Course materials

Introduction

Both leaders and members of virtual teams have to know how to use electronic media for communication and collaboration. Nowadays one can choose from a variety of tools but not all of them are always appropriate.

First we have to look at types of tasks versus the communication modes. Table 1 shows an early consideration of McGrath and Hollingshead (1993) adapted by Duarte and Snyder (2006 p. 27).

1 Task versus Communication Mode (Duarte and Snyder, 2006, p. 27)

A rating poor fit may indicate too much or too little social presence or information richnes

Which Communication Media can be used for which content?

The choice of the media should respect the following factors (Konradt, 2002, pp. 88-90):

• Symbolic and social importance of the media:
  • Compliment and feedback – personally
  • Formal communication (e-mail) for achieving respect, informal communication (talk) to show interest and establish team spirit
  • Traditional companies use text based communication, modern companies use fast, less status oriented communication
• Pragmatic factors
  • Face-to-face meetings are expensive when team members work remotely
  • Video conferences depend on the infra-structure that is available
  • Costs for telephone calls, e-mails and video conferences can be different
• Personal preferences of the communication partners
  • Different social development of the people results in different preferred media
  • Clear preference of face-to-face talks to telephone, e-mail, and voice mail
  • Extraverted people prefer face-to-face talks, telephone calls, and voice-mails
  • Introverted people prefer indirect asynchronous media as they have more control and can think about their answer before they interact

Communication media have different advantages and disadvantages (see Table 2)

Table 2 Communication media – advantages, disadvantages (Konradt, 2002, pp. 92-93, adapted)

Learn more

• DeRosa, Darleen, Lepsinger, Richard (2010), Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance. Hoboken (New Jersey): John Wiley & Sons,
• Duarte, Deborah L., Snyder, Nancy Tennant (2006), Mastering Virtual Teams: Strategies, Tools, and Techniques That Succeed, 3rd edition. Hoboken (New Jersey): John Wiley & Sons
• Khazanchi, Deepak, Zigurs, Ilze (2005), Patterns of Effective Management of Virtual Projects. Newton Square (Pennsylvania): Project Management Institute
• Konradt, Udo, Hertel, Guido (2002), Management virtueller Teams, Weinheim: Beltz
• Köster, Kathrin (2010), International Project Management, London: Sage
• McCabe, Laurie, Hurwitz, Judith, Kaufman, Marcia (2009), Collaboration for Dummies: IBM Limited Edition. Hoboken (New Jersey): John Wiley & Sons
• McGrath J.E., Hollingshead A.B. (1993), Putting the “Group” Back in Group Support Systems: Some Theoretical Issues about Dynamic Process in Groups with Technological Enhancements. In Jessup L.M. and Valacich J.S. (Eds.), Group Support Systems: New Perspectives. Old Tappan (New York): Macmillan
• Quade, S., Birkenkrahe, M., Habermann, F. (2012), Manage Projects Smarter: Picking Tools for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, ICELW 2012, New York, proceedings; International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), Vol 8, No 2 

• Project Definition by IPMA (ICB 3.0)

„A project is a time and cost constrained operation to realise a set of defined deliverables (the scope to fulfil the project‘s objectives) up to quality standards and requirements.“

• Project Definition by PMI (PMBOK)

„A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.“

Projects are used for relatively unique processes

Project Design is influenced by several factors

…and can be structured in several ways

Tasks of Project Management

Planning - the definition of what is aimed for

Organizing - bringing it to function

Leading - the goal-oriented guidance of others

Controlling - the tracing with regard to a successful project execution

The 3 Key Elements of Project Management

Differences in the Management of Projects and Small Projects

• There are a lot of PM methods available
• Beezr projects only require a few PM tools because of

 PM Tool 1 – Project Assignment

• High level summary of the project design what is inside and outside of the project boundary
• Often only rough estimations possible
• Basis for detailed project design in the project start phase

Example: Beezr Project Assignment

PM Tool 2 - Project Objectives Plan

• „Objective“: A desired future state which should be achieved by the project
• Ensurance of holistic project view
• Consideration of all closely coupled objectives
• Priortization of the objectives, non-objectives
• Operationalization of objectives to assure that reaching the objective can be measured at the project end

Example: Beezr Project Objectives Plan

PM Tool 3 – Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Hierarchical depiction of the project scope
• Systematic gathering of all required project tasks
• Phase-oriented structure recommended
• Segmentation of the scope into sub-units, so called work packages, which can be planned and controlled

Example: Beezr Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

PM Tool 4 – Milestone Plan

• 6-9 milestones per project which show important events to be reached within the project
• 2 standard milestones
• Project assigned
• Project approved
• Event-oriented definition of the milestones
• Scheduling by assigning dates to milestones

Example: Project Milestone Plan

Tool 5 – Project Organization Chart

• Presentation of roles (and communication structures), not persons
• A communication instrument
• Symbolic project management
• The chart is an artefact of the project culture
• Boxes or bubbles, size of boxes, shadows behind boxes, ...
• Quality standards: Date, version, responsible person
• Adaption over time, as the project evolves

Example: Standard Project Organization Chart

Role: Project Sponsor (Lecturer)

Role: Project Manager

Role: Project Team Member

THERE ARE 4 DIFFERENT KINDS OF COMPANIES:

• Those who make thing happen
• Those who watch things happen
• Those who wonder what happened
• Those who ask if something has happened

KNOWLEDGE IS THE ROAD TO SUCCESS

Investigate the situation

• Decide what to do
• Plan how to do it

• It is essentially about KEEPING IN TOUCH with the marketing environment
• Many companies have created a CID - Consumer Insight Department or MIS systems
• Information is a source of competitive advantage

MARKETING RESEARCH

To be able to make more qualified decisions

• Based on facts
• Explaining the assumptions
• Asking the right people
• Care about the detail

MAJOR USES OF MARKETING RESEARCH

• Research into Customer Needs and Expectations
• Customer Surveys
• Communication effectiveness
• Similar Industry Studies, e.g benchmarking
• Research into Intermediaries
• Employee Research – image, strengths & weaknesses, morale, internal communication etc.