Improving Business Communication within Global Virtual Teams

This report delves into the critical aspects of business communication within virtual teams, examining arguments from various experts and scholars. It begins by introducing the concept of business communication and its importance in facilitating information sharing among internal and external stakeholders. The report then explores key arguments from authors like Alfredo et al., who discuss the advantages and disadvantages of global virtual teams (GVTs) in areas like distribution networks and supply chains, and Ferrazzi, who emphasizes the need for proper communication between virtual teams and organizational departments. The differences in these arguments are highlighted, focusing on the role of technology and the importance of selecting and training team members with strong communication skills and cultural awareness. The report concludes with a set of recommendations aimed at improving communication within virtual teams, including maintaining visual elements through video conferencing, utilizing appropriate technology, respecting time differences, eliminating micromanagement, sharing leadership responsibilities, and adding a personal touch to communication. Ultimately, the report underscores the significance of effective communication in enabling the smooth functioning of virtual teams and driving overall organizational improvement in the global market.

Running head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Business communication might refer to the sharing of the information among various people
who have been serving the organization at the various departments within the organization. The
following report attempts a discussion on the various different arguments that have been put
forth by the scholars and the other experts of communication among the virtual teams. The report
opens with the discussion of the major arguments that have been put forth by the experts and the
scholars and proceeds to discuss the differences in the views of the authors. The repost nears its
end with the recommendations that might aid the smooth communications among the concerned
business organization and the virtual teams that have been serving the concerned organization.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Key Arguments of the Authors............................................................................................3
Differences in the Arguments..............................................................................................5
Recommendation.................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................8
References............................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Business communication might refer to the sharing of the information among various
people who have been serving the organization at the various departments within the
organization. The business communication might also include the communication and the
information sharing that might take place among the various external stakeholders of the
organization (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014). The business communication tends to assist the overall
commercial growth of the organization through the relaying of the information among both the
internal and the external stakeholders of the business organization in discussion. The business
communication might also involve the people who have been serving the concerned organization
from the various locations all over the world and have been communicating with the various
departments of the institution over the various communication channels. The following report
attempts a discussion on the various different arguments that have been put forth by the scholars
and the other experts of communication among the virtual teams. The report opens with the
discussion of the major arguments that have been put forth by the experts and the scholars and
proceeds to discuss the differences in the views of the authors. The repost nears its end with the
recommendations that might aid the smooth communications among the concerned business
organization and the virtual teams that have been serving the concerned organization.
Key Arguments of the Authors
Alfredo et al. (2017) argues that the concept of the virtual teams that have been
functioning globally have become a very common concept in the matters that pertain to the
communication within the businesses. The authors in the concerned article tends to deal with the
concept of the global virtual teams or the GVTs and the advantages as well as the disadvantages
of the concept. The global virtual teams that have been active within the numerous businesses

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spread all over the world as well as the other areas like the education sector and other academic
fields. The virtual teams that have been associated with the various organizations functioning in
the global market, might involve the employee teams of the organization that have been dealing
with the various matters that pertain to the factors related to the distribution networks and the
supply chain of the concerned organization. The employees of the organization might further
require them to work in collaboration with the virtual teams in order to deal with operations that
are conducted within the organization at the various global locations.
Ferrazzi (2014), on the other hand, argues that the virtual teams that have been actively
collaborating with the concerned organization need to maintain a proper communication with the
concerned departments of the organization. The author states that a survey of the concerned
organization, Ferrazzi Greenlight, revealed the fact that the majority of the members of the
workforce of the organization, almost 79% of the total staff, have been working from locations
that are beyond the premises of the organization. These employees are known to have been
working remotely on the devices that might help them to stay connected to the concerned
departments of the organization. The establishment of the virtual teams enable the employees of
the organization to manage both their professional and the social lives in a balanced manner. The
various studies on the virtual team state that the virtual teams might tend to outperform the teams
that have been operating within the premises of the company. The experts suggest that the
communication channels that have been chosen by the concerned members who have been
serving the virtual teams should enable them to communicate with the concerned departmental
management in an effective manner so as to enable the overall improvement of the concerned
organization in the global market.

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Differences in the Arguments
The argument as put forth by Alfredo et al. (2017) tends to discuss the factors that pertain
to the benefits that have been related to the global virtual teams that are associated with the
concerned business organizations. The authors tend to look into the benefits of the global virtual
teams in the ways that are related to the distribution networks and the supply chain of the
concerned organization. However, the authors tend to deal with the matters pertaining to the
communication among the members of the virtual teams. The communication that takes place
among these teams might be conducted over the various social media platforms and exchange of
the emails. This indicates that the communication media that has been adopted by the virtual
teams rely mainly on the technologies that have been adopted for the purpose (Cogliser et al.,
2013). The research on the matter reveals that in the majority of the cases there exists the brokers
who enable the establishment of the proper communication among the concerned teams as well
as the management of the organization. The author argues that “The study shows that while
brokers and team identification are important for team success, if not managed properly, they
can actually do more harm than good. More specifically, while brokers help in the creation of
mutual knowledge, they reduce the accuracy of perceptions about distant coworkers” (Alfredo et
al. 2017). However, the proper management of these teams as well as the brokers are required in
order to help the progress of the concerned organization.
Om the other hand, Ferrazzi argues the problems might be avoided by choosing the most
appropriate candidates to serve the company through the remote services. The author argues that
the concerned team members might be encouraged to follow the various matters that pertain to
the proper communication with the organizational department in order to contribute to the
improvement of the overall performance of the organization. The selection of the appropriate

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team members might also consider the communication skills of the concerned person. The
concerned people who have been employed in the virtual groups should be well-trained to deal
with the people who belong to the other cultures (Barnwell et al., 2014). As opined by Ferrazzi
(2014), “One group, made up of five divisional GMs, latched onto the goal of greater cross-
selling and had a near-immediate success story: As a small, narrowly focused team, they were
able to recognize that a plentiful stabilization agent used in ice cream could be repurposed to
replace a scarce agent needed by other customers, including makers of hairstyling products and
fracking fluids”. The members who have been associated with the virtual groups should be
divided into smaller groups in order to manage the activities in a proper manner. The smaller
units within the groups might help in the better advancement of the concerned organization.
Recommendation
In order to enable a better connection amongst the various members of the business
organization, the concerned managerial staff of the organization might be recommended to
follow certain measures and procedures as enlisted below.
 Maintenance of the visual element.
The team members might be advised to engage in direct communication over the various
portals that facilitate the video conferences. The team members might be advised to set
the regularity in the matters that pertain to the engagement in the direct communications
(Verburg, Bosch-Sijtsema & Vartiainen, 2013). Incorporating the appropriate technology.
The concerned teams might be advised to utilize the proper technology in order to
communicate with each other. The various improvements made by the communication

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software industries might help in the establishment of the fluid communication within the
team members thereby enabling a better work experience (Purvanova, 2014). The respect and the understanding of the time differences.
The team members might be advised to accept and adapt to the time differences between
themselves in order to facilitate a better communication within the team (Lilian, 2014). Elimination of the micromanagement.
The managerial staff of the organization might be recommended to implement the matters
pertaining to the deadlines and the benchmarks so as to check the success and the
effectiveness of the virtual teams (Crisp & Jarvenpaa, 2013). Respecting and understanding the importance of the time invested by the members of
the virtual team.
The managerial staff of the concerned organization might be recommended to
communicate through the instant messaging applications, the various chat forums that
enable group chats and the video-conferences in order to deal with the time gap that
might exist among the members of the virtual teams (Klitmøller & Lauring, 2013). The element of sharing in the leadership responsibilities.
The organizational management body might be advised to divide the leadership
responsibilities among all the members of the organization in order to deal with the
proper functioning of the virtual teams (Dulebohn & Hoch, 2017).
 A personal touch in the communicational matters.
The management of the organization might be recommended to put some personal
touches in the communication that is extended towards the virtual teams (Pinjani &

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Palvia, 2013). This might help the concerned virtual team members to feel connected to
the organization and thereby provide motivation to the concerned employees.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion, it might be pointed out that the implementation of the
proper communication channels might help the establishment and the smooth functioning of the
virtual teams that have been existent within the organization. The implementation of the various
virtual teams might help in the global expansion of the concerned organization and thereby bring
about an overall improvement of the performance of the organization as well as the industry at
large in the global market. The proper management of these teams as well as the brokers are
required in order to help the progress of the concerned organization.

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References
Barnwell, D., Nedrick, S., Rudolph, E., Sesay, M., & Wellen, W. (2014). Leadership of
international and virtual project teams. International Journal of Global Business, 7(2).
Cogliser, C. C., Gardner, W., Trank, C. Q., Gavin, M., Halbesleben, J., & Seers, A. (2013). Not
all group exchange structures are created equal: Effects of forms and levels of exchange
on work outcomes in virtual teams. Journal of Leadership & Organizational
Studies, 20(2), 242-251.
Crisp, C. B., & Jarvenpaa, S. L. (2013). Swift trust in global virtual teams: Trusting beliefs and
normative actions. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 12(1), 45.
Dulebohn, J. H., & Hoch, J. E. (2017). Virtual teams in organizations.
Ferrazzi, K. (2014). Getting virtual teams right. Harvard Business Review, 92(12), 120-123.
Hoch, J. E., & Kozlowski, S. W. (2014). Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership,
structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3),
390.
Jimenez, A., Boehe, D. M., Taras, V., & Caprar, D. V. (2017). Working across boundaries:
Current and future perspectives on global virtual teams. Journal of International
Management, 23(4), 341-349.
Klitmøller, 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.

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Lilian, S. C. (2014). Virtual teams: Opportunities and challenges for e-leaders. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 110, 1251-1261.
Pinjani, P., & Palvia, P. (2013). Trust and knowledge sharing in diverse global virtual
teams. Information & Management, 50(4), 144-153.
Purvanova, R. K. (2014). Face-to-face versus virtual teams: What have we really learned?. The
Psychologist-Manager Journal, 17(1), 2.
Verburg, R. M., Bosch-Sijtsema, P., & Vartiainen, M. (2013). Getting it done: Critical success
factors for project managers in virtual work settings. International journal of project
management, 31(1), 68-79.