How to eliminate the communication barriers of virtual teams for answers

Virtual team, a team set up to develop a special product or solve a specific problem, is a new phenomenon that has emerged in the process of scientific research management and production organization in recent years. It is accompanied by economic globalization, the development of information technology, and inter-enterprise collaboration for better integration and use of resources, and its members may be across the organization, across the region or even across the border. Unlike traditional face-to-face teams, members of virtual teams communicate with the help of advanced communication technologies such as e-mail and videoconferencing. Such teams are generally composed of experts with high levels of specialized knowledge and are self-managed, with team leaders chosen by team members. Compared with traditional teams, virtual teams have talent advantages, information advantages, competitive advantages, efficiency advantages, cost advantages and so on. Once the virtual team is built, maintenance becomes the key to management. Barnard, the father of modern management in the United States, believes that the maintenance of the organization has three elements: namely, the willingness to collaborate, *** with the goal and communication. The management of virtual teams is no exception. Although *** with the goal of awareness and the formation of the will to collaborate, in the establishment of virtual teams in the process has been basically completed, but this is only preliminary, many specific issues of awareness and synergies in the work process, but also need to further deepen.

(a) communication barriers to virtual teams

Cultural differences in the problem.

Virtual team members are scattered all over the world and may come from different countries, races and organizations, thus the problem of cultural differences is particularly prominent. Because of cultural differences, people have different ways of communicating and different sequences for accomplishing work and building personal relationships, making coordination more difficult. This is highlighted by the fact that different cultures affect the perception of information, and different employees always perceive information from the perspective of their own culture. This tends to distort information and cause friction and conflict when information is exchanged.

Communication problems.

Unlike traditional face-to-face communication, long-distance communication lacks the characteristics of mutual contact, such as the inability to perceive the opinions, views, and attitudes expressed in verbal, physical, and behavioral messages, which are often the prerequisites for improving team efficiency and creating first-class performance. In addition, communication among members is generally limited to formal communication and informal communication is reduced. However, informal communication tends to contribute to the accumulation of members' human capital and the technological innovation of the organization, to members' experience of the team culture, to the establishment of good collaborative relationships among members, and to the formation of team cohesion. This decrease in communication tends to create a sense of isolation and anxiety among members, and relationships between members and between superiors and subordinates can tend to become distant and lead to a lack of identification with the team's goals.

Technical issues.

The communication of virtual team members mainly relies on modern communication technology means, which will face two problems: first, the reliability of communication equipment. Because once the communication equipment fails, communication may be completely interrupted. The second is that some members of the team do not know how to use certain communication tools or the level of technical proficiency of individual members may be different, which may lead to a one-way flow of information or untimely feedback.

(2) Stages and types of virtual team communication

Generally speaking, the development of virtual teams can be divided into four stages: (1) the formation stage, the differentiation stage, the integration stage, the maturity stage: (1) the formation stage. Team members are unfamiliar with each other, and need to achieve mutual understanding through certain mutual cognitive activities, to establish a relationship of initial trust and confidence in each other, and to eliminate opinions and ideas that are not conducive to the overall interests of the team. The key link in this stage is to realize group identity, that is, to establish the team **** the same vision. (2) Differentiation stage. Team members after a period of time to communicate with each other and the exchange of views, began to gradually form a team **** have the consciousness, norms and activities of the way the program. Although the team disagrees with each other, the phenomenon of mutual dissatisfaction still occurs from time to time, but these problems can be controlled and no longer affect the overall situation. The key aspect of this stage is to realize the combination of different roles, the team really began to operate. (3) Integration stage. Team members of the role and position has been very clear and clear, and formed a good tacit understanding of cooperation; team differences in the narrowing of the team, the team established mutual trust, mutual understanding, the atmosphere of synergistic activities; in how to solve problems, how to cross-functioning, how to act and so on has reached the basic **** knowledge. The key aspect of this stage is to realize the integration of different goals. (4) Mature stage. Teams in all aspects have reached a higher level, the formation of a very good communication links between the members, the friction between each other has basically eliminated the phenomenon of internal friction, we support each other, mutual concern, and work hard to achieve the team's goals with one mind. This stage of the key link is to achieve functional coordination, so that the team work activities at high speed forward state.

It can be seen that in the process of team development, the following points are very important: First, the establishment of mutual trust in the team relationship. Second, under the premise of good trust, the effective development of mutual communication and exchange, the realization of the full cross-fertilization of knowledge, to promote the role of different members of the team positioning and combination. Third, on the basis of trust, communication, and gradually formed team members of the *** with the desire to cultivate *** have a team consciousness and mode of thinking, and in the work of the formation of *** the same working language, coordinated work and consistent compliance with the norms of team activities.

Effective communication in virtual teams has two interrelated dimensions: the social dimension and the task dimension. The social dimension provides the building blocks and desire for long-term communication among team members, while the task dimension focuses on using communication to better process project information, tasks, and deliverables. The social dimension reflects that part of communication that is used to develop social relationships among virtual team members. It consists of at least three dimensions: achieved *** knowledge, mutual trust, and social relationships among members. The task dimension, on the other hand, refers to the part of communication that ensures that the project is completed on time and within budget. It has at least four dimensions:****identical project goals, domain-related knowledge and skills, coordination of tasks, and interaction patterns. In addition, effective communication is closely related to the technology used, the distance in time and space, and the pattern of communication over time. These factors constitute the mediating factors of communication.

Through the above analysis, four models of virtual team communication can be established, namely, perfect, task, social, and numb teams. The "perfect teams" are the most successful because they deal effectively with both dimensions of communication. While "task teams" can be equally successful, they are fragile and prone to breakdown. Similarly "social teams" are likely to be successful, but they are likely to deviate from the relevant aspects of the project's mission due to the low task dimension of team communication. "Numb teams" do not care about either the task or social aspects of communication, and they have difficulty effectively accomplishing the team's goals.

(3) Strategies for Effective Communication in Virtual Teams

Management Strategies for Communication in Virtual Teams at Different Stages of Development. The key link in the formation stage

is the identification of the group, and the focus is on accelerating the identification process of the group. To clarify

The purpose, goals and vision of the team, find ways to make the team members identify with, **** enjoy the team's goals; to solve the difficulties brought about by cultural differences, so that team members accept and recognize the cultural background of others, respect for other people's language styles and behavioral habits, in order to reduce the conflict brought about by different cultures; to solve the technical aspects of the problem, to provide for the team's work procedures, methods, make it standardized. Make it standardized.

The key aspect of the differentiation stage

is to realize the combination of different roles. The management strategy of this stage can be

Strengthen the role awareness of the team members, promote the rapid combination of different roles, try to make the team members have face-to-face communication, communication opportunities, and increase informal communication channels and opportunities, so that the team members to establish good interpersonal relationships.

The key link in the integration stage

is to realize the integration of different goals, and an important strategy is to establish a trusting team culture.

The key to establishing a trusting virtual team culture is to realize the sharing and collaboration of team members, and the important factors for the establishment of this trusting team culture are the distribution of resources, the calculation of work results, the performance appraisal standards, and the *** enjoyment of information.

Management strategies for different communication models in virtual teams.

The four virtual team communication models provide a simple but effective way of identifying differentiating the types of virtual team communication that may exist. The author also believes that for different communication types of virtual teams, sufficient attention should be paid to the social and task dimensions of communication. (1) Regarding the social dimension. Managers need to be sensitive to the types of social relationships that exist in virtual teams and actively encourage the development of social relationships among team members. (2) Regarding the task dimension. Managers need to be aware of the progress of the virtual team's project and can interact directly with team members to ensure that project tasks, schedules, and deliverables are tracked in a timely manner. (3) On the mediating factor. To ensure effective communication in virtual teams,

managers also need to consider mediating factors such as the technology used, time and space issues, and long-term communication patterns. (The author's unit: Zhejiang Water Conservancy and Hydropower College)_