1

Transmittal Memo
TO: Roger Lewis, CMIT Solutions CEO

FROM: Collaboration Solutions Inc.

SUBJECT: Recommendation Report on Collaboration Tools and Methods

DATE: November 5, 2020

Dear Mr. Lewis:

The report within contains our research and recommendations pertaining to collaborative tools
and methods that the company, CMIT Solutions, has requested us to complete. The team
members, Victor Palomino, Corey Turner, and Luke A. Williams have conducted both primary
and secondary research related to collaboration tools and methods, conflict resolution, and
technical training and support. Primary research has been conducted through surveying and
analysis of the results while secondary research has been completed by researching scholarly
databases for articles and journals related to online collaboration.

After extensive research, our company recommends the collaborative applications Zoom and
Slack to CMIT Solutions. We believe both these applications offer multiple benefits to an IT
company by providing a combination of the videoconferencing component of Zoom to combat
the face-to-face struggles of online collaboration and the instant messaging component of Slack
to combat the isolated feeling of working from home.
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CMIT Solutions Collaboration & Communication Recommendation

Report

Victor Palomino, Corey Turner, & Luke A. Williams

University of Arizona

ENGL308

Professor Kristin Little

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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to provide the IT company, CMIT Solutions, with our
research and analysis completed on collaborative tools and methods to assist the company with
effectively utilizing collaborative communication tools. Methods used are secondary research
through a combination of scholarly and non-scholarly resources and primary research through
conducting a survey and analyzing the resulting data. The main topics discussed within the
recommendation report are methods and tools related to collaboration and communication, as
well as project management. Other main topics include conflict resolution from a distance,
technology training, and technology troubleshooting. Our findings have shown us that employees
are looking for ease of use when it comes to collaborative software and that they are typically
open to trying new programs if it leads to an improvement in collaboration. Thus, the conclusion
of our research and analysis has led to the recommendation of the collaboration programs Zoom
and Slack to CMIT Solutions. We believe that these programs can improve online collaboration
within CMIT Solutions by increasing the effectiveness of communication and can provide
project managers with the tools necessary to keep up with the fast paced and isolated nature of
today’s virtual workforce. Our conclusions have also found that these two applications have an
abundance of resources related to technology training and troubleshooting that CMIT Solutions
can take advantage of.

Acknowledgements
The team at Collaboration Solutions Inc. would like to express thanks to Roger Lewis for
the opportunity to allow our company to conduct this research for CMIT Solutions. We would
also like to mention a special thanks to the CMIT staff at their site in Minneapolis, Minnesota for
providing responses to the survey we sent to their location. We would not have been able to
provide a more tailored recommendation without the staff at that location providing us primary
research that has been essential to our report.
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Table of Contents
Transmittal Memo………………………………………………………………………………01

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………….03

Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………..03

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..05

Background……………………………………………………………………………………..06

Problem Statement & Research Questions……………………………………………………..07

Research Methods………………………………………………………………………………07

Collaboration & Communication Methods & Tools………………………………………........08

Project Management Methods & Tools…………………………………………………………11

Managing Conflict from a Distance…………………………………………………………….12

Technology Training……………………………………………………………………….........13

Technology Troubleshooting and Support………………………………………………………14

Our Team’s Own Interests…………………………………………………………………........15

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………16

References……………………………………………………………………………………….17

Annotated Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………18
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Introduction
The IT company, CMIT Solutions, has reached out to our company, Collaboration
Solutions Inc., to assist them in the research and implementation of collaborative tools and
methods that will effectively improve online collaboration within the company.

CMIT Solutions has been using the tools and applications contained within Google Suite
for all their collaborative needs. Unfortunately, they are not the most efficient tools when it
comes to having effective communication and collaboration within a virtual workplace. Because
of the current climate of COVID-19, many organizations are transitioning to a virtual workplace
to allow employees to work from home and maintain social distancing guidelines. The concept
of working virtually is not a new idea, but it is an idea that has only become more widespread
within organizations due to COVID-19. However, many companies do not have the tools and
methods in place to help employees complete the work they need to get done remotely and to be
able to collaborate effectively. This is where CMIT Solutions reached out to our company to
conduct research on the current climate related to online collaboration and what the best tools
and methods related to collaboration, communication, and project management are. Extensive
secondary research has been completed related to the following topics:

1. Collaboration/Communication Tools & Methods

2. Project Management Tools & Methods
3. Conflict Resolution from a Distance
4. Technology Training/Support of Collaboration Tools

Primary research has also been completed by developing a questionnaire to query

employees of CMIT Solutions about collaboration and online collaborative tools.

The findings of our research and analysis have led to the conclusion of our company
recommending the collaborative applications Zoom and Slack to CMIT Solutions. In the
following sections provided, we will discuss details about the research questions we have
answered, as well as the research methods and results. We conclude our report with reasons why
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our recommendation of Zoom and Slack are the best options for CMIT Solutions in improving
online collaboration and communication within the company.

Background
The current tools that CMIT Solutions are utilizing are no longer efficient enough to keep
up with today’s increasingly virtual business world. While the Google Suite and its encompassed
applications are a useful tool, they are not sufficient when it comes to the efficient
communication and collaboration needs of a virtual workforce such as CMIT Solutions.

Fig. 1, Buffer. (2020). What’s your biggest struggle with working remotely? Adapted from “The
2020 State of Remote Work.”Copyright 2020 by Buffer. https://lp.buffer.com/state-of-remote-
work-2020

As shown in Fig. 1, the biggest issues facing remote workers is collaboration, communication,
and loneliness. These three issues make up nearly half of the problems that workers feel they
face in remote work, and as we will discuss later in this project, the adoption of Zoom and Slack
will greatly reduce these struggles, which will in turn, increase productivity within the
organization.
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Problem Statement & Research Questions

Problem Statement:

Determine the tool(s) that will best enhance communication and collaboration at CMIT
Solutions.

Research Questions:

1. What tool(s) is CMIT Solutions already using for collaboration?

2. Are other IT companies using the tools we are proposing, and are they working?
3. Is conflict more difficult to handle through distance collaboration?
4. What are the advantages of using Zoom and Slack as collaborative and communication
tools?
5. What project management tool(s) should CMIT Solutions utilize?

Research Methods
In determining how Zoom and Slack would benefit CMIT Solutions more than the
current tool the company is using, our group used several methods to find the data necessary to
support our recommendation. The group made use of numerous academic databases, as well as
utilizing internet searches to find sources that applied to this situation. In addition to the sources
found through these methods, a survey was completed on the topic of virtual work and the use of
communication and collaboration tools. These methods have provided more than enough data to
develop our recommendation, and this data was used to produce this final report.

Method 1: Academic Sources

Institutional Resources Used:

● Academic Search Ultimate

● Google Scholar
● JSTOR
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● UA Library
The use of sources from these resources is to provide relevant peer-reviewed research data, as
well as the analysis of this data and its correlation to the enhancement of communication and
collaboration through the use of technology tools.

Method 2: Non-Scholarly Sources

Finding non-scholarly sources came through the use of simple Google searches, and while these
sources are not sufficient for pure analytical purposes, they do provide helpful supplemental and
contextual information. Sources in these searches include online articles for websites such as
Forbes and CMSWire.

Method 3: Survey Data

The survey, which consisted of the nine questions listed above, was sent to various members of
the CMIT Solutions staff at their site in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The questionnaire was sent via
email using Google Forms. Once data had been collected, an analysis of the data was conducted.
These questions were designed to obtain an understanding of what, if any, collaboration and
communication tools were currently being used, what employees were looking for in
collaboration and communication tools, and what they felt were significant roadblocks to
collaboration and communication within the company. The data that was returned from the
questionnaire provided a rather informative insight into the perceived issues and needs for better
communication and collaboration tools within CMIT Solutions. One surprising result was that
the staff there was already utilizing Zoom; however, CEO Roger Lewis has stated this is an
exception, rather than rule, throughout the company, and as such we will be continuing with our
recommendation that Zoom be adopted company wide.

Collaboration & Communication Methods & Tools

Because the improvement of collaboration and communication is the basis of this report,
it would be wise to begin by understanding the fundamental idea of what both of these topics are.
To begin, collaboration is the act of working with one or more persons to accomplish a task.
While this may seem like a fairly simple and basic notion, effective collaboration is another
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matter entirely. If collaboration between a team is ineffective, or worse, nonexistent, the overall
success of that team towards their end goal will be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. One of
the biggest contributing factors to the success of collaboration is communication, which put
simply, is the ability to exchange information with one another. If communication is nonexistent,
collaboration becomes virtually impossible. These are both made even more difficult with the
advent of virtual teams, as collaboration and communication are now reliant on technology
methods and tools to be successful. This brings us to the methods and tools our client, CMIT
Solutions, have been using in their workspaces to collaborate and communicate with
geographically varied employees, which is the Google Suite and the different applications it
encompasses. Google Suite certainly has its advantages; however, it is not enough by itself to
foster effective collaboration and communication.

Our group is not arguing for the discontinuation of the use of Google Suite, as it is an
overall effective way to share documents amongst a group. We are, however, arguing that
Google Suite is not sufficient for the level of collaboration and communication CMIT Solutions
is looking for. To this end, we will examine some of the issues Google Suite has in those areas.
One issue that the Google Suite has is it can be rather difficult to integrate Microsoft Office into
G Suite friendly formats. As Microsoft Office remains one of the most popular and widely used
software suites in the world, including by CMIT Solutions, it has been a hurdle in the
collaboration effort. G Suite also requires a Google account, which while is fairly common and
widespread, could potentially limit the collaborative effort if members of the team do not have a
Google account. Finally, and most importantly, G Suite does not have a robust method or tool to
foster timely or effective communication and project management, particularly in a world that is
leaning so heavily towards mostly or always virtual work. While email has been a staple
communication in the business world for decades now, our group argues that it is no longer able
to keep up with the speed in which the business world now moves, and is best summed up in
Keran Mehandru’s article Slack And Zoom Have Proven That The Future Of Work Is Agile: “In
an increasingly dynamic world, the fundamental business advantage is organizational agility”
(Mehandru, 2019). The sheer volume of email a person receives everyday can also be
overwhelming, and communication can be missed in this deluge. Face-to-face interaction is also
an area where G Suite is lacking, and as we become more isolated due to the Covid-19
pandemic, it is important that there is some sense of community and connection. This can have a
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real effect on collaboration as Morrison-Smith & Ruiz states in their article Challenges and
barriers in virtual teams: a literature review “in situations where disengagement is not apparent,
virtual team’s reliance on technology to communicate allows team members to disengage from
the team due to decreased social impact. Isolation can have an effect as well – when members of
a virtual team become more isolated, their contributions and participation with the team
decrease” (Morrison-Smith & Ruiz, 2020). To this end, our group is suggesting the
implementation of Zoom and Slack within CMIT Solutions.

Increasing the effectiveness of communication is crucial, and one of the challenges faced
by CMIT Solutions is how sparse informal and face-to-face communication between its virtual
team members exists. This form of communication is important as Morrison-Smith & Ruiz
points out because “spontaneous, informal communication has been shown to foster the feeling
of being a part of a cohesive team and assist the provision of corrective feedback… In addition,
face-to-face communication is associated with higher levels of consensus within groups, higher
perceived quality, more communication, and greater efficiency in completing tasks” (Morrison-
Smith & Ruiz, 2020). This is where Zoom becomes a crucial collaborative and communicative
tool in the CMIT Solutions toolbox. The use of Zoom, particularly in the beginning days of a
project, can be incredibly helpful in the building of a sense that members are part of a team, and
it has been shown that this results in an increase in efficiency in completing tasks. This is further
reinforced by a survey conducted by Dimensional Research, and quoted in Ashish Deshpande’s
article How Collaboration Technologies Can Help Improve Productivity, that found “53% of
organizations indicated that the use of smart meeting rooms has helped improve business
processes” (Deshpande, 2019). The other tool we are suggesting CMIT Solutions adopt to
improve both communication and collaboration is Slack. Slack as a collaboration and
communication tool can be incredibly helpful in a multitude of ways, as the same survey quoted
by Deshpande cited that “companies that used Slack reported an average 49% reduction in email
volumes, a 25% drop in the number of meetings and a 32% increase in productivity”
(Deshpande, 2019). The importance of these numbers cannot be stressed enough. A reduction in
the volume of email can greatly increase the effectiveness of communication, having less
meetings that are more effective through the use of Zoom can foster a greater sense of teamwork
and reduce the level of conflict within a group, and this results in an increase in productivity of
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nearly a third. This in itself should be a resounding endorsement for the use of Slack in the
workplace as a collaborative and communication tool.

Project Management Methods & Tools

As important as collaboration and communication are, managing a team’s project is
equally important to the success of that team. Many of the challenges faced by a project manager
are similar to those faced by the other members of the team in a virtual setting, and it follows that
many of the solutions would also be similar. When considering tools to effectively manage a
distributed team, it is helpful to consider the following points made in Martinelli’s book Projects
Without Boundaries: Successfully Leading Teams and Managing Projects in a Virtual World:
“Successful use of technology on a virtual project hinges on four points:

1. Understanding how the team will communicate and collaborate.

2. Understanding how technology can be leveraged to improve that

communication and collaboration.

3. Matching technology selection to communication and collaboration methods

and practices.

4. Using the technology efficiently to improve the team’s performance.”

(Martinelli, et al, 2017).

Because, as Martinelli reasons,“Communication is the most critical factor in determining success

on any project, virtual or traditional” (Martinelli, et al, 2017), the tools utilized by the project
manager should be focused on fostering effective communication. So, keeping in mind these four
points, as well as that communication makes or breaks the success of a project, we recommend
that Zoom and Slack be used not only as tools for the team members, but as the tools for the
project manager as well. The use of Slack and Zoom in project management is vital due to the
fast paced and isolated nature of today’s virtual workforce. Where once email and in person
communication were the norm, Martinelli further argues that “email is not necessarily a good
choice for communication when a rapid response is required. Also, email is not a good choice for
communicating controversial messages or for resolving conflicts among team members unless
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other, richer forms of communication technologies, such as direct phone or video conferencing,
are unavailable. Without the added richness of voice, eye contact, and body language, emails are
easy to misinterpret” (Martinelli, et al, 2017). This is where Slack and Zoom thrive. Slack allows
for virtually instant communication, eliminates a large portion of the daily emails a team sends
and receives, and allows for the creation of different groups for the purpose of managing
different sections and their respective team members. Slack differs from email in that it fosters a
much more natural form of communication between team members, and with the more
acceptable use of emojis than in email, helps add some visual context that email is often lacking.
Zoom helps a project manager avoid or resolve conflicts that would otherwise be caused by lack
of context inherent in email and can help a project manager create a sense of comradery amongst
their team. As such, we recommend CMIT Solutions adopt Zoom and Slack as their primary
project management tools.

Managing Conflict from a Distance

Handling conflict within an organization can already be a difficult ordeal in a typical
office setting, but the difficulty of expressing emotion through instant messaging on Slack or
Zoom can lead to unproductive conflict if team members are not aware of how their messages
can be perceived through technological communication. One recommendation on handling
conflict from a distance is to provide training material that teaches employees the concept of
good online etiquette, or sometimes referred to as “netiquette”. Since online collaboration relies
heavily on communication, it is important that employees are always keeping the following
information in mind (Centenary University, n.d.):

1. Respect others and their opinions. When collaborating online, you might come
across others from a different background and culture and it is important that you
respect others even if their opinion differs from yours and instead focus on the
task at hand.
2. Pick the right tone. Since online collaboration relies a lot on written word
through technology, it is important that people are aware of picking the right
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words to get the correct meaning across in ways that will not seem aggressive or
offensive.
3. Think before you hit the send button. Once a message is sent into cyberspace, it
is near impossible to take it back, especially before someone reads it. Therefore, it
is important that people take time with their messages on zoom or slack and make
sure they are providing a constructive contribution to the discussion at hand that
focuses on completing the tasks at hand.

Another suggestion for managing online conflict within a team is to foster trust within the
team by trying to find some common ground. The “lack of common ground can limit the ability
to communicate about and retain contextual information about teammates located at other sites”
(Morrison-Smith & Ruiz, 2020) and makes it more difficult for team members to trust and rely
on each other if they do not know each other. This is where Zoom comes in handy because since
it has the capability of providing videoconferencing, it makes Zoom a beneficial addition to the
online collaboration tools available for employees because groups can have “face-to-face”
meetings online and develop a sense of trust and community. “By focusing on building trust a
team can overcome the geographical differences and focus on being a cohesive team” (Whited,
2016) and this can be done with both Zoom, through videoconferencing, and Slack, through the
everyday instant message of team collaboration. By building trust and community through Zoom
meetings, it would allow team members to have a baseline to build a rapport of communication
through slack messaging individually or in big group channels.

Technology Training
Collaborating using online collaboration tools, such as Zoom and Slack, can be thought
of as a difficult or easy task depending on a person’s experience with technology. But luckily, a
slew of tutorials is available online for both platforms to provide training. Outside of that, both
companies provide resources to the public that are beneficial training tools for employees. The
Zoom website provides live training webinars that give employees the opportunity to work with
a Zoom expert to learn the ins and outs of the application. The Slack website provides a plethora
of resources to help employees set up Slack, navigate Slack, or how to collaborate effectively in
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channels. Luckily, our recommendation consists of two of the most popular collaboration tools
on the market and that means there is an abundance of training material out there.

Technology Troubleshooting and Support

Being an information technology (IT) company, CMIT is no stranger to technological
troubleshooting and support. However, it doesn’t hurt to have a refresher on these procedures
and practices, since there are different levels of skill.

Fig. 2, NNGROUP. (2017). Distribution of Computer Skills Among People Aged 16-65 [Graph].
World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/a-quarter-of-adults-
can-t-use-a-computer/

Fig. 2 depicts the various skill levels of the population in the different countries listed.
This means CMIT leadership will have to consider that only 10% of the US population have
strong computer skills.. Here are some simple steps to follow when going through the
troubleshooting process (IBM Knowledge Center, 2020):
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1. What is the issue/symptoms of the issue?

2. Where/when does the problem occur?
3. Under which conditions does this problem occur?
4. Can the issue be reproduced?

These four steps will “typically lead to a good description of the problem, which can then
lead you to a problem resolution” (IBM Knowledge Center, 2020). While the technologies we
suggest, Slack and Zoom, are typically user friendly and considered easy to use, these steps can
be of great use to many. Slack and Zoom also offer help when troubleshooting. Slack can be
accessed at slack.com/help while Zoom can be accessed at support.zoom.us.

Our Team’s Own Interests

The point of this paper is to convince CMIT that moving to more collaborative tools, Slack and
Zoom will be beneficial. Our team doesn’t seek any sort of financial, but instead seeks personal
improvement and wishes to help CMIT in order to aid us in this. Through the time spent
researching, collecting data, analyzing data, and putting it all on paper, we believe that this has
helped us better ourselves in researching, technical writing and teamwork.
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Conclusion
This recommendation report discussed the need for CMIT to improve their communication
through more effective collaboration tools. The tools our group decided that would best fit the
role of fulfilling this communication gap are Slack and Zoom. After identifying the issue we
dove into our research and research methods. We performed this research through reading of
academic sources, non-scholarly sources, and our own surveys. Then we discussed the methods
of collaboration and communication and how to use Slack and Zoom with them. Next, we went
over how Slack and Zoom could be used in project management. Thereafter, we put in place
strategies for managing conflicts that might arise while communicating and collaborating from a
distance. Flowing from that, technology training, support, and troubleshooting came into play.
We provided a comprehensive overview of these three aspects of technology, so as to ensure a
smooth work environment. Finally we shared the team’s interests in writing this recommendation
report and what we wanted to gain from it. Overall, this recommendation report provides good
reasoning for implementing the suggested programs to enhance communication in the workplace.
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Appendices

References

Centenary University (n.d.). Online Etiquette. https://bit.ly/3km2pCq

Deshpande, A. (2019, August 23). How Collaboration Technologies Can Help Improve Productivity.
Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://bit.ly/36qGSDr
IBM Knowledge Center (2017). Troubleshooting and Support. Retrieved November 7, 2020 from
https://ibm.co/32yHkOO
Martinelli, R., Rahschulte, T., Waddel, J. (2017). Projects Without Boundaries: Successfully Leading
Teams and Managing Projects in a Virtual World, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2017.
ProQuest Ebook Central. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2UhR6jW
Mehandru, K. (2019). Slack And Zoom Have Proven That The Future Of Work Is Agile. Retrieved from
https://bit.ly/3lldPaP
Morrison-Smith, S. & Ruiz, J. (2020). Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature review. SN
Applied Sciences, 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-2801-5
Slack. (n.d.). Slack 101. Retrieved November 7, 2020 from https://bit.ly/38EGsvU
Whited, D. A. (2016). A case study on the effectiveness of using social media tools for project
communication (Order No. 10076362). Available from ABI/INFORM Collection; ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses Global. (1778513499). Retrieved from https://bit.ly/38tPLyZ
Zoom Help Center (n.d.). Live Training Webinars. Retrieved November 7, 2020 from
https://bit.ly/2IhivjS
 18

Annotated Bibliography

Anders, A. (2016). Team Communication Platforms and Emergent Social Collaboration

Practices. International Journal of Business Communication, 53(2), 224-261.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488415627273

In his research article “Team Communication Platforms and Emergent Social

Collaboration Practices” (2016), Abram Anders analyzes team communication platforms
(TCPs) “reflective practice of early adopter organizations” (Anders, 2016). The author
first supports his claim with a review of research literature related to TCPs and enterprise
social media (ESM) technologies; he then continues this support by reviewing TCPs,
communication, and collaboration technologies, and to conclude he analyzed the data by
comparing the results to related topics of TCPs such as knowledge sharing and
collaboration. His purpose is to provide quantitative and qualitative content analysis of
early adopter organizations of TCPs in order to see the effect TCPs have on workplace
collaboration and knowledge sharing. He seems to have an educational audience in mind
because he discusses issues that the results of the study raise that are then discussed for
future opportunities of research.

Choudhury, P., Foroughi, C., & Larson, B. Z. (2020). Work-from-Anywhere: The Productivity
Effects of Geographic Flexibility. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2020(1).
https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2020.225

In Choudhury, Foroughi, and Larson’s research article, “Work-from-Anywhere: The

Productivity Effects of Geographic Flexibility” (29 Jul 2020) they report that geographic
flexibility affects productivity. The authors first establish their argument with an
introduction, briefly giving a background on remote work and explaining the different
types of remote work, namely work-from-anywhere (WFA) and work-from-home
(WFH). Then they give their support to this argument by giving their hypothesis, data,
and results. Finally, to conclude they summarize their study and offer the reader a
discussion, explaining their findings. Their purpose is to look at the benefits of WFA
versus WFH in order to contribute to the debate on WFA effectiveness. They seem to
 19

have a managerial audience in mind because they are putting forward an argument for
WFA that would need implemented throughout an organization.

Darics, E. & Gatti, M. C. (2019). Talking a team into being in online workplace collaborations:
The discourse of virtual work. Discourse Studies, 21(3), 237-257.
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461445619829240

In their research article “Talking a team into being in online workplace collaborations:
The discourse of virtual work” (2019), Erika Darics and Maria Cristina Gatti suggest that
the examination of what really goes on in virtual teams in real workplaces will provide
empirical evidence to supplement organizational literature and be a basis for further
studies about how communication technology affects the ecology of, and discourse
practices within, work teams. The authors first support their claim by observing a
company that employs 1,500 people globally having a trial period with the program Cisco
Sparks to see whether virtual work environments contribute or not to the effectiveness of
the team; they then examine this contribution with an analytical tool based on a
framework of how users conceptualize the platform as a tool, as a place/space, and
context of social construction; and to conclude they analyzed the data from the tool by
discussing the patterns of phenomena they identified in relation to the three concepts.
Their purpose is to provide an analysis of a real workplace integration of online
collaboration tools in order to show the contribution online collaboration tools provide to
the overall effectiveness of online work teams. They seem to have an office manager or
business analyst audience in mind because the authors provide an analysis of a real
workplace’s experience with collaboration tools while they are trying them instead of
through interviews, surveys, or experiments.

Deshpande, A. (2019, August 23). How Collaboration Technologies Can Help Improve
Productivity. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://bit.ly/36qGSDr

In Deshpande’s online article “How Collaboration Technologies Can Help Improve

Productivity” (2019), he argues that “facilitating collaboration is key to improving
employee productivity.” The author first explains this by providing survey results and
statistics, he then talks about considerations to make by listing different aspects of
 20

collaborative technology to look out for, and to conclude he wraps up with advice on
finding an effective way to use collaborative technology for an organization.

Evans, R. (2020). Taking the Office Home: Telework with Trello & Slack. Retrieved from
https://bit.ly/38vkTxR

In her online article “Taking the Office Home: Telework with Trello & Slack” for
Computing Services Special Interest Section (CS-SIS), Rachel Evans describes how two
virtual collaboration tools, Trello and Slack, have helped her team collaborate and
communicate effectively while working remotely. The author first supports how Trello
has helped her team and goes on to describe the ways the team has used it to
communicate and collaborate. She then goes on to support her point by describing how
useful Slack has been in helping her team members communicate. Finally, she concludes
by stating how easy it has been to incorporate other apps, such as Zoom, into Slack and
that Slack has been the better received app between Slack and Trello.

Martinelli, R., Rahschulte, T., Waddel, J. (2017). Projects Without Boundaries: Successfully
Leading Teams and Managing Projects in a Virtual World, John Wiley & Sons,
Incorporated, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central. Retrieved from
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uaz/reader.action?docID=4825475

In their book “Projects Without Boundaries: Successfully Leading Teams and Managing
Projects in a Virtual World, Russ Martinelli, Tim Rahschulte, and James Waddell
examine how to successfully lead and manage projects with virtual teams. The authors
first support their position by stating “Communication is the most critical factor in
determining success on any project, virtual or traditional” (Martinelli et al, 2017, p.176).
They then continue to support their argument by listing the four primary usage factors
that must be considered when selecting communication tools for virtual projects, which
are “Communication type, Time, Location and forum, and Inclusiveness” (Martinelli et
al, 2017, p.177). Finally, the authors conclude with how technology can also help with
overall team collaboration.

Mehandru, K. (2019). Slack And Zoom Have Proven That The Future Of Work Is Agile.
Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3lldPaP
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In his online article “Slack and Zoom have proven that the future of work is agile” for
Forbes (2019), Karan Mehandru argues that Zoom and Slack are increasing the speed
with which teams collaborate and communicate and that this is the future of the
workforce. The author first supports his argument with the statistic that by 2025, around
70% of the workforce will work remotely five or more days a month; he then continues
this assertion with the fact that remote workers now make on average more than workers
who commute, and to conclude he states that Zoom and Slack can be incredibly helpful in
a world of remote work by humanizing technology, and making workers feel more
connected even when physically distributed.

Morrison-Smith, S. & Ruiz, J. (2020). Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature
review. SN Applied Sciences, 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-2801-5

In their research article Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature review
(2020), Sarah Morrison-Smith and Jaime Ruiz assert that virtual teams are central to
maintaining our increasingly globalized social and economic infrastructure, though little
has been done to examine the challenges faced by virtual teams and how they use
technology to mitigate these challenges. The authors first support their claims by
examining the distance factors that affect virtual teams; they then follow up their
assertion with other contributing factors that potentially affect virtual teams, and to
conclude they conclude by summarizing their findings by presenting open questions and
suggesting methods to design technology for supporting virtual teams.

Nikas, A., Argyropoulou, M. (2014). Assessing the impact of collaborative tasks on individuals’
perceived performance in ICT enabled Project Teams. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.088

In Nikas’ and Argyropoulou’s research article “Assessing the Impact of Collaborative

Tasks on Individuals” (2014), they explore the idea that collaborative tasks influence the
effectiveness of collaborative technologies. The authors first establish a background with
an explanation of prior research done by them and how communication has evolved.
They then state their hypotheses with data analysis, diagrams, and research. To conclude
they review their findings by highlighting significant portions and explaining their
conclusions.
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Whited, D. A. (2016). A case study on the effectiveness of using social media tools for project
communication (Order No. 10076362). Available from ABI/INFORM Collection;
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1778513499). Retrieved from
https://bit.ly/38tPLyZ

In his dissertation paper “A case study on the effectiveness of using social media tools for
project communication”, Drew A. Whited argues that social media tools can have an
effect on communication in group projects. The author first supports his claim by
providing a literature review on project team communication, the virtual team
environment, and social media integration and impact; he then implemented a qualitative
case study to collect data related collaboration and social media usage, and to conclude
he analyzed the data from his study and discussed the implications of the results.

Questionnaire Questions:

What communication short-falls have you experienced during Covid-19 while working remote?
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What has your organization excelled in communication wise?

What do you look for in collaborative software when teleworking?

What, if any, tools do you currently use to collaborate with team members?

What do you think the biggest roadblock is for communication within your organization?

Are you willing to learn how to use a new program to improve collaboration?

Have you used any of the programs listed below before?

Do you find it more difficult to resolve conflict when not face to face?

I find collaborative tools to be too difficult to work with. Rate difficulty from 1-5, with 1 being
the easiest

Questionnaire Data: https://forms.gle/TjMDjez4bhgd4vKNA