Communication Activities of High- and Low-Performing Teams!!

Organizations in today's global economy face continual pressures to remain responsive to changes in the competitive marketplace. One way firms have adapted to these pressures is to use Web-based communication technologies to support virtual project teams. To better understand the effectiveness of these dispersed teams, a coding scheme based on design rationale concepts compared and contrasted the communication activities of high- and low-performing virtual teams working in the early stages of software design.

In our recent research, Rosalie J. Ocker and I found that high-performing virtual design teams differed from low-performing teams in terms of the number of messages, message length and the content profile of those messages. The high-performing teams had significantly more messages and longer messages than the low-performing teams.

Additionally, the leaders of the high teams had more messages and longer messages than the leaders of the low teams. High-performing teams communicated more regarding aspects of the design. They also sent considerably more messages and longer messages that focused on summarizing their work and discussing the write-up of the report covering the project design.

The high-performance teams not only communicated more, but they communicated regarding key design aspects of the project. Through their increased communication, it is not hard to conceive that they generated a greater number of high-quality and creative ideas.

Additionally, and maybe as a consequence of the increased amount of messages, the high-performance teams spent time summarizing their work and sharing these summaries with their teammates. Although the high- and low-performance teams did not differ in the amount of messages concerning team management, the summaries served a coordination function by keeping members apprised of their teammates' ideas and progress.

These summaries also appear to be key when preparing the final design report. Inspection of the transcripts shows that much of the design reports came directly from the text of comments, many of which were summary comments. In three of the four high-performing teams, the leaders did the summarization. In the fourth team, another team member did the summarization and thus was an emergent leader. In the low-performing teams, the leaders did not do any summarization at all. Thus, it is plausible that this simple act of summarizing work, coupled with the not-so-simple act of putting forth more effort, were key aspects of the success of the high-performance virtual design teams.

This finding supports other research that suggests effective teams have effective leaders who actively facilitate the sharing of specific information. In the case of this particular study, the leaders are organizing the ideas about the functionality and design of the task for the rest of the team. This summary becomes the cornerstone of their final reports.

Several contributions are apparent:

1. There are measurable differences between high- and low-performing virtual teams.

2. Technology mediation improves performance.

3. The content of the communication is different between high- and low-performing teams. The high-performing teams communicate more on the task-related issues.

4. Leaders do much of the summarization and create the shared intelligence.

Given the inherent difficulty of virtual project work, the fact that some virtual teams failed miserably should not be surprising. Asking people to accomplish complex collaborative work without the freedom to regularly meet face-to-face is challenging. While some teams perform quite well in virtual situations where no group interaction structure is given, other teams seem to flounder. In the virtual world, time management skills and structure may be even more important, as it is much easier to ignore team members and your responsibilities when you are working virtually.

There are several implications for professionals and leaders. First, leaders must examine the patterns that emerge over time interacting with the team, technology and task. For example, it appears low-performing teams never completed idea generation; they just keep on brainstorming regarding aspects of the design. On the other hand, the high-performing teams entered a summarization phase that appears to be directly linked to report writing. Second, leaders need to be aware of the transitions (e.g., from idea generation and brainstorming to building consensus to generating the final deliverable) teams need to make to successfully meet deadlines.

[About the Author: Jerry Fjermestad is an associate professor of management information systems at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.]

Watch the language we use!!

Courtsey:Lynn

This week in a Better Business Writing class in Tacoma, Washington, an information systems manager was writing an announcement about certain servers being down for routine maintenance. Her message was going to go to several thousand people. In it, she used the phrase "server maintenance windows." I wondered how windows were involved. Another manager who read the announcement was also confused about what windows had to do with computers (not Microsoft Windows, of course).

Do you know what she meant by "server maintenance windows"?

Talking with the manager, we learned that her windows were windows of time.

Should she keep using the word windows if two interested readers were instantly confused? No. Words such as times, downtimes, or periods would be clear to her readers. She should choose one of them instead.

In an Email Intelligence seminar in British Columbia this month, I noticed that participants used the phrase "caps lock" to refer to something being in ALL CAPS. I had never heard "caps lock" to describe all capital letters (even though that is how the "Caps Lock" key is labeled on my keyboard).

In that seminar, should I start using "caps lock" as they did, or should I continue to say "all caps," which is familiar to me?

I started saying "caps lock" as soon as I recognized what they meant. As their instructor, I had the responsibility to speak their language.

As a writer and business communicator, watch your language. Be sure to use words your audience understands. Watch their language too--then adapt your own to match theirs.

Communication Style Differences!!

"My boss never says please, thank you, hello, or anything nice in email. He just tells me to do things. For instance, he will send an email that says 'Do not forget to include these figures in the proposal' or 'Be sure this goes out in today's mail.'"

When I asked her whether she thought it was simply a style difference between them, she said, "Maybe, but it is very rude."

Could you be that rude boss? If so, take a few seconds to spread a little kindness. I timed myself typing the words below. Notice how little time it takes to communicate kindness and consideration.

Please. (2 seconds)
Would you please (3 seconds)
Thanks. (2 seconds)
Thank you! (3 seconds)
Thanks very much. (4 seconds)
Good morning. (3 seconds)
Hello. (2 seconds)
I appreciate it. (4 seconds)
I hope you had a great weekend. (5 seconds)
Enjoy your lunch. (5 seconds)

Is not it worth it to invest a few seconds to raise an employee's morale? If you are reading my posts, I bet you enthusiastically agree. But if the boorish boss is part of your team, why not share this post? Maybe he will even thank you.

Using Bold Font!!

It makes sense to use a bold font to highlight information. Used sparingly and logically, bolding focuses the reader's attention on a particular part of a message.

But too much bold text, which I am illustrating here, makes readers dizzy.

The other day I read a research report with bold text sprinkled everywhere. On one page, 25 separate instances of bolding fought for the reader's attention. It looked just like this entry. I could not fix my attention anywhere.

5 proven ways to close a deal in English!!

Let's face it. Negotiation and sales is tough work, and even tougher when it's not done in your native language. Often, when English is not spoken correctly, it can come across as too pushy or even too rude – which ruins all chances for the perspective deal. Don't let English be the downfall. Improve your selling skills with our handy guide – and get the deal of a lifetime!

Use "you"
When speaking with a client, try to begin your sentences with the words you or your. You'll find this grabs their attention more quickly than beginning with phrases like "I think…" or "Let me tell you about…" because it focuses the attention on them, not on you.

Add something extra
Everyone likes to feel like they are getting something for free! If it's possible, try to add a little something extra to the deal to make the customer or client feel special. Use phrases like, "If you buy now, I can…" and "If we sign the deal soon, I can…" to put a little additional pressure on the customer to commit quickly.

Offer proof
Sometimes customers just don't believe salespeople are telling the truth, and there can often be mistrust between two companies negotiating a deal. It's important that your clients grow to trust you, so find something you can show them that will prove the quality of what you're offering. Begin with the phrase, "Don't just take my word for it." Then, follow up with a way to offer them proof, like "Look at what these other people have to say." or "Look at the rate of success. The numbers speak for themselves."

Ask questions
When your clients begin to hesitate, don't back down, but don't be too pushy, either. Instead you need to listen. Ask them questions that will help them be honest with you such as, "What concerns do you have?", "What's holding you back?"

Be willing to negotiate
Finally, after your customers have shared their concerns, you have to be willing to compromise a bit to give them what they want. Use expressions in formats such as, "We'll lower the price, if you agree to pay cash." and "We're prepared to make this deal exclusive, providing you sign a 10-year contract with us."

Interactions with American Clients!!-Useful Tips

1. Do not write "the same" in an email - it makes little sense to them.
Example - I will try to organize the project artifacts and inform you of the same when it is done

This is somewhat an Indian construct. It is better written simply as:
I will try to organize the project artifacts and inform you when that is done

2. Do not write or say, "I have some doubts on this issue" The term "Doubt" is used in the sense of doubting someone - we use this term because in Indian languages , the word for a "doubt" and a "question" is the same.
The correct usage (for clients) is: I have a few questions on this issue

3. The term "regard" is not used much in American English. They usually do not say "regarding this issue" or "with regard to this". Simply use, "about this issue".

4. Do not say "Pardon" when you want someone to repeat what they said.
The word "Pardon" is unusual for them and is somewhat formal.

5. Americans do not understand most of the Indian accent immediately -They only understand 75% of what we speak and then interpret the rest. Therefore try not to use shortcut terms such as "Can't" or "Don't". Use the expanded "Cannot" or "Do not".

6. Do not use the term "screwed up" liberally. If a situation is not good, it is better to say, "The situation is messed up". Do not use words such as "shucks", or "pissed off".

7. As a general matter of form, Indians interrupt each other constantly in meetings - DO NOT interrupt a client when they are speaking. Over the phone, there could be delays - but wait for a short time before responding.

8. When explaining some complex issue, stop occasionally and ask "Does that make sense?". This is preferrable than "Do you understand me?"

9. In email communications, use proper punctuation. To explain something, without breaking your flow, use semicolons, hyphens or paranthesis.
As an example:
You have entered a new bug (the popup not showing up) in the defect tracking system; we could not reproduce it - although, a screenshot would help.

Notice that a reference to the actual bug is added in paranthesis so that the sentence flow is not broken. Break a long sentence using such punctuation.

10. In American English, a mail is a posted letter. An email is electronic mail. When you say "I mailed the information to you",it means you sent an actual letter or package through the postal system.
The correct usage is:
"I emailed the information to you"

11. To "prepone" an appointment is an Indian usage. There is no actual word called prepone. You can "advance" an appointment.

12. In the term "N-tier Architecture" or "3-tier Architecture" , the word "tier" is NOT pronounced as "Tire". I have seen many people pronounce it this way. The correct pronunciation is "tea-yar". The "ti"is pronounced as "tea".

13. The usages "September End", "Month End", "Day End" are not understood well by Americans. They use these as "End of September", "End of Month" or "End of Day".

14. Americans have weird conventions for time - when they say the time is "Quarter Of One", they mean the time is 1:15. Better to ask them the exact time.

15. Indians commonly use the terms "Today Evening", "Today Night". These are not correct; "Today" means "This Day" where the Day stands for Daytime. Therefore "Today Night" is confusing. The correct usages are:
"This Evening", "Tonight".

That applies for "Yesterday Night" and "Yesterday Evening". The correct usages are: "Last Night" and "Last Evening".

16. When Americans want to know the time, it is usual for them to say, "Do you have the time?". Which makes no sense to an indian.

17. There is no word called "Updation". You update somebody. You wait for updates to happen to the database. Avoid saying "Updation".

18. When you talk with someone for the first time, refer to them as they refer to you - in America , the first conversation usually starts by using the first name. Therefore you can use the first name of a client. Do not say "Sir". Do not call women "Madam".

19. It is usual convention in initial emails (particularly technical) to expand abbreviations, this way: We are planning to use the Java API For Registry (JAXR).

After mentioning the expanded form once, subsequently you can use the abbreviation.

20. Make sure you always have a subject in your emails and that the subject is relevant. Do not use a subject line such as HI .

21.Avoid using "Back" instead of "Back" Use "ago".Back is the worst word for American.(for Days use "Ago",For hours use "before")

22.Avoid using "but" instead of "But" Use "However".

23.Avoid using "Yesterday" hereafter use "Last day".

24.Avoid using "Tomorrow" hereafter use "Next day".

E-mail Etiquette-II

There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts:what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it." - Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) American Educator

Below are the online basics you need to minimally become familiar with in order to be taken seriously in your online communications.

1.Do not type in all caps. Typing in all caps is considered yelling or screaming online. Those who type in all caps are perceived as lazy and not being considerate of those who will have to read their email. Various studies on the topic reflect that it is more difficult and takes longer to read text that is typed in all caps. And for those who question "What studies?" here is one example for your reading pleasure:

http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~muter/pmuter1.htm

Searching for words is faster with uppercase characters, but reading of continuous text is slower (Vartabedian, 1971), perhaps because interline masking is greater with uppercase (Nes, 1986). In addition, lowercase enhances reading efficiency because word shape is helpful in word recognition (Rudnicky & Kolers, 1984).

One is free, at their convenience, to review the entire document above which goes into detail about how eyes react to what they have to read based on how the content is presented.

Stating certain professions are required to type in all caps (that's the first time I've heard that one) does not jive either. Would you send any off-line communications in all caps - the answer is probably no.

NOTE: It should go without saying, however, since I was chastised for not saying so, this rule certainly doesn't apply to the vision impaired or to those who are disabled or handicapped and cannot use the shift key. However, since typing in all caps is considered yelling online, it would behoove those who do so because of these reasons to take the time to include a brief note why they are typing in caps so that their emails and intent are not misinterpreted.

2. Do not leave the Subject: field blank. Always fill in the Subject: field with a brief and concise description of the content of your email. This is very important in helping those you communicate with organize and manage their email. Important: avoid using all caps or all small case, terms such as Hi, Help or Please Respond, or the recipient's name in the Subject: field as you may be misidentified as a spammer and your email deleted.

3.Refrain from formatting your email with colored text and background colors or images in your day to day communications. If I had $1.00 for every Netizen who emailed me complaining about how they cannot read emails that are formatted (different color text, bolding entire emails, using giganto background images or script fonts), apparently by those who have no color sense or command of HTML, I could retire. Your color and formatting choices can make your emails impossible to read. In addition, formatting could make your emails difficult to reply to without having to go through a procedure to convert your email to plain text first. Many times when folks hit Reply they have to deal with your formatting carrying over to their reply - which makes communicating with you unnecessarily difficult. Why would you expect folks to have to go through having to convert your email just to read and respond to you? The answer: They probably will not! Using large background graphics that take forever to download, especially if you have a phone connection (which is more common than most think once you get outside of metro areas) is plain old naive. If you do feel the uncontrollable need to use any type of formatting in your daily communications, do so sparingly. Please, on behalf of all those who email me, just send your email in plain text!

4.On those rare occasions where it is necessary to send a group of people the very same email, as a courtesy to those you are sending to, please list all of the recipients email addresses in the BCC field. (B lind Carbon Copy - from the old days when typewriters used carbon paper to create identical copies of a document when it was being typed.) When an email address is designated in the Blind Carbon Copy field, the recipient will get a copy of the email while their email address remains invisible and protected from the view of the other recipients of the email - some of whom they may or may not know. Never expose your contact's addresses to strangers! If you are not sure how to BCC in your email program, here are site resources that may help you learn the features of your software programs:

Long lists of email addresses at the beginning of any email is an immediate sign that the sender is either a novice/Newbie - or doesn't care to respect other's privacy. None of which, as I am sure you'll agree, are complimentary perceptions! Email addresses are like phone numbers. Only the owner of the email address or phone number is the one to authorize who they want to have it and make it public to. Many folks prefer to decide for themselves who has their email address. By sending mass mails to a list of folks, you have made that decision for them - and that is a breach of assumed privacy when communicating with you. Let those you correspond with determine for themselves who they will make their email address known to - do not make that decision for them! By listing handfuls of email addresses in the email headers for all to see is inconsiderate of each recipient's right to privacy.

5.If you are new online, raise your right hand and repeat after me:

"I will not forward any dumb joke, "chain letter" or unimportant emails to my friends without their permission."
"I will not forward any dumb joke, "chain letter" or unimportant emails to my friends without their permission."

"I understand that by doing so I may fill up their in box, use other's resources unnecessarily and may cause other important email to bounce."
"I understand that by doing so I may fill up their in box, use other's resources unnecessarily and may cause other important email to bounce."

"I understand that most folks have seen these emails a million times and find them annoying."
"I understand that most folks have seen these emails a million times and find them annoying."

"I know that by forwarding these so-called humorous emails I may offend or tick off people who do not share my sense of humor or who are sick of having stupid emails forwarded to them each time a Newbie hops online."
"I know that by forwarding these so-called humorous emails I may offend or tick off people who do not share my sense of humor or who are sick of having stupid emails forwarded to them each time a Newbie hops online."

There! Now, that wasn't too bad was it? ;-) You will no longer be tempted to forward those jokes, untruthful or frivolous email that instruct you to forward to your friends! And, you will avoid looking silly and uninformed in the process. Read them if you must then hit delete. You really don't believe email that state certain things will happen simply by you forwarding the email to 10 friends do you? Talk about a waste of resources!!

In addition, many of these emails are actually hoaxes or downright bogus. Before you forward an email that appears good intentioned with an incredible story that instructs you to "read and share" with everyone you know, first check Snopes.com to see if the story is even legit in the first place and not a hoax. Not doing so can have you eating crow when everyone you email is informed you just forwarded a hoax and didn't know any better. And, don't get mad at someone if they point out to you that you were uninformed by perpetuating a hoax! If you don't know for a fact that the email you are forwarding is accurate and specifically apropos to the person you are forwarding to and you know they will want to receive it - all you have to do is ask first.

One of the common requests I receive through this site is from folks wanting to know a "nice way" of telling someone they care about to stop sending joke, hoax and chain emails without hurting their feelings. Speaking for those who know you, we have seen those emails before, many times - cut us a break - verify them before you send them to us or just hit delete!

6.Never give out phone numbers or personal information without confirming you are communicating with a reputable party. Never give out personal contact information of others without their specific permission to do so.

7.Make a reasonable effort to search a Web site for the information you are looking for - "Frequently Asked Questions" or "About Us" sections may give you the answers you seek before you waste the site owner's time by emailing for information that is readily available on their site. I get emailed daily for answers that are easily found in my 10 Courtesies or in the Internet 101 section if someone were to make minimal effort. These onliners simply didn't want to take the time to read them so they expected me to take the time to repeat what is on my site. Talk about giving the perception of lazy and not respecting other's time! If a Web site owner takes the time to provide information, read it. No one person's time is more important and common courtesy includes respecting this fact. If you do not find what you are looking for, search for the appropriate contact area for your question. Do not just click on the first email link you come across and blurt out your question(s). If you do, don't be surprised if your email goes unanswered when the information is easily found on the site. It is important to understand the focus of each Web site as well. Each site cannot be everything to everyone or be what you perceive it should be. Be sure to review the information provided to double check that what you seek would even be covered by the site you are visiting.

8.Do not use Return Receipt Request (RR) for each and every email you send because you like "knowing" when someone opens your email. Not only is this annoying to the recipient, this feature is intrusive! How would you like it if every time you heard a voice mail, answering machine message, opened a postal letter from a friend it was immediately reported back to them that you had heard/opened their communications? The recipient should have the privacy to determine when/if they want to open, read and reply - period. RRs should be reserved for those instances where it is critical to each side knowing the email was opened. Such instances would include legal and important business issues. Keep in mind opened doesn't mean read and that the recipient can decline an RR request so you will not be notified of their actions.

9.Understand that you will be on a continual learning curve. All of us are. This gig is changing constantly. The only consistency is change! If you do not have the desire to learn and do not make the effort to understand the "culture" of the technology in which you are participating, you will not be taken seriously by your fellow Netizens. You also may get some terse emails from other onliners pointing such issues out to you - some may not be as nice as others. When this happens, do not fire back at them! Use situations like this as an opportunity to learn what you are doing wrong so you do not anger others and can have a more enjoyable time.

10.If you receive a nasty email - do not respond immediately - if at all. People are very bold and overly critical on the other side of this screen. In my experience they tend to not hesitate to point out the things they think you need improvement on while not even noticing the good or positive points on the very same issue. Many times these folks are simply trying to get a rise out of you (this is called trolling) or are trying to make themselves feel self-important. Sometimes they are just plain jerks. If you do not have something nice or constructive to say, or at the very least sternly professional - just hit delete.

11.Keep in mind that all private email is considered to be copyrighted by the original author. If you post private email to a public list or board, or forward it to an outside party in whole or in part, you must include the author's permission to post the material publicly. Not doing so can get you into some deep doo-doo legally or with your friends and associates. Think of it this way... how would you feel if a personal private email that you had written for a specific purpose/person is then plastered across the Internet or forwarded to folks you do not know? Always ask for permission before forwarding or posting any private emails!

12.Always minimize, compress or "zip" large files before sending. Many folks new to the online world do not realize how large documents, graphics or photo files are. Guess what? They are large enough to fill someone's email box and cause their other mail to bounce! Get in the habit of compressing anything over 200,000 bytes (200K). (You can view file sizes in Windows Explorer. Simply right click on the file name and choose properties.) There are several types of file compression software available for these purposes. Do not send unannounced large attachments to others because you think that photo or file is cute or cool or neat. Always ask first! More importantly when sending business files, do so only during business hours, always compress and send at a prearranged time!

Many onliners still have to wait up to 30 minutes or more to open overly large files due to their connection speed. Those online not too far outside of metropolitan areas do not have cable or DSL connections, they are on dial-ups - many only @ 28.8K! If you do not know how to compress files, then you need to learn how to make them physically smaller with graphic software. Those are your two choices; compressing or minimizing. You really need to be aware of and practice one or the other. Minimizing a photo or graphic's physical size to no larger than 600 pixels in width will make them emailable. Most photos right off your camera are 1,000 pixels plus in width which makes for a very, very large file size. Nothing need be larger than 600 pixels to view anyway. Or you could be really courteous and learn how to use the free Web space offered by your ISP to upload photos and simply send the link to friends and family to view. If you do not know how to do any of these things all you have to do is learn! [Great Resource: HTML Programming Cheat Sheets]

To send large files that take a long time to download that may not respect the other person's time, reflect their sense of humor or point of view and may even max out their email box is pretty inconsiderate and downright lazy.

13.Do not forward virus warnings! Virus warnings received from others are generally always hoaxes. [Great Resource: Symantec's Virus Hoax Page ] Especially if an email tells you to forward to everyone you know--don't!! Delete those emails and do not forward them! Definitely ignore those forwarded emails instructing you to delete files on your computer - they could be critical files that your computer needs to operate. Only warn friends if you know that your computer has a virus that you inadvertently may have passed on to them. Rely only on your virus software and your software provider's Web site for the real scoop. If you get one of these wacky emails from a friend or associate, go to your virus software provider's site and search for the virus name in question to confirm if it is accurate information or if it is a hoax. When you find it to be a hoax, let the person who forwarded it to you know that they are perpetrating misinformation and unintentionally alarming others. Read what your Virus Software provider has to say before you unnecessarily alarm folks and in the process end up looking rather silly to say the least. There are many urban legends purely in existence to watch all the Newbies screw up their computer's configuration files or forward the fake email to "everyone they know" while looking rather foolish in the process. You know what they say... There's a Newbie born every minute! ;-)

With the advancement of technology, it is possible to get a virus without even opening an email. That ended with W32.Nimda.A@mm in September/2001 that merely required you click on the subject of the email in your email program or for those that use Outlook Express have your program set to preview. HINT: Turn Previewing Off! Nimda also propagated itself by taking advantage of bugs in Microsoft servers to plant itself on the server and then transfer itself to those who visited the Web sites on that server using Internet Explorer (yes, IE is buggy too) as their browser. (That's why I use Eudora for email and FireFox as my browser!)

Several of the latest viruses actually use email addressed farmed out of your address book or inbox to send the virus and propagate itself to all those listed with your name in the From: field. The latest viruses can send out the virus with your friend's names in the From: field or any combination of email addresses found on your system! Yikes! It is clear... The need for a 24/7 real-time virus protection software is no longer a choice - it is your responsibility to remain virus free. You will also need to update your virus files regularly. Check for updates every time you log on so that your computer is protected from the latest releases or use the automatic update feature of your virus software.

Basics for virus protection:

• Get an active program that is always "ON". This will catch any viruses as they are being downloaded so they can immediately be quarantined and cannot infect your system.
• Update your virus patterns daily or every time you log on. These updates can be downloaded from the Web site of your virus software manufacturer. Most software has a scheduler to tell your computer to do this automatically - how convenient! You need to ensure your system is protected from the latest viruses which may have just been discovered since last you were online. New viruses are identified daily!
• Never click on any attachment or an .exe (example: Happy99.exe, free stuff, click here or ILOVEYOU) file attached within an email without making sure the attachment has been checked for viruses. Even if the email appears to come from someone you know very well! The attachment may be virus generated and plucked your friend's email address off another infected computer belonging to someone they communicated with. Or your friend may unknowingly be infected and not aware of the virus on their system which has just spawned an email that has their name on it and is addressed to you. The email may look like it is from your friend just to get you to open it when in fact it is an email generated by a virus.