Virtual_Meetings

Virtual Meetings There are many different kinds of teams, from sports teams to debate teams and workplace teams. As defined by Bucher (2010), “a team is simply a number of people who are involved in a cooperative effort.” Focusing on workplace teams, specifically virtual teams, those involved must be there to create a cooperative effort for teamwork to be present. Virtual meetings create different obstacles because the individuals are not face to face and only have what each other say to make their impressions and perceptions. Teams must be open to discuss, share, learn, and seek information and knowledge. The University of Phoenix simulation (2009), goes through a virtual meeting scenario with Pablo, Sam and Lifang Lin who are all from different locations and cultures. The obstacles that they encounter include accents, stereotypes, culture, ego and gender. There are remarks made based on one’s culture and stereotypes brought up. It is assumed that because Lifang Lin is a woman that the two gentlemen tended to leave her out of conversation and not recognize that she was there. Sam, who is from the U.S., made many offensive comments that I would have found very derogatory if they had been stated to me; pretty much everything out of his mouth I would find to be completely rude. He made a comment to Pablo that he wants to “build a higher wall along the border there so y’all don’t keep coming over into America and ruining things for the rest of us,” (University of Phoenix, 2009). He also states about taking “siestas” and calling him “Senor Pablo” and that he “don’t hablo espanol or anything like that.” These comments alone if directed at me I would assume that he thinks I am inferior to him. Pablo on the other hand makes comments to boost his own ego and show everyone that he intends to be the leader, he is superior in the fact that he is considered handsome and he is the leader and has accomplished so much. It is as if he believes that this is all a competition as who is better than whom. I would be totally offended if someone assumed they were better than me without even knowing who I am or what I have accomplished. Lifang Lin, however, stayed quiet throughout the entire meeting except when she introduced herself at the beginning. Even when she introduced herself she did not say much other than her name, where she is from and that she is happy to be a part of the team. If I were the person being excluded, I may try to speak up and cut someone off so that I could get a word in and try to make myself a part of the team even though they did not want me to be. Considering the content of the conversation and the comments being made however, I would stay quite as Lifang Lin did. I am a person who tends to avoid confrontation and conflict. I would be offended by the way Sam was talking to Pablo but to avoid causing more conflict and the topic of offense turning to me I would keep quiet. If I was an additional person in the group however, I would choose to respond as the simulation gave the option to. The option that I initially chose was to inform Sam that I thought he was not being respectful to Pablo by the remarks he is making and try to get the group back on track by setting up ground rules and respect in the communications and look for feedback on what the group thinks of the idea. This will help make the team more inclusive and will not put anyone else down and will show respect to all team members by speaking up and not calling someone out or being derogatory myself. The group needs to work together, not against each other. Because they could not see each other impressions were made by each individual I believe because of the way that each person presented themselves verbally. Lifang Lin did not really say much about herself and the men seemed to leave her out and treat her inferior almost as if she appeared to be withdrawn from how she introduced herself. Pablo talked himself up so much that it seemed like he let his ego get in the way of being a member of the team and wanted to be the leader without finding out who may be the best person for it. Sam seemed to think of himself as superior to everyone because he is in the U.S. and said many things that would be offensive but claimed he was joking about it, as if that makes it okay to say. Neither Sam nor Pablo paid any attention to Lifang and did not try to include her in on the conversation. I think they can better manage the impressions that they made by treating each other as equals and asking questions to find out more about each other besides what was mentioned to find out more about each other’s skills instead of focusing on culture, location, or gender. There are different strategies that Pablo, Sam and Lifang Lin can use to communicate more inclusively including the following: • Bucher (2010), states to “seek and share knowledge.” Not seeing out information or sharing information will stunt the project. Sharing knowledge will help everyone to know who will be good for what part of the project, what issues may come up, what each other’s strong points are and where the team may be in terms of weaknesses. If each team member works together, it sets a great environment for synergy to be present. “Employees who thrive in a work environment of teamwork and information sharing are highly valued,” (Bucher, 2010). • “Be aware of the value of communication with other locations and invite feedback,” (Bucher, 2010). With virtual communication you only have what someone says, you cannot see facial expressions or body language. Keeping everyone involved in the conversation and making sure that feedback is given by all will help the team to grown and work together. • “Identify and discuss differences,” (Bucher, 2010). Whether the differences are cultural, organization, or geographic, it is important to know what the differences may be as it will help the team to know the circumstances in each person’s situation. Each team member is not in the same location or culture and may not know what is acceptable to each other and will help everyone to respect each other. “For members of a virtual team to be successful, they need to learn how to share their beliefs, knowledge, and skills,” (Bucher, 2010). Identifying and discussing differences can help to prevent conflicts from happening or comments from being made. • “Share and clarify your group’s mission and goals,” (Bucher, 2010). Communicating with each other their feelings on what the team’s mission and goals should be will help the team to compromise and come up with common goals for the entire group to agree upon and a mission that can be accomplished. • “Openly discuss the challenges of virtual teaming and communication,” (Bucher, 2010). Discussing the challenges will help each team member to keep in mind that they are not able to be face to face with each other and may need to explain things clearer. It may also help each team member to be mindful of their comments and that if they are not about the project to keep the comments to one’s self to avoid causing conflict that is not necessary. A person cannot see how the words and comments will affect someone else and having respect for each other needs to be higher since words are the only form of communication these team members will have. Considering that the obstacles mentioned are only a few of the ones that can really be present in any given team situation, it is important to keep in mind that each person on the team is different from yourself and may come from a completely different part of the world and culture. There needs to be a great deal of respect and communication going on when in a team situation. If the team cannot respect each other and work with the strategies that are laid out for teamwork to be possible, the team will fall apart and the project will fail. Team members have to be aware of differences and be willing to accept those differences without creating a work environment full of conflict.