UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
ENC 4298 - Technical Communication for the Virtual Workplace
An Examination of Technological Tools for
Virtual Team Collaboration
Research Team
Gina Brooks
Hope Diehl
Victoria Jackson
Jennifer Kempinski
Batul Merchant
November 23, 2011
SUMMARY
The process of exploring virtual collaboration tools was a didactic experience. Blogs,
wikis, instant messaging, e-mail, and VoIP, were found to be valuable assets to the world of
online professional communication. In this report, the team provides personal experience,
research evidence, and a summary of how each tool functions in the virtual team setting, listing
the conclusions of each tool’s benefits and downfalls.
The team found e-mail and instant messaging to be the most conducive to virtual team
communications. For team meetings, instant messaging never seemed to fail. For team
communication between weekly meetings, e-mail was the way to go. While our team explored
the following other tools, blogs, wikis, and VoIP, they did not prove to be as effective, reliable,
or preferred as e-mail and instant messaging for collaboration.
Our report will be beneficial to students or business men and women participating in a
virtual team setting. Our team will use the experience gained from the explorations involved in
compiling this report for future endeavors. Each tool is unique and has its own best set of uses.
Individual collaborative teams should decide which ones fit their unique needs the best.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Flammia for her guidance and clarification
with our research. We would like to thank Team 1 for their time and feedback in our peer
review. Additionally, we would like to thank our friends and family for supporting us through
our research.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ v
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
BLOGS ........................................................................................................................................... 2
WIKI ............................................................................................................................................... 5
INSTANT MESSAGING ............................................................................................................... 8
E-MAIL......................................................................................................................................... 11
VOIP ............................................................................................................................................. 14
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................... 17
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 20
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Blog Example ..................................................................................................................2
Figure 2 How E-mail Works ........................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Belonging to a virtual team presents the conundrum of how collaborating and
communicating with team members will be possible. The following report examines tools that
enable collaboration and communication for virtual teams. The report focuses on the following
tools used for those tasks: blogs, wikis, instant messaging, e-mail, and VoIP.
There is deliberate concentration on what advantages and disadvantages are presented
when using blogs, wikis, instant messaging, e-mail, and VoIP as tools in a virtual team setting.
Brief descriptions of blogs, wikis, e-mail, instant messaging, and VoIP technologies were
derived from both team experience and research conducted on each of the tools. The report will
not provide coverage on how to create, design, or format blogs or wikis. There will also be no
discussion of how to set up instant messaging, e-mail, or VoIP accounts. The team will not issue
recommendations or endorsements for any type of particular software or specific brand of tools
for use.
Section 1 of the report covers the advantages and disadvantages of blogs. Section 2
describes the advantages and disadvantage of wikis. Section 3 expounds on the advantages and
disadvantages of Instant Messaging. Section 4 explains the advantages and disadvantages of email. Section 5 deals with the advantages and disadvantages of VoIP.
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BLOGS
Blog is a shortened term for a weblog. The first blog, links.net, was created in 1994
(Thompson). Since then, blogging has come a long way and you can now find blogs online that
cover every topic imaginable. According to Businessweek.com, there were an estimated 13
million active blogs in 2008. One of the leading sites for blog tracking is Technorati. “This site
tracks over 52 million blogs, organizes them by popularity and subject, and lets you track your
favorite blogs” (Brown, Huettner, and James-Tanny 252).
Blogs are typically in chronological order with the newest content at the top. Most blogs
share some common features; a main content area, archives, places for comments on posts, a
blogroll which is a section that links to related sites, and one or more feed (WordPress.org). A
blog is organized like an online journal by subject. Figure 1 is an example of a blog.
Figure 1
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Blogs can be used as a simple communication tool with team members writing postings
and other team members providing feedback by leaving a comment. This is an excellent way for
team members to share information and brainstorm off each other’s ideas. Blogs are a relatively
simple tool to use and can be created by anyone with access to the Internet. There are free
hosting sites providing simple settings and instructions to walk a user through the set up. “PartTimers, Corporate, and Self-Employed bloggers were more likely to have used a paid third-party
hosting service, while Hobbyists were more likely to have used a free hosting service. 10% of
bloggers overall reported building their blog themselves in HTML from scratch” (Sobel). The
Technorati site also indicated that WordPress, Blogger, and Blogspot were the most popular
hosting services by far (Sobel).
Being able to limit access is an advantage and important component of blogs. They can
be designed so only the group members working on the project can view and post on the blog.
Teams can give authorization for specific people to make posts and comments. This is an
advantage for protecting sensitive projects or information a company may wish to keep private.
An additional advantage to blogs is that they can be set up quickly and do not require
specialized training to create or use them. Team members find that reading and commenting on
blog postings is fairly self-explanatory as the sections are clearly marked. Blog posters can share
photos, insert videos, links, and maps, furthering the content and information that can be shared.
Blogs are helpful in many to many communication situations and can allow equal
contribution from all team members (White). Team members have the advantage of being able to
access the blog at any time providing flexibility. The fact that a blog is in reverse chronological
order is also an advantage. Collaborators do not need to waste time searching for the latest
information; it is presented at the top of the blog.
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Although there are many advantages to using a blog for team collaboration, there are also
a few disadvantages. The layout of the blog makes it difficult for projects requiring constant
communication. Reading through a blog post and several comments can get cumbersome. In
addition, comments can get lost or information can be hard to sort through. Many blogs offer a
search bar however; team members would need to know what was included in a post to
effectively use this tool.
The fact that team members do not have to be on the blog at the same time to
communicate with one another can be seen as either an advantage as noted earlier with time
flexibility, or it can be a disadvantage. Conversations by nature are organic and not structured
but in the rigid arrangement of blogs, conversations become fragmented and lose some of their
meaning. Sometimes it can become difficult to find a person’s response in a sea of comments.
Using blogs for virtual communication works better for information sharing and problem solving
but not as a constant communication tool between team members.
In written communication, it is very difficult to ascertain mood, sarcasm, humor and
other subtle nuances apparent in face to face or telephone conversations. People often read their
own feelings or attitude into text which can sometimes create friction among group members.
Emoticons are a good way to communicate feelings to avoid miscommunication in blogging.
Overall blogs are effective for offering organization by date and topic and providing a
discussion area for team members. Using blogs as a way to introduce team members to one
another is also very successful. In addition, Blogs are a great place to upload videos or
documents to refer back to. However, blogs are ineffective if there is time sensitive materials that
need to be given to all members or if instant collaboration is needed.
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WIKI
A wiki can be used as a tool for collaboration and communication between varying
groups of people. According to A Short Guide, “Wikis are most commonly defined as a type of
website that allows a large number of users to add and edit content in a highly collaborative
manner” (“A Short Guide” 3). Virtual teams can use a wiki as a centralized location to house
their joint work product. “A wiki is a website where members of your writing team can work
collaboratively on a communication using web browsers.” (Anderson 452). Teams collaborating
virtually can utilize a wiki for tasks such as tracking project history, collaboration with other
members, and to easily keep documents current and correct. “The types of tasks for which wikis
are used are basically the same. Specifically, day-to-day usage of the application typically falls
into the following three categories: project management, collaboration, and knowledge
management” (“A Short Guide” 4). There is a spectrum of complexity and abilities that wikis
fall within based on their capabilities.
There are numerous advantages to using the wiki as a tool for collaboration and
communication for a virtual team. Team members have the ability to contribute, view, and edit
the wiki at their convenience. The wiki offers a place where things that are project related can be
consolidated into one location. “Wikis, in stark contrast, by nature of their design offer a
centralized view of content and easy access to all participants; thereby eliminating a lot of the
redundancy and frustration inherent in communicating, maintaining version control and
collaborating via email and word processors” (“A Wiki-Induced Stimulus” 2). Centralized
storage for a project’s entire content can be implemented on a wiki’s pages making it very easy
for team members to locate needed information. “Thus, a wiki becomes not only a place where a
document can be drafted but also a storeroom where relevant materials can be placed for easy
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access by all team members” (Anderson 452).
Additionally, wikis provide the advantage of fostering the feeling of unity among virtual
team members. “Any collaboration tool depends on its ability to create and reinforce a sense of
community within its participants” (“A Wiki-Induced Stimulus” 7). Teams unify to produce,
edit, add, revise, and review work through a wiki establishing a feeling of connectedness. “Wikis
support your writing team by enabling members to brainstorm, discuss ideas, make outlines,
establish project schedules, and create, read, and edit drafts of the communication they are
creating together” (Anderson 452). Virtual teams need to continue a high team morale and group
membership to be successful. Using a wiki allows all members the same level of control in the
collaborative process. “Wikis create a milieu in which employees and members of a group
project are encouraged to express their thoughts through actual page content, forums, discussion
boards, and ratings; thereby introducing a more egalitarian communication dynamic within
companies” (“A Wiki-Induced Stimulus” 2). The wiki environment encourages team members to
start contributing and brainstorm ideas off of one another.
The ability of users to utilize the revision history in a wiki can also be seen as a
tremendous advantage. “One strength of a wiki is its revision history. Every time someone makes
a change to a page, no matter how small, the previous version is stored.” (Brown, Huettner, and
James-Tanny 279) Team members can identify other member’s contributions and edits by
viewing the revision history of their wiki. This could become important if issues arise regarding
implementation of edits or equal contribution by all team members.
Depending on the selected wiki software a team chooses, there can be little to no cost for
creating a team wiki. “The technology is relatively low cost and easy to implement” (“A Short
Guide” 9). Issues such as gas, travel, supplies, or renting a dedicated work space are not an issue
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for virtual teams using a wiki. “Wikis are Web-based and thus present little or no learning curve
in the adoption cycle” (“A Short Guide” 5). Team members do not have to worry about the need
to undergo specialized training to create or use a wiki. “Wikis are cheap, extensible, easy to
implement, and don’t require a massive software rollout because of their ability to interface well
with existing network infrastructures” (“A Short Guide” 5). The wiki allows for virtual team
members to simultaneously work on their project. Collaboration is easy and fluid with the ability
for multiple team members to use the wiki at the same time. “Wikis can be a very powerful tool
in assisting virtual teams in collaborating on a component. For example, if several team members
are working on the same component, they can all contribute content and commentary
simultaneously in a wiki.” (Brown, Huettner, and James-Tanny 116)
There are a few disadvantages to the wiki tool. Team members are dependent on other
members logging in and keeping up-to-date with the wiki on a regular schedule. The team would
need to set up a schedule of mandatory wiki check-ins for all team members. Some extremely
serious disadvantages of using a wiki are the looming security concerns of hacking, spamming,
and information stealing. “Spam has always been an issue with wikis.” (Brown, Huettner, and
James-Tanny 279) Virtual teams must be extremely cognizant of the security risks when using a
wiki. Teams open themselves up to a potential leak of private project information to competition
as well as to the public. The team would have to have someone exclusively fulfilling the role of
managing security concerns when using a wiki. “A project creator is a self-delegated project
administrator that determines who is allowed to participate in the project, and in what capacity”
(“A Wiki-Induced Stimulus” 6). With a generous portion of their time devoted to being highly
active on wiki managing security risks the team member selected could be distracted and limited
in their ability to contribute to their team at the needed output level.
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INSTANT MESSAGING
According to Managing Virtual Teams, “Instant Messaging” is an application that lets
two people talk in real time via typing in a chat window, sometimes using a video camera to see
the other person and a microphone or headset to hear and talk. There are over 60 IM applications
available, most of which are free. Examples include Google Talk, Skype, Yahoo!Messenger,
Windows Live Messenger, Facebook Chat, AOL Instant Messenger, ooVoo, Trillian, Adium,
ICQ, Jabber, and Gaim. Most of these applications will allow a user to set up a conference
joining multiple users.
Instant Messaging gives team members the ability to share photos and other files. It also
offers the capability to forward to mobile phones even voicemail. Instant Messaging applications
allow team members to post a “status” indicating if they are at the computer, idle, or a detailed
description of what they are doing. This helps other team members efficiently identify whether
their team mates are available to engage in IM’ing
Extensive utilization of the IM tool for collaboration and communication was done
during research. The IM tool was the medium in which the majority of meetings were conducted
and communication with other team members in between meeting times was done. The ability to
conduct meetings in “real time” offers an extreme advantage to virtual teams. Team members
receiving the same message at the same time is critical to ensuring the group’s success during a
meeting. Using the real time function of IM allows leaders to check in with team members for
progress updates, review any questions or concerns, and get immediate feedback on issues with
the project.
There are some disadvantages to utilizing Instant Messaging as a tool for virtual team
communication and collaboration. Team members can find that receiving too much information
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at once during a live chat session involving multiple group members contributing simultaneously
can be overwhelming. Instant Messaging is a tool that gives opportunity for team members to be
distracted. When using a tool that is so frequently used for social interactions outside school and
work, it is easy to multi-task. Along the same lines, this tends to affect the attentiveness of group
members during meetings. Another downfall of using IM includes downloading special software,
which may or may not function properly. Meetings are also more difficult to save for team
members to reference later.
The article “Instant Messaging Is Growing Up, Going to Work” by the Washington Post
describes IM’ing as a tool that “allows people to send text messages over the Internet and have
them appear almost instantly to friends and colleagues. Equally important, most IM software
allows people to detect when their designated friends or colleagues are online with indicators that
flash or play sounds when people sign on or off,” (Washington Post). Team members can choose
to send IMs to their fellow team members even when their status reflects they are idle or not
available. This allows team members to communicate important messages or thoughts as they
occur to them and for the recipients to read them at their leisure.
The article reveals IM is primarily used by younger generations. This could potentially
create a problem now for virtual teams with older aged members. “In AOL's survey, IM usage
ran 90 percent among those ages 13 to 21,” (Washington Post). Instant Messaging’s informal
format also gives way to the potential for inappropriate communication issues among team
members. “39 percent of those in D.C. acknowledging flirting or making dates via IM in the
office,” (Washington Post). However, security is definitely an issue when using IM in a work
environment, “many workers are using relatively insecure public IM networks at the office,”
(Washington Post) both for the concern of getting a virus or other computer problem as well as
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the messages being read by a third party. For serious projects, security is definitely a main
concern so Instant Messaging might not be the best choice.
In Team Writing: A Guide to Working in Groups, a section is dedicated to tools for
virtual team use. Instant messaging is not present on the list. This indicated perhaps that instant
messaging is not usually conventional for business or professional use. Another article “Instant
Messaging: Does it Have a Place in Business Networks?” reaffirms this point by stating IM’ing
in the office can lead to “lost productivity... popular IM programs were designed for recreational
‘chatting’… employees may also be more prone to abuse IM for personal use on the job than the
telephone, since it’s easier to ‘look as if you’re working’ while typing IM messages than to
disguise the personal nature of a phone call if you’re in an open office,”
(WindowsSecurity.com). These tendencies suggest Instant Messaging may reflect a trend of
unprofessionalism if restraints are not placed on the way members communicate when using it.
Though Instant Messaging is not considered a traditional way to communicate
professionally, there has definitely been a rise in its popularity within virtual team use. Despite
its pitfalls, which include distracted members, downloading unfamiliar software, and the
potential for safety risks, Instant Messaging is effective in its instantaneousness, making it a
great way to conduct meetings or send messages to group members between meetings.
Additionally, the real time aspect makes it an ideal communication tool for groups that cannot
meet in person due to distance difficulties. Like all collaborative tools, Instant Messaging has a
specific time and place for use, and if used wisely, can make a great contribution to all virtual
collaborative teams.
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E-MAIL
In this day and age there are various electronic mediums a virtual team can communicate
through. E-mail is one of those mediums, as one of the most popularly used Internet applications.
E-mail or electronic mail is a method of exchanging digital messages from one person to one or
more recipients. According to Matt Haig in “E-mail Essentials: How to Make the Most of ECommunication,” the first e-mail was sent three decades ago via ARPANET, the precursor to the
Internet. E-mail was only used for academics and by technology professionals up until the
nineties. Today, e-mail is used by almost everyone for personal and business use.
Before expounding on the positive and negative aspects of e-mail, it is important to
establish an understanding of how e-mail works over the Internet. According to Ian Peter in the
article “The history of e-mail,” e-mail was around before ARPANET and the Internet. Initially
e-mail began as simply putting a message in another user’s directory on the same device. Two of
the first e-mail programs were MAILBOX and SNDMSG. He also mentioned that before the
Internet a message could only be sent to a user using the same computer, but after the Internet
things became more complicated. This created a need for a system to be set up where there was
a way to indicate an address.
The issue of how to contact one computer from another was solved by Ray Tomlinson. As
Ian Peter mentioned in his article, Ray Tomlinson is credited with inventing e-mail in 1972. He
picked the ‘@’ symbol for the address in order for the e-mail to work. Ian Peter mentions,
“Despite what the World Wide Web offers, e-mail remains the most important application of the
Internet and the most widely used facility it has. Now more than 600 million people
internationally use e-mail.” It was because of e-mail that there was a transition from ARPANET
to the Internet.
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SMTP or simple message transfer protocol is the first e-mail standard and is still used
today. A disadvantage to SMTP is that it is easy to forge and causes security issues. New
advancements have come into play. “The POP (or Post Office Protocol) servers began to appear
as a standard - before that each server was a little different. POP was an important standard to
allow users to develop mail systems that would work with each other” (Peter). Today a
combination of both protocols is being used. Once an author sends an e-mail, the e-mail is
transferred to and SMTP server, a mail server accepting outgoing mail. This server makes sure
that the e-mail reaches its destined address, or is returned back if the address is incorrect. For
incoming e-mails an electronic mailbox is situated on the POP server. After that the user can
either download the e-mail from the POP server to their computer or read it off the mail server
while it is there (Haig, 16). Figure 2 gives an illustration of how e-mail works.
Figure 2
Originally software would need to be downloaded to write or check e-mail.
Advancements have brought friendly web interfaces provided for free, so people can register
their own e-mail addresses. With e-mail technology on the rise businesses quickly adapted to the
trend.
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E-mail has many advantages for virtual team collaboration and communication. E-mail is
a wide spread technology that almost every team member will be familiar with. Team members
can use e-mail to send messages to one or more recipients at the same time. When using e-mails
it is not necessary for team members to use the same domain or software, because e-mails can be
sent out to any email address as long as it is a valid one. E-mail provides team members a
method to send one another pictures, files, links and text to each other. E-mails can be saved in
folders either on the computer or on the server making it easy for teams to find and utilize the
messages during the entire project. Team members can enjoy the convenience of viewing e-mail
messages at their own leisure. This enables team members to be able to send messages to other
members at their convenience and the reader to read them at their convenience.
There are some disadvantages to using e-mail as a tool in virtual teams. Team members
having the ability to check e-mail at their leisure also means that an urgent message can be easily
missed if their e-mail is not checked in time. Team members do not have the ability to hold real
time communication with other members. E-mail communication can become long and
confusing without real time responses from team members. Having to wait for responses from
team members can also cause a time delay for virtual teams. E-mail also leaves virtual team
members vulnerable to misunderstandings. Team members then need to draft additional e-mails
for clarification or have to resort to another form of communication. E-mail is not always a
secure medium in which to communicate. When team members do not ensure their e-mail is
encrypted it can be prone to viruses. E-mail is dependent on the server it is communicating
through. Team members can have issues if the server is slow or goes down which can cause a
delay or loss of information.
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VOIP
VoIP (pronounced “voip” or V.O.I.P.) stands for voice over Internet protocol. VoIP
allows users to make phone calls with or without a phone. Instead of using phone lines (analog
systems), VoIP uses a broadband Internet connection to convert the voice into a digital signal.
This digital signal is sent across the Internet and received much like voice over a phone line
(Voice-over-Internet-Protocol).
VoIP has proved to be a successful replacement of business telephone communications.
The trend to use VoIP has steadily continued to sweep the masses of corporate America. As one
publisher notes, “Jumping on board are businesses ranging from mom-and-pop shops to blue
chip companies such as Bank of America and The New York Times Co” (Soloman). Why are
companies making the switch? What’s the advantage? Well, for one, many VoIP software
programs are available at zero cost. Popular programs such as Skype have a complimentary
version that can be downloaded and options to “upgrade” with minimal monthly fees.
Corporations are not the only entities taking advantage of VoIP benefits. Individuals who
are accustomed to using their computer to make long distance business calls are now
downloading programs onto their phones and making free calls at WIFI hot-spots (Stern,
Joanna). People involved in virtual teams are also jumping on the bandwagon. VoIP offers a way
for team members spread apart by distance to communicate with one another at the same time
with little to no cost.
There are disadvantages of VoIP. “Your VoIP service is only as reliable as your
broadband Internet connection (Disadvantages of VoIP ).” Virtual teams must consider the
possibility of technical malfunctions when using VoIP to collaborate and communicate such as
loss of Internet connection. In addition, there are typical computer security issues such as viruses
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that can cause freezing or Internet loss that team members are susceptible to when using VoIP.
There is a variety of VoIP software to choose from that each come with different cons depending
on which one the virtual team chooses to use. These complications will vary for each user,
affecting the progress of the VoIP use in the virtual group setting.
During research, team members found VoIP to be an efficient tool for virtual
communication. VoIP allowed team members the opportunity to have face-to-face conversations
from their various locations. The little to no cost of using VoIP as a tool for communication and
collaboration can tremendously aid virtual teams with members out of state or in different
countries.
A disadvantage of the VoIP tool was realized conflict when one member’s audio was not
operable for some unknown reason. The team member was unable to hear any of the members
speaking or partake in the meeting. Troubleshooting had to be done via a backup collaboration
tool, instant messaging so that the meeting could be moved and rescheduled. Virtual team
members must be prepared to deal with audio or video components malfunctioning which
prevent members from being able to participate in communications. This could potentially cause
delays in project schedules. It also means that teams would need to be flexible in case of
rescheduling due to technical issues. The potential for technical malfunctions when using the
VoIP tool means that teams will need have a backup method for communicating with one
another. This can be cumbersome and inefficient for virtual teams. Another disadvantage to
using VoIP technology is that team members may find it time consuming to go back through
previous meetings to find specific information. There is no search function for members to
utilize so they are stuck relying on their memory and trial and error to guide them to the right
VoIP session.
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VoIP offers virtual teams the ability to speak face-to-face, providing innumerable
advantages in communication clarity. Members are able to sense disapproval or agreement via
body language and vocal tone. You see all that is unseen in typed conversation. Real-time
communication provided when using VoIP is also a tremendous advantage to virtual teams.
Team members are not stuck waiting for responses from other team members when they use
VoIP to communicate like they would be if e-mail. They can save precious work time by having
real-time communication to clarify important issues with fellow team mates. An additional
advantage to using VoIP is that team members can save all the calls and chats throughout the
project. Video calls can be saved, much like saving chat logs, and viewed at a later time (Video
Call Recording). The VoIP tool format is much like a conference call but with the added
advantage of being able to see other team members.
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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Virtual teams have a plethora of collaboration tools to choose from for their projects. We
have examined closely the advantages and disadvantages of blogs, wikis, instant messaging, email, and VoIP. Each of these tools is suited to aid teamwork in specific ways. Blogs and wikis
can be created and accessed online at any time by the team members. Instant messages and VoIP
both allow for real-time communication between members and e-mail is a familiar way for teams
to communicate with one another.
There are some commonalities with the blog and wiki tools. Both are web based and
require little or no special training or skills to create and use. Both of these tools also offer team
and multiple team members can be on either site at the same time. Blogs are great places to post
introductions as well share non time-sensitive information. Their subject grouping and reverse
chronological order makes them an excellent outlet for discussing any issues the project is
encountering. The major disadvantages to a blog are the need to rely on team members to access
it to keep up with the information as well the ease of having information get buried in the posts
and comments.
Wikis offer a bit more customization and control over the format than the blog does.
Wikis also can be a central storage place for all project-related collateral and give team members
an equal voice. The revision history provided within a wiki tools is an advantage as well. The
major issue with teams using this tool is the security threat. If the team project contains sensitive
information, then hacking, spamming and information stealing will be a concern to the project
manager.
Instant messaging is offers real-time communication. We found this tool to be an
effective way to hold meetings and exchange our progress. The downside to using Instant
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Messaging tools is their security. Like the wiki, it is transmitting information over the Internet
and can be hacked. This tool is most effective for time-sensitive material that needs to be
communicated immediately.
E-mail is the most familiar of the virtual communication tools we researched and a great
way to communicate ideas directly to one person or many all at once. E-mails can be saved in
folders to keep record of the conversations and allow for attachments which can be useful in
sharing documents or instructions. The largest drawback to this tool is that it is at the user’s
leisure so for communication that has a deadline to it, the team should choose a different tool.
VoIP offers advantages to the virtual team as well. Face-to-face communications clarity is a clear
advantage over the written tools we explored. Written tools can sometimes be the cause of
miscommunication because much of a conversation is nonverbal. A disadvantage to VoIP is that
sometimes getting all members together at once is difficult.
The one advantage all of the tools shared was cost effectiveness. Many teams collaborate
virtually when geography prohibits them from doing so in person. All the tools we explored
could be used for little to no cost. Some required a little more technology know-how but all were
successfully used by this virtual team.
We recommend a mix of tools when collaborating with a virtual team. Limiting the team
members to just one form of communication would restrict the collaboration and thus make the
team less effective. Employing several tools together will yield the most successful result.
A wiki is the best place to house documents the team needs to access while e-mail is the clear
winner when a team member needs to contact all or one member directly with information. A
blog is most successful in grouping information together which can aid with introductions and
specific discussion topics. Orchestrating meetings via VoIP or Instant Messaging is highly
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recommended at specific intervals to keep up with schedules and individual member’s progress.
Virtual teams do not need one tool but many tools in conjunction in order to succeed.
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2011.
Baker, Stephen, and Heather Green. “Social Media Will Change Your Business.” Businessweek.
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<http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db20080219_908252.h
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Brown, M. Katherine, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny. Managing Virtual Teams
Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. Plano: Wordware,
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“Disadvantages of VoIP | VoIP Disadvantages | Disadvantage of VoIP.” VoIP Services | VOIP
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