Resources to Enhance Team Effectiveness

Online Collaborative Tools

Collaboration is the focal point of business and its management in a workplace. Whereas effectual and sustainable collaboration needs face-to-face contact, the majority of the collaborative work usually depends on virtual collaboration, which is through telephone, emails or other online resources and tools. It is crucial for tools that enhance collaboration to be easy to use, mutually convenient and with remarkably little risk. This should be so because of the fact that it is being applied on an environment that is time constrained and information heavy (Duarte & Snyder, 2006).

Collaboration using online tools is increasing, with the advancement of technology, and as organizations are in the process of realizing the use and advantages of the internet, in conducting virtual meetings like the use of teleconference. Organizations should come up with a guideline on how to use and when not use these tools. Collaboration technology foresees future innovations and supports everyday activities such as administrative and management work. Collaborative technology includes mobile phones, computers and laptops. However, collaborative technology, may fail to meet the criteria for adoption. There are many qualities that should be considered for collaboration (Duarte & Snyder, 2006). The aim of this essay is to describe what is usually considered in selecting the appropriate tool, and find out which tool is inappropriate or appropriate for various task groups.

Choosing The Appropriate Tool for Consideration

Time

Collaboration involves different phases and processes to finalize it that takes quite a period of time (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh, H & Ollus, 2008). This is because it involves starting and forming a collaboration team, writing its goals and selecting the relevant collaboration tool (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh, H & Ollus, 2008). Planning is also involved for the collaboration which requires brainstorming on certain ideas, assigning different roles for each individual involved in the collaboration, scheduling and so on (Matthews, Moran, Whittaker & Yang, 2011). Executing requires turning ideas into practical things that will accomplish the goal. Reporting is involved to share on the different findings on the individual tasks assigned and the final outcome. Long lived collaborations will gather more time, more members and more content. Team effectiveness that has involved their time tends to get organized end collaborative tools. An appropriate tool is the use of instant messaging.

Adoption

Adoption can serve as a problem in creating collaboration tools. Collaboration tools are designed differently hence making them not understood by certain communities especially on the members who can be unwilling to adapt to the new collaboration tool (Matthews et al. 2011). An understanding on the community on how the team groups have selected their collaboration tools has proven to be difficult. Collaborations tools in designs tend to have a particular importance in a particular workplace not everywhere. Businesses learn to adapt quickly to collaboration tools to leverage capital. Fast adaptation of a collaborative tool will create effectiveness of the tool because the teams are aware of what the product is maintained and used.

Task

Task should be supported by the collaboration team in enhancing work in a workplace rather than turning into a substitute for employees. Tasks help in decision making of the final collaboration tool by the collaboration team because it involves a lot of information findings, studying and maintaining records, meetings for presentations and scheduling. It may also require the collaboration team to re-group for further tasks in the goal of creating a collaboration tool (Matthews et al. 2011)). Each individual or member should have a basic idea and work on it and know their assignment for effective results at the end of the day when the results are accumulated. Tasks of the collaborative team are more effectual if they are thorough and concise. Use of podcasts is an example of such a tool.

Place

Collaboration team cannot work in different time zones; otherwise the collaboration tool would end up problematic in collaboration tool making (Duarte & Snyder, 2006). Choosing a specific place will make decision making easier and fast feedback on the collaborating tool since they focus on the same ethnic culture, methods, language and technological level making collaboration technologies effective. Example employees from more functional areas like human resources always work with a set of processes that are more technical. They cannot be carried around everywhere. Identifying a place to create a technological tool will be effective and will cost less on travel costs which will not an addition in the budget. Wikis is an appropriate example.

Richness

When selecting an appropriate collaboration tool, richness may be considered for capital of the team processes and procedures that form the team budget. With enough monetary elements, collaboration teams have the potential for innovative products and quality methods that give concise reports. Some tools require more concentration and undergo through unique phases that take up money time and resources that are not available and require to be bought or made anew. Richness also makes the collaborative product consumable by highly developed organizations and businesses globally because they are expensively made which distinguishes the target audience (Zeus & Hamilton, 2004).

Collaboration Technology of Web Conferencing