Finding the Groupware with a Grip on Ad HocWritten by Joe Miller
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Steven R. Covey was insightful in pointing out that one of seven habits of highly effective people is “Begin with End in Mind.” I would like to alter that slightly to say that in seeking for groupware that meets a business’s needs, a highly effective business will also begin with end in mind. Document sharing is a large part of what businesses do. Any business plan and budget will have to go through an editorial process involving groups from two to twenty people--maybe even more. As documents are sent around under pressure of upcoming deadlines, and changes are saved in various email boxes and drives, a groupware that can track changes, chronology, and locations is necessary. The following are some of elements you need in a good groupware package: Digital Thread Technology Digital Signatures Version History Merging No IT In your search for groupware technology to meet your business needs, remember to “begin with end in mind.” Document sharing, ad hoc collaboration, document tracking across email boxes and hard drives, and compatibility with other users are necessary in today’s Information Age business environment. Though many content management solutions are available, if they don’t meet these needs, they don’t work way your business works.
Joe Miller is an author of informational articles and online advertisements on business, technology, and health. Information on Groupware is available at NextPage.com.
| | Language in International BusinessWritten by Brenda Townsend Hall
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In fact someone who is really in agreement is likely to take off into other types of linguistic behaviour such as asking questions, summarising, echoing, and perhaps offering to do something to take matter further. There will also be aspects of gesture and expression that reinforce this. The problem for listeners is that by relying on explicit meaning of message alone, they are likely to misinterpret apparent agreement, for sake of politeness, as wholehearted agreement. Asking questions, is another communicative activity to look. By questioning we may be seeking to influence hearer in ways beyond apparent intention of seeking information. We can ask questions: •to show we are actively listening to what someone has to say in order to encourage them to elaborate and expatiate; •to draw timid or less confident people into a conversation (open ended questions); •to interrogate (yes/no questions).Yet, if we really want to gain information, then techniques for eliciting, such as re-formulation or invitations to explain further are likely to be more effective than direct questions. People may become defensive or resentful if questioning techniques are too obtrusive. Activities are needed to help international business person use questioning techniques more effectively and match them to an appropriate communicative strategy. Alerting clients to potential for misunderstanding, for giving and taking offence, for having progress frustrated, through not knowing cultural norms of language use is surely a field those training managers to work across cultures should not neglect.
Brenda Townsend Hall is a communications and cross-cultural trainer and an associate member of the ITAP International Alliance: www.itapintl.com
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