Technologies for geographically dispersed team collaboration and communication

¶ … Technology Type

Specialized Training Required

Specialized Equipment Needed

Globally Accessibility

Workflow Types best Suited for the Technology

Task Complexity Best Suited for the Technology

Synchronicity of the Technology

Core Advantages of the Technology

Limitations of the Technology

Video Conferencing

Computer, internet access, video camera, microphone, and speakers

Accessible

This technology is best suited for conducting meetings with people who are geographically dispersed (Kear, Chetwynd, Williams, & Donelan, 2012), allowing them to communicate as if they were sitting next to one another. Video conferencing allows for the transmission of information in more than one way, which ensures people receive the information much better.

Mid complexity

Accessible

Best suited for quick responses to a question. Allows for private communications between colleagues irrespective of geographical location. Instant messaging allows for an efficient and effective communication providing immediate receipt and reply.

Low

Asynchronous

Allows for real-time communication between two or more people located in any part of the world and they do not have to pay for international long distance charges. This is a saving to the company because long distance calls are quite expensive. Instant messaging is a convenient and time saving technology because it does not distract the employee. If it were a phone call, they would have to stop what they are doing to answer the call. Colleagues can also exchange information in real-time at the comfort of their desk. Colleagues can easily share files during an instant chat session. Instant messaging reduces the expenses required for conducting a video conference. Useful for customer support because an employee can respond to multiple customers at the same time regardless of their geographic location.

Since instant messaging is immediate, an employee does not have time to review or reflect upon the message before they send, unlike an e-mail where one can review a draft before sending. Most instant messaging applications are free, which means the providers will send popup windows and advertisements to each person making it less appealing for organization, but to avoid the advertisements one can purchase a premium service. If one does not setup their instant messaging client carefully, they might receive messages for anyone. It eliminates the face-to-face experience that people have when communicating with each other (Pearce, Thogersen-Ntoumani, & Duda, 2014). One is never sure of whom they are speaking to through instant messaging, which can be dangerous.

Discussion forums

None

Computer, mobile phone, internet access

Accessible

Discussion forums are mainly suited for questions or discussions that require lengthy input from various people (Stewart & Abidi, 2012). One person would initiate a thread or topic that requires multiple input or ideas from people. Discussion forums are a good way for interaction between computer software and hardware developers because it allows one to post a question and include the troublesome code for other within the forum to view and respond. The technology is best suited for conversations that do not require immediate responses.

Low

Asynchronous

Discussion forums create a discussion environment since they save any information posted on a specific information for other to reference in the future, thus allowing people to have quality discussions as they would have time to think and research the topic. There is no need for formal writing in discussion forums, which allows people to speak openly. Private discussion forums ensure that only the authorized individuals can view and comment on a topic, which would be beneficial for an organization. Unlike email, discussion forums allow colleagues to criticize and offer suggestions openly to other colleagues. This in turn ensures that the responses provided are thoroughly researched. There is no limitation to whom can respond to a discussion forum, which allows junior employees to offer suggestions in an open environment. There is a broad array of responses in discussion forums.

Managing a discussion forum is exhausting because the forum administrator has to ensure that the posted topics are not repetitive and the responses offered are not offensive. The forum administrator can mute or ban people who post ideas that they are not comfortable with, even if the responses or ideas are useful. Colleagues might take too long to respond to a question especially if the question is deemed irrelevant. There is a possibility that some of the responses might bring up more questions instead of helping to answer the initial question. Some people might hijack a thread and bring up another unrelated discussion that should have been posted as a new thread. The discussion thread are meant to be collaborative, but since many people are participating in the discussion it might become argumentative because everyone is trying to put their point across.