CRA Inc

15 Jul 04 @ 9:31 am

Let’s Start Meeting Like This

Let’s Start Meeting Like This summarizes “Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?” (Ann Majchrzak et al., Harvard Business Review, May 2004), a study of virtual workgroups:

E-mail, while essential in today’s workplace, quickly overwhelms team members, as multiple chains bounce back and forth. Videoconferencing is not quite ready for prime time; according to the study, desktop versions have too little bandwidth, and remote locations require too much travel.

But online team rooms, also known as virtual work spaces, received top marks from successful virtual teams. These networked, file-sharing spaces provide a place for team members to access the latest versions of files at any time, carry on asynchronous discussions (without getting sidetracked into multiple conversations), and keep track of deadlines and time lines. In sum, they collect all relevant information into one place.

The researchers make an interesting point about media richness:

It’s often pointed out that nonverbal cues are an important dimension of face-to-face meetings. For virtual teams, the absence of body language and facial expressions is actually a boon to productivity, the researchers said. Virtual meetings are more democratic than face-to-face discussions; participants don’t feel the effect of hierarchy as much.

posted in category(s): From The Journals