Greg, there are two “key” things that could be implemented to improve coordination and communication in your global group. The first is to create a psychologically safe environment (Edmondson & Roloff, 2009), which would create a more harmonious team and open the door to our second “key”, spontaneous communication (Hinds & Mortenson, 2005). Communication has been shown to aid in the development of a shared identity and contribute to a shared context. Spontaneous communication can also independently moderate the relationship between distribution and conflict by facilitating conflict identification and handling. F One initial step for a psychologically safe environment is to create a team code of conduct, with an emphasis on no one will be judged, rejected or humiliated for making well-intentioned mistakes or errors. Encourage team members to reach out to each other when things are unclear or confusing, or to touch bases on how things are going. In creating this environment, members will feel better about discussing possible disparities in treatment and perspective on topics. Second, encourage the implementation of spontaneous communication by establishing a weekly team check-in with every member of the team. When each member does their weekly check-ins, encourage each member to inquire about how things are going overall, not just regarding work. This will help build a shared team identity and a shared team context. By building these key elements, your team, despite their distribution and diversity, should experience less conflict and increased productivity.
Works cited
Tziner, Aharon, and Dov Eden. “Effects of Crew Composition on Crew Performance: Does the Whole Equal the Sum of Its Parts?” Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 70, no. 1, 1985, pp. 85–93., doi:10.1037//0021-9010.70.1.85.
Wheelan, Susan A. “Group Size, Group Development, and Group Productivity.” Small Group Research, vol. 40, no. 2, 2009, pp. 247–262., doi:10.1177/1046496408328703.
Hey team SMITTY WERBENJAGERMANJENSEN!
I really enjoyed reading your discussion post, I thought it was well written and straight to the point. You hit every talking point! I liked your idea of a code of conduct and think that enforcing those rules will totally create both a psychologically safe environment as well as open the floor to spontaneous communication. Good job!
I really appreciate how you focused partly on the spontaneous communication aspect and how it can positively affect the teams’ dynamics through proper use. Very concise and well written paper!
I like how you guys mentioned to add a group code of conduct to keep a psychologically safe environment. The group code of conduct will be good because if someone breaks it then they are responsible for what they did and then Greg has the option of firing them if they are detrimental to the team. I also liked the aspect of spontaneous communication. My group mentioned this and we thought it would be very helpful to the team.