Virtual Teams Inquiry LO7319

JOHNWFIELD@aol.com
Thu, 9 May 1996 08:04:56 -0400

Replying to LO7310 --

Falloff in communication in virtual teams, if it occurs, seems to imply
that there was something there to talk about in the first place, or some
forces demanding that words fly back and forth.

Here is probably the biggest misconception that is held in regard to teams
working together today:

o The language of the workplace is adequate to the challenge of the team
task

Since the language isn't up to it, only those who don't care about
communicating while speaking will continue to persist. Teams of people
like that are not going to accomplish anything on the black ink side of
the ledger.

When teams do work well together (whether in the same room, the same
building, the same space ship, or the same world), you can bet that they
have engaged in a substantial back and forth conversation wherein there
was time enough for a viable linguistic domain (Maruyama, please stand
up!) to evolve among them, and time enough as time goes on for it to be
sustained through whatever amendments come into view.

Want to test this idea? Think of the LO list as a virtual team pursuing a
certain goal. Now start counting the number of times postings show up
that reveal different attributions to the same term. After you get enough
data, write your thesis, but not in my department!

John N. Warfield
Johnwfield@aol.com

-- 

JOHNWFIELD@aol.com

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