When it comes to successfully completing group projects, effective collaboration must be maintained. Collaboration is a process that takes place when two or more people are communicating with one another in order to achieve a predetermined goal. This working together may occur in person, over the phone, and/or through some type of virtual setting. No matter what type of communication is taking place, it is imperative that effective collaborative services are utilized, as this helps achieve the goal being worked towards. If you are opting between different types of collaborative services, it is important to remember that different types work more effectively depending on what kind of communication is being utilized.
When choosing to use services to collaborate, you should first determine what setting(s) you will be communicating within. You should also identify what processes will be completed to achieve your group’s goal(s). Identifying these two areas will help you to determine if in person, phone, or virtual setting collaborative services will be most beneficial.
The world became much faster-paced at the turn of the 21st century, making it more difficult for groups to collaborate in person. Anytime your group gets the advantageous opportunity to collaborate in person, effective services and tools should be utilized. Diagrams, photographs, and charts are excellent collaboration tools to use when groups are able to meet in person. These types of tools will allow your group to visually see how your project is progressing. The tools also promote communication, which is what effective collaboration is all about.
Due to the increased competition among cell phone providers that occurred within the 1990s, a cell phone service plan is easily affordable by the average person. In fact, it is so affordable that many companies have opted for providing their employees with a cell phone. If you have a cell phone, keep in mind that it is an excellent collaboration service to utilize if your group must communicate over the phone. During the beginning of the 21st century, many cell phones became available with enhanced collaboration features. Anytime your group collaborates mostly over the phone, cell phones should be utilized, as they provide numerous collaboration features that are not available on land-line phones.
Virtual setting collaborations greatly increased towards the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 21st century. The Internet made virtual setting collaboration very popular, as it allows people all across the world to instantaneously and simultaneously communicate with one another. Many times, virtual collaboration services will come in the form of computer software or instant messaging.Choosing the best collaborative services for a virtual setting is not at all difficult. Any virtual setting collaboration service you choose should promote immediacy, image sharing, audio and video communication, as well as geographic richness.