I
Develop group cohesiveness.
Possible issues: A group that isn’t cohesive will find it difficult to create a product that is representative of the group’s overall talent.
Resolution: We suggest four strategies to create a cohesive group:
1- Invite and embrace the diverse resources that each member offers.
2- Hold each other accountable to the group goal.
3- Find effective and respectful ways to remind each other of the importance of individual commitment to the overall good of the group.
4- Find what makes its individual group members thrive within the group process and strive to provide what is called for.
II
Identify the tasks that you will need to do in order to accomplish the goal.
Possible issues: Irrelevant activities. Group members may resist doing activities they perceive to be irrelevant to the overall goal or objective they envisioned when joining the group. Even those who go ahead and do the activities may feel resentful.
Resolution: Let the team members know how their work ties into the final objective
III
Identify the work required to succeed and determine what the final outcome will resemble. Avoid generalities.
Possible issues: Collaborative papers should be “synthetic documents rather than a mish-mash of individual submissions.” Problems also surface when individual team members resent the way that their work has been edited.
Resolution: Develop structures that allow individuals to insert their own work in sections clearly identified as pertaining to them
IV
Make sure everyone knows they have a voice in the group.
Possible issues: Some group members may feel left out. Even if they provide ideas to the group, a person’s ideas may get lost in the shuffle. Naturally, this might lead to someone feeling as though they’ve been left out, or their voice was ignored.
Resolution: Create a positive group environment. This might mean that someone is a designated negotiator – someone that acts as a mediator when conflicts arise.
V
Coordinate time. Easier said than done, but very important. This maybe one of the most difficult parts of online group work.
Possible issues: Required collaborations do not reflect the real time commitments of the participants, nor do they reflect schedules.
Resolution: Give the group an ample amount of time to do each project, no matter how small. Ask the individual team members what they are doing to find out and accommodate each other's schedules.
VI
Develop a communications plan.
Possible issues: Some people maybe Luddites, which are people that are opposed to technological change.
Resolution: Try to communicate live-time if you can, with a chat session or some sort of forum. It is a plus to have some knowledge regarding online work. Communication is an ever evolving process. “A virtual team is a task-orientated group that can collaborate across time, space and organizational boundries by harnessing the power of computer-mediated communication and group communication support systems”(p.20).
See intermediate video:
VII
Admit it when there is friction between group members. Get it out in the open. Then, develop a productive solution.
Possible issues: Group members disagree, express frustration, or stop communicating altogether. Some team members are deliberately obstructive, or criticize work, endlessly debate small points, or refuse to contribute at all. Instead of working on the problem, the energy of the group is spent in conflict resolution. Some may drop out. Others find they become passive when they believe that their input does not matter, and they let the dominant team members do the work.
Resolution: Define the roles as well as the tasks. Provide guidelines for team-member roles, and describe actions to be taken by each member of the group.
VIII
Continuously review the tasks and see where you are with the deadlines.
Possible issues: Tasks are vague, poorly defined. Although the outcome may be defined and described well, the individual tasks are not clearly defined, nor are they delegated in an effective manner. Tasks are repeated needlessly, or done with contradictory results.
Resolution: Define and describe the tasks in terms of what needs to be done, how to do it, and how to present the results.
IX
Redefine the outcomes as you go, based on the types of work coming.
Be flexible and make adjustments as needed.
Possible issues: No clearly defined goal or outcome. The overall goal or desired outcome may be imprecisely described or defined. It is important to clearly define the concrete attributes: length, structure, content, purpose, format, complexity.
Resolution: Make sure that the outcome and goals are as clearly defined as possible.
X
Show your teammates support and that there is an incentive at the end of it all. Make sure that each person understands that there is a reward for the effort expended in the group projects.
Possible issues: Competitive versus collaborative. Group members are caught up in proving that they are "right" and that the others are not. They do not want to modify any of their work in order to have it mesh or blend with the others in order to produce a coherent whole.
Resolution: Separate the tasks so that there is division of labor, rather than overlap.
See conclusion video:
