HI6008 Research on Assignment Sample
1.0 Introduction
With the advancement in Technology, globalization concept has been emerging immensely. The majority of organizations communicate with each other via global technological communication. For this, most of the companies have global virtual team in their companies to better communicate with other members in remote and to maintain relationship with them. In this literature, the qualitative research and quantitative research has been analysed in accordance with the problems associated with global virtual teams. The limitations for managing global virtual teams are also mentioned in this report.
The objectives for this literature review are listed below:
- To analyse the problems associated with Global Virtual Teams
- To perform research methodologies and design on the basis of qualitative and quantitative research
- To determine the limitations for the research in managing global virtual communication between the team members
For the majority of the global virtual teams, it is difficult to communicate with each other in a frequent manner and to establish relationship with the other team members. To communicate with the team members, the team needs to utilize the various communication mediums such as lean media and rich media (Klitmoller and Lauring, 2013). The quantitative and qualitative research will also be performed to review the problems in relevance to communication between the team members of the global virtual teams. In addition to this, the communication is also a problem because of the difference in culture, geographic location and heavy dependency on technology for the effective communication. Despite the fact that global virtual teams have better communication medium for the discussion such as video calls facility, internet facilities, email and videoconferencing tools, there are some problems will be analysed in this research.
From the previous research, it can be analysed that the communication medium utilised in the global virtual teams are vary from each other in terms of lean and rich media. In accordance with the research, the lean media includes video calls and phone chat whereas rich media includes emails and other texting tools. With the advancement in technology, the literature review showed that the global virtual teams have different type culture in the teams and they have various time zones in communication.
In the research, it was found that the communication medium is also of two types such as asynchronous and synchronous (Kauffmann & Carmi, 2014, pp.210-211). The synchronous medium is that the communication takes place between the team members on the basis of instant answers between the teammates. This includes telephone communication, video calls and conference calls. However, there are some problems in this type of communication such as compulsion of internet connection, time zone matching between the team members as they are geographically dispersed. Moreover, the other type of communication is asynchronous such as Emails and phone texting or other applications for the virtual communication. This communication includes great problem in communication such as late reply from the team members and sometimes it leads to misunderstanding between the teammates. Thus, it creates problems in relationship between the team members due to feelings of ignorance in the teammates by other members.
The cultural diversity is also a big problem for the virtual communication such as variation in beliefs, attitudes and languages. This is because of the geographical variations amongst the team members. It is quite obvious that the team members have different cultural difference in the team because they live in different areas. However, there are some problems in communicating with the team members such as late reply from the other members, time zone variation among teams and meaning of some words in one culture is different from other geographical dispersed team members.
The another problem in managing global virtual team is that heavy reliance on technology which means most of the global virtual communication is depended on technology such as emails, phone calls, video calls and other technological tools. These communication tools are required for the sharing of knowledge and information among the team members in any small or multinational organizations. This is the reason for the technology prevalent communication between the team members. Therefore, the technology tools affect the communication in terms of computer mediated communication.
To reduce the communication gap between the team members and to establish the relationships with other team members for the organizations growth, it is necessary to create mutually benefited communications medium for the team. In addition, it is also important to communicate further with the team members on the yearly conference held in the organizations. To meet up for the first time, it is important to note that the communication should begin with the informal talk and greetings which should be followed by formal and business communication. Thus, it would help organizations to maintain the relationships with the team members for the future communication. The understanding of the information is also not underestimated by the team members as there are some concepts to be cleared for the information sharing by technological tools (Dellaneve, Gladys & Wilson, 2015). For example, it is notable that the communication media plays an important role in retrieving information such as emails shows the competency level and information sharing of the other team members. By reading emails, one team member can identify that concept of other team member’s message.
Another issue in global virtual communication is that the overload of information in email communication. It is, therefore, an important part that overload of information in one email creates difficulty in decoding the information by the receiver (Kankanhalli, Tan, & Wei, K. 2007, p.239). The opportunity arises with this type of communication is that the teams have heavy reliance on technology and they have high performance team communication between the members. In addition to this, it is important to note that the majority of team members have the high reliance on technological tools which have the benefits for the various team based communication. In terms of qualitative and quantitative research, the communication takes place among the team members via telephone and messages.
- Primary question
- What are the major factors that affect communication between the team members in global virtual teams?
- Secondary questions
- How important for the organization to manage their virtual teams in communication?
- Which are the causes of communication problems in global virtual teams?
- Why global virtual teams have various communication problems while managing the team members?
6.0 Research design and methodology
For this research study, the researcher will use both qualitative and quantitative research methodology in order to collect relevant and authentic information on related topic. There are two types of research design and methodology which are mentioned below in accordance with the global virtual teams’ communication problems:
Qualitative research is a research method which helps in gathering a large amount of data which is measured by name, symbol or number code. There are varieties of qualitative research method such as observations, interview, and visual analysis and so on. These all are effective methods which researcher uses for collecting the information from respondents or participants in an attractive manner. In other words, Bernard (2017) clearly defined that qualitative research method is effectively used by the researcher for developing the understanding and knowledge related to the research topic. In addition to this, it is also studied that using this research methodology also help researcher in doing their further investigation or research for similar topic too.
For this research study, the researcher is using the interview process for collecting a large amount of information from the respondents mainly from the global virtual team. The interview is selected for collecting a data or information because this method will help the researcher in getting in touch with the team members of global virtual team (Neuman, 2013). In addition, this method also helps in identifying the major reasons behind the development of communication problem between the team members of virtual team. With the help of interview, researcher is asking the question to team member (interviewee) regarding the communication barriers or issues which they are facing in the organization as working in a global virtual team. This research method also helps the researcher in interpreting the data in an efficient manner so that overall result can be determined easily by the researcher.
Quantitative research methodology helps the researcher in measuring the data collected or information by representing the data in form of table or charts i.e., in a numerical value. In simple terms, Smith (2015) also defined quantitative research method as a method which is used for collecting a relevant information from respondents i.e., in order to collect the relevant outcomes by using an objective approach as this help in analysing the data in a better manner. This research method is also effective for researcher as it is helping the researcher in developing its understanding towards the communication barriers which team member’s faces in global virtual team.
In this research process, survey is selected as best suitable way to collect the information or data related to topic. In survey, questionnaire method helps the researcher in gathering the different views of the team members individually. The questionnaire method is well suitable for collecting or gathering a large amount of data from the participants (Bernard & Bernard, 2012). In this research, questionnaire is prepared in such an effective way those respondents (team members) feel free to express their views regarding the communication issues they are facing. The questionnaire supports the researcher in collecting information from each team members without disclosing their names or identity. This method also help researcher in understanding every member points towards the communication problem in order to identify or determine the best suitable result or solution to the problem.
For this research, it can be clearly stated that both qualitative and quantitative research methods are well suitable and effective for researcher and this both research method help the researcher in collecting both practical and theoretical knowledge. In addition, this research will also help in doing the in-depth analysis of data collected in order to add value through/by effective result outcome.
The research approach is defined as a research process which is used by the researcher as a plan and procedure for analysing and interpreting the data collected. Research approach is of two types i.e., deductive and inductive approach. The deductive research approach helps to test the validity or relevancy of collected data on the basis of existing theory whereas inductive approach helps in contributing to emerge the new theories (Bryman, 2015). For this research study, researcher is using inductive approach because this approach helps or supports the researcher in developing questions which are required to be asked during the survey from the respondents (virtual team members). However, the use of inductive approach enables that it don’t limit the study up to the hypothesis only.
The researcher is using the sampling technique for representing the whole population as a sample size. This sampling process helps the researcher in selecting the respondents who are showing their interest in getting involved in this research process. In context to it, the sample size of the research study allows the researcher in predicting the result outcome for the wider population. In addition, the sampling techniques are of two types such as probability and non-probability sampling (Palinkas et al., 2015). In this research, the researcher is using probability sampling technique where respondents are selected from the global virtual team members only. To get connected with the respondent, researcher is using e-mail and conducting interview session with team members (respondents). However, this sampling technique also supports the researcher in eliminating the chances of inequality and also in collection of relevant and reliable data on time.
For accomplishing a research objective efficiently, researcher is using research strategy efficiently. This research strategy support the researcher in investigating the research issues related to research topic i.e., communication problem in global virtual team members. This research strategy also help researcher in getting the right answer for the research problem in a systematic manner (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016). For this study, researcher is required to select the best suitable research strategy according to the research requirement. There are different research strategies which researcher can use like survey, case study and questionnaire, etc. For this research study, researcher is using survey questionnaire as a research strategy which help the researcher in concluding the research in a efficient and timely manner (Middleton et al., 2015). This research strategy helped in understanding the views of each team member as well as their opinion, suggestions and perception towards the communication barriers and problem which they faces at workplace.
In the research study, data collection method is used by the researcher for collecting a data from different sources or ways in a systematic manner effectively and efficiently. In addition to this, data collection methods are of two types i.e., primary data collection method and secondary data collection method (Ostlund et al., 2011). For this research study, data will be collected from both primary and secondary sources because both the data collection methods are very useful for the researcher in identifying and collective large information as well as help in developing learning and knowledge. In respect to this, primary data is collected by the researcher with the help of survey, questionnaire technique in which respondents are selected from the global virtual team members (Olsen, 2011). At the same time, secondary data is collected by the researcher from different online and offline sources like books, blogs, magazines, and journals and so on.
For ensuring the reliability and validity of the primary data collected, Croanbach’s alpha will be conducted by using SPSS program that will ensure the consistency of the responses by the participants in the study. The consistency in the responses is significant to ensure that the responses are provided by the participants with proper understanding of the questions resulting in improvement in the reliability of the responses to conclude the research objectives. At the same time, the inclusion of relevant sample will also increase research reliability and validity as they are directly associated with the research topic. At the same time, the validity of the findings is determined from the empirical analysis to determine how effectively the current findings are consistent with the earlier research studies. In addition, the use of survey in earlier studies also ensures the importance of undertaken tools for data collection and analysis, which will enhance the research validity.
Both, qualitative and quantitative researches have their limitations in the global virtual team communication analysis. In qualitative research, it is appeared that team members have less trust and less relationship between them which leads to loss of productivity. In addition, it can be perceived that the communication problems in managing global virtual teams can be reduced by adopting some frameworks such as regularly updating hardware and network protocols, continuous communication with the team members with having regular yearly face-to-face meeting with the team members and using of appropriate media for communication.
In qualitative research it can be analysed that they have limitations in improving the relationships between the team members such as trust and business qualities. The use of lean media can be minimized when the team members have the chance to meet in person when there is less possibility, it is important to note that the research has some data sampling and validation error in some cases.
| Activities | 1 Week | 2 week | 3 week |
4 week
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5 week | 6 week | 7 week |
| Submission of proposal | |||||||
| Develop Literature Review | |||||||
| Develop questionnaires | |||||||
| Distribute questionnaires and get responses | |||||||
| Integrate data and analyse | |||||||
| Present findings and recommendations | |||||||
| First draft submission | |||||||
| Final draft submission |
It can be concluded from the qualitative and quantitative research that the communication problem is mainly prevalent in managing global virtual teams. The reason for this is the gap between the culture, geography and traditional beliefs of the team members. It is also analysed that heavy reliance on technology for communication is also a problem for the global virtual teams. Thus, there are some options to manage global virtual communication such as dependency of the technology by various cultures, acquaintances with the other team members in group meetings and other identification communication.
10.0 References List
DellaNeve, J. R., Gladys, A., & Wilson, B., 2015. Technology, trust, and talent: The recipe for fast-tracking a virtual team. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 8(5), 393.Retrieved from https://www.griffith.edu.au/library
Kankanhalli, A., Tan, B. C. Y., & Wei, K., 2006; 2007. Conflict and performance in global virtual teams. Journal of Management Information Systems, 23(3), 237-274. doi:10.2753/MIS0742-1222230309
Kauffmann D., & Carmi G., 2014. How team leaders can use ICT to improve trust among virtual teams to increase collaboration? International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology, 3(9), 204-220.Retrieved from http://jct.academia.edu/DavidKauffmann/Papers
Klitmoller, A., & Lauring, J., 2013. When global virtual teams share knowledge: Media richness, cultural difference and language commonality. Journal of World Business, 48(3), 398-406. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2012.07.023
The Challenges of working in virtual teams. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/the_challenges_of_ working_in_virtual_teams.pdf
Middleton, J. W., Piccenna, L., Gruen, R. L., Williams, S., Creasey, G., Dunlop, S., and Dunn, J. A., 2015. Developing a spinal cord injury research strategy using a structured process of evidence review and stakeholder dialogue. Part III: outcomes. Spinal cord, 53(10), 729.
Neuman, W. L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. USA: Pearson education.
Olsen, W., 2011. Data Collection: Key Debates and Methods in Social Research. UK: SAGE.
Ostlund, U., Kidd, L and Wengström, Y., 2011. Combining qualitative and quantitative research within mixed method research designs: a methodological review, International journal of nursing studies, 48 (3), pp. 369-383.
Bernard, H. R., 2017. Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. USA: Rowman & Littlefield.
Bryman, A., 2015. Social research methods. Oxford university press.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Smith, J. A., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. USA: Sage.
Bernard, H. R., & Bernard, H. R., 2012. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. USA: Sage.
11.0 Appendix
Appendix A: Loss of Productivity in Virtual Communication
Appendix B Global virtual team respondents for surveys
