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Teambuilding
March 2006 | Volume 4 Issue 3
Few people would disagree that effective teams can make or break an organization. But how are these powerhouse teams built? And what is the communicator's role in not only building teams, but integrating them? This issue explores some ways that communication can help build high-functioning teams, provides lessons in teambuilding from busy newsrooms, and offers advice on how to ensure the success of global virtual teams.
Natasha Spring
Executive Editor |
Features
OVERVIEW
by Silvia Cambié
In today's world, employees are searching for meaning in their work. They want to understand the big picture and how they can contribute to it. Companies are increasingly being asked to put the values they mention in their mission statements into practice. It is against this background that teambuilding is acquiring a whole new meaning.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
by Jeff Dunsavage
To the uninitiated, a newsroom on deadline may seem more like a scene of chaos than a smoothly functioning team. Having spent the early part of my career in newsrooms and the rest in corporate settings, I can say that the closest I have ever come to the high-performing teams executives struggle to create has been in the world of daily news.
CROSS-CULTURAL TEAMS
by Salvador Apud and Talis Apud-Martinez
With the birth of the Internet and the advancement of other information technologies, companies and organizations are now able to operate across borders, cultures and time zones at lower costs than ever before. One way this occurs is through virtual teams, which allow companies to maximize their global expertise and resources, while team members can remain in their home countries.
Columns
by Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz
Are You Guilty of Sloppy E-mails? It Can Cost You
Some of the nicest people we know send the most thoughtless e-mails.
Many are telegraphic, with a smattering of disconnected words and abbreviations, leaving the reader to fill in the blanks. Most are dashed off without review and arrive in their native state: confusing, grammarless and brimful of spelling errors. That's not even to mention lack of logic and transitions.
by Daria Steigman
Challenging Your Assumptions:
Entrepreneurial groups offer idea incubators
I recently had a conversation with a colleague about business development. While that's neither revolutionary nor even terribly uncommon, what was different was that we weren't commiserating about business cycles or the fact that when we're busy we often neglect the very activities that bring in new projects. Instead, we were talking about strategies for moving our businesses in new directions.
When was the last time you questioned your business strategy or seriously considered adding a new business line or branching out into a new service area?
by Antoni Lee
Writing an Effective Opinion Piece
Two days before Australian citizen Nguyen Tuong Van was hanged in Singapore for drug trafficking, newspapers in Fairfax, Australia, ran an opinion piece by Joseph Koh, Singapore's high commissioner in Australia. The piece is a useful study in how to write an editorial.
Case Studies
Industry News
Related Links
Related Links provides additional articles and resources for understanding this month's topic of teambuilding. You can also find some of these links alongside each corresponding feature article for quick reference. Links include:
- "Team Building: A Complete Guide"
- "Everything I Know About Leadership, I Learned From the Movies," by Mike Hofman
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