English 312: Written Communications in Business

Deborah C. Andrews

302.831.8788

dandews@udel.edu

EDEC 305: Communication in Management II

Doreen Starke-Meyerring

 514.398.1308

doreen.starke-meyerring@mcgill.ca

 

 

Intercultural Virtual Team Project: Team Blog Assignment                         

Blogs (Web logs) can serve many purposes in business environments. Increasingly, blogs are used in companies to help knowledge workers share and make knowledge together, to keep employees abreast of important announcements or key trends in the industry, and to support teamwork. In addition, blogs invite comments from readers, who will often provide additional thoughts or additional useful links on the topic of a blog. Finally, blogs can help their authors to assume a position of intellectual leadership in their area of expertise.

 

For a team project, their greatest value is that they allow teams to gather, share, organize, interpret, and discuss their research and their progress on their project.

 

Audience and Purpose

The primary audience of your blog is your team. Use the blog to help you accomplish the following purposes:

-         Post information needed for your report (e.g. links to information about the industry, the local context, Newark, Montréal, the company Web sites, their charity or foundation Web sites), interpret this information, explain how the information relates to your project goal (making recommendations about cross-cultural adjustments in business practices), build on each other’s findings, and manage your research.

-         Build productive working relationships in your team

-         Discuss and post your team policies

-         Share ideas for completing your project

 

The secondary audiences of your blog include your instructors and other members of our classes. In addition, outsiders may venture onto your blog, wonder what it is about, and perhaps be willing to share their insights with you.

 

Deadlines and Deliverables

Deadline

Task

September 16

Team sets up shared blog

September 16

Team members post introductions

October 5

Team members discuss and post team policies and procedures

Ongoing

Each team member posts at least 1 message per week with relevant links or project ideas and updates

 

Description and Evaluation

Most important, the team blog should help you and your team move the project along, maintain productive relationships, and have fun in creating it together. Since blogs are a relatively new communication medium, you will need to be patient with yourself and with your team members, and you will need to help each other improve your postings as you go, perhaps by asking further questions about postings that help your team members see what may be useful in crafting the next posting. So, do your best and be willing to learn and to help your team grow.

 

To help you evaluate both your blog as a whole and your individual entries, here are a few questions we will use.

 

For the team blog as a whole:

-         Does the blog support the progress of the team as a whole?

-         Does the blog appear coherent? Is it focused on the task?

-         Does the blog have a useful name and a clear purpose statement that helps external Web visitors understand what your blog is about? Does it perhaps encourage visitors to provide insights on your team project?

 

For your individual postings to the team blog:

 

Context (Audience and Purpose)

-         How well do your postings help maintain productive working relationships? For example:

·         Do your postings refer to, build on, or recognize the value of postings by other team members?

·         Do your postings exhibit good judgment of the kinds of messages that are appropriate for a public log and those that should be addressed in a more protected medium? Do they protect the privacy of outside stakeholders?

·         Do your postings avoid flaming, accusing others, mocking, or otherwise doing harm?

·         Do your postings invite appropriate reader comments and responses?

 

Content

-         Are you contributing equally to the blog (at least once a week)?

-         Do your postings help move the project along?

-         Do your postings explain clearly and succinctly why a particular piece of news, Website, blog, or idea is relevant to the project, why a particular question should be addressed, or why you think a particular Website is useful?

-         Do your postings summarize the gist of a resource (e.g. news story) and direct team members to the aspect that is most useful to the project?

 

Organization and Design

-         Does each posting remain focused on one idea at a time and present the main idea up front?

-         Do your postings about Web-based resources link directly to the referenced Web site to allow your team members to read the actual resource if they would like?

 

Language and Voice

-         Is your language engaging, dynamic, and conversational—appropriate to your team?

-         Is your language correct in grammar and mechanics? Does it reflect well on the team?

 

 

Resources

To help you understand blogs as a communication medium in a business environment, here are some resources we’ll use. Please feel free to suggest other resources you come across or add them to your team blog.

 

General Discussions of Blogs

Wikipedia (2004, August). Weblogs. Retrieved 8/23/04 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog.

 

Blood, R. (2002). Weblog ethics. Retrieved 8/23/04 from http://www.rebeccablood.net/handbook/excerpts/weblog_ethics.html.

 

The Use of Blogs in Business

Cook, T. (2004). Interview with Microsoft’s Robert Scoble on corporate blogging. Global PR Blog Week 1.0. Retrieved 08/24/04 from http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/robert_scoble_interv.php.

 

Fogel, M. (2003, May). Blogging for Dollars. Inc Magazine. Retrieved 08/24/04 from http://www.inc.com/magazine/20030501/25411.html.

 

Rosencrance, L. (2004, Jan 26). Blogs Bubble into Business. ComputerWorld. Retrieved 8/23/04 from http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,89283,00.html

 

Wackå, F. (2004). Corporate blogging info. Retrieved 8/23/04 from http://www.corporateblogging.info.