Question

In paragraph form, using 300 to 400 words, discuss the use and value of membrane processing in the dairy industry. You need to cite your references here.

Answer 1

More and more teams are becoming globally distributed, especially as businesses look to take advantage of lower staff salaries overseas. The decision to distribute teams globally is usually made several levels above most technology managers. The task of the technology manager is to make the environment work with the team that is available.

Based on your own experience, you can probably list several obvious advantages of having staff in the same geographic location.

Communications efficiency. 80% of the content of a conversation is nonverbal (body language, voice intonations, etc), and most of that is most effectively transmitted person-to-person. Telephones let you pick up things like the tone of someone's voice, and let you have immediate feedback to statements that are made. Video conferencing let you see some of the body language. None of these are a replacement for daily face-to-face contact, but they are tools you can use to make the situation better.

Ease of coordination. When you sit next to someone, there is a lot of informal communication that takes place. All of that makes it easier to coordinate activities. If you at least share a timezone, you can set up regular phone conversations to communicate. When you work across timezones, you have to think a lot more carefully about how to coordinate activities.

Avoid groupthink. People from different locations and cultures bring different assumptions to the table. This can help avoid groupthink, as assumptions are challenged by having a more diverse group of team members.

Standardized, documented processes. In order to communicate effectively, senior team members will need to be more diligent about producing high-quality documentated processes and procedures.

More work hours in a day. “Follow the sun” scheduling has the potential to allow teammates to have better work life balance. Once processes are set up, and a culture of trust is in place, project teams can continue to work problems around the clock.