Teams in Teleland Working Effectively in Geographically Dispersed Teams

"in" the Asia Pacific

Gary Fontaine, Ph. D.School of Communications

University of Hawaii

fontaine@hawaii.edu

In the Asia Pacific, along with the rest of the world, there has been a rapid expansion in the use of geographically dispersed teams playing pivotal organizational and interorganizational roles. Yet our understanding of the conditions nurturing the task effectiveness of those teams is still embryonic. This presentation examines conceptual issues associated with the impact of culture, geography and technology in those teams in the Asia Pacific. It identifies the pivotal role played by "a sense of presence" (the feeling of "being there" with team members in different places and often different times) in both the effectiveness of, and satisfaction in, the use of such teams. And it describes current research designed to explore these issues in teams in business and education in the region.

Published in Team Performance Management, 2002, 8(5/6), 122-133.

AlsoFontaine, G. & Chun, G. (2010). Presence in Teleland. In K. Rudestam & J. Schoenholtz-Read (Eds.), Handbook of online learning: Second Edition, 30-56. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Doing Culturally Diverse Teams in Teleland

The individual & self vrs the collective as the primary unit of value.

Different strategies for forming, maintaining & dissolving relationships--including the value on individual attitudes vrs role performance.

Emphasis on honesty & directness vrs harmony, indirectness & face.

Preference for high power distance in which bosses make all the decisions vrs low power distance in which subordinates expect to participate.

High versus low uncertainty avoidance and needs for structure & trust.

Preference for monochronic vrs polychronic structuring of activities in time.

Preference for high vrs low context communication.

Different conflict resolution strategies and skills!!

Focus on a Sense of Presence

Presence in f2f, online and in virtual environments

Presence & PresencingSenge et al. (2004)

Virtual PresenceDitlea (1990)

Sense of PresenceLombard & Ditton (1997)

Remote PresenceUttal (1989)

Sense of PresenceFontaine (1989 & 1993)

Multiple PresenceLipnack & Stamps (2000)

TelepresenceLombard & Ditton (1997)

User PresenceRiva et al. (2002)

Social Presence

Short, Williams & Christie (1976)

Palloff & Pratt (2007)

The ability to portray oneself as a ‘real person’ online.

Multiple “presences” in today’s world

Communication Technology & Time & Place

Same timeSame place

Voice

Powerpoint

Video

Different timeSame placeWorkstations

Bulletin boards

Different timeDifferent place

Mail

Email/Texting

Voice Mail

Web Forums

Same timeDifferent place

Phone/Video/Net conference Chat rooms

Keys to an optimal sense of presencein synchronous versus asynchronous communication ecologies

Synchronous ecologies

A ratio of high realness and intensity of audio, video and other display characteristics to distractions associated with the media/computer technology used to produce the displays

A ratio of high interactivity between participants in different sites to those same distractions

Asynchronous ecologies

High psychological texture for people, settings, worktables, & assignments to build a perceptual, emotional & behavioral “image” of this world that replaces the realness & intensity of the visual & audio images in f2f & synchronous ecologies

High interactivity among an optimal combination of number of participants & tasks & the responsivity of those participants

High meaningfulness & an optimal mixture of predictability, surprise & drama of team content activities that foster a merging of proximal distal settings into "one place“

In Teleland, our minds are still better than our monitors!

Fontaine, G. (2008). Presence in Strange Lands. eBook available at http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/277757-ebook.htm.