Hi Everyone,
This first half of the semester has gone really fast and it's really strange to think that after a short break and another 6 weeks our year will be over! I have already thoroughly enjoyed this paper and its great to see my team's and my own writing develop.
In this weeks blog post we were asked to find an article on 'Working in Remote Teams' and then comment on our own 'Remote Team'. The article I found to support this blog post is one written by Michael D. Watkins called 'Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles'.
Although there are disadvantages of working in remote teams, there are also many advantages. When building a remote team, you have the ability to make or join a team who have similar goals and thinking as you. You do not need to live in the same area to make your team work. When a shared leadership is established, the team can work effectively to produce high quality work. Whilst working in a remote team, a 'meeting' can be held at any time and at almost any place. This is an advantage to people who live busy lives and who don't often have time during their day to attend an 'in person' meeting to discuss things. The evolution of technology has greatly helped with this previous issue.
However, there are disadvantages of working in remote teams. A lot of the time, with the team I am working in, next to none of us are working on our assignments at the same time. This can become tricky because sometimes one of us would like to ask the team a question about what we are doing at the time but due to us all working at different times, sometimes that question is not always answered. My team usually doesn't have this problem but it can be a large disadvantage. Michael D. Watkins provides solutions to help with the disadvantages of working in remote teams. He suggests to get the team together and talk face to face. This is a good way to establish the relationship with the people in your group and to build friendships. He also suggests to create a 'virtual water cooler' using social networks to make it easier to get information across. We created one of these very early on with the use of our closed Facebook page and our Facebook Messenger chat which we use daily.
Over all, I think our team works very well together and we are always eager to help each other out with anything. We seem to be very organised even though outside of study we all lead very busy lives. We get along very well and have mutual interests which is always helpful. I have found that working in this team has allowed me to voice my opinions (which I am usually not very good at doing) and not worry about what they are going to think because usually someone is already thinking it!
Reference:
Watkins. M.D. (2013). Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles. Harvard Business Review.
3 comments:
Hi Bridget, that's cool to see youve used the same reference as Jade! I didn't even come across this one in my search.
You've raised the same point as Jade as well, which I liked on hers, the virtual water cooler idea. Messenger has been very handy in this aspect. I agree technology has made working apart from each other very easy. In my modern, privileged mind, I find it very hard to imagine how it would have been working in remote teams even just 30 years ago. I imagine a lot more travelling would be involved.
Keep it up Bridget.
Shaun
Hey Bridget,
A good write up yet again, interesting to see yourself, Jade and myself all find the same reference. Also, very cool to see we gained different things from it. I agree with Shaun in that messenger has become our "water cooler" as we have all got on at some point just for a general catch up not study related. This has built good energy within the group and helped towards a good working relationship.
Really looking forward to working with this group as we all have different skills. I noticed one of the disadvantages you had was not often are we all online at the same time to study, this is true and often we ask questions or look for feedback and have to wait. What I have noticed is that we all often check on our Facebook and even if we cannot give our full attention we don't often leave someone too long before helping, which is awesome and shows we are overcoming this disadvantage as best we can.
Ryan
Kia ora Bridget,
I like how you've talked about holding a meeting at any time and any place. I think this is proven by our use of social media 'group chats'. Although not always strictly about the task at hand, it allows us to communicate when we are available due to our individual busy schedules.
This also highlights your point about schedules. I believe effective communication will be key as we move forward in the assignments to come. I also think that having a meeting in person will allow us to have an update on individual progression. This meeting could also see the leader realign the group back on task.
Maintain your excellent mahi,
N.
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