Remote Working: In Documentation Team [1 ed.] 9789350440629, 9788184883831

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REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

SAJITHA JAYAPRAKASH

151 Gflimalaya GpgblishingGJiouse ' MUMBAI • NEW DELHI • NAGPUR • BANGALORE • HYDERABAD • CHENNAI • PUNE • LUCKNOW • AHMEDABAD • ERNAKULAM

© Author No part of this book shall be reproduced, reprinted or translated for any purpose whatsoever without prior permission of the publisher in writing.

ISBN

: 978-81-84883-83-1

First Edition: 2009

Published by

Mrs. Meena Pandey for HIMALAYA PUBLISHING HOUSE PVT. LTD., "Ramdoot", Dr. Bhalerao Marg, Girgaon, Mumbai· 400 004. Phones: 2386 01 70/2386 38 63, Fax: 022-2387 71 78 Email: [email protected] Website: www.himpub.com

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DTP by

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Printed by

A to Z Printers, New Delhi.

1

2

3

4

REMOTE WORKING

1 - 18

1.1

Outsourcing or Offshoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2

RemoteNirtual Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3

Types of Remote Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6

1.4

Types of Remote Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.5

VirtuallRemote Collaboration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

1.6

Challenges of Remote Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 14

1.7

Adapting N1w Management Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16

1.8

Strategies for Remote Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

REMOTE MANAGEMENT

19 - 26

2.1

Types of Remote Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.2

Remote Management is not Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.3

Leading Remote Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................22

2.4

Success Factors for Remote Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25

2.5

Remote Management: Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

COLLABORATIVE WORK

27 - 41

3.1

Collaborative Effort: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3.2

Process for Collaborative Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.3

Disadvantages of Collaborative Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3.4

Skills to be Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3.5

Positive Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3.6

Unseen BoundarieslBarriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

3.7

Crossing Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

3.8

A Win-Win Effort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3.9

Achieving Virtual Collaboration ................................. 40

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

42 - 70

4.1

Distance.............................................. .45

4.2

Miscommunication....................................... 46

5

6

4.3

Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ·........ 53

4.4

Cultural Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

4.5

Lack of Strategic Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4.6

Training.............................................. 65

4.7

Lone Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

4.8

Mutual Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

4.9

Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

4.10

Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

RECRUITMENT PROBLEMS

71 - 81

5.1

Lack of Trained Writers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 72

5.2

Educational Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

5.3

Time Consuming Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

5.4

Location and Relocation ..................................... 75

5.5

Pretendance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

5.6

Great Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

5.7

Wrong Attitude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 78

5.8

Too Little Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 79

5.9

Too Much Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

5.10

Confusion and Disinterest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

MANAGEMENT DIFFERENCES

82 - 99

6.1

Traditional Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

6.2

Training Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 84

6.3

Time Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

6.4

Communication.......................................... 86

6.5

Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 .

6.6

Time-zone............................................. 89

6.7

Designation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

6.8

Management Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

6.9

Flexible Working Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 92

6.10

Work Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 94

6.11

Job Hopping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 94

7

8

9

EFFECTIVE REMOTE MANAGEMENT

100 - 117

7.1

Hiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

7.2

Formalize Work Structures and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

7.3

Developing Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

7.4

Planning Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 11 0

7.5

Developing Remote Management Skills ........................... 114

STRATEGIC PLANNING

118 - 135

8.1

Understand The Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

8.2

Agree on a Communication Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

8.3

Establish Common Team Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

8.4

Define New Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

8.5

Set Clear Goals and Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

8.6

Establish Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

8.7

Align and Sustain Support Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

8.8

Develop Knowledge Sharing Management Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

8.9

Evaluate Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

8.10

Right Use of Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

8.11

Recognize and Honor Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

8.12

Track Project Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

GUIDELINES FOR REMOTE WORKING

136 - 158

9.1

Consider Hidden Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

9.2

Hire Local Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

9.3

Follow Common Procedures and Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

9.4

Set Clear Goals and Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

9.5

Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

9.6

Mutual Respect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

9.7

Effective Use of Time-Zone Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

9.8

Consider Cultural Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

9.9

Foster Global Teamwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

9.10

Eliminate Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . )48

9.11

Maintain Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

10

11

12

9.12

Create Personal Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

9.13

Don't be a Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

9.14

Acknowledge Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

9.15

Give Regular Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

9.16

Provide Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

9.17

Deal with Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

9.18

Use the Right Toolsrrechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

DEVELOPING MANAGERIAL QUALITIES

159 - 175

10.1

Virtual Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

10.2

Leadership Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

10.3

Different Roles of A Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

10.4

Duties of Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

10.5

Leadership Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..... 169

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD MANAGER

176 - 191

11.1

3 As. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

11.2

4Cs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

11.3

4 Ds . . . . . . . . . . . . ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

11.4

3 Es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

11.5

3 Ls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ..... 183

11.6

3 Ms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

11.7

4 Ps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

11.8

3 Rs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

11.9

3 Ss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

11.10

3 Ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

11.11

3 Vs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

MANAGEMENT MANTRAS

192 - 204

12.1

Setting Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

12.2

Meet on a Regular Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

12.3

Flex Your Level of Expectation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

12.4

Brainstorm with Your Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

12.5

Be Interested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196

13

14

12.6

Track and Improve Producti vity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

12.7

Make Intelligent Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

12.8

Set Two-way Review Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

12.9

No Pointing Fingers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

l2.10

Personal Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

12.11

See a Dream for the Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

12.12

Manage Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

ETHICS OF TECHNICAL PUBLICATION

205 - 212

13.1

Being Ethical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

13.2

The Generic Dos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

13.3

The Generic Don'ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

13.4

Implications in Technical Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

13.5

General Work Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

CONDUCTING PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

213 - 235

14.1

Setting Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

14.2

Meet on a Regular Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

14.3

Flex Your Level of Expectation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

14.4

Brainstorm with Your Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

14.5

Flex Your Level of Expectation . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

14.6

Brainstorm with Your Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

INDEX

. .. 219

237 - 244

"This page is Intentionally Left Blank"

Most of you who are a part of the IT industry (and probably even otherwise), must have interacted with team members and subject matter experts who are many time zones away-in the US, Japan, Singapore, UK, Belgium or in some other place on the globe. Working with local teams and remote/virtual teams have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. This chapter discusses the following topics: •

Section 1.1: Outsourcing or Offshoring? .

•

Section 1.2: Remote/Virtual Teams

•

Section 1.3: Types of Remote Teams

•

Section 1.4: Types of Remote Working

•

Section 1.5: Virtual/Remote Colloaboration

•

Section 1.6: Challenges of Remote Teams

•

Section 1.7: Adapting New Management Styles

•

Section 1.8: Strategies for Remote Teams

2

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

1.1

Outsourcing or Offshoring?

Outsourcing and offshoring though used interchangeably have different implications. For many years, companies have been transferring non-core business functions to external organizations located in the same city or state or country. This kind of business model is called outsourcing. It is a successful and well-established business model. Since more than a decade, this trend has changed and some of the business functi'ons are being transferred to external organizations which are not located in the same country or even in the same continent. This type of outsourcing is called offshoring . Since the last few years, many organizations are setting up their documentation teams in their Indian development sites. Most of the multinational companies based in India are either sister concerns or subsidiaries of companies based in Europe or in the U.S. The documentation departments based in India are usually extensions of the groups based in the parent office locations and the working operations are generally controlled from there. Such documentation teams may be direct employee(s) of the multinational companies or their subsidiaries or contract/freelance agencies in India .

1.1.1 Advantages of Offshoring As companies look for ways to decrease operating costs, offshoring the work (development, support, testing, documentation, etc.) seems to be the best possible solution.

Management Perspective Irrespective of the reason why it is happening, the truth is the offshoring business model is gaining wide acceptance . The advantages of choosing India for an offshore site are :

•

Reduced costs-Offshoring business model started with the sole aim of saving money, specially in the operating costs. But things are changing now, and there are more advantages than just the cost.

•

Co-location-Apart from the non-core business functions, most of the product development and testing (quality assurance) teams have also moved to the Indian offices. Hence, it is a good idea for the documentation group to be co-located with these groups.

•

Skilled people-Better access and utilization of technically skilled work force. There is a large pool of engineers and graduates with other specialized backgrounds who speak and write English reasonably well. The technical writing skills of the

REMOTE WORKING

3

writers can be improved after some minimal, but focused training. After the initial hiccups (if any), they become skillful and highly productive writers. •

Working hours-By having a team in two (or more) different locations in the world, work can go on around the clock, 24 hours a day.

Advantages of Offshoring

........

. ...... .

Acquisitions

Global presence

.........

. ....... .

Indirect Advantages

•

Global presence-Some big companies try to set their base world-wide. For them, having offices in different countries world-wide is an attempt to expand their global presence.

•

Acquisitions-Many large organizations have been making acquisitions for various reasons. It could be to reduce competition or to bring in already existing technology instead of starting it from scratch. The most efficient way to work together is to merge the management and continue working from the location the acquired company already existed.

4

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

Employee Perspective

In the perspective of the employee, the advantages of working in such an organization are: •

Better salary and good perks.

•

Greater exibility at work .

•

Reduced micro management and hence increased independence.

•

Opportunities to travel abroad.

•

Good working conditions.

.

The employees don't want to be a part of cost effectiveness programs (more salary and travels abroad adds to the cost). So there is a mismatch of the advantages of this business model as seen by the management, the existing teams, and by the local employees. Nevertheless, it is advantageous and a win-win situation for both.

1.2 RemoteNirtual Teams A virtual or remote team is also known as a geographically dispersed team (GDT). According to Wikipedia, virtual team is a group of individuals who work across time, space, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose, have interdependent performance goals, and share an approa!)h to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Like any conventional team, a virtual team consists of a group of people who interact to complete interdependent tasks and work towards a common goal. But instead of working in the same office, the team members work from different places. They are located in different cities, different countries, and in different time zones. In short, we can say that many remote teams in today's organizations consist of small groups of employees working in the offices in different geographic locations. Teams may be distributed because of the new realities facing organizations such as: •

Emerging markets in different geographic locations.

•

Alliances or tie-up with different organizations, some of which may be in other countries.

•

Mergers and acquisitions.

5

REMOTE WORKING

•

Outsourcing or offshoring to reduce costs.

•

Offshoring to reduce time-to-market or cycle time in general.

Remote team members are physically separated by time and or distance (hence the name remote) . The teams members may meet face-to-face occasionally or may not meet at all. They may interact only through virtual means (hence the name virtual) .

1.2.1 Nature of Remote Teams Organizations have become more distributed across geography and across industries. Relationships between people inside an organization and those outside (customers, managers of collaborating organizations, other stakeholders) are becoming more important than before . Because of these changes, teams are not what they used to be. The nature of teams has changed significantly because of changes in the nature of the work the organizations do. Organizations have now discovered the value of collaborative work. There is an emphasis on lot more other things that we never even thought about earlier-knowledge management, cultural differences, time zones, to name a few. All these differences have changed how teams are formed and how they operate.

Table 1.2.1: Changes in Teams

Fixed team members .

Shifting team members.

All team members are from within the organization.

Team members can include people from outside the organization (clients, collaborators) .

Team members are dedicated to the team.

Most of them are members of multiple teams.

Team members are co-located organizationally and geographically.

Team members are distributed geographically (sometimes even organizationally).

Teams are managed by a single manager.

Team members might report to multiple

Team members report to a manager.

managers .

6

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

1.2.2 Why Have Remote Teams? More and more companies are going global and more professionals are working from distant locations. They may work with an external group/team to complete a specific task or work with teams in remote offices for an ongoing project. In either of these situations, the virtual team is a group of people collaborating through technology to meet a departmental and/or organizational requirement. Hence, remote teams have become a successful business pattern . The other reasons for the increase in remote team culture are as follows: •

The increasing globalization of trade and corporate activity.

•

The global workday is 24 hours vs. 8 hours.

•

Best employees may be located anywhere in the world.

•

Increase in geographically distributed human resources.

•

Team can work from various location and need not be physically co-located.

•

It is now possible to have an work environment which require inter-organizational cooperation.

•

A flexible organization is more competitive and responsive to the marketplace.

•

Teleommunicating employers tend to be more productive when they spend less time on commuting and travel.

Working in remote teams have become possible because of advancements in communication technologies . Members of the remote teams mainly communicate by email, instant messaging, telephone, teleconference, video conferencing, and voice over IP technologies like Skype.

1.3

Types of Remote Teams

There are different types of remote teams depending on the reporting and communication structure.

1.3.1 Single Writer Scenario In some cases, there is only one writer in the Indian office. In many cases, this happens when a small product or project is done entirely in India and the documentation manger in the remote locatid~ feel&, that it better to have someone work locally with the development and testihg teams.

7

REMOTE WORKING

There are advantages and disadvantages of this set up. Being a single write is extremely challenging and a very crucial position . Writers get the opportunity to shoulder the responsibilities of planning , writing , editing, and other activities/tasks related to documentation. Secondly, there is no scope for ego clashes.

/

/ Single Writer in India

/ ...

....

...r

/ Doc Team in the US

V

V

On the flip side, there are many disadvantages of working in such a setup: •

The writer has to take up the responsibility of planning, quality testing, editing, etc. There is no back up or a helping hand for these activities .

•

Their performance may not be gauged appropriately.

•

There may not be anyone to peer-edit and proofread the documents for accuracy, language, style, and format. Most of the time it may be done at the remote office, which may cause delay.

•

They may miss the opportunity to share best practices in technical writing as it becomes difficult to implement documentation processes, just for one person.

•

The writer may be a star performer, but there will be no benchmark to compare their performance with.

•

They have to handle different projects at various stages of completion single handedly. It brings in a lot of pressure, stress, and tension.

1.3.2 Documentation Team In this case, there will be a documentation team in India, headed by a manager. Then local manager will be the point of contact for the remote manager and will be responsible for: •

Managing all the aspects of the documentation team in India-staffplanning, resource utilization, recruiting, training, performance appraisal.

•

Coordinating all the functions of the documentation team in India.

•

Assignment the projects locally. The projects will be sent to the local manager who will then assign it to the appropriate writer(s).

REMOTE WORKING : IN DOCUMENTA nON TEAM

8

•

Coordinating the usability testing of docum.entation and GUI review activities.

•

Giving inputs for improving standards and processes. This is not restricted to the manager; it can be done by the team members too.

•

Putting in place systems, best practices~ processes, and work instructions for the. documentation group in India.

/

/ Doc Team in India

t

!

/

"'r--

1I

/ Doc Manager in India

... ....

/

:......•...•.•...................•...

/ .... ....

poe Manager in US

...

/

/ ... !-to

II

/ Doc Team in US

~

1I

A

. ~

........•..........

- --- ----. - - -- --- . --- --- -- - --- -- -~

~

As per requirement, the team members will interact and communicate with the remote team members (shown by the dash line). Ifrequired, they may also interact with the documentation manager in the US. But this interaction will be less frequent (shown with dotted lines).

1.3.3 . Different Business Units Some of the organizations have different business units (BUs) in the organizations catering to different product or market lines. In some cases, each BU will have a documentation team catering to the documentation requirement of their business. In this case, there can pe two scenarios:

•

Remote BUs working with one documentation team in India. This is similar to the functio~ing of the documentation team. The difference being, there will be more than one documentation teams in the remote locations, but only . one documentation team in India. The team members in India do not directly link to any of the BUs.

REMOTE WORKING

9

l···························~

/ Doc Team BU 1

---------~ ~/---------__'7 Documentation Team in India

Doc Team BU2

01[1

1....---";'_ _

~/_----,/ Doc Team BU3

......._--,..,/ Documentation Teams in tbe Remote Location

One writer might work on the project for BU I, thus interacting with the team members and remote manager of BU I (if required). Later, the person might work for another project for BU I or move on to do projects for BU 2 or BU 3. This usually happens when the documentation team in India is small, containing about 4-8 team members. In such cases, the local manager interacts with the managers from the different BUs to get information about the scope of work and update them about the status of the projects.

•

Remote BUs working with corresponding BUs in India. In this case, there will be more than one team in th~ remote locations working for different BUs. Similarly, the team in India will also consist of smaller groups working exclusively for different BUs. - If the documentation team for BU is large enough, it will be lead by a team leader or a project leader reporting to the local documentation manager.

10

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

The team members and the team leaders will be in communication with the remote managers and team members of the respective BUs. -

If the documentation team for each BU is small (about 3-4 members), the team members in India will directly report to the local documentation managerand to the remote managers of the respective BUs .

............................ .. ./ ./ / · · . Doc Team Doc Team · . ~----------..... · . nu J BU 1 ••••••• I

••••••••••••••••• •••

:/

./

/ Doc Team BU2

1I

. ~-----------:-... .. ·

./

/

1/ /

Doc Team nu 2

1/

Doc Manager in India Doc Team BU 3

Doc Team BU4

---------------------

Doc Team BU 3

Doc Team BU 4 I ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Doc Team in India

1.4

Doc Teams in the Remote Locations

Types of Remote Working

Remote teams are made up of geographically dispersed teams that are not co-located. The teams could be from the same city, state, or country. They could also be located in different cities, states, or countries. In this section, we discuss various types of remote teams.

1.4.1 Extension of the Existing Team The most common method of remote working is when the local team is a part of the main team that exists in the remote location. Documentation teams may be set up in the

REMOTE WORKING

11

local offices probably because some product or software is wholly developed from these offices or because of skillful writers who can do the job. There can be different types of such remote teams: •

Branch office-Sometimes instead of expanding the space and staff at the main office, the employer establishes a new office in a distant location (in the same city, another state, or another country). Many companies like Infosys, Wipro, Accenture, and IBM have multiple branch offices in India (Pune, Bangalore, and probably other locations). Similarly, companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Google have their offices located worldwide. The empl(lyer may transfer the existing employees who may want to move to the newer location or hire new employees in the local areas.

•

Regional office-Many organizations have regional offices to cover a geographic area that is away from the main office. This is especially true for the marketing and sales teams. These employees work from a small branch office setup.

•

Mobile professionals-These people belong to the office to which they officially report to work but because of extensive travel requirements, specific to their job responsibilities may work and communicate while in transit. They include professionals such a maintenance engineers, trainers, and service engineers.

•

Telecommuting-These employees are part of a team in an organization, but they may: - Report to a more convenient branch office (if available) even if a team does not exist in that office. - Work from home on a regular basis because their employer wishes to retain them and their expertise. - Travel to the office only once a week or more depending on the requirement. Else, they work from home on the other days.

1.4.2 Third Party Agencies These days it is not just an extension ofthe already existing teams that work remotely. It can also be the third party companies or clients, the organization works on partnership to complete certain aspects of the project work. Here, the idea is to take advantage of remote talent from India, Russia, China, Malasiya, and other countries for their specialized skills to fill a specific requirement.

12

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

•

Local agencies-Some areas of work like documentation, translation, and localization can be out sourced to agencies doing these type of specific and specialized work.

•

Independent-In the third party scenario, it is not always necessary that the work is done by a team. It could be done by a single person who has taken up the work. They are self-employed people who choose to work from home. In the field of technical communication, most of the independent, self-employed people working from home are freelance writers, editors, translators, or content developers. A person located in India, China, France, Russia, or even in the US can get a project being given to a third party agency to work on. This would be a situation of working from home.

1.5

Virtual/Remote Collaboration

Collaborative work effort happens in all teams. But, almost all the aspect of work in virtual or remote teams is collaborative-as collaboration knows no boundaries. Hence, such teams can also be referred to as a collaborative teams. The work process can then be called collaborative work system. In such a work system, conscious effort has been made to create processes, values, work structures, and practice~ that enable the team to effectively work together as individuals and groups to achieve the goals. Remote teams e~.lsts for one or more of the following purposes: •

To recruit individuals with the best skills and expertise for the work, regardless of where they are physically located.

•

To adapt an approach required by the organization in order to save time or money, or both.

•

To ensure close to twenty four hour of work by team members working across time zones.

•

To reduce office overhead by having team members work from agencies or home offices.

The collaborative work system is characterized by independent writers or individuals in a team who collaborate together across the globe. Hence, one of the major challenges is to effectively connect with these individuals world-wide, regardless of distance, time zone, nationality, language,or culture, to form virtual teams. For details about the challenges, see Chapter 4, Challenges of Remote Management.

REMOTE WORKING

13

Organizations have found ways for people to work together, specially by using a wide range of new technologies like email, online chat, instant messaging, and Web conferencing. Now, they have become very necessary for communication. For details, see Section 8.18, Use the Right Tools/Technology. Thus, the very meaning of collaboration has extended and in virtual teams this type of collaborative work is virtual collaboration. A virtual team consists of a group of people who interact with each other to complete interdependent tasks and work toward a common goal. But instead of meeting in the conference rooms or at office, they work from different locations and in different time zones. Virtual collaboration is the process through which virtual teams get work done. •

Virtual collaboration is about achieving the desired results by focusing on goals and actions that otherwise may not be possible to accomplish by working form a single location/site.

•

Virtual collaboration occurs when people who are not co-located use communication technologies to work together and facilitate getting the job done.

•

The remote teams communicate using technology (emails, telephone, Webex, instant messaging, etc.). Chances are they may never meet their coworkers at the other location.

Virtual teams are typically project-based or task-focused groups. Team membership may be relatively stable (be in the same business unit) or may change on a regular basis, depending on the project they may work in or move from one BU to another. Members for a project can be put together from the same location or from several different organizations based on projects that may have development team or testing teams in the locations.

Example:

If product A is developed in India, U.S, and in Japan, and there are writers working from all the three locations (probably on different functionalities that is developed in those office), all the writers from the three locations have to work together to get the document ready. If the writers from Japan feel that the part of the document they have written has to be referenced from some other part of the document, which is being worked on by the writers in India, they should communicate the same to them. This will take a lot of collaborative effort and seamless flow of communication from all of them to work together and ensure to get the document( s) ready, ensuring to follow the styles and guidelines and complete it on time.

14

REMOTE WORKING : IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

Remote team is more than a collection of individuals working from different locations. Remote team members are depended on each other to fulfill a common goal and hence they need to be connected at work. They need to mutually plan and schedule work. They should also trust each other to maximize the overall performance of the team.

1.6

Challenges of Remote Teams

Teams that work together at the same location face challenges in their day-to-day interactions and work process. Organization with remote teams will have a tougher situation. Factors like time zones, lack of one-to-one interaction, conicting priorities, travel budget restrictions, and cultural differences alI impede effective work process. Other factors like not responding to emails, not enough communication between the teams, and recurrent miscommunication, leads to further challenges. AlI the factors put together may lead to missed deadlines.

Major problems like cultural differences, time difference, one-to-one interaction, and other differences does not arise when the team is located in another city, or state but it could pose a problem if it is located in another country or continent. The biggest challenge is to ensure that all team members feel a part of a single organization focused on a common set of goals. Many of the common challenges and hurdles faced by companies who offshore work to India are related to the factors listed in the box.

REMOTE WORKING

15

Problems Lack of planning and ignorance of work and cultural differences become a costly affair, both in terms of time and money. Hence, it is important to consider all these aspects before setting up a remote team. Some of the problems of working with remote teams are: •

Misunderstanding in communications.

•

Delay in communication. This may cause lack of project visibility, getting information, and delay in completing projects.

•

Problems due to cultural differences. Difficulty in contacting team members. (i.e., due to delay in email, instant messaging, etc.)

•

Differences in time zones. Hence, limited communication.

•

Lack of trust. This is a very challenging issue because the mechanisms used for building trust is different than used for local teams where the team members are face-to-face.

•

Team members may fail to take complete ownership of project.

•

Team members may not be productive due to lack of direct supervision.

•

Difficulty in remotely managing the performance of the team members.

Reasons

The problems associated with offshoring is mainly because of the following reasons: •

No research or planning before beginning any offshore projects.

•

The parent companies try to impose the recruitment and project processes used by them on their offshore offices without first assessing them for applicability.

•

The offices at both the locations do not try to understand the cultural differences at the other location.

•

Remote managers may want the control of the project and people management. In all the probabilities, they may want to create oneness in their team including the remote writer and thus unknowly they perform micro management!

•

The remote managers may not be aware about the differences in work culture, people expectations, management expectations, and appraisal procedures in the

16

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

local company. In trying to do what they think is good for the team or for the person, they actually block the ways for professional development of the local writers.Remember, o.ne-to-one communication is one thing, remote micro management is another. These challenges and the recommended solutions to overcome and/or avoid the challenges are described in the following chapters.

1.7

Adapting New Management Styles

Managing a virtual team is not like managing a local team. Eyen though you may adapt newer communication technologies, virtual meeting can be a frustrating and disappointing experience when it results in information overload, topic drift, or conversations that are just not valuable or useful. When using different types of technologies for communication, you need to set some guidelines for using them and making the interaction more productive and usable. The managers who have really grappled with the issues of trying to manage teams that are connected by distance in space and time will understand what is being discussed. Working with virtual teams requires thinking about the same key things you think about when facilitating any team process but you need to extend your thinking about them to accommodate to the new environment, and factors that remote team brings in. •

Roles-Having remote team means the additional responsibility of defining some additional roles related to the communication and work process strategy. Team members may need support and help in various fronts-technical support, knowledge management, communication gap, no communication, delay in project schedule, etc. So, managers may have to spend more time and effort in being explicit about mutual expectations.

•

Explicit Communication-Managers should ensure that they should be very explicit about the purpose of the project or the task. Saying, "This task has to be completed by the 22nd, next Friday because the client expects it on Tuesday, the 26th." is far better than saying, "This task has to be completed by next Friday." They first need to redefine their roles and how they will work in unison. Then, they need to help the team members identify with their roles in the team and in the organization. It is also important for the team at the receiving end to tell if they can complete the task on time. If they foresee any issue, they should mention it up-front so that

the managers are aware of the problems that might raise during the project.

17

REMOTE WORKING

•

Culture-Communication, interaction, emotional, and behavioral patterns will vary from culture to culture. Being unaware of it may cause misunderstandings and distrust. When deciding about the work culture and work processes, keep in mind ·that you are creating an environment to support relationships with a team (or teams) across countries, not just to exchange information with them . Understand the cultural implications and find out what norms, styles , and behaviors would help or hinder the atmosphere you want to create.

1.8 Strategies for Remote Teams Working in a team has its OW,} problems and they get magnified when working with remote teams. Fortunately, most of the problems can be sorted out and turned into advantage by careful and strategic planing.

Remote management

Let local manager take charge. procedures and management styles .

See Chapters 2, 4, and 7

Cultural Differences

Provide appropriate training.

See Sections 4.4 and 9.8

Miscommunication

Improve communication techniques .

See Sections 4.2, 6.4, 8.2, and 9.18

Lack of trust

Continued interaction.

See. Sections 4.8 and 9.12

Delayed communication

Be prompt in communicating problems and issues.

See Sections 7.15,8.2,9.15, and 14.6.3

Time zones

Learn to use it to advantage.

See Sections 6.6 and 9.7

Lack of planning

Plan well in advance.

See Sections 3.4 and 6.3

Generic issues

Follow common procedures and guidelines .

See Section 7.2

•

Redefine the processes for team management and development. Also, re-design, test, and refine them before putting them to use.

•

Modify organizational structures if necessary to reflect new team dynamics.

18

REMOTE WORKING : IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

•

Redefine the work culture of the organization to support ne w processes and reporting structures.

•

Train the managers regarding new team management strategies.

•

Train the team members about the new ways of working in the team and outside the team.

•

Use new information technology (IT) systems to support team work and communication.

•

Design new management, measurement, and control systems.

Managers have to give serious thought about all these dynamics-you should not blindly adapt the old and familiar approaches. In general, bring some positive change in the way you manage the people and work process. For details, see Chapter 4, Challenges of Remote Management and Section Chapter 8, Strategic Planning .

•••

Management is a difficult activity-there are many issues like people management, collaborative working, yearly appraisals, conflict management, people management, and lots more . When you have to work with a remote team! management becomes a more difficult and complex process. In this chapter, we shall discuss the type of remote management (from documentation perspective), why remote management is not easy, and factors you need to adapt to make is easy and effective. •

Section 2.1: Types of Remote Management

•

Section 2.2: Remote Management is not Easy

•

Section 2.3: Leading Remote Teams

•

Section 2.4: Success Factors for Remote Teams

•

Section 2.5: Remote Management: Reality

20

REMOTE WORKING : IN DOCUMENTAT/t.,," TEAM

2.1

Types of Remote Management

From documentation perspective, remote management system can be grouped into three distinct types, based on the way it functions. They are : •

Manager of the local company working with the team at the parent company.

/

/ Documentation Manager in India

/

/ Doc Manager in the Remote Location

/

1I

For instance, a manager in India working with a remote team in the US. Th'e local 'manager co-ordinates the work in India and ensures that the projects send to the team in India are completed on time, confirming to the required style and quality. So, though the project is send in by the team in the remote locations, the Indian team functions and works as a separate entity. •

The team members report directly to the remote manager.

/

/

/

I Doc Manager in the . Remote Location

pocumentation Team in India

I

1I

In some cases, when the team in India is very small, the remote managers feel that they can manage the team members and the project remotely. In such cases, the local team members directly report to the documentation managers in the remote location (say in the US or in Canada). In these circumstances, lack of local authority to supervise the work will become the main cause of many problems for the remote management: - The projects may fall apart. - Failure to deliver on time. - Display lack of quality.

21

REMOTE MANAGEMENT

May not confirm to style and guidelines. -

Run over budget.

Apart from these, the local team members may also have to face many other problems and issues. •

The documentation manager in India works in co-ordination with mUltiple documentation managers in the remote locations.

Doc Manager in Canada

Doc Manager in India

Doc Manager in the US

Doc Manager in

UK

This is more or less similar to the situation where the documentation team in India works with the documentation team in the remote location. The difference here is that the local team will work with multiple documentation teams (from the same or different locations). This situation arises when the organization has different business units (BUs). The documentation manager in India co-ordinates the documentation activities with the different teams and managers. For instance, local manager from India will work with the manager(s) in the other locations (say, US , UK , and Canada) and will also co-ordinate the activities, projects, and the team in India .

2.2

Remote Management is not Easy

Leading and managing a team is not as straightforward as it used to be. The reality today is that many of us have to have to lead teams that operate across countries with

22

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

different languages , cultures and time zones. The challenges for remote teams affect both the team members and the managers managing them. The challenges of managing teams remotely can be considerable with different cultures, languages, business practices, and attitudes, and hierarchy to name a few. •

For a Manager-As a manager, it will be up to you to do certain activities: - Managing the interaction of the team members - Ensuring smooth flow of communication between the teams . - Taking care there no miscommunication or conflict. - Ensuring knowledge gain and transfer.

•

For Team Members-Team members are expected to do certain activi ties like: - Interacting with teams from different areas, countries, and cultures. - Communicating with team members locally and remotely. - Sharing knowledge and information. - Attending meeting involving people across continents. - Reporting to different people at different levels of hierarchy and teams. - Multitasking-working on various projects at various levels of completion.

Physical and cultural distance barriers, such as time zones, multi-cultural sensitivities and language affect the ability to communicate in real time. All these also create a critical challenge in building and maintaining trust and cohesion with the remote team members. The biggest problems the teams face is communication-the distance barrier creates a challenge, and it is difficult to ensure that they are working together. It cannot be expected that people who work in different locations, under different management, in different working cultures or in different time zones, with little or no personal contact will automatically find a way to work cohesively and effectively together.

2.3 Leading Remote Teams Effective leadership is a role that the managers on both the locations need to work on together. They need to blend management, communication, and motivational skills to create a culture that encourages individual and group development. Global leadership is about evoking ideas and thoughts, shouldering responsibilities, and brining out the confidence of the team members. In spite of all the constraints and pressures, virtual

REMOTE

MANAGEMENT

23

teams can make best use of their diversity and achieve the results required of them under the guidance of able managers. You need to establish newer working practices so that the team members learn to make use of their time and efforts. Managers responsible for working with teams a team in global locations have to build on the skills they already possess. They have to develop skills, behaviors, and attitude that will help them develop, maintain, and motivate teams in remote locations. Managing the pressures and challenges of the new business environment and the new team also requires new process, procedures, and effective communication strategies. •

Understand the key concepts for developing international teams.

•

Develop awareness of cultural sentivities and diversities.

•

Understand the educational requirements specific to the different countries you work with.

•

Understand the issues surrounding international team development and performance.

•

Develop appropriate management skills and competencies necessary to: - Build and maintain international teams. - Lead successful team in the global workplace. - Meet the unique demands of global team management. - Be responsive and exible to management changes.

•

Develop a working environment which allows everyone to communicate.

•

Identify workable solutions to possible problems.

•

Design customized tools and procedures that fit the skills and requirements of the team.

2.3.1 Role of the Remote Manager Some of the remote managers may want to manage people from remote locations by themselves. They need to understand that in such situations, maintaining quality and productivity remotely is a very difficult task. The distance and communication barrier will create a challenge and it is difficult to effectively manage people and projects remotely. Also, the management systems in terms of recruitment, skills, appraisals, designations, etc., differs from country to country. The most workable solution is to appoint a local manager who will be a one-point contact for the remote managers.

24

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

Leading global teams goes beyond just bringing people together via virtual communications channels. It requires a clear strategiC'plan and positive leadership skills to set up such teams and get them functional. You need to adapt your leadership role style and practices to react the realities of global team leadership. The remote manager will have to work closely with the local manager in understanding the following: •

Setting up an international team.

•

Understanding the differences about the international remote teams.

•

Cultural diversities and'sensitivities (and their impact).

•

Defining the role of the local managers.

•

Networking and communicating effectively.

•

Communication best practices.

•

Distance support for the local team and management (atleast during the initial stages).

•

Supporting the local and remote teams.

•

Developing co-operation and trust within the teams.

•

Providing distance support to the local management.

It is important to identify and anticipate any issues early in the process and take appropriate action to correct the problems. It is difficult to do this from a distance. You can do this by giving control to the local manager. This allows the team to feel both valued and motivated. Problems can be dealt with and overcome at an early stage before they become major issues.

2.3.2 Role of the local Manager As a local manager, you need to come up with some strategies and plans that will enable you to effectively effective communicate with the remote manager and teams. You will have to build trust with remote employees. Locally, you will have to facilitate proper learning and training, motive the team members, and provide opportunities for growth. You have to take care of the following aspects: •

Aligning the team members working on different projects.

•

Communicating with the remote team managers.

•

Training, developing, and mentoring the team members.

REMOTE MANAGEMENT

•

Resolving conflict in the team and across teams.

•

Keeping teams focused and motivated.

•

Reviewing team and individual performance.

•

Performing annual appraisals.

•

Reviewing goals and objectives set for the team members.

2.4

25

Success Factors For Remote Teams

The overall success of a remote team depends largely on the managers, who act as leaders-motivating people, relieving stresses, and counseling them. Taking care of the following ensures success in remote working: •

Exhibiting competence in working in virtual environments.

•

Training the team members on working across cultures.

•

Putting in place styles, standards, guidelines, and procedures.

•

Putting aside resources to buy and support communication and collaboration tools for all teams.

•

Setting up a database for knowledge management systems.

•

Documenting goals, objectives, project specifications, and performance metrics.

•

Adapting human resource policies, reward/recognition systems and career development systems to address the unique needs of virtual workers.

•

Training methods to accommodate continual learning.

•

Setting high performance expectations and model behaviors such as working across boundaries and using technology effectively.

Trust has always been important for team work. Earlier, trust was more of a nice to have quality. But, times have changed and now, it is a need to have quality. Managers should learn to trust. The team members should also understand the trust factor and not just expect the managers to trust them. Trust builds with the recognition of the contribution that everyone makes. If you make a real contribution, people will trust you. -Hank McKinnell, President and chief operating officer at Pfizer.

26

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

2.5

Remote Management: Reality

Working with remote teams located in different countries have become very common in the workplace. This type of work process satisfy the need for accessing specialized expertise at a cost savings. Unfortunately, remote management is not just about people management or project management. It requires other qualities, skills, and a good understanding to remote working. Remote teams consists of geographically dispersed members who are wholly dependent on technology and discipline to make true collaboration of work and this makes remote working all the more challenging. With advances in technology, there is now a broad array of communication methods to enable remote teams to function more smoothly and cohesively. So, you can say that the surge of collaborative technologies have made virtual collaboration possible around the globe. So, many organizations who like to make the life of their employees easier, provide them with the technological capabilities to collaborate virtually and remotely. The truth is though technology makes life easier, personal interaction cannot be abandoned altogether. It is necessary atleast in the initial stages when the remote teams are being set up. Managing teams can be a challenge. When you try to manage teams across different geographical region~ and perhaps time zones, you have a situation that can be difficult for even the best manager. Managers based in the head quarters are expected to oversee teams located in multiple offices, time zones and even continents. Local managers have to work in coordination with the remote teams. They face unique challenges and issues that can affect productivity. But in all cases, though there are risks in managing teams remotely, but by following some guidelines, managers can minimize these risks and adopt approaches beyond those familiar from managing conventional work teams. It is crucial to consider the challenges in setting up and sustaining effective virtual teams. But not all organizations think about and plan for the training and support needed in areas such as decision making, communication skills, cultural awareness, and virtual meeting facilitation. For all you know, they may not see these factors as issues at all. If you have a talk about this subject with the managers who have a successful remote functioning team, you will realize that they had either done a thorough study and had a strategic plan for setting up a remote team or they had the initial phase of problematic situations but were intelligent to quickly learnt from their mistakes and work on them .

•••

Collaborative work is about a group of people with different skills, knowledge, expertise, and interests. It is often very difficult for individuals to work collaborately unless there is seamless communication, flow of information, mutual trust, and co-ordination between them. Collaborative work in virtual/remote team is even more difficult. In this chapter, we shall discuss the challenges of collaborati ve work structure and ways of overcoming the obstacles. •

Section 3.1: Collaborative Effort: An Overview

•

Section 3.2: Process for Collaborative Writing

•

Section 3.3: Disadvantages of Collaborative Writin!!

•

Section 3.4: Skills to be Developed

•

Section 3.5: Positive Collaboration

•

Section 3.6: Unseen Boundaries/Barriers

•

Section 3.7: Crossing Boundaries

•

Section 3.8: A Win-Win Effort

•

Section 3.9: Achieving Virtual Collaboration

28

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

3.1

Collaborative Effort: An Overview

Collaboration in a virtual team context requires trust, shared understanding, and constructive relationships among team members. As management control becomes more . difficult in such work situations, trust helps to achieve objectives in an collaborative work environment. Team members have to learn to keep the commitments and promises they make to each other. This forms the foundation for dealing with conflict and for effecti ve collaboration. Many a times, you may feel that writing is the only activity that requires collaborative effort. It is not so. You have to educate your team and make them understand that documentation development life cycle (DDLC) is a coIIaborative effort. Hence, there has to be a reasonably good level of effective communication within the team members, with the remote teams, and with the members of the other teams as well. The communication should be clear and effective.

3.1.1

How is it Different?

Attempting collaborative work arrangements in today's world is a challenging endeavor. Team members are often distributed across company sites around the globe. There is diversity in social, cultural, languages, goals, skills, experience, perspective, work cultures, etc. There is also a vast difference in management styles, trade, governmental sanctions, human resource policies, and legal implications. In an organizational perspective, some of the challenges associated with coIIaborative work are:

Simple problems.

Simple and complex problems.

Well-defined process.

Well-defined, but complex process .

People in one location.

People in different locations.

Common goals.

Different goals.

Common work culture.

New and different work culture.

Familiar social and religious culture.

Different social and religious culture.

Local issues.

Local and remote issues.

Face-to-face meetings.

Virtual meetings.

COLLABORATIVE WORK

29

Moving to work on virtual teams on each of these factors creates circumstances that generally make collaboration more difficult. It may also give rise to more problems, in both traditional face-to-face and virtual work settings. Collaboration may seem to be a difficult process because it requires effective sharing, communication, trust, planning, team spirit, etc. to generate ideas and effectively use the knowledge. Collaborative authoring or writing is a complex process as all the activities are performed by more than one writer to produce a document or a set of documents. Hence, it is important to design a system or a methodology that effectively supports the collaborative process and also reduces the confusion between the writers.

3.1.2 Factors to Be Considered Virtual teams work across boundaries and the members connect mainly through electronic means. Hurdles to high performance are multiplied by these conditions. Support in the form of continuous investment in training-writing, editing, software, tools, skills, leadership, etc. is essential for high performance. Virtual teams are more dynamic and complex than more traditional teams. They require members to be more adept at working with individuals from cultures other than their own. It is foolish to jump into the remote collaborative work without establishing and finalizing a well-thought about foundation for work processes and options for communication. You need to have a strategic plan before working with remote teams. Many managers who have worked in such collaborative teams have stated that they just went with the ow. They developed processes and strategic plans only after failure occurred at one or more levels of the project. It was then they thought about the issues, discussed problems and probable solutions, and developed an understanding as to how to work in an virtual environment. Apart from creating workable process for collaborative writing, the other factors that have to be considered are: •

Understanding the group dynamics.

•

Deciding the roles and responsibilities for the different individuals involved in the project to avoid conflicts.

•

Brainstorming for ideas, suggestions, and troubleshooting tips.

•

Identifying techniques for sharing and communicating information, ideas, and knowledge.

•

Understanding the comfort level between the team members.

•

Improving the social skills such as communication, team spirit, and co-operation.

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

30

•

Educating the team members about the different factors that influence the collaborative writing process.

•

Identifying and using an appropriate version control system so that multiple writers can work on collaborative projects.

•

Identifying alternative process, in case the existing process fails.

•

Dealing with important ideas generated in group meetings.

•

Identifying differences in social and work related practices and culture.

If you do not pay attention to methods for reducing hurdles and enhancing skills, capabilities, sensibilities, and competencies for crossing cultural boundaries, there will be problems with the functioning of the team. Chances are, the collaborative effort may become a disaster, with reduced productivity and quality of work.

3.2

Process For Collaborative Writing

Writing activities encompasses various collaborative methods. Writing is collaborative when more than one writers are involved in writing, creating, or updating a document. In this method, different writers may be responsible for different chapters of a document. The most visible collaborative efforts are the pre-writing and the post-writing phases of the project. Writers have to work using different methods for different activities to complete the writing projects. When more than one writer is involved in a project: 1.

The documentation manager or the project leader identify the writers who will be associated with the project.

2.

The project leader or the documentation manager discuss the project with the selected writers.

3.

Each writer is alloted some part, chapters, or functional areas of the document. Parallel collaboration-Two or more than two writers perform the same task). That is, two or more writers will simultaneously perform the task of writing or editing, or something else. - Sequential collaboration-One writer performs a task and passes on to another to perform the next task in the sequence.

4.

The documentation manager or project leader creates the documentation plan.

5.

The writers plan in detail, for their module/part of the document.

(;OLLABORATIVE WORK

31

6.

The individual writers work on their allocated part of the documentation.

7.

They create the illustrations and take the snapshots required for the document. In some cases, the illustrator may create the illustrations.

8.

Each writer checks the part of the document they are responsible for to see if all the requirements are documented.

9.

The editor edits and checks the entire document to see if it is complete and there is proper flow of information.

10.

The writer or the indexer creates the index.

11.

The writers incorporate the changes (editorial and technical comments) to the chapters they are responsible for.

12.

A writer converts the document to other required formats (.html, .xml, .chm, .pdf, etc.) and archives the files.

3.3

Disadvantages of Collaborative Writing

Collaborative writing may seem to be an easy process as the efforts are shared between two or more than two people or between teams. But, it is not as easy as it seems to be because of the following reasons: •

In parallel collaboration, the project gets delayed even if the work of one writer gets delayed, or if any of the writers is incompetant.

•

In sequential collaboration, the tasks done by one writer are depended on the work done by the previous writers. If a writer does not complete the work on time, the subsequent writers will have to start their work later than schedule and hence will have a tough time. The problem becomes intensified if writer 1 or writer 2 delay their share of activities and take more time than planned or required, because the consequent writers will have lesser time to complete the tasks assigned to them.

•

It is difficult to identify and acknowledge the contributions of the project. It is a very complex process.

Example: A project may earn good comments because' of the suggestion( s) provided by one of the team members or because of the extensive edits and organizational changes done by the editor. But, it is the writer who may walk away with the laurels.

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

32

Since the team member(s) who has given some valuable suggestions and/or inputs, or the editor who worked very hard editing, probably reorganizing and rewriting the document are not in the direct picture, they are not recognized for their efforts. •

Even if one writer does not follow the styles, guidelines, and processes, and produces document that is not of accepted quality, the entire project will suffer.

In collaborative type of work setup, it is very important to give appropriate acknowledgment to all the individual the contributors who helped in making the project a success. Managers should also appreciate the individuals who complete their work on or before the schedule without any quality issues. This requires effective and healthy communication not only between the team members, but with the project/product managers as well.

3.4

Skills To Be Developed

Some team members have a well defined and appropriate job skills. They may also have the inherent qualities which make them adapt to remote work easier than the other team members. 3.4.1

For Individuals

Apart from the core writing skills and other skills 'required for the job, the additional qualities that are required for remote functioning include the following: •

Good and clear communication.

•

Ability to handle work pressure.

•

Self motivation and self discipline.

•

Highly developed organizational skills.

•

Ability to multi task.

•

Excellent time management skills

•

Ability to troubleshoot basic problems.

•

Ability to learn quickly and easily.

•

Work alone from the remote location (in case of single writer scenario).

•

Quickly adapt to changing scenarios, processes, tools, software, and people.

•

Speak openly about the problems faced instead of waiting till the last minute.

COLLABORATIVE WORK

33

•

Ability and conffidence to make independent decisions (specially when there is lack of inputs and/or information).

•

Effectively apply the skills, knowledge, and experience to work scenario.

•

Not loose cool, be calm, and work well under pressure.

•

Very good knowledge of the software used.

•

Understand the importance of deadlines and strive to .work to-wards it.

•

Have problem solving skills instead of being problem creators.

To take up roles and responsibilities one step higher, the team members have to put in a lot of effort. For detailed infOlmation, see Section 8.4.2, Define New Roles.

3.4.2 For Managers Working in virtual teams is more complex and dynamic than being in traditional teams. Managers have to focus on planning, put in effort in being supportive, and be more communicative. In order to successfully manage remote team and projects, the managers also require some additional skills, some of which are: •

Understand the cultural and organizational differences and work accordingly.

•

Ability to determine when and where there may be problems may occur.

•

Ability to act tactfully and confidently in a problematic situation.

•

Know what is required of the specific position.

•

Know and trust the people selected to work from a remote location .

•

At ease in dealing with emails and phone calls from remote team members.

•

Approachable-by phone and/or email.

•

Comfortable with project and people management.

•

Ability to make people connected and cared for.

•

Comfortable supervising teams and work at remote locations.

•

Trust the choices and decisions of the remote team members and managers.

•

Communicate information to all the team members.

•

Ability to clearly articulate expectations and goals to remote team members.

34

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

•

Find opportunity and tools to create an atmosphere of support and community.

•

Be open to tryout a variety of methods to communicate support leads to the achieve the performance goal of the team.

Managerial skills can be taught to individuals, but in varying degrees. Hence, the time taken for this transformation will be different for different individuals. For detailed information, see Chapter 10, Developing Leadership Qualities.

3.5

Positive Collaboration

In virtual team settings, distance, cultural differences and other constraints that potentially separate members, complicates the process even further. But when individuals work together toward a common purpose and a shared goal, you can produce a positive collaboration occurs. Achieving each of these characteristics of collaboration takes commitment on the part of team members. Purpose

POSITIVE COLLABORATION

Communication

Commitments

COLLABORATIVE WORK

•

35

Purpose--Collaborative work with a purpose helps motivate the members to be committed to working together. You have to focus on the purpose of having the offshore team. Keeping this in mind, you should try to : - Leverage social relationships among the team members . - Pay attention to group dynamics, productivity, and performance targets as per requirement. At different points of time, each one of these have different levels of importance. - Put in place processes for communication and work flow. - Motivate team members to achieve outcomes that cannot be achieved alone.

•

Communication-Havir,g shared goals requires seamless communication. If the team members lack team spirit and do not communicate information or share knowledge, there will be confusion about what needs to be done and how it can best be accomplished. Hence, the team members should put in effort to communicate right from the outset of the project in order to reach shared understanding and agreement on process and outcome goals, as well as strategies and tactics for accomplishing them. It does not happen without intentional and effortful communication among members.

•

Commitment-A by product of working together for a shared purpose is often a commitment to the success of one another. This is because the project will be complete only if all the efforts are completed on time . So, usually all the team members are expected to perform their share of work and also help out each other. This type of commitment helps to break down cultural barriers and increase interpersonal comfort levels. It also increases team spirit. As you all know, TEAM =Together Each Achieves More.

It is true to say that the success or lack of success of an individual in a collaborative work atmosphere is tied to the success or lack of success of the project on the whole . Positive collaboration happens because of proper investment of time and energy by a group of motivated and co-operative individuals.

3.6

Unseen Boundaries/Barriers

The various differences and challenges caused due to virtual working can create boundaries that defines and identifies who/what is in and who/what is out. The invisible wall/boundary may consist of cultural barrier, unspoken rules for groups, miscommunication, work culture, confusion about authority, differences in the way work

36

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

is done, thought processes, attitude, skills, educational background for the same job, etc. These boundaries have enormous impact on the teams, sometimes without our awareness and often without our consent. This is not an exhaustive list. Some are then thrust on the team members and the others are the result of their ignorance. Some boundary conditions that may impede the attempts of virtual team members to collaborate on projects are: Organizational Boundaries

Individual Boundaries

Technical Bounderies

Geographical Boundaries

Organizational Boundaries

•

Culture (differences in company value systems)

•

Departmental (differences in skills, educational background, interests, goals, etc.)

•

Organization (differences in policies-hiring, promotion, layoffs, bonuses, performance appraisals, etc.)

•

Control or authority (who is leading, what is the limit of authority?)

•

Hierarchical (differences in roles and responsibilities, vertical and horizontal roles)

•

Institutional (competitors, customers, supply chain)

•

Work politics

37

COLLABORATIVE WORK

Geographic/Environmental Boundaries

Time Zones

Different timings because of countries and/or continents

Geography

Distance, political, and cultural environment.

Country

Political rules, sales and export regulations, etc.

Economic

Rich country, poor country, developing country

Culture

Value systems, religions, works culture, social culture, etc.

Individual Boundaries Individual barriers are created because of differences in the individual personalities clubbed with the cultural differences. •

Gender

•

Age

•

Educational background

•

Ethnic background

•

Personal (differences in attitudes, interests, preferences, personalities, goals, etc.)

•

Individualism (assumptions, values, biases, goals, styles, and so on)

•

Native language

•

Ethical

•

Difference in ideas or experience with virtual teams.

Technical Boundaries

Technical barriers are created because of differences in the technical aspect at work. There can be differences in the following areas: •

Technological systems (such as different computer systems, software, tools, etc.)

•

Scripting languages

38

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

•

Software and tools

•

Work process, methods, and procedures

3.7

Crossing Boundaries

These boundaries and/or barriers have to be removed to permit ow of valued information, knowledge, skills, ideas, etc. These boundaries are responsible for: •

Separating the offshore team from its parent organization and the vice-versa.

•

Controlling the ow of communication.

•

Differentiating the teams.

•

Specifying who owns the boundary and who can remove it.

•

Creating a division between the teams.

•

Creating limitations of various types and quantities in different functional areas.

•

Limiting the ow of essential factors such as ideas, information, materials, and energy which are essential for proper functioning of the team.

Crossing boundaries or removing them create good opportunities not only for knowledge and technology transfer, but in other collaborative effort too. To overcome them, list all the possible differences, question yourself with respect to all the differences. This will help you to find answers regarding how you can do away with these unseen boundaries. If they affect the ability of the team to work together to achieve the common goals, cheSk if something extra needs to be done to remove each of these boundaries. Figure out what has to be done to reduce the barriers caused by these boundaries. .•

Create integration mechanisms to link members with each other to facilitate ow of information and decisions.

•

Communicate and try to connect with other members across the boundaries.

•

Develop new competencies and skills that may required to facilitate this linking.

•

Provide appropriate training to all the team members to help build cultural competencies so the team processes will enable all members to feel ownership for the project and have a voice for sharing expertise.

•

Match skills with the requirement of the project so that the right people are involved in the project.

COLLABORATIVE WORK

•

3.8

39

Align support systems keeping in mind the requirement of the team, especially for learning, knowledge sharing, leadership activities, etc.

A Win-Win Effort

Two primary keys to working in a collaborative way are the empowerment of employees and team based work. Team mambers are assigned responsibilities that previously were part of the role of external managers. Now, the team m~mbers are provided with responsibilities for making decisions and taking action, and they are expected to depend less on the managers. The management from the remote and local teams should extend their support, attention, effort, expertise, and guidance in shaping up the work culture where the team members can work collaboretively. This will also help them being more flexible and stable. Making the evolution from the traditional visual team structure to the virtual team structure requiring you to understand how to adapt work processes and behaviours. While there are many potentially important factors, trust, shared understanding, and interpersonal relationships are particularly notable. They must be considered to achieve an optimum level of virtual collaboration. The positive synergy needed for effective collaboration occurs when team members have an open mind, are willing to listen to and trust in their teammates, deal with conflict productively, and support the goals of the team. The other factors are:

•

Trust: Trust can be defined as the willing to act on the basis of the words, perceptions, actions, and decisions of another person. Trust is an ingredient needed in almost any significant relationship, and it nurtures with frequent interaction. But, it is also considered even more important when face-to-face interaction is not possible. Trust serves as the aligning mechanism for team members who work from dispersed locations.

•

Local Manager: It is not possible for managers or supervisors to oversee the functioning of the team or the team members from a distance since they have no real direct control over the virtual team members. This is where the role of local managers come in. It is important for the offshoring team and managers to ha':e trust in the local manager, the virtual team members, and the way they function. Similarly, it is also very important for the virtual team and managers to trust tp~ remote managers and team members.

•

Shared Goals: Managers should work towards having a shared understanding of the common goal and individual goals. This will give a clear sense of strategic

40

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAN

direction for all the team members. By encouraging members to care about the ultimate goal of the team and not just their specific and individual contributions, they become motivated to co-operate and collaborate in order to make the virtual team relationship work.

•

Common Goal: Collaboration constitutes of the interaction of members in such a way so that the performance of the team is greater and better than the individual performances put together. While working, no members should compromises on quality, innovativeness, or productivity. The team uses the disadvantage (distance, time-zone, cultural differences, etc.) to its Cl:dvantage.

•

Interdependence: Collaborative effort is usually stimulated by a desire or need that exists to solve a problem or create something using best ofresources. For collaboration to occur, team members must work interdependently, assuming joint ownership for decisions and collective responsibility for results. Although many resources such as expertise, time, or money may be limited, the innovative aspect of collaboration helfls teams create value beyond that found in standard teamwork. Before collaboration can begin, team members must understand and accept the fact that they are not alone. The expertise and contribution of the offshore team will be a little different. It is only when they begin to accept and respect the insights, questions, and ideas of others that collaboration begins to occur. The success of collaborative effort can be measured by its results.

•

Inter-Personal Relationships: The depth of relationships that exists among team members helps in smooth functioning of collaborative virtual teams. Since many me!llbers work from different geographical locations, sometimes across several time zones, communicating using technology (email.phone.webex.IM. etc.) often supplants face-to-face meetings. Nevertheless, it is important for team members to develop working relationships with the other members in order to work effectively and productively. Often these relationships become the foundation for developing trust among the members and a shared understanding of the ultimate goal of the team.

3.9 Achieving Virtual Collaboration Virtual teamwork has become effective with continual updation and expansion of use of technology. However, diving into the virtual world wi thout enough preparation to establish a foundation for collaborative efforts can potentially leave you wondering

41

COLLABORATIVE WORK

where you went wrong. Rajesh, a veteran in an IT company describes a situation he faced in the year 1990 when he joined an organization as a trainee engineer.

I had an experience with a virtual team that did not have good results. The problem arose because of the unplanned implementation of virtual collaboration involving the merging of processes for several acquisitions that needed to be consolidated. There was no clear definition of the scope of work for the teams because of which there was resistance to work together. Distrust of other team members and upper management became evident very soon. There was barely any flow of information during the weekly conference calls and eventually, the development project was cancelled. The entire experience was unpleasant. With some thought and proper planning, the situation could have been handled in a much better manner. Promoting development of relationships, shared understanding, and trust leads to effective virtual collaboration. This may in turn promote performance of the team members and hence the team. Contributions from both, the organization and from individual team members are important for putting these things in place .

•••

Working in a remote team may sound simple enough since you think you just have to adapt to a couple of factors that allow you to work effectively. It is not so simple. In this chapter, we shall discuss the various concerns and challenges associated with remote working--cultural issues, communication hurdles, and difference in writing-faced by companies who offshore documentation related work to India. It also discusses the appropriate and probable solutions and/or recommendations to overcome these concerns. •

Section 4.1: Distance

•

Section 4.2: Miscommunication

•

Section 4.3: Writing

•

Section 4.4: Cultural Differences

•

Section 4.5: Lack of Strategic Planning

•

Section 4.6: Training

•

Section 4.7: Lone Writer

•

Section 4.8: Mutual Trust

•

Section 4.9: Time

•

Section 4.10: Technology

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

43

Challenges: An Introduction Remote teams consists of geographically dispersed members who are dependent on technology to make true collaboration of work and this makes remote working all the more challenging. It has been said that the surge of technologies have made virtual collaboration possible. So, many organizations who like to make the life of their employees easier, try to nurture trust, provide them with the technological capabilities to collaborate virtually and remotely. But the truth is though technology makes life easier, personal interaction (even once) helps in nurturing trust and hence, it cannot be abandoned altogether. It is necessary atleast in the initial stages when the remote teams are being set up. It is crucial to consider the challenges in setting up andsustaining effective virtual teams. Most of the major challenges of virtual teams that have been identified are distance, time, technology, culture, trust, leadership/management, recruitment issues, training, writing, and project planning.

•

The major problem is about communication and/or miscommunication. You need to address this problem first, that is, you have to try to come up with ways to decrease miscommunication and find means of easy and seamless communication. After that, you can concentrate on bridging the valley caused due to distance, culture, and time.

44

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTA nON TEAM

•

Distance, time, and technology define the basic characteristics of the virtual teams. Distance and time represent discrete, measurable, and bounded conditions that reduce the performance. But they can be taken care by appropriate use of technology.

•

Culture, trust, and leadership are created and sustained mutually by the remote teams. If one team has trust and the other does not, it does not work. It a mutual relation and requires effort from both the sides . Culture or cultural differences can impede the success of the remote teams as it concurrently occurs in many levels. It is of many types-social culture, religious culture, work culture, corporate culture, and may more. An awareness of cultural differences and commitment to development over time of member trust and leadership capability, are the real building blocks to high performance virtual teams.

•

The rest of the problems result due to the mix of the seven different types of challenges we have discussed in random manner. Some factors like trust and leadership can be present in varying degrees-negative , nil, little , etc.

Having appropriate answers or alternatives to these challenges will help in accompl ishing a good remote working relations and will also provide ways to assist with any other new challenges. Many researchers have offered suggestions, but experience is a better teacher. It is better to share, adapt, and improve the solutions to the problems learnt from experiences. A simple graphical representation of the path outlined to highperformance virtual teams is as follows:

I'

",;:

VirtuaVRemote:.';' , Challenges

Challenges at Work

... r

~

I' ' Change and Adapt

Work Process

Virtual Collaboration

.... r

~

High Performance of Virtual Teams

Positive Outcome

The following sections addresses some of the challenges of remote working and also provides practical and workable strategies for leveraging some ofthe challenges through effective development of cultural and interpersonal competencies. Only then can the teams move positively towards being high performance virtual teams .

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

4.1

45

Distance

In any place in the world, you will trust a person who you have interacted with personally, than a person whom you have only spoken with. Not working in a setting of physical proximity (i.e., distance) is a challenge for remote teams basically because it does not allow the usual one-to-one, personal, and face-to-face interaction. Distance also causes barriers in: •

Communication-It becomes a challenge since it does not happen automatically as it often does in shared physical space. The team members must be more diligent and disciplined about keeping in touch and sharing information with the rest of the team.

•

Building trust-Since most of the team members may have never met before, building rapport, trust, group norms, and work protocols become difficult.

•

Monitoring-It becomes difficult to monitor the performance of the offshore team without the teams members feeling being micro-managed.

•

Feeling of oneness-Most of the time the employee working offsite as a lone writer may begin to feel isolated. The writer may feel alienated from the local team members who are from the other BUs and from the team members of the same BU who are remotely located. It becomes difficult to identify with the team and feel a part of it.

•

Understanding differences-Seeing and understanding a situation is different from hearing and reading about them. Distance is a hindrance in properly understanding cultural differences and maintaining cultural norms.

All these factors may get accumulated and the employee(s) in India may feel out of the loop and excluded. This may explode the situation and it may result in loneliness, loss of productivity, lower organizational commitment, and feelings of vulnerability. Distance also reduces team cohesiveness, communication, and knowledge sharing, which impedes the problem solving process. The feelings of trust of the employees can be characterized by: •

Desire to remain with the organization (because of the work and work culture, etc.)

•

Willingness to cooperate with others (in the local teams and get appreciation).

•

Willingness to share knowledge (with remotellocal team members-local, remote, and other BUs).

46

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

Being able to identify with the team members is very important as it helps to build rapport, trust, group norms, and work protocols. Communication is more of a challenge, and team members must be more diligent and disciplined about keeping in touch and sharing information with the rest of the team, since it does not happen automatically as it often does in local teams. Some virtual teams have been able to achieve high levels of interpersonal bonding. This connection among team members goes beyond common goals and commitment to the work, resulting in knowing and appreciating that team members are also committed to the welfare of the team members. This connection can be strengthened through a variety of techniques, including face-to-face interaction, electronically share personal issues and crises with other team members, and functioning as a support network for one another. Recommendation

Distance might result in reduction in employee commitment to the organization and job satisfaction. But as they say, nothing is impossible. It is possible to achieve resonably good levels of interpersonal bonding and trust by regular communication.

4.2

•

Use technology to decentralize the work and make it possible for employees to work together while being physically separated. This can happen if the team members are comfortable in discussions that goes beyond common goals and commitment to the work, resulting in knowing and appreciating the like and dislike of the other team members.

•

Share information incll}ding issues and crises with other team members. Try to function as a support network for one another.

Miscommunication

Geographical distance between teams have a direct impact on all forms of - communication, even when team members are from the same country. Communication with team members in another country or continent may be far less frequent than dayto-day interaction. Yet, if the .communication is not handled properly, it may cau~e many problems. More than lack of .communication, there are chances of miscommunication.

47

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

This happens due to the following reasons. Communication Styles

Indianized Accent and Phrases Miscommunication Non-verbal Communication

British and American English

The problems that the organizations need to address first is to find means of easy communication. Once that is done, they can concentrate on bridging the valley caused due to distance, culture, and time. Having appropriate answers or alternatives to improve communications will help in accomplishing a good remote working relations.

4.2.1 Communication Styles Communication forms and styles are drastically different in different parts of the world: •

Americans are more direct and less formal than their Indian counterparts.

•

Asians consider direct communication regarding rejection or suggestions to be rude. So they are usually not too direct in their questions or suggestions.

•

The Japanese expect to be updated frequently about the status ofa project.

•

Indians are too wordy in their writing and verbal communication.

Recommendation Indian writers should be taught to follow the KISS philosophy. Yes, kiss (keep it stupid simple) is applicable to communication as well. Writers have to learn to speak and write to the point and not beat around the bush. The email communication should indicate the appropriate and accurate status of work. Avoid:

I was assigned the task of documenting seven functionalities. I have documented three of them (1, 2, and 3) and sent them for technical review to X, Y, and Z. I have received the inputs from them and I have made the changes to the document. I am sending you 5 chapters

48

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

(chapters 2-6) for your approval. Chapters 2, 3, and 6 have been peeredited. Chapter 4 has not been peer-edited as yet.

Better:

Functionalities 1, 2, and 3 have been documented and reviewed for technical accuracy (by X, Y, and Z respectively). Sending you chapters 2 -6, but please note that 1 have not done a self edit/review of chapter 4.

Though the latter is a brief status, it gives an idea of what has been done and what is yet to be done .

4.2.2 Indianized Accent and Phrases English spoken in India is usually dominated by region specific Indianized accent and confusing phrases . When Indianized accent and phrases are used together, even the Indians from the other regions find it difficult to understand the language. So, it is important to understand that this can cause problems during distant communication, specially during telephonic interviews because the non-Indian managers conducting interviews will have problems trying to understand what's being said.

Indianized Accent People from some parts of India have a very pronounced accent. The mother tongue (language spoken in the state the person belongs to) is predominantly evident in their accent. So, even though they speak fluent and flawless English, it is heavily influenced by the region specific accent.

Example:

Some random selection of states/region wise accent and words are listed here to explain the differences in the pronounced accent.

•

Malayali's from Kerala like to emphasize the R. They pronounce letters like M and E with an emphasis on Y (Yum or Yenter). Some common pronunciations are waterr (water), lecky (lucky), aaple (apple), yeg (egg), YumA (M.A), ood (wood), vindow (window).

•

Maharashtrians seem to have some problem with the letter F and pronunciation of sh. For instance, pheejix (physics), zay (J),jed (Z), pharm (form), confujan (confusion).

•

Gujaratis like kesh (cash) and snakes (snacks). Words like raped (wrapped) and hole (hall) may confuse you.

•

Bengali's use Os and Bs in their pronunciations. For instance, oph (of), Subas Chondro Boash (Subhash Chandra Bose), Shoatyojit Roy (Satyajit Ray), to name a few. Now, Culcutta has become Kolkota.

49

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

•

People from Madhya Pradesh use a lot of " i" and "s". For instance , ischool (school), susuki (Suzuki) .

Note:

This is not to hurt the sentiments of people of any region, but to show how the pronunciation/diction/accent differs from region to region.

Hinglish Like the Indian food, English spoken in India is sometimes flavored with excess spice. Even those who speak awless and grammatically correct English , may indulge in Hinglish , a mixture of Hindi and English in their speech. There are many other variations too. Where else would you hear thirgs like:

Don't stand in front of my back.

Don't stand behind me.

Who took the airout of my cykill?

Who let the air out of my cycle tub?

Will you have some tea-shee or biscuit -viscuit?

Will you have some tea or biscuit?

Why are you kneel-downing?

Why are you kneeling down?

Sorry Sir, I am hurry-upping.

Sorry Sir, I am hurrying up .

Open the doors of the windows. Why are you rettofying the lesson?

n the windows . Why are you learning the lesson by h'eart?

Now be relax, loose your body, loose

Now relax, loosen your body, loosen your

your arms, loose your legs.

arms, and loosen your legs.

You, rotate the ground two times.

You, run around the ground twice.

You, go and understand the tree

You, go and stand under the tree.

I have cold in my nose.

I have cold.

50

REMOTE WORKING : IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

Confusing Phrases Some of the most commonly used Indianized phrases are described here: •

Off it and on it are commonly used instead of switch it off and switch it on respecti vel y.

•

Carryovers form Hindi expression/usage.

Example:

Your good name please. I was here only. Can we meet tomorrow itself?

•

In South India, phrases such as that and all is used to convey the meaning all of that or regarding that. ~

Example:

That and all I don't know. I need my book now.

•

Don't be shocked when you hear the phrases current went and current came. This implies that the power went out and the power came back respectively.

•

Isn't it? and no? are the two commonly used tag questions.

Example:

"You are coming no?" instead of "You are coming, aren't you?"

Recommendation •

As an immediate measure, Indians working in the multinational companies (that is, those who interact with remote team members) , should try to improve their spoken language. They have to try and eliminate the use heavy accent and stop using confusing phrases. Don't continue to have the I am like this only attitude.

•

The problem of accent and confusing phrases should actually be taken care of at school levels. The students should be taught to overcome the heavy accent. " accents and use of confusing Unfortunately, the students pick most of the strong phrases at school not only from the other kids, but also from the teachers.

4.2.3 Non-Verbal Communication Experts say that 80% of all communication is made up of non-verbal cues and contextual signals such as facial expressions and body movements. Different cultures have different forms of non-verbal communicative cues. There are different ways of expressing agreements and disagreements. So, there is a possibility that miscommunication may arise because of cultural differences in communication styles. Unfortunately, this may cause misunderstandings, delays, and conflict which may eventually result in project failure.

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

51

•

Some Indians shake their head from side to side to indicate that they understand what you are saying. This does not essentially mean that they agree with you. It only means that they understood what you said. This gesture is American equivalent of saying no.

•

When talking to an older or elderly person, Indians/Japanese might look down out of respect for the person they are talking with. Non-Asians consider this as being disrespectful and/or suspicious. For them, direct eye contact means honesty and sincerity.

Recommendation •

Train the managers and the team members at different locations about differences in the non-verbal communication. This will help in effective communications between cultures.

•

During one-to-one conversations or meetings, clarify the facts. When dealing with different cultures, never assume to understand or to be understood. Pretending to understand causes problems at a later stage. Hence, take time for extra communication to clarify the facts properly.

•

The managers in both the locations should communicate frequently. Apart from email communication, they should also have telephonic meetings. Thus, they can discuss issues if any, and sort them before they become bigger problems.

4.2.4 British and American English In India, English is not treated as a foreign language. It is infact a part of the cultural identity of the country. India has been under the British rule and it has adapted English as the primary language used for educational and official communication. Hence, the educational system in India follow the British linguistic model. We as students, learn British English. At work, many of you might have to adapt to American English style. There are significant differences in American and British English-in its usage, punctuation, units, and pronunciation.

Spellings In Britain, you analyse, modernise, colour and normalise; where as in the US, you analyze, modernize, color, and normalize. Check the difference in the spellings and the use of comma in both the cases. A few common words that are different in American and British English are listed in the Table 4.2.1.

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

52

American

British

aluminum

aluminium

analyze

analyse

check

cheque

color

colour

meter

metre

behavior

behaviour

learned

learnt

Table 4.2.1: Spellings-American and British Usage of Words

•

What is bonnet, windscreen, and boot in Britain is hood, windshield, and trunk respectively in the US. For the Americans, the boots are on their feet and their cars have flats. The British have boots are on their cars and their flats are called apartments in the US.

•

In the US, the temperature is measured in Fahrenheit, where as in UK, it is in Celsius.

•

In India, Canada, and Britain, a metre is a measurement of length and a meter is measuring device as in "thermometer". In the United States, meter is used in both cases.

~

Grammar

Differences go beyond spelling, pronunciation, and certain words and expressions. Some grammatical practices are different as well. •

According to the American English rule, use a comma before the last item in a series (before and and or).

Example:

I like apple, guava, grape, banana, and strawberry.

In British English, the comma before and is not required. •

The U.S. rules of punctuation place the period inside quotation marks. The British put period outside of quotation marks (unless they are part of the quotation).

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

4.3

53

Writing

Majority of the managers from the parent companies feel that the work done by nonnati ve English speaking technical writers may need additional editing. Even if the documentation written by such writers is technically spund, it does not necessarily mean that it is linguistically correct, usable, and user-friendly. The managers fear that this might delay the deadlines due to the extra time taken for edits and rewrites, and thus increase the cost. The challenges associated with writing are mainly because of the following factors: •

Lack of experience (see Section 4.3.1).

•

Differences in language (American/British). See Section 4.3.3.

•

Differences in the writing styles. - Indians are more wordy. - Use passive voice instead of active voice. - Use of round about sentence structure instead of being direct.

•

Lack of appropriate training in writing (in school level). So, thoughts are not well organized.

•

Lack of time to accommodate appropriate training schedules due to tight deadlines (see Section 4.3.5).

•

Lack of proper tools (see Section 4.3.7).

•

Lack of proper guidelines, process, and/or checklists.

Recommendation

These problems can be changed/rectified with a little training. Provide initial training to the Indian writer on the following aspects: •

Basic rules of technical writing.

•

American/British English.

•

Restricted and concise writing.

•

Use of appropriate guidelines, style guides, and checklist.

•

Use of consistent styles across offices.

•

Technical writing concepts.

•

Difference between technical writing and other forms of writing.

54

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

This is where local managers come into picture. They can help in the following ways: •

Impart such training to the new writers (as per requirement).

•

Recruiting writers with the appropriate skills for the required position.

•

Edit and review the documents written by the writer before submitting them.

4.3.1 Lack of Experience Experience, or rather lack of it is one of the main problems recognized by several managers associated with offshore documentation. In most of the cases, technical writers cannot analyze the technical source materials properly, let alone write it. The challenges associated with writing·is due to lack of training and writing experience.

Recommendation To overcome the lack of technical writing experience, provide appropriate in-house training before allocating projects to the writers so that they write effectively. •

Language oriented training--concise writing, consistency, parallelism, etc.

•

Effective, restricted, and concise writing.

•

Audience analysis.

•

Documentation development life cycle (DOLe).

•

Use of process, guidelines, and checklists.

•

Review process.

4.3.2 Non-native English Writers It is notJ!ight to blindly say that t~hnical writers in India are not good writers. If it was so, the process of offshoring work to India would have stopped long ago, when it just started. In India, English is the formal language used in academic and business areas. Initially the turnaround time could be affected due to need for in-house training, extensive peer-editing, reorganizing information, and incorporating the required changes. But after a couple of months, things settle down. According to some surveys, most of the documentation manager are satisfied with the work done by Indian technical writers, after some initial training.

Recommendation Though there are some drawbacks, in the writing by the Indian writers, they can definitely be overcome.

55

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

•

Provide a.p propriate training. The challenges associated with writing is largely due to lack of training. In most cases, a little on-the-job training specific to effective and restricted writing, organization of information, and use of styles guides will be of a great help.

•

Allow a little exibility in deadlines. Just after setting up the documentation team, during the initial training phase, the manager in the remote location should consider a little extra time to accommodate time for peer-edits and making the required changes.

•

Consider the time taken to complete a given project. If the technical writers are not good writers, editing and rewriting takes more time than what is usually required. But, after the initial training period, it does not increase the scheduled time of the project. It is a common observation that the Indian writers take relatively less time for understanding the subject, collecting the information, and writing the document. They use the extra available time for performing peer edits of the documents. Thus, the time taken for completing a project is effectively the same.

~

India

II Others

Gather Info

Write

Self Edit

India

Others

Peer Edit

Other Review

Other Reviews

Peer edits

Gathering Information

Writing

Change and lJpdation

Peer edits

Duration of Time

Other Reviews

Changes and Updation

Changes and Updation

56

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

•

Select an on-site manager or project leader. A person with technical writing experience and a good insight of the documentation process should be part of the recruiting committee. This person should know the requirement of the work, the documentation processes, procedures, style guides, templates, SDLC, DDLC, software, tools, etc. This will help in: -

Understanding the requirements of the team.

- Recruiting the writers With Indian market and requirement in mind. - Setting up the documentation group in the local office by recruiting writers with mixed abilities and skill sets. - Setting up the process and guidelines for the local team. - Ensuring a proper co-ordination of communication and work between the teams. - Providing appropriate training.

4.3.3 Which Version of English Decide and use one standard version of the language. Maintaining two sets of English documents for different (European, American, and other) customers is an unwanted expense.

Recommendation •

Choose a standard language that will best suit most audiences. These days, most markets accept US English as the standard version of the language. Hence, it is a good decision to choose American English as the standard language for all documentation. But, it is a corporate specific decision.

•

Create a glossary of standard terms.

•

Follow the writing standards, styles, and guidelines.

4.3.4 Training on Effective Writing Some documentation managers from the parent companies have stated that there has been problems with the quality of work in the documentation created by the Indian writers. But, they have also accepted that planned faining efforts help in overcoming them.

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

57

Recommendation Many organizations have been successful in training their documentation teams based in India to write effe·ctively. This is done in the following ways: •

Train the writers about the preferred writing style, like: - Using active voice. - Avoiding use of gender based language. - Developing a more concise writing style.

•

Inform the team members about the preferred styles and guidelines to ensure consistency.

•

During the setup process, the Indian managers should visit the remote office for training and understanding the work process. The local managers will get a good understanding of how the remote team functions. It will be easier for them to set up similar process and help in training the writers in the local office.

•

Initially assign mentors in the remote office to review the documentation created by the Indian writers to ensure consistency and quality in the writing. This will help the local editors understand the commonly made errors and areas that require closer look and edits. Then, the local editor can take over!

4.3.5 Turnaround Time It has been seen that the department in the offshore location requires a longer documentation cycle during the initial stages. This happens because of time-zone differences, communication problems, training requirements, and inadequate work quality. Additional co-ordination time, training, and peer edits also take up time. Though this is a matter of concern, most of the managers from the parent organizations find that after the training phase and after the team settles down, there is no longer any concern regarding the turnaround time.

Recommendation Improve initial communications and develop clear guidelines so that the team in India receive appropriate support. This reduces the turnaround time. Difference in the timezone if used appropriately, increase productivity because of a round-the-clock approach. For information on time-zone, see Section 9.7. •

The writers in the remote location should be told about the importance of supporting the Indian writers (atleast during the initial setting up phase).

58

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

•

They should be asked to respond back to queries and concerns on time without any delay.

4.3.6 Translation Costs Translation to other languages is easy when the original English text is error-free. If not, the translation efforts results in significant increase in cost and time.

Recommendation Translation requirements must be considered when training the writers in the offshore site. •

Train the writers to use the preferred style. Experienced writers also can benefit from such training to unlearn the styles and preferences used in the previous organization and adapt to the styles and preferences used in the present organization.

•

Before sending a document for translation, ensure that the document is edited for language and standard usage.

•

Consider the associated factors and prepare guidelines and process to be followed for preparing translation ready documentation. Strictly follow the guidelines and procedure that help to produce documentation.

•

Document the extra activities the writers have to perform. Educate the writers about the newer process and the activities they have to perform before starting the work for translation.

•

Avoid making changes to the source document in the areas which has already been translated, unless there is a need to do it. Having to translate already . translated text because of unnecessary minor changes increases cost and time.

4.3.7 Tools Most of the time, the tools used at the remote office are not made available at the offshore location. The incompatibility in tools require the files be converted to readable formats at both locations, increasing time and cost.

Recommendation •

Remote team should provide information about the tools to be used.

•

Installation of the required software and setting up the process should be done before recruiting the team.

59

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

•

The remote team should provide appropriate help in putting together the documentation process. They should also provide focused training regarding the use of tools and guidelines.

•

Share the trouble shooting tips about the different tools being used.

•

Tools must be same across offices in all the documentation teams . .

Using uniform tools and providing adequate training means additional cost, time, and effort. But these are initial investment which will prove to be fruitful in the long run. Let us not be penny-wise and pound-foolish (cautious with small amounts of money, but not so attentive or careful regarding larger amounts).

4.4

Cultural Differences

Almost all the countries have excellent work ethics. Considering that people are now well read and well traveled, the working culture might almost be the same worldwide. However, differences in cultures, religious holidays, conflict, decision making styles, recruitment styles, the office cultures, family habits, festivities, celebration, and appraisals methods can cause misunderstanding and create differences which sometimes is a hindrance in managing the offshore teams.

• Festivals

• Family gatherings

• Career prospects

• Religious beliefs

• Birthday celebrations

• Educational focus

• Celebrations

• Anniversaries

• Hierarchy

• Customs

• Children's school day

• Recruitment

• Ceremonies

• Language

• HR policies

There may also be other differences-regional, generational, departmental, functional, and organizational differences. All these differences in management styles across cultures and nations that affect members of the sallie virtual team in different ways.

Example:

A team member from one culture may find the management style of a manager or team leader objectionable even though the members from other cultures are not bothered by the same behavior.

Cultural differences increase because of the boundaries that exist in the different cultures. The fact that each team creates its own culture, depending on the kind of managers they have--.:....open, micro-managed, positive team spirit, help from team members,

60

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

restricted communication, etc., adds to the complexity of the situation and aggravates the problem. Hence, it is very important for the management teams to get together and discuss these differences, and find how they might affect the relationship among the team members.

4.4.1 Religious Holidays When working with different countries, considering only the festivals celebrated worldwide (Christmas, Ramadan, or New Year) will not suffice. Different cultural and religious backgrounds have different religious holidays. •

In Europe, people usually take a few weeks holiday in summer.

•

In Australia, people may be on summer vacation in the month of January.

•

In the US, people usually take a long vacation during Christmas and New Year.

•

In India, it is far more obvious because each state has its own cultural background, language, and festivals. -

People normally take time of during Diwali or Dusherra. The Hindu festivals don't have fixed dates. Diwali and Dusherra usually occur during October or November.

-

People with school going kids may take longer vacation during April or May when their kids have summer vacation at school.

-

Different states have their important festivals.

Example:

The schools and most of the offices are closed for about 10 days in Kerala for Onam celebrations. No other state in India has holiday for Onam. Similarly, Ganesh festival is celebrated in the other states, but not like it is celebrated in Maharshtra, with great pomp and show for 10 days.

4.4.2 Social-Cultural Impact Apart from religious cultural differences, there are also social-cultural differences. This will impact in the following ways: •

Space--Natural social distances vary by culture. -

Americans have normal conversations atleast one feet apart.

-

Arabs are more comfortable standing much closer. During a meeting, Japanese are very careful about where they sit, as it depends on the rank and power.

61

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

- Americans sit wherever there is a seat available. - In India, you will find two male or female friends walking with their arms around each other, which is a very harmless gesture. It may not be viewed so in the Western and European countries. •

Time--Time has different values and meanings in different cultures. People in the United States and in Japan, take time and deadlines very seriously. Indians may not believe in keeping close track of schedules and they probably believe in spending time building relationships. For details, see Section 6.3.

•

FriendshiIr-In countries like India and France, friendships and business relationships take a long time to develop. Business is formed on relation and friendship because people prefer to do business with those they know.

4.4.3 Work Cultural Impact Some of the work related cultural differences are: •

Agreement-Believe it or know there is difference even in expressing disagreement. It also varies from culture to culture. In Asian cultures like Japan and India, disagreements are worked out at a personal level. They meet usually for ceremonial purposes and the concerns and disagreements are hushed up. Where as in United States, disagreements (not personalized issues) are public, people can voice their opinion, and debate on it.

•

Motivation-Individuals from different cultures are motivated differently. Everybody irrespective of culture likes personal recognition. In France and Germany, people may like to get time off. In India, people may prefer a bonus or materialistic gain.

Open conflict is considered to be embarrassing.

People are encouraged to deal with conflict openly.

There is overlap of work and professional relationship.

There may be overlap of work and professional relationship, but it is kept aside during work.

Give greater emphasis to relationships Many business deals often take place due to strong personal relationship.

When making business decision. focus is on the requirement, cost and other important factors.

62

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

Recommendation Considering cultural differences when managing, interacting, and communicating with people from different backgrounds and countries will help in proper communication. This will help in avoiding miscommunication and reducing management problems associated with cultural differences. To reduce the impact of these differences, do one or more of the following: •

Cross-cultural training-The team members at the different locations world wide should receive cross-cultural training. This will provide valuable insight regarding the cultural difference. It will also help each team understand how their own cultural beliefs affect the thoughts, assumptions, and expectations regarding the management decisions.

•

Clear confusion--When communicating across cultures, never make assumptions of being understood or about having understood. If there is a confusion, mention it and clear the confusion upfront.

•

Discuss-The management teams should get together to discuss the cultural differences. They should identify the areas that will cause problems. Find out areas that will cause more 't rouble than the others. Find how different aspects of cultural differences might affect the relationship among the team members and how they can be avoided.

•

Visit the remote office-The managers and/or team members should visit the offshore teams. This builds mutual trust and improves communication. This is also the best way t6 understand the culture and working conditions of the other country. If such trips are too expensive, at least the managers should visit each other.

They can ~ee and understand the cultural differences and the work processes. They can aJso share their experiences with the respective team members. •

Communication--In a distributed team, communication and work has to go on. So, the team members in either locations should make their travel or vacation plans known to the team members in th,e'distant locations. This makes it possible for other team members ask queries or plan their work knowing that a concerned person is not available for intermediate communication.

•

Improve work relationship--Personal visits though very expensive is the best way to meet team members and to improve work relations. If this is not possible, take effort to understand the differences and to build personal relationships via other sources of communication like emails and regular telephonic discussions.

63

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

4.5

Lack of Strategic Planning

No matter what your industry, company, or role, managing remotely presents common challenges to those who take part in it. The biggest challenge is to ensure that all team members feel a part of a single organization focused on a common set of goals, not just within my team, but within the overall organization. Problems like additional cost, reduced quality of work, and time to complete the projects, arise due to lack of planning. To create an effective offshore team, managers in the remote location must plan well in advance . Careful strategic planning, considering certain factors is essential for successful working of remote teams.

• Documentation manager (remote location) • Local management team Local documentation manager or team leader • Local documentation manager • Remote documentation manager • Project/Product managers (if required) Local documentation manager with support from the remote documentation manager Local documentation manager • Local documentation manager • Remote documentation manager

As organizations are increasingly finding opportunities to establish teams that are not only spread out within countries but also outside the borders and continents, technology is helping to make the world appear smaller. Global manager needs to build on the skills they already possess and develop behaviors that breaks borders and barriers to establish, develop, inuence, motivate, and reward teams. Quite often, the local managers do not have a direct reporting line to their global teams and so have to adjust to a more local management style. For details, see Chapter 8, Strategic Planning.

Recommendation Leading a global team goes beyond just bringing people together virtual communications channels. It starts with a clear strategic focus, reinforced by advanced leadership skills. If you talk about this subject with the managers who have a successful remote

64

REMOTE WORKING: IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

functioning team, you will realize that they had either done a thorough study and had a strategic plan for setting up a remote team or they had the initial phase of dissatisfaction and discomfort, but were intelligent to quickly learn from their mistakes and work on them. A successful global team is the one that develops clear strategic plans and communicates these local and international objectives to all the team members so that all are aware of it. It will be mutually beneficial. For successf\ll functioning of the remote teams, the managers at the local and remote locations should be involved in a number of activities: •

Hiring-Adapt a hiring process to suit the requirement. In most cases, the recruitment process could be longer and complicated. Do some preparation even before advertising for the position. For details, see Section 7.1, Hiring Process.

•

On-site manager-Select an on-site manager or project leader to set-up and lead the team in India. Select a person who has relevant technical writing experience, who knows about the requirement of the work, the documentation processes, procedures, style guides, templates, SDLC, DDLC, software, and tools. Such a person can recruit the right type of writers and set up the documentation group in the local office. For details, see Section 9.2, Hire Local Manager.

•

Understand differences--The managers in both the locations should learn about working with remote teams across different cultures: -

Communication differences

- Cultural differences - Language differences •

Establish training plans--Establish a training plan for the new team and their members. For detailed information see Section 4.5, Training.

•

Develop skills-The managers on both locations should develop skills and knowledge needed for building successful remote teams . -

Clearly communicating critical information.

- Use new technology to improve efficiency. -

Avoid typical pitfalls of remote team.

- Build trust. - Handle global challenges.

CHALLENGES OF REMOTE MANAGEMENT

65

- Understand and respect cultural differences. - Accomplish time-driven goals at a distance. •

Develop processes--Develop a common documented process that is followed by the teams in all the global locations. For details, see Section 7.3.

•

Reporting-Identify and formalize reporting structure in the team.

•

Select appropriate projects--During the initial stages after the team is setup, ensure that initially you have an opportunity to work with local developers. For information see Section 7.4, Planning Projects.

4.6

Training

In India, most of the writers getting into the field do not have writing experience or knowledge of user-centered information design or structural writing. Indian writers with technical backgrounds without writing experience are strongly inuenced by technology. They may produce documents that describes the product, but it may not necessarily satisfy the requirements of the user. In spite of all these, it is true to say that the Indian technical writers are hard-working, enthusiastic, and eager to learn. During the training period, they work longer hours to complete the deadlines. When they start working independently, they usually produce good results in shorter duration. Recommendation

•

The person responsible for setting up the team should travel to the parent office to understand and learn the work process, procedures, stylistic matters, guidelines, tools, etc. Armed with all these knowledge, the person can recruit the .right kind of people to set up a documentation group in India site and train the new team members accordingly.

•

Think about and plan for the training and support needed in areas such as decision making, communication skills, cultural awareness, and virtual meeting facilitation. These factors may not be seen as issues at all.

•

The documentation managers or senior writers from the parent office can visit India to train and work closely with the new team members. This will also build up a positive team spirit and a good rapport between the team members.

•

Develop and put into place a training plan for the writers. It is easy to get training in tools such as FrameMaker or RoboHelp in India. But it is equally important to invest in good training programs related to products, technology, writing techniques, indexing, DDLC, and stylistic issues.

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•

4.7

Train the writers to develop ... documentation keeping the users in mind. This will be a continuous learning process and hence thoughtful distribution of projects will help during the initial stages.

Lone Writer

There are some cases where in the documentation team in the parent organization may recruit a lone writer to work in India probably because a product line is entirely developed and tested in that office. So they may need someone to create documentation for that product. In such a case, the writer may not have any local management support and will have to directly report to the manager in the remote location. Such kind of distance working may create opportunities for issues dealing with maintaining or losing trust, miscommunication, and misunderstanding. It may also create feeling of exclusion and isolation.

Recommendation In such cases, it is a challenge for the remote managers to motivate such a writer to work successfully with the remote team members to achieve shared goals.

4.8

•

Have regular formal or informal contact with the person and the local peer.

•

Provide initial training for documentation processes, tools, writing, etc.

•

Provide guidelines, style guide, and checklists to be used for documentation purposes.

•

Remote managers should offer continual reassurance in terms of work, training, mentorship, and support.

•

It does not make sense to have a local documentation manager for one writer. Hence, recruit an experienced writer for the job.

Mutual Trust

Teamwork always depends on mutual trust. When members are co-located, it is easy to develop trust, familiarity, confidence, comfort level in each other because of the informal, spontaneous, and frequent interactions. These elements are crutial for the effective formation and functioning of virtual teams and are formed based on interaction or time spent together. When people are separated by distance, time, culture, the identity of a person gained through face-to-face interaction is ambiguous because the fundamental cues about personality and social roles are absent.

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Trust increases as you interact with the people and get to know them better. Teams possessing sufficient levels of trust and know the habits, interests, capabilities, and skills of team members can build strong relationships that make it possible to have disagreements over content or information and yet continue successfully to work together. Recommendation

Trust is the foundation of all effective relationships-professional, personal, business, or otherwise. People who are expected to work together successfully have to trust one another. That is, they have to respect each other and confirm the worth and value of the other person. Most leaders, managers, and supervisors believe that trust is necessary for healthy work environment and performance and so, they try to build trusting relationships. Teams that have high levels of trust among members perform better a more positive and satisfying experience. To promote trust at work, you will have to take effort to do the following: •

Communicate--Communication is the basic element of any relationshipprofessional and personal. In an open and communicative environment, people feel comfortable to ask for help, ask questions, honestly speak out opinions, raise issues, challenge assumptions, give and receive feedback, or acknowledge that they do not understand certain things. Trust and communication are closely relatedtrust influences communication and communication influences trust. You need to put in effort to maintain trust by avoiding miscommunication. Long distance communication is a key element of trust and needs to be considered and put into practice. Trust is related to the frequency and quality of communication. So, it is true to say that regular communication fosters and sustains trust.

•

Share information-People start trusting you when you share information, tell the truth, speak with good intention. It helps establish norms for flow of information, share information, provide feedback, and work with mistakes that have been made.

•

Be honest- To be able to speak directly and honestly about the issues is another factor that contributes to mutual trust. When people are able to articulate and then reference their expectations and understandings of boundaries and agreements, they are able to openly communicate as they continue to negotiate more difficult issues.

•

Prove yourself-People start trusting your competence when you display the ability to perform job responsibilities with minimal supervision, without much

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effort. Helping team members to learn new skills or tools build up their trust in you and in your competence. Feelings of self-worth and value are directly tied to the presence or absence of competence trust. It allows individuals to leverage and further develop skills, abilities, and knowledge, particularly those required for virtual collaboration. •

Invest time and effort-To work effectively the team members must trust and believe in one another. Unfortunately, trust does not come from knowledge, experience, or skills. It is a feeling to be felt and so it is important for the managers to invest time and put in effort in creating an atmosphere of trust and understanding at the outset of the project. This will help the team members from different locations work together without any issues and/or problems.

Though it is necessary, building trust depends on the behavioral nature of the individuals in the team. Hence, trust can be built and broken as well. It takes a lot of effort and time to create trust, but one silly little thing can damage that trust. Once the trust between the team members gets damaged it will be a difficult task to retrieve it. Broken trust will also cause confusion, distrust, disbelief, doubt, and pain. Hence, a little time and time invested at towards this direction will go along way.

4.9

Time

Time differences have advantages and disadvantages. It is extremely challenging to schedule meetings and co-ordinate a globally dispersed team. Time differences can be problematic for projects that require real-time collaboration. Example:

Consider a team made up of members from India and the Eastern side of the United States. There is ten hour time difference between the two sites. Just as the U.S. team members arrive at work in the morning, the team members in India are busy wrapping up their work for the day. In order to collaborate in a synchronous fashion, one of the teams must work outside normal work hours-the team in the U.S have to come in early, or the team in India have to stay back.

Questions that require answers or guidance from the u.s team (for the Indian team) or from the Indian team (for the U.S team) may have to wait several hours to be answered. As a result, decisions may take longer to be made. If either of the team delay in writing back, the decision process and hence the work will get delayed.

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Recommendation It is extremely challenging to schedule meetings and co-ordinate a, globally dispersed team. However, with a little effort and disciplined approach, you can turn the disadvantage of the difference in time to your advantage and create a twen~y-four-hour work-day. •

Reduce project time by having near around-the-clock progress. Members of the team can hand-over the work at the end of their day to the members located across the globe who are just beginning their workday.

•

A very common solution to this problem is to adapt the contact hour policy. That is, the freedom to call one or more team members (or the manager) of the other team at home during certain hours to get the answer or information so that there is no delay in work. This is outside the working hours of the team members, but they are usually happy to help from the comfort of their homes if an answer is vital to the project, and if it is not going to eat up their time.

Initially, there may be some problem because of the attitudes about being disturbed outside work hours-it differs among cultures and individuals and can create tension among members of a team.

4.10 Technology A majority of remote team communication is carried out with the assistance of technology. Though technology is very useful, it has its own set of challenges as employees must learn to use the technology before they can begin to use it for collaboration. Getting the team members comfortable with this type of interaction with coworkers can be difficult and time consuming. •

Teaching them how to operate the tools or technology for communication.

•

Telling them when it is appropriate to use different types of technology for different purposes.

•

Problem of incompatible technology platforms and communication tools.

•

Incompatibilities in technology can contribute to mistrust.

Virtual teams made up of members from different countries may often have the added problem of incompatible technology platforms and communication tools. Techn.ology incompatibilities can also contribute to distrust.

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Recommendation

Technology is changing our world, workplace, and our way of life. With more and more teams becoming geographically dispersed, using technology for communication is developing into a viable, practical option. Communication by way of email, cell phones, and video conferencing make it possible for employees to seamlessly work away from the office setting. •

Teach the team members the appropriate use of different types of technology for different purposes. This is referred to as matching technology and t~sk.

•

Setup the hardware and software for the new team so that there is no scope for confusion or differences.

•

Train the new members to use the software and provide them support till they can independently start using it.

•••

.':- ..

This chapter discusses the recruitment related problems faced by the managers. It also provides recommendation and best practices to overcome the challenges faced in hiring. •

Section 5 .1: Lack of Trained Writers

•

Section 5.2: Educational Background

•

Section 5.3: Time Consuming Process

•

Section 5.4 : Location and Relocation

•

Section 5.5: Pretendance

•

Section 5.6: Great Expectations

•

Section 5.7: Wrong Attitude

•

Section 5.8: Too Little Communication

•

Section 5.9: Too Much Communication

•

Section 5.10: Confusion and Disinterest

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Effective managers have mastered the ability to understand the expectations of their global clients and partners, communicate critical information clearly, avoid cultural misunderstandings or offending others, and build global relationships that is critical to international success. But first and foremost, requirement is for effective hiring because everything else depends on that. In today's competitive world, companies do not have the luxury to learn from mistakes. Instead , they should try to learn from the mistakes committed by the others . Some of the managers who have been involved in offshoring the technical publications jobs to India find recruiting in India a difficult and time consuming experience. The hiring problems are largely due to ten reasons: Lad, of Trained Writers

Time Consuming Process Location and Relocation

Educational Background Great Expectations

10 Recruitment Problems

Too Little Communication Confusion and Disinterest

5.1

Pretendance

Too Much Communication

Wrong Attitude

Lack of Trained Writers

Although most of the Indians speak fluent English, unfortunately, most of the candidates lack the writing and organizational skills required for technical writing. I have come across many candidates who have undergone the technical writing courses, but don ' t even know how to construct their thoughts in an organized manner. Many of them cannot use the concept of the very important audience analysis .

Recommendations •

Institutions conducting technical writing courses should evaluate, counsel, and check the potential candidates for language, skills, and most importantly, their interest in this field before enrolling them for the courses.

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This will not only increase the credibility of the institution because the candiJates passing out from these institutions will be in demand. Hiring mallagers will not have to spend time and effort evaluating these candidates. •

Create awareness about technical writing. It is probably a very difficult thing to put into practice, but the need of the hour is to have technically apt candidates who are aware of technical writing and view it with a career oriented perspective.

•

Writing (formal and creative) should be included in the school curriculum. Every job function requires some kind of writing skills. If this is taught in the right manner, at the right time, most of the graduates will be reasonably good writers.

•

The schools still follow the age old syllabuses atleast as far as language is concerned. They should change their curriculum to suit the requirement of the industries.

5.2

Educational Background

Most of the Western and European countries have qualified technical writers. This is because they have: •

Well established bachelors degree and/or masters programs in technical writing.

•

Focused and long term training opportunities.

•

Writing (in some form or the other) as an integral part of the curriculum at school and college level.

In India, rules of good writing is not taught seriously at school and college levels. Indian technical writers come from varied educational backgrounds-journalism, physics, chemistry, arts, commerce, computer science, engineering, literature, business management, and so on. •

The writers with technical background usually produce technically sound documentation, especially when they are co-located with the development and/or engineering teams. But the chances are that the focus of the documents, organization of information, and the quality of writing may not be upto expectation.

•

The writers with background in English literature or journalism may have a longer learning curve for understanding the technical aspects of certain projects (like engineering or medical products). They may produce a well written document, but on the flip side, they will require a longer learning curve and the documents written by them may require many rounds of technical review.

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Recommendation Balance the team by recruiting good writers and technically inclined persons. Recruit writers with appropriate academic background having reasonably good writing skills. Considering" the following aspects will help the local managers in recruiting the right combination of writers to form a well-balanced team. •

Documentation projects often require the writers to make intelligent guesswork and assumptions right until the final phase of the project. So, apart from writing skills, the candidate should have other skills and capabilities.

•

Depending on the nature ofthe product (hence the content), hire individuals with appropriate technical degrees or subject matter expertise.

•

Recruit untrained technical writers who have flair for writing. Employing untrained writers (or freshers) require focused and well r!anned in-house training. Hence, there will be a longer training and learning curve in the initial stages, but the writers will become highly productive.

•

For a small team say, 2-5 writers, recruit technically inclined candidates with a flair for writing.

5.3

Time Consuming Process

In most of the organizations, the managers from the parent company come to India to conduct interviews, written tests, and recruit writers to setup a team. Since there is a lack of trained writers, the resumes of all the candidates with the potential to be good communicators are considered. To get reliable results, hundreds of resumes have to be scanned and numerous interviews have to be conducted before shortlisting a handful of candidates. This takes up a lot of time, effort, and is a stressful job as well.

Recommendation In different parts of the world, technical writing is viewed with a different perspective and value. The recruitment managers should understand that the basic skills sets that needs to be considered during recruitment and the way interviews and tests are conducted would be different in different countries. In short, the yard stick for measuring the skills of the prospective writers and recruiting them in India are different. Hence, you should consider the following: •

Understand the differences regarding the technical communication market, the demand, the skill sets, and educational scenario in India.

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Example: In most of the Western and European countries, the basic skills required for technical writers are often taken for granted. You cannot assume the same for the writers in India, specially if you are recruiting freshers. •

Establish an objective means for measuring the skills. Do not blindly use the techniques and tests used in the parent company to evaluate the local candidates. Those are created keeping a different set of criteria in mind. Based on your research and depending on your requirement, decide in advance how you plan to check some of the skills (language, writing, attitude, aptitude) of the candidates. Have a set of questions and/or written test ready that will help you judge the skills of the Indian writers.

•

For a start-up department in India, hire a documentation manager or team leader. If you can find an excellent on-site manager, it is more likely that the offshore activities will be successful. - Experienced writers will be familiar with the required skills, educational background, basic attitude, and the other requirements of the job, specific to Indian market. They will be in a better position to assist the remote manager in recruitment. The remote managers will have lesser work to do. - A more senior writer will actually be in a position to handle the entire recruitment process. - This will help in effective hiring process, training the new hires, and controlling the projects.

5.4 Location and Relocation Most of the trained and experienced technical writers are located in cities like Mumbai., Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Noida. People who are well settled in one location (say, Pune) may not want to relocate to another place (say, Noida) even if they are offered monetary incentives. In case of bachelors/spinsters, the location where the family (read parents) resides determines whether or not they will relocate to a particular place. Even if they relocate, they may soon look out for a change of job that will allow them to go back closer to their families.

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Recommendation As far as possible, try to recruit local employees. This does not mean that you should not recruit out-station candidates. There are cases, where in the candidates may want to move out of the town or city they belong to. If you find someone who fits in the profile very well. go ahead. You just have to spend some extra time trying to check the stabi I i ty f"ctor.

5.5

Pretendance

Very often, you will come across candidates who reply confidently with well rehearsed answers, without knowing what they are talking about. •

They pretend to know everything related to the job. They may define technical writing and tell you about a few skills required for the job. But when you probe a little further, they will be unable to answer intelligently.

•

Some candidates say that they are voracious readers when they probably read a book or two in a year.

•

Some make a generalized statement, "I love reading," while some may tell you that they read the newspaper regularly, the others exclaim how much they love reading Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and books by Enid Blyton. Nothing wrong with these books, except that they are kiddies stuff!

•

Some candidates claim to love writing. Ask them what they have written and they proudly tell you that they have created their project reports.

•

I have heard many candidates make the statement, "I am extremely passionate about writing," but they don't have any writing sample (story, poem, article, travellogue, blog, etc.) to show of their passion. What kind of passion is that? A person who cannot shake a leg to music or who has not yet danced to music cannot say, "I am passionate about dance". The same applies to writing as well.

Recommendation It is better to avoid candidates who pretend a lot-who pretend to be interested in technical writing, pretend to be voracious readers, and pretend to know facts. Chances are they may pretend to work too!

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5.6

77

Great Expectations

Like every where else, most of the candidates have great expec·tations and a very high opinion about themselves. They do not take stock of themselves-they do not check if they have the required skill for the job they are applying for. They usually focus only on their educational qualifications or years of experience and expect to be paid for that, even if that is not what the hiring organization is looking for. •

Even without having any writing skills or related experience, some engineers applying for the job feel that their remuneration should be much more than a nonengineer who is techno-savy and an excellent writer.

•

People changing careers from a totally different field after many years of experience, having no relevant skills or knowledge about the job profile, expect to be paid more than what they currently earn. Their justification is that the change of job should give them a hike in the salary. This is true if they are changing jobs in the same field because then, their experience and skills will be of immense use to the organization. Otherwise most of them are as good as freshers.

Recommendation Many a times, the local hiring managers get pressurized because they are unable to fill in the position in 3-4 months time. They are answerable to the not only to the local management, but also at the parent company. Hence, they might end up lowering the hiring requirement or recruiting someone who is really not capable or deserving.

•

Do not lower the hiring standards. Although there are numerous jobs vacancies available there aren't enough qualified people to fill in the technical writing positions. Since the managers have to fill the open positions with in a given time, they often lower their hiring standards. They recruit candidates who don't fit in the bill or agree to the whims and fancies of the unsuitable candidates. The saying, precaution is better than cure suits this scenario much more than something is better than nothing. It is best not to entertain such candidates, because as the hiring managers you set up a bad trend, and later you whine about the scenario you have created yourself.

•

Let these candidates know their actual worth. Inform such candidates that like any other job/career, candidates having the expected skill sets and/or experience, will be paid accordingly. Show them their written test and ask them to justify that they are suitable for the position.

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Let them justify that they satisfy the expectations of the advertised position and are better than the candidates who are freshers. Check what they have to say! If the candidates get to know their true worth, they may either change their mind or will not make such mistakes atleast in the future.

5.7

Wrong Attitude

Even after providing all the details of the job in the advertisement for the position of technical writers, hiring managers often receive resumes for the position that are not advertised for. Many candidates reply to the advertisement, but apply for the position of development, QA engineers, marketing, etc. What do you do? Simple, press the Delete key. Once upon a time I used to forward these resumes to the HR. But now, I feel that these candidates have a very wrong attitude and hiring managers should forget about them. •

In spite of providing the job profile, responsibilities, and other details in the advertisement, the "engineering" graduates apply for the position only because the word engineering appears in the requirement for educational qualification. They probably do not take the effort to read the entire job profile to check what it is about. I have encountered this problem many times. During the telephonic interviews, the candidates mention that they have absolutely no idea about technical writing. On enquiring why they have applied for the job, they reply as though it is our mistake, "You have asked for mechanical engineers. I am one." It is like applying for an matrimonial advertisement which says Groom Wanted without taking a look at the criteria asked for and saying, "You wanted a groom and I am a man." Does this work? No! Similarly, the former reply also does not work.

•

Candidates with 2 years experience in three or more different companies ask for 40% to 50% hike in salary. Ask them to justify and no one would cite their skills or experience as the reason. Very rarely do they say "Because I am capable and have the required skills" or "I am good a technical writer and a motivated individual." Instead they actually tell you, "Because a change injob demands

higher salary." •

Almost ninety per cent of the candidates, specially those who do not know about the work profile will not even ask you about it when you ask them if they have any questions. Instead they ask, "What will be my salary? Will I be able to move into development if I perform well?" How can performing well as a . technical writer make them suitable for programming or development? Shouldn't

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such candidate try to gather skills and knowledge to help them get a job they want?

•

•

Some candidates have crazy email [email protected]. funkyboy@ gmail.co.in, [email protected]. There is nothing wrong in this, provided these email ids are used only when corresponding with friends or relatives. These should not be used for professional work. Who would want to recruit a crazy girl or a funky boy, or a freak?

Recommendation Filter out such candidates during the telephonic interviews. Do you need people with the wrong ideas and attitude? They are not worth your time. I have come across a couple of instances wherein the candidates did not have the time to check the company web page or read about the job profile. But they mentioned it during the starting of the telephonic conversation and asked us if we could explain what technical writing is about. One of them actually asked if he could read a little more about technical writing, understand it and get back to us after a couple of hours? We obliged. Nothing wrong in that. It only shows of the positive attitude and honesty of the candidate.

5.8

Too Little Communication

Most of the time, Indian candidates are reluctant to ask questions during an interview. Experienced writers may ask questions and clear any queries they may have. Candidates just out of college may be interested in knowing only about the salary and perks. This reluctance in asking questions often gets them a job they are not interested in. Later they would want to move on. This causes a lot of problems for both the employees and the employers. Recommendation •

During the interviews, make the candidate feel comfortable.

•

Tell them that they are free to ask any questions, queries, or concerns they may have.

•

Even if they don't ask, tell them in detail about the job profile and what they are expected to do.

•

Students at college level must be made aware of the changing interview scenario.

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5.9

Too Much Communication

It is very unfortunate that at times the community of writers are not ~ery professional. They not only discuss the writing tests given by the organization with their friends, but also publish them in the mailing lists and online forums. Such candidates should know that recruiting managers may also be the members of such lists and forums and they might loose out the chance of being recruited even if they are found to be suitable. Recommendation

Discussing the corporate tests and interviews on a personal level (with an individual) is acceptable, but announcing it in a mailing list cannot be called sharing information. It only shows the unethical and unprofessional behavior of the individual. The need is to educate the younger generation and instill the element of professionalism in them.

5.10 Confusion and Disinterest Most of the time people opt to become technical writers and then after a few months, or 1-2 years, they want to make a transition into quality assurance or development teams. They feel they will be paid better or that they have better prospects in those fields. The youngsters today probably don't realize that they should choose a profession that they enjoy doing and which gives them satisfaction interms of work, roles, and responsibilities. Unfortunately, the focus is towards the remuneration and not towards their own interests, flaws, or drawbacks. They don't realize that if they over come their drawbacks, they can progress well in any chosen field. •

There are instances when the candidates attend interviews so that they can use the offer letter to get a better raise in the organizations they work in. So there are candidates who might accept an offer but then not show up for work, because they were probably not interested in the offer at all.

•

Few others see this as an optional job that pays well, when they are not able to get their dream job. They may not be interested in technical communication as a career. For them, it is a stop over job.

•

Most of the budding engineers and science graduates view technical writmg as an opportunity to enter an organization and then move on to other departments if they perform well. They feel it is below their dignity and intelligence to work as a technical writer, which has often made me wonder about my decade-long profession.

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•

Indian work culture is such that the employees are usually concerned with upward mobility in the corporate ladder. Even if the work atmosphere, job profile and the salary are all attractive enough, employees feel the move-on itch after 2-3 years . They tend to leverage one job against another for more salary and a supposedly superior corporate culture.

Recommendation •

Leave the confused and disinterested people alone. Don ' t think that yo u can try to change their decision. If a writer however good wants to leave your organization for no particular reason, set them free. You are better off without them. If they have a valid reason, YOH 'nay try to check if you can help them out.

•

Trained technical communicators are a rare species in India and so the hiring managers try to recruit such writers at any cost. Hiring managers shou ld not blindly agree to the unreasonable hikes asked by the experienced candidates. If they come from an organization that has a reputation as a good pay master, you need to think again and access why the candidate did not command a good salary in spite of having a reasonable experience and skills (as shown and mentioned by the writers). Don't be in a hurry, try and evaluate such candidates , check their actual worth and then recruit them .

•••

Most of the time, differences in management are caused due to perceived ideas and notions, cultural differences, miscommunication, and lack of support. Some factors taken for granted in the US or in UK may not be even thought about in India or the vice-versa. In this chapter, we shall discuss the differences in management styles . These differences can be changed to our advantage. How? Read on.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Section 6.1: Traditional Approach Section 6.2: Training Requirements Section 6.3: Time Management Section 6.4: Communication Section 6.5: Hierarchy Section 6.6: Time-zone Section 6.7: Designation Section 6.8: Management Support Section 6.9: Flexible Working Hours Section 6.10: Work Process Section 6.11: Job Hopping

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83

There are differences related to factors like communication styles, management styles, work culture, project management, time management, and even recruitment. These factors affect the way projects are handled and delivered. Indirectly, they also affect the success of the projects. The various management related differences are:

6.1

Traditional Approach

Most of the Asian countries like Japan, China, and India have traditional ways of doing things. Hence, they may be more conservative in their management styles. Though they are slow ly adapting the western pattern of management, there could still be traces of traditional management styles. On the other hand, there are countries which believe that the management means planning and performing individually and collectively as per requirement.

Recommendation Understand the cross-cultural differences and develop clear work practices for the team members at multiple locations. •

Hierarchy is given a lot of importance in the Indian work culture. This is one of the main reasons why employees like to take up the managerial path instead of technical path. For them, it is all about power and people management.

•

In the US, hierarchy is important for proper functioning of the team and projects. There are instances wherein people step down from the management positions to

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be able to do the hard core tasks associated with the job. For example, in technical writing, to be able to write, edit, index, etc. For details , see Section 6 .5. •

Though flexible timing is now an accepted part of Indian work culture, other aspects like "working from home" is not! Indian offices should come out of the traditional approach and adapt to concepts that will mClke a positive impact. Working from home is a common work culture in the West. In India, some companies allow this during emergency, but it is not highly promoted, even though it is efficient and productive. This is not really the fault of the local management or the organization. This mode of working is not promoted because the people unduly misuse such opportunities. Most of the time this setup depends upon the type of project and the kind of work. Front desk executive, HR, or IT personal cannot work from home. It the project involves a lot of interaction with people from other teams, physically being in the office makes sense. Instead of being totally against this setup, organizations should identify individuals who could be allowed this exibility. For all you know, the others may also try to become professional and productive to avail this facility.

6.2

Training Requirements

Companies have to use a variety of training methods and tools to support their offshore teams. Unfortunately, this happens occasionally, which is barely adequate to support the writers in creating quality documentation.

Recommendation Remote managers and team members will have to provide initial training and support to the newly setup team so that they can function properly. •

Initially provide detailed instructions on what is expected of a project.

•

Provide the offshore team with support materials including glossaries, style guides, sample documentation, tools and style templates, documentation procedure, quality guidelines, etc.

•

Provide instruction on company philosophy, tools, review processes, products, language and editorial standards, and quality measures.

•

If required, the managers can travel to the other office for receiving or providing training regarding styles, format, and other company specific requirements .

•

Some of the training techniques that may be effective are: -

Train manager in the new location who in turn will train the rest of the team.

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- Assign mentors to the technical writers located in the offshore locations for a while (if required). - Let the offshore writers incorporate edits and technical review comments to the documents created by their remote team members. This will help the Indian writers learn about the errors and the appropriate fixes. - Local managers should create training material specific to the requirements of the local writers.

6.3

Time Management

In many cases, the estimate for projects gets delayed due to relaxed attitude towards time. It becomes a problem even when one member of the team does not take the deadlines seriously and does not strive to meet it. Even though most of the time the Indians do not take time very seriously, they are very concerned about the project deadlines. They try hard and put in all their efforts to work hard and meet the deadlines.

Time is considered to be very valuable and is given a lot of attention.

Time is not given as much value as it should be given. But this definitely does not mean that the rojects are not completed on time.

Give a lot of importance in keeping track of time.

Do not usually believe in keeping close track of schedules (but things are changing now).

May not like to compromise on the time set aside for family or celebrations.

When required do not mind putting in excess hours at work to finish off a task or project.

Punctuality plays a key role not only at work, but in daily life as well.

Keeping someone waiting is not seen as a big issue.

Figure 6.3.1: Time--Western and Indian Perspective

Recommendation •

Cultural training should include discussions of time perceptions.

•

Managers should include time management in their plans. They should be explicit in communicating the schedule and deadline expectations.

•

Indian writers should learn to take deadlines seriously. They should not give excuses for work not done on time, "I did my best." OR "I gave my 100%" OR "I worked over the weekends." These statements are meaningless and do not

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REMOTE WORKING : IN DOCUMENTATION TEAM

hold any value. They should understand that in a professional setup, work should be done to the required quality on time.

6.4

Communication

Do you want to playa game of Chinese whisper at work wherein the person at the end of the chain gets a distorted version of the original information?

Programmer to Project Leader: 'We cannot ao tlie proposea project. It wif{ involve a major aesign cliange ana no one in our team K;p.OWS tlie aesign of tliis legacy system. '){phoay in our company fc.nows tlie language in wliicli tliis appacation lias heen written. It wif{ he a very teaious tasfc. ana we cannot comment on tlie outcome of tlie project . If you asfc. my personae opinion, we sliou{t! never ta~ on sucli projects.

Project Leader to Project Manager: 'Tliis project wif{ involve a aesign cliange . Currently, we aon 't liave any staff tliat lias e;>(ferienct in tliis type of wor~ 'Tlie language is unfamiliar to us, ana so we wi{{ liave to arrange for some training if we ta~ tliis project. In my personae opinion, we are not reaay to ta~ on a project of tliis nature.

Project Manager to Group Manager: 'Tliis project involves a aesign cliange in tlie system ana we aon 't liave mucli e;>(ferienct in tliat area. '){pt many people in our company are appropriatdy trainea for it. In my personae opinion, we miglit he ap{e to ao tlie project hut we wou{t! ntea more time tlian usual to complete it.

Group Manager to Department Manager: 'TIiis projec t involves aesipn re-engineering . 'We liave some people wlio liave wor~a in tliis area ana otlier wlio fc.now tlie impumentation language. So tliey can train otlier people . In my personae opinion we sliou{t! ta~ tliis project, hut Witli caution.

Department Manager to CEO: 'TIiis project wif{ aemonstrates to tliis inaustry our capahifities in remoadang tlie aesign of a complete uagacy system. 'We liave a{{ tlie necessary sQ{Ls ana people to e'(ecute tliis project succtSSfu{{y. Some peopLs nave a{reaay given in Muse training in tliis are to otlier staff memhers. In my personae opinion, we sliou{t! not let tliis project sap hy us unau any circumstances.

CEO to Client: 'Tliis is tlie type of project in wliicli our company specializes. 'We liave e;>