Problem Solving, Decision Making, and Information Sharing Initial Report

The data and science behind virtual teams identifies six leadership practices to follow: establish

and maintain trust through the use of communication technology, ensure that distributed diversity

is understood and appreciated, manage virtual work-life cycle, monitor team progress using

technology, enhance visibility of virtual members within the team, and enable individual members

of the virtual team to benefit from the team (Malhotra, Majchrzak, & Rosen). Our team is dispersed

across the world which does present unique challenges for effective communication, however we

feel that by utilizing the identified tactics below we will accomplish our desired goals.

Technology is something that we plan to capitalize on to help ensure we are communicating

project updates, research findings, availability, conflicts, etc.… The technology that our group plans

to utilize for any group meetings will be Zoom. Zoom was something a couple group members were

familiar using, it’s affordable, and simple to use. When trying to communicate on a global scale we

wanted to ensure that technology was not an added obstacle for our team to overcome. Our day to

day communication needs will be most effectively held through Facebook private group messaging.

The reasoning behind this stems from the accessibility of Blackboard. In China, the internet access

can be limited which makes accessing Blackboard difficult. Blackboard is also a technology that does

not alert the end user of any new added information. Facebook messaging will notify the recipients

at a moment’s notice if something has been posted, this is very beneficial with the hectic schedules

that we are all trying to maneuver around. In addition to that we are all very familiar using this

technology in our daily lives which requires almost zero learning curve, allowing us that extra time

we may have spent on learning how to use the technology and spend it on something more

productive, like our project needs. Blackboard discussion board was chosen as a communication

method if the information being sent was not something time sensitive. Both of these methods will

record any conversation that occurred, holding us all accountable for our project engagement. Once
we have completed any assigned tasks (e.g. topic objectives, rough drafts, key words, etc…) we plan

to have them stored on the blackboard site that was created for our specific team. This was

unanimously chosen as the most efficient method as it will be easily accessible to anyone within the

group throughout the next few weeks.

A time constraint of less than 8 weeks really applies pressure towards the expectations each

individual team member has if desiring to complete the project in a timely fashion and achieve an

optimal grade. As stated in a recently read article, “group norms are the informal rules that groups

adopt to regulate and regularize group members’ behavior. Although these norms are infrequently

written down or openly discussed, they often have a powerful, and consistent, influence on group

members’ behavior” (Hackman, 1976). It’s very apparent that each member of our group wants to

be successful on this project, and so setting clear expectations up front was desired and completed

without hesitation. We identified this as a norm development, sticking to the task at hand without

any deviation. Another identified norm is that family is a very large part in all of our lives, so to be

cognizant of a nice work, school, and family balance is important when thinking about a timeline.

The willingness to put in extra time to compensate for absenteeism is an understood norm as well

to allot for previously scheduled commitments.

Beyond the informal rules or norms we have also developed some clearly stated expectations

that we have all agreed to abide by. Those being as follows: 1. the team will plan to meet via Zoom

at least weekly on Sundays around 8pm with an adhoc meeting on Wednesday, if necessary to settle

up any loose ends; 2. At minimum we should touch base via Facebook messenger twice/week. This

would allow us to divvy up our tasks for the week and then to follow up on any questions or

concerns that may arise; 3. Team members will be accountable for specific functions within project

timelines as agreed-upon by group; 4. Team members will turn in assigned tasks at or before

deadline unless previously discussed otherwise (e.g. out of the country for prior commitment); 5.
Team members will read all class materials and assist in the proofreading of other members’

assignments.

In order to ensure we have a clear plan for the completion of this project we have outlined a

timeline below to utilize as a reference point:

a. Phase I: Complete readings and begin to find 7 sources/person due: June 17th

b. Phase II: Identify 3-4 Objectives for your topic (e.g. problem solving, decision

making, or information sharing), important key words for that topic, and

descriptions to explain: due June 23rd

c. Phase III: Compile all information (objectives for the chapter, outline of the

content including key terms for each section as well as a brief description for the

content within each sub-heading, database and selected literature, each

research database used, keywords used to conduct the search within the

database, reference list of sources to be included in APA format) into our

Chapter Prospectus: due June 28th

d. Phase IV: Begin work on our sections of the chapter and complete by July 6th

e. Phase V: Compile all sections into a final paper and begin proofreading: due July

12th

f. Phase VI: Complete paper and submit for grading: due July 18th

Our documentation of conversations, meeting times, discussion items, written work, and

any other materials used for this project will be stored in Blackboard or Facebook

messenger. All conversations can be copied over to a word document for proof of

occurrence, if need be.

 References

Feldman, D. C. (1984). The development and enforcement of group norms. Academy of management

review, 9(1), 47-53.

Malhotra, A., Majchrzak, A., & Rosen, B. (2007). Leading virtual teams. The Academy of Management

Perspectives, 21(1), 60-70.