scholarly journals Cultural Awareness and Distance Communication

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-128
Author(s):  
Suzana Noronha Cunha ◽  
Graça Bigotte Chorão ◽  
Manuel Moreira Silva ◽  
Sandra Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Educational Environments ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Technical Writers ◽  
Distance Communication ◽  
Collaborative Activities

This chapter reflects upon technology-mediated projects used to discuss and foster cultural awareness and proposes a methodology to be implemented in international, educational environments where communication could easily be hindered by cultural dissimilarities leading to conflict. More specifically, it seeks to answer two main questions, namely, whether technology is an aid or an obstacle in effective communication between students that never meet face-to-face and which obstacles, generated by technology-mediated communication in virtual teams, affect the intended outcome and how. These questions were raised during the participation of the authors of the chapter over a number of years in the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project, where the complex process of learning-by-doing was achieved through peer interaction and the completion of realistic collaborative activities performed by North American and Portuguese students, prospect technical writers, and translators, respectively.

Training Techniques for Developing Trust in Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 1659-1666
Author(s):  
Peggy M. Beranek ◽  
Ben Martz ◽  
Monique French
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Comparison Of The Results

Trust among team members is a major factor influencing the cohesiveness of the group, trust also has a direct impact on team performance, problem solving, organizational performance, and organizational communication. Virtual teams are teams in which members are distributed and communicate via computer-mediated communication systems (CMCS). Past research has indicated that the development of trust among team members requires face-to-face communication, thereby making it difficult for virtual teams to develop trust. Recent research has shown that it is possible to train virtual teams to exhibit higher levels of trust. This paper describes and discusses different methods of trust training for virtual teams. We offer a comprehensive comparison of the results and analysis of the training programs of these studies and offer advice on developing and conducting such programs.

Understanding Persuasion Mechanisms for Effective Communication in Online Educational Environments

2022 ◽  
pp. 103-119
Author(s):  
Camelia Marinela Radulescu
Keyword(s):  
Online Education ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Effective Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Educational Environments ◽  
Digital Skills ◽  
Online Channel ◽  
Digital Stress

This chapter aims at explaining the mechanisms of persuasion for effective communication in online educational environments. It starts by bringing awareness on the particularities of online educational environments and the psychological prerequisites of online studying. It tackles issues of digital skills as well as emotional intelligence abilities for online teaching, specific mindset and digital readiness, result expectations and assessment. Moreover, principles of microlearning and hybrid learning are explained as major approaches in online education. It then addresses issues related to technology-mediated communication with young ages vs. adults. It makes a brief analysis of mediated communication vs. direct communication in terms of adopted strategies according to age, adaptation of message, and feedback according to the online channel of factors affecting communication in online environments vs. face-to-face communication. Particular attention will be given to digital stress.

scholarly journals Bringing Out the Best in Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 205-211
Author(s):  
Janet Schoenfeld ◽  
Zane Berge
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Physical Location ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Right ◽  
Virtual Setting

The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is more popular than ever in both educational and corporate settings. Schools and corporations are using virtual communication to replace or supplement in-person classes and meetings. Many educators and managers are taking it a step further, having teams work in a virtual setting with members rarely or never meeting each other in person. Can a virtual team be as successful as a team where everyone works in the same physical location? Does anything different need to be done to compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact? This article identifies unique factors for virtual teams, and then provides recommendations and guidelines that can help virtual teams be successful. With the right planning, virtual teams can equal or exceed the performance of face-to-face teams.

The Language of Leaders

2011 ◽  
pp. 232-250
Author(s):  
Simeon J. Simoff ◽  
Fay Sudweeks
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Emergent Leadership ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Communication Behaviors ◽  
Virtual Groups ◽  
Educational Environments ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Groups And Teams

Virtual teams and their leaders are key players in global organizations. Using teams of workers dispersed temporally and geographically has changed the way people work in groups and redefined the nature of teamwork. Emergent leadership issues in computer-mediated communication are vital today because of the increasing prevalence of the virtual organization, the flattening of organizational structures, and the corresponding interest in managing virtual groups and teams. This chapter examines the communication behaviors of participants in two different case studies to determine if number, length, and content of messages are sufficient criteria to identify emergent leaders in asynchronous and synchronous environments. The methodology used can be embedded in collaborative virtual environments as a technology for identifying potential leaders in organizational and educational environments.

Evaluation of User Acceptance of Virtual Environments and Interfaces for Communication in Virtual Teams

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 18-40
Author(s):  
Maria Manuela Cruz-Cunha ◽  
Goran D. Putnik ◽  
Patrícia Gonçalves ◽  
Joaquim Gonçalves
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Enterprise ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Communication ◽  
Communication Architecture ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Organizational Environments ◽  
Computer Mediated

Several studies have highlighted the relevance of face-to-face communication, suggesting that computer-mediated communication can lead to decreases in group effectiveness and reduce satisfaction levels in terms of trust and comfort of its users. Supported by an experiment where the emotional or affective aspects of communication were tested, this paper validates the thesis that, from the users' perspective, there is no opposition to the acceptance of virtual environments and interfaces for communication, and that these environments are able to cope with the reconfiguration dynamics requirements of virtual teams or client-server relations in a virtual enterprise operation. For the thesis validation, the authors experimented with two architectures, the Direct Communication Architecture (DCA) and the Virtual Communication Architecture (VCA) and found that the VCA could represent a “natural” environment to cope with the new generation of organizational environments and teams, characterised by intense reconfiguration dynamics.

scholarly journals Bringing Out the Best in Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 180-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Schoenfeld ◽  
Zane Berge
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Physical Location ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Right ◽  
Virtual Setting

The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is more popular than ever in both educational and corporate settings. Schools and corporations are using virtual communication to replace or supplement in-person classes and meetings. Many educators and managers are taking it a step further, having teams work in a virtual setting with members rarely or never meeting each other in person. Can a virtual team be as successful as a team where everyone works in the same physical location? Does anything different need to be done to compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact? This article identifies unique factors for virtual teams, and then provides recommendations and guidelines that can help virtual teams be successful. With the right planning, virtual teams can equal or exceed the performance of face-to-face teams.

scholarly journals Bringing Out the Best in Virtual Teams

2008 ◽  
pp. 138-145
Author(s):  
Janet Schoenfeld ◽  
Zane Berge
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Physical Location ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Right ◽  
Virtual Setting

The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is more popular than ever in both educational and corporate settings. Schools and corporations are using virtual communication to replace or supplement in-person classes and meetings. Many educators and managers are taking it a step further, having teams work in a virtual setting with members rarely or never meeting each other in person. Can a virtual team be as successful as a team where everyone works in the same physical location? Does anything different need to be done to compensate for the lack of face-to-face contact? This article identifies unique factors for virtual teams, and then provides recommendations and guidelines that can help virtual teams be successful. With the right planning, virtual teams can equal or exceed the performance of face-to-face teams.

Writing Research into Professional E-Mail Communication

2011 ◽  
pp. 364-381
Author(s):  
Kristie Edwards ◽  
Simeon Yates ◽  
Anne-Florence Dujardin ◽  
Geff Green
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Social Exchanges ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Team Culture ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Writing Research ◽  
Task Oriented ◽  
E Mail

A healthy balance between social and task-oriented activities helps teamwork. In virtual teams, e-mail texts must often carry both task-oriented and socio-emotional communication between individuals. While some theories of computer-mediated communication suggest socio-emotional exchange may not be well supported in e-mail communications, research demonstrates that individuals, nevertheless, achieve this. However, the lack of unplanned informal exchanges in virtual teams communicating by e-mail may still hinder team performance. We compared adaptations in socio-emotional content of e-mail communications in academic and commercial team writing contexts. Results suggested a task-oriented focus in the commercial team culture and an even social-task balance in the academic team culture. Our research leads us to recommend a more conversational style in professional e-mail writing. Additionally in virtual team working, we recommend encouraging face-to-face contact, allocating time specifically for social exchanges and making information about colleagues available to each other.

Training to Improve Trust in Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 1667-1674
Author(s):  
Monique L. French ◽  
Peggy M. Beranek
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Trust Development ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Efficient Communication ◽  
The Impact

Several factors have been shown to affect how effective virtual teams communicate. One of these factors, trust, has received a great deal of attention by researchers. However, most virtual team members do not receive training on how to effectively communicate and promote trust. Several theories have questioned the ability of computer-mediated systems to aid the development of communication, trust, and other interpersonal attributes that are needed to form successful teams. Some researchers suggest computer-mediated communication does not differ from face-to-face communications in terms of the substance but in terms of a slower rate of transfer. However, most academic virtual teams and many organizational project teams meet over the course of several months and are then disbanded, thereby not having enough time to develop the types of links needed for effective, efficient communication. Our research investigates the impact of training on trust development by tracking trust levels among members of virtual teams in an academic environment. We extend the current research on the use of virtual teams by applying team training and tracking the resulting change in trust.

The Language of Leaders

2011 ◽  
pp. 93-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Simoff ◽  
F. Sudweeks
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Emergent Leadership ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Communication Behaviors ◽  
Virtual Groups ◽  
Educational Environments ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Groups And Teams

Virtual teams and their leaders are key players in global organizations. Using teams of workers dispersed temporally and geographically has changed the way people work in groups and redefined the nature of teamwork. Emergent leadership issues in computer-mediated communication are vital today because of the increasing prevalence of the virtual organization, the flattening of organizational structures, and the corresponding interest in managing virtual groups and teams. This chapter examines the communication behaviors of participants in two different case studies to determine if number, length, and content of messages are sufficient criteria to identify emergent leaders in asynchronous and synchronous environments. The methodology used can be embedded in collaborative virtual environments as a technology for identifying potential leaders in organizational and educational environments.

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