The social dimension of teams is basically concerned with the relationships, whether socio-emotional or organizational. The social dimension of team working is described by communications, activities and behaviours which are not addressed directly towards the group task goal, but rather towards relations, coordination of activities, welfare and maintenance of the team construct.
Published in Chapter:
Writing Research into Professional E-Mail Communication
Kristie Edwards (Sheffield Hallam University, UK), Simeon Yates (Sheffield Hallam University, UK), Anne-Florence Dujardin (Sheffield Hallam University, UK), and Geff Green (Sheffield Hallam University, UK)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-893-2.ch026
Abstract
A healthy balance between social and task-oriented activities helps teamwork. In virtual teams, e-mail texts must often carry both task-oriented and socio-emotional communication between individuals. While some theories of computer-mediated communication suggest socio-emotional exchange may not be well supported in e-mail communications, research demonstrates that individuals, nevertheless, achieve this. However, the lack of unplanned informal exchanges in virtual teams communicating by e-mail may still hinder team performance. We compared adaptations in socio-emotional content of e-mail communications in academic and commercial team writing contexts. Results suggested a task-oriented focus in the commercial team culture and an even social-task balance in the academic team culture. Our research leads us to recommend a more conversational style in professional e-mail writing. Additionally in virtual team working, we recommend encouraging face-to-face contact, allocating time specifically for social exchanges and making information about colleagues available to each other.