally play the role of leaders in certain situations. This distribution of work
helps team members freely express their creativity and improves the knowledge-sharing process
(Neece, 2004).

In the end, the type of work distribution will depend on the leadership style, project goals and
their nature, and the organization’s environment. According to Wong and Staples (2004), the
factors of motivation, performance, and satisfaction among team members correlate with the
team task design. Tasks should be assigned to team members according to identifiable pieces of
work in order for their effort to be noticed. As well, tasks should capture meaningful significance
so the stakeholders value the team members’ efforts (Wong and Staples, 2004). To increase
teamwork effectiveness, an evaluation system should be designed to provide feedback on a
regular basis (Wong and Staples, 2004).

To improve individual and organizational performance, organizations have to provide training

(e.g., workshops and seminars) to learn more about how to build teams and how to work within
them. To make training a permanent habit, organizations can design their own professional
development program delivered in a blended fashion (virtual and face-to-face) (Staples et al.,
2004).

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Hertel (2004) states that a motivational organization policy and an employee rewards program
increases the effectiveness of international teams; it was concluded that without motivators,
rewards, and recognition, leaders, managers, and team members do not improve their
performance. These factors should be taken into consideration for both face-to-face and virtual
work environments (Hertel, 2004). Finally, Kolb and Sandmeyer (2008) suggest that a
participatory approach is recommended in order to involve the maximum number of team
members, leaders, and managers to set the standards for teamwork effectiveness.

2.7. Trust and the Virtual Environment

Mutual trust is one of the most important elements for building not only successful organizations
or online working groups, but also learning processes, collaboration (online and face-to-face),
and learning communities (Connaughton & Daly, 2004b; Dewar, 2006; Gascó-Hernández &
Torres-Coronas, 2004; Kealey et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2008; Murphy, 2004; Neece, 2004; Nemiro,
2004; Palloff & Pratt, 2005; Staples et al., 2004; Schwier, 2007; Wagner & Fernandez-Gimenez,
2008). Trust promotes a harmonious work environment, enhances individual performance,
increases productivity, and improves problem-solving and decision-making processes. Research
has demonstrated that an individual’s satisfaction strongly correlates with trust (Liu et al., 2008).

One way to build trust between leaders and team members is by establishing a two-way
communication process to speak openly on a regular basis. It is a good idea for leaders and
managers to start this communication process by setting an example and then gaining the trust of
team members. Openness, honesty, integrity, and concern for the well-being of others are
important ingredients for building trust (Kolb & Sandmeyer, 2008; Palloff & Pratt, 2005; Staples
et al., 2004). Although there are many factors that are required to build trust, some ways of
building trust rely on maintaining closer communication among leaders, managers, and team
members—namely with the exchange of personal information such as biographies, experiences,
and even sincere greetings (Liu et al., 2008).

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Developing a sense of accountability increases the level of trust as well, and it can be conducted
by keeping work records and documentation online in order to show whether or not task
completion is on track (Nemiro, 2004). It has been suggested that the construction of trust implies
a practice of reflection and development of self and socio-cultural awareness of the workplace
environment (Daniel, Schwier, & McCalla, 2003; Fernandez, 2004) and usually takes time to
achieve (Bradley & Vozikis, (2004). The written word, when used adequately, is a powerful
resource for building trust when working virtually (Horwitz et al., 2006); however, trust building
is highly dependent on face-to-face interaction (Bradley & Vozikis, 2004; Horwitz et al., 2006).

2.8. Communication Processes

Online interactions maintained by individuals in their organizations are commonly referred to in

the literature as virtual teams. The virtual interactions of teams comprise asynchronous and
synchronous electronic communication means (e.g., telephone, internet, videoconferencing, and
e-mail) and the collaborative work using those resources. According to Liu et al. (2008), the more
socialized the virtual environment is, the more effective virtual interactions become.

2.9. Communication Tools Usage

To collaborate more effectively, teams should be given necessary communication tools such as
the internet or an in-house network system so that they are able to collaborate with team members
working in the same organization (Grimshaw & Kwok, 1998). To strengthen social-
connectedness of online work, team members should be given opportunities for face-to-face
interactions, which will then help them build solid social ties online afterwards. Depending on
how well internet tools are used, the internet may either lead users to develop a sense of
loneliness and depression or strengthen social ties among team members as well as give personal
comfort (Oxendine, Borgida, Sullivan, & Jackson, 2003).

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Staples et al. (2004) conducted a survey at several organizations and found that 53% of team
member interviewees mentioned that their organizations need to have effective and modern
information technology (IT) support such as communication tools, hardware, software technical
equipment, and training to improve the intra- and inter-organizational virtual interactions
maintained by the team members. Dustdar (2004) mentions that in one research study, 376 team
members with different levels of knowledge and experience with virtual teamwork were
interviewed; findings showed that the occurrence (%) of the main problems associated with
virtual work were as follows:

• Difficulties in team communication 97

• Unclear work activities 94.3
• No culture of collaboration 91
• Team conflict 90.2
• Lack of trust 90.2
• Inefficient team meetings 84.8

Researchers concluded that asynchronous communication means were vital to face the problems
mentioned above when working virtually (Dustdar, 2004).

Nowadays, virtual teamwork interactions are mainly based on internet and e-mail usage. There
are two common mistakes that all the organization members should avoid when using e-mail
(Dewar, 2006): e-mail should not be used to make highly important decisions and solve conflicts.
Real-time communication tools such as telephone, videoconference, and internet telephone can
work well to solve conflicts or make decisions, but ineffective use of real-time tools to exchange
information can cause attendees to lose attention and become totally disengaged. It is not
uncommon for attendees to open their e-mail accounts or look at other things while attending a
video or audio conference due to the lack of real-time tool effectiveness. Real-time tools work
better for brainstorming and decision-making. It is essential to understand that e-mail is more
effective for passive information-giving interactions (Dewar, 2006).

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Hertel states that “technology is not a solution itself; it is an enabler… Becoming more
collaborative in a virtual environment is a significant paradigm shift that must be addressed
holistically” (2004 pp. 219 & 227). Consequently, to improve the performance of teamwork,
organizations must develop a good combination of the appropriate communication tools and
training. An organization’s communication and collaboration tools should be compelling,
available, properly designed, easy-to-use, socially chosen, synchronously and asynchronously
interactive, and maintain a balance between virtual and face-to-face interactivity (Hertel, 2004).
However, more attention should be given to asynchronous collaboration tools due to the
globalization of organizations’ efforts, speed of communication, and time zone differences
(Griffith & Meader, 2004; Hertel, 2004). Therefore, teams need to wisely choose the online
groupware tools and information storage system to improve the virtual communications of the
organization (Andriessen & Verbug, 2004). In general, it is recommended that communication
tools should be easy-to-use and equally accessible to all participants in the organization
(Andriessen & Verbug, 2004).

2.10. Collaboration

Technically conceptualized, Friend and Cook define collaboration as “a style for direct
interaction between at least two coequal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision making as
they work toward a common goal” (2003 p. 5). The term “style” helps us to understand how
interpersonal relationships are conducted in the organization so that it is clear how each team
member performs. Collaboration is a voluntary activity and requires agreement among
participants who share at least one common goal. Team members that really collaborate with each
other share resources and accountability for outcomes regardless of how positive or negative they
are—they trust one another and develop a sense of community. To improve collaboration, team
members need to understand their personal commitment within the organization and develop
better communication skills. To collaborate, organizations can structure unidisciplinary,
multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary teams (Friend & Cook, 2003).

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Viveros-Guzmán, A. Features of Better Communication of International Workgroups
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Unlike multidisciplinary teams, interdisciplinary teams meet face-to-face regularly and are
recommended for solving complex problems and for enhancing the level of participation and
interaction, even with people outside the team, and include the value of local knowledge. A
transdisciplinary team is an expanded interdisciplinary team (Pérez-Vázquez & Ruiz-Rosado,
2005) and in some cases, has a better chance at increasing the level of collaboration because
individuals interact more due to the combination of roles, mutual learning engagement, and
shared disciplinary skills (Friend & Cook, 2003).

2.11. Virtual Environment Evaluation

Andriessen & Verbug (2004) propose that virtual interactions of teams need to be evaluated to
improve the communication process across organizations, and asses the next variables to do so:

• Quantity and quality of outcomes • Team cohesion

• Group vitality and continuity
• Individual and team satisfaction
• Money matters
• Communication clarity
• Learning and reflection
• Trust perception
• Socialization of knowledge
• Feedback process
• Communication tools
• Information storage systems
• Cultural diversity of team members

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Viveros-Guzmán, A. Features of Better Communication of International Workgroups
______________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion

Team members working on international projects can improve their personal, interpersonal, and
professional communication processes by embracing a broad, integrated approach to virtual
interactions that enrich the learning, adaptation, and collaboration processes. This integrated
approach should pay special attention to virtual asynchronous communication systems and tools.
I would suggest that organizations design their own professional development program to enrich
the use of these communication systems and tools to further their collaboration at an international
level. A blended learning approach that integrates virtual and face-to-face interactions is the best
way to achieve the characteristics that will improve workgroup communication at the
international level discussed in this paper.

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Viveros-Guzmán, A. Features of Better Communication of International Workgroups
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