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Be sure to save as a plain text file (.txt) or a 'Web Page, HTML only' file (.html). In FireFox, select FILE then SAVE FILE AS from your browser's toolbar above. In Chrome, select right click (with your mouse) on this page and select SAVE AS Record: 1 Title: Managing the ever-more- distributed workforce. Authors: Novitski, B. [email protected] Source: Architectural Record. Nov2008, Vol. 196 Issue 11, p83-83.
1p. Document Type: Article Subject Terms: BUSINESS planning BUSINESS logistics STRATEGIC planning CONTRACTING out OFFSHORE outsourcing Abstract: The article presents an overview of advice and information that business enterprises can use to manage distributed workforces that have resulted from outsourcing and globalization. A discussion of the importance of overcoming cultural differences and having effective technology that can bridge the gap between businesses and employees that are located in foreign countries is presented. Full Text Word Count: 1900 ISSN: X Accession Number: Persistent link to this record (Permalink): AN=&scope=site Cut and Paste: Managing the ever-more- distributed workforce. Database: * Business Source Complete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Section: Practice Matters Managing the ever-more- distributed workforce When the Hudson Bay Company began sending traders to the New World in the 17th century, it developed protocols for managing a distributed workforce that are pertinent today.
The small headquarters staff in London chose independent adventurers capable of self-sufficiency, but they provided mentoring and training. Importantly, the company stayed in communication -- as best they could when annual letters to and from the traders arrived by schooner. The lesson learned? "We call it the balance of trust and control," says Cliff S. Moser, AIA, operations director of the Los Angeles firm Cadforce, which facilitates communications between U.S. architecture and construction firms and outsourcing teams in India.
The traders were required to keep daily diaries, which became, in today's parlance, the "knowledge base" that enabled the Hudson Bay Company to gradually improve the operations. Judicious use of technology (and a little TLC) can help keep off-site staff from being isolated. Despite vastly faster communication speeds, modern companies face similar challenges of trust and control with off-site workers. Each case is different, but the balance can be adjusted with the use of technology and an understanding of the cultural barriers created by geographic separation. Outsourcing CAD work to India is only one (extreme) kind of distributed workforce.
Every firm experiences some distancing daily, such as when a principal leaves the office to attend a meeting, or when an architect visits a job site for construction administration. Protocols for staying in touch via telephone or e-mail are relatively simple in these cases, but the situation gets more complicated when a long-term stint in a construction trailer is involved, or when a small group of designers occupies a satellite office, or when an employee "telecommutes" from a home office. Other examples of dispersed workers are temporary contract staff and even a firm's regular consultants. Regardless of the worker's relationship with the firm or how long a separation may last, the challenges are to maintain clear communications and to provide the remote workers ways to feel connected to the firm, both professionally and socially.
In at least one important way, the nature of modern work makes these challenges more pressing than they were even a few decades ago. Digital design processes demand a certain degree of standardization. Whereas the Hudson Bay traders could indulge in idiosyncrasies in work methods and still be effective, freestyle design documentation and communication is seldom acceptable. Computer-based design systems require strict adherence to standards, and individuals are responsible for keeping track of vast amounts of information. Sometimes just knowing where to find the latest version of a model or document can be challenging.
Luckily, technology also contributes to the solution through a range of organizational systems, collaboration tools, and effective communication media. Overcoming cultural divides One challenge that invites creative solutions is the social isolation that remote workers may feel. Moser recalls being in an out-of-town construction trailer and receiving an e-mail notification from his firm about a free-lunch seminar later that day. Eventually repetitions of such messages eventually became unpleasant reminders of his remoteness from colleagues. Years later, now that he works to connect distant teams with each other, he tries to create virtual "free lunches," where people can "get together," by videoconferencing, for instance, to get to know each other in an informal setting.
Even simple strategies, like e-mailing family or vacation photos back and forth, can overcome unfamiliarity, even when the disparate team members come from different cultures. When it comes time to iron out work-related misunderstandings, Moser says, having established social ties is invaluable because "it helps to be on the same boat going in the same direction." In the case of Moser's outsourced Indian teams communicating with the U.S. staff, culture sharing involves, for example, each group learning about and celebrating the other's special holidays. Even between U.S. teams, where cultural differences are not so distinct, new means of informal sharing can ease communications that once relied solely on face-to-face meetings.
Even though remote teams can't give actual handshakes or receive many unconscious cues from body language, digital technologies can substitute for many other communication needs. E-mail is of course nearly ubiquitous in professional circles. Instant messaging (IM), no longer the domain of teenagers, can be a useful substitute for telephoning. Unlike a phone call, a person in the midst of a text "chat" can send a digital file, like a drawing, photo, or schedule to support the discussion. Like the telephone, but unlike e-mail, IM requires the various parties to be engaged simultaneously.
Skype is an Internet-based instant-messaging system that also supports Voice-Over-Internet (VoIP), which is essentially a toll-free telephone service. Videoconferencing can substitute to some extent for face-to-face meetings. One advantage it has over teleconferencing is that the body language present in actual meetings can also be perceived through the video screens. The GoToMeeting Web-based meeting service also enables videoconferencing participants to share live computer presentations or software demonstrations. As sound fidelity and screen resolution improve, high-end videoconferencing is being termed "telepresence," with the expectation that in the future the illusion will be so flawless that participants may forget that they are not in the same room with their distant colleagues.
Technology caveats Even as existing technologies become more routine, there is still a lot to learn about when to use which ones. It's not uncommon for an employee to spend 15 minutes composing an e-mail message when the question can be answered in a 15-second phone call. And the moderating cues we pick up from each others' voices are notoriously absent from e-mail. People can misunderstand hastily written messages and take offense where none is meant. Rich Nitzsche, AIA, principal and chief information officer of Perkins+Will says, "In this firm, we encourage people to pick up the phone instead of using e-mail.
Some things shouldn't be communicated via e-mail, and problems can escalate. You end up wasting time defusing a tense situation that shouldn't have been tense in the first place." Despite the semblance of togetherness that these technologies afford, Moser advises that it's especially important, with remote teams, to be explicit about follow-up actions -- who will do what and how will it get done -- that are agreed to during virtual meetings. "In face-to-face meetings," he notes, "you can infer things through your communication, through eye contact or a head nod. But if you're on a computer chat, for instance, you may say something thinking the other person understands. But then when the other person doesn't do it, you read your notes and realize it wasn't very clear.
You have to get a positive affirmation; a head nod isn't enough." Teams also need to be more explicit than normal, Moser adds, in defining closure: what the desired outcome is and how completion will be determined. Collaboration opportunities In addition to cultural connectedness, technology can support the much-needed adherence to common digital standards. SharePoint is an example of a Web-browser-based "collaborative work space," which supports organization of, and navigation through, shared documents. Moser says such a communal data area is important to distributed workers as a repository for uploads or new information. Regardless of where they are geographically, "a team member knows they can go there to look for an updated file and be able to see that it's the latest version." Newforma Project Center is project information management software that also supports design review processes for CAD and building information management (BIM) files.
Disparate team members who may or may not be working with the same design software can review, mark up, and share updated design versions, and the software provides automatic version comparisons. Some firms are developing "wikis," or shared knowledge bases that enable users with a minimum of computer coding skills to add their own content. The online, user-written encyclopedia Wikipedia is the best known public example of this technology, but private groups can develop their own, as well. These Web-like pages provide a location for firm-specific information and collaboration tools. Perkins+Will has begun developing a wiki to share Revit details between its many offices.
Staff members upload design details, and others in the firm can review and comment on them. Nitzsche has observed that acceptance of the technology among design professionals has taken time. He says, "It's interesting: you can put a technology out there and it'll sit fallow for a few years. Then suddenly it takes off, and the users can't live without it." He describes his introduction of new technologies as a "field-of-dreams approach." Build it and they will come, but it may take time before new processes gain acceptance. Real and virtual meetings Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG), which specializes in hospitality architecture worldwide, has offices on three continents.
Maintaining intra-firm cohesiveness is so important that WATG expend a higher-than-normal budget actually bringing employees together. Firm chairman and chief information officer Lawrence Rocha, Associate AIA, describes the "summits" held each year for a variety of subdisciplines such as graphic designers, IT specialists, or human resources experts. Rocha explains, "People from each office around the world come together in one place to discuss standards, efficiencies, goals, and budgets and to share techniques and solutions. We've found it really does bring the company a lot closer together in terms of feeling like one global firm." Despite the use of sophisticated communication media, Rocha adds, "We've discovered that it's going after work for a beer that really forms the bond between people so in the future they'll pick up the phone and call somebody." To reinforce these bonds between summits, WATG makes frequent use of videoconferencing, which they use for weekly meetings, firmwide presentations, and seminars for the smaller offices that don't have their own continuing education resources.
Even though it is heavily used, Rocha predicts that videoconferencing won't become completely accepted until it becomes as easy to use as picking up a phone. WATG has been successfully using a firm "intranet" for several years. Employees can go to this private, Web-like domain to find organizational news, download forms and reports, and learn about uniform company procedures. Rocha has seen it used as a collaboration "meeting place," where standardization emerges from a grass-roots level. He explains: "If standards in a certain area aren't established, someone will step up, get a group of people together from other offices, and together create the needed standard.
We've found people accept the standards a lot more if they helped to make them." One disadvantage to meeting "digitally" that Rocha has observed, is that the newer technologies are being embraced more readily by the younger generation than by their elders. So in these virtual meeting places, there are plenty of users seeking answers to design questions, but there are fewer experienced professionals who can provide answers and guidance. Presumably this will change over time, as the oldest generation retires and the replacement senior staff members with design experience are also comfortable with the technology. As globalization continues, the practice of working with geographically distant teams will remain unavoidable.
And as the cost of transportation rises, bringing together teams in one geographic location will become less common. Technology demands greater design process coordination than in the past, but it also offers new methods for bringing virtual teams virtually together. ~~~~~~~~ By B. J. Novitski B.J. Novitski writes about architectural practice and sustainability.
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The management of distributed workforces has become increasingly critical in modern organizational practices, especially amidst globalization and technological advancements. Historically, strategies for managing dispersed teams date back centuries, exemplified by the Hudson Bay Company's protocols in the 17th century that emphasized trust, communication, and cultural understanding. Today's organizations face similar challenges but on a more complex scale due to the digital nature of work, requiring effective technology, clear communication, and cultural sensitivity.
Dispersed teams are commonplace across various industries. For example, architectural firms often manage virtual teams spread across different continents, necessitating standardized procedures and robust communication systems. These teams include remote employees, contractors, and consultants, each presenting unique challenges to managers who must ensure they remain connected professionally and socially. As digital design processes demand strict adherence to standards and accurate version control, organizations have developed collaborative platforms like SharePoint and Newforma Project Center to manage shared data and review workflows efficiently.
Technologies such as videoconferencing, instant messaging, and VoIP systems like Skype facilitate real-time communication and help overcome the absence of physical cues like body language, fostering clearer and more immediate interaction among team members. However, technological tools also carry caveats; miscommunication can occur with hastily composed emails, and the lack of non-verbal cues can lead to misunderstandings. Therefore, explicit communication protocols, including clear follow-up actions and well-defined closure criteria, are essential to prevent misinterpretations and achieve effective collaboration.
Furthermore, organizations recognize the importance of fostering social bonds among remote teams. This can be achieved through informal virtual gatherings, celebrating cultural differences, and shared social activities that create a sense of community. Such initiatives help mitigate feelings of isolation and build trust, which are fundamental to the success of dispersed teams.
In addition to technological solutions, organizational policies aimed at standardization and shared knowledge bases promote efficiency. Internal wikis and collaborative review tools allow team members to add insights and review work asynchronously, enabling continuous learning and improvement across geographies. Leadership plays a vital role in encouraging adoption of these tools, often through inclusive development processes, which enhance acceptance and compliance.
Despite the benefits of digital communication, there are challenges related to technological familiarity and comfort levels among different generations. Younger professionals tend to adapt more rapidly, whereas senior staff may require additional support to become proficient with collaborative platforms and virtual meeting tools. As demographic shifts occur, organizations will need to address these gaps through training and inclusive practices.
To sustain effective virtual collaboration, organizations must also invest in building and maintaining organizational culture across dispersed locations. Periodic physical gatherings, such as annual summits, remain valuable for reinforcing bonds and aligning strategic goals. These face-to-face interactions complement virtual communication and foster a unified organizational identity.
In conclusion, managing distributed workforces demands a multifaceted approach incorporating technological tools, clear communication protocols, social bonding initiatives, and organizational policies for standardization. As globalization and digital innovation continue to evolve, organizations that embrace these strategies will be better equipped to navigate the complexities of remote team management, ensuring productivity, cohesion, and cultural integration in an increasingly interconnected world.
References
- Chen, J. V., & Lian, T. (2019). Digital Collaboration in Global Business Teams: Strategies and Tools. Journal of Business Communication, 56(2), 145–164.
- Gibson, C. B., & Gibbs, J. L. (2006). Unpacking the Concept of Virtuality: The Effects of Geographic Dispersion, Electronic Dependence, Dynamic Structure, and National Diversity on Team Innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51(3), 451–495.
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