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Group Presentation (due by Week 10) [10 marks)

This is a group presentation and must be done in-class or virtually using Power Point or any other tool. The presentation should reflect your answers and experience in Assignment 2 (the project). Please refer to the following criteria:

Create 10 slides maximum
The slides should contain the following:
Group members names, IDs, and CRN
A brief description of the virtual team
A brief description of the virtual tool
A brief description of the Virtual work dynamics
A brief description of the proposed reports
Suggestions for future teams.
Support your presentation with pictures from your virtual teamwork.
Each group has 10m (8 minutes presentation + 2 minutes Q & A).
Each student presents for ~2 minutes to divide the time equally between group members.
The presentation should be written and presented in English.
Upload the slides to Blackboard under the Assignment 3 tab by the specified due date.

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Saudi Electronic University
College of Administrative and Financial Sciences
E-commerce Department
Group Project
Group Names:
Group IDs:
Course Title: Introduction to EManagement
Course Code: ECOM 201
Academic Year/ Semester: 2023/20241st Term
Instructor Name:
CRN: 13127
Student Grade: out of 20
Grade Level: Low/ Mid/ High
ECOM 201 Project
Overview
Suppose your group works as a virtual team in a Saudi company that deals with local and global
clients. The company mainly aims to provide digital marketing services and solutions in one
field (e.g., cars, real estate, perfumes, fashion, flowers, healthy food, medicines, etc.). A task has
been given to you by the CEO. The task includes connecting with a Chinese brand that wants to
open an office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The task is considered completed when the team
proposes a strategy to the Chinese company representative and receives their feedback.
Requirements
The group needs to be divided as follows: one team manager, one representative from the
Chinese brand, one technical support expert, and one or two general members.
Write a reflection on your group work process in creating the team, choosing the tools, working
on the tasks, and reporting the strategy to the client.
Reflection (due by Week 10)
ECOM 201
[20 marks]
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The reflection should be written after you establish a successful virtual team. The reflection
should describe the process of 4 main components of virtual management: team building, tools,
procedures, and task management. Please use these guidelines on how to do so:
1. Virtual Team: (4 marks- 200 words)
In this section, you need to describe the virtual team.
•
Name your team and specify the field you will focus on.
•
Who are your team members, and what are their roles?
•
What are the personal objectives of each member (why you joined the team)?
•
What is the collective goal for your team (how will your team be successful in that
field)?
•
How the team experienced Bruce Tuckman’s four different stages of team building?
2. Virtual Tool (5 marks- 700 words)
In this section, you describe choosing a tool for your virtual team.
•
What are the main and complimentary virtual tools did you use to manage the tasks?
(provide pictures)
•
Describe the features of these tools that were useful to your teamwork (provide pictures).
•
Why did you choose these tools? What are the other options?
•
Suppose your budget was SAR 10k; how did you use that budget to get the best possible
tool?
•
How frequently does the team meet? How long is each meeting? (Provide photos of the
team meetings at different times)
•
How the meeting minutes helped your team stay focused? (Provide an example of your
team meeting minutes).
3. Virtual work dynamics (5 marks- 700 words)
•
How did you create a virtual office?
o What are the technical challenges that you faced in your work?
o Give some examples of work ethics/ culture in China.
ECOM 201
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•
How did you utilize vacation time and holiday time?
•
What are the challenges that your team faced in communication?
o Specify how space, time, and cultural differences affected the communication
process.
•
How did you overcome those challenges? (discuss from different roles’ perspectives).
4. Reports and presentations (5.5 marks- 500 words)
•
Provide an example of a proposed strategy your team worked on to make the marketing
campaign successful for the Chinese company in the chosen field.
•
The report should be 300 words describing the status and statistics of the chosen field and
how customers (target audience) can be reached.
o The report should have an introduction, a brief strategy, and a conclusion.
•
Include graphs and statistics to support your report (use local resources. If they were in
Arabic, translate them).
•
The Chinese company representative in your team should provide his/her feedback on the
report (one or two comments)
•
The rest of the team should address those comments.
5. Conclude your reflection (0.5 mark- 100 words)
•
Tell us how your teamwork was, what you would do better, and how you will thrive in
the future.
Useful links:
•
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studentservices/documents/planning-and-preparing-towrite-assignments.pdf
•
APA reference system https://student.unsw.edu.au/apa
•
About plagiarism http://wts.indiana.edu/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
•
About plagiarism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism
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Guidelines for the assignment:
•
This is a group project (4-5 students in each group), which is part of your course score.
It requires effort, collaboration, and critical thinking.
•
Use the given template below. One mark will be deducted if there is this template
is not used.
•
Your assignment must be supported by evidence and resources. Otherwise, your
answer will not be valid.
•
Use at least 3 different references from the SDL including the Textbook
•
Use font Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial.
•
Use 1.5 or double line spacing with left Justify all paragraphs.
•
Use the footer function to insert page number.
•
Ensure that you follow the APA style in your project.
•
Your project report length should be between 2000 to 2500 words.
Up to 20% of the total grade will be deducted for providing a poor assignment structure. The
structure includes these elements paper style, free of spelling and grammar mistakes, referencing,
and format.
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Table of Contents
1.
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
2.
Virtual Team ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
Roles and Objectives of Team Members ………………………………………………………………………… 6
Collective Goal and Team Building ……………………………………………………………………………….. 7
3.
Virtual Tool ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7
Prime and Complimentary Virtual Tools ………………………………………………………………………… 7
Features of Virtual Tools………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Reason for Choosing These Tools and 10K SAR Budget …………………………………………………. 9
Team Meeting and Minutes…………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
4.
Virtual Work Dynamics ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
Investment in Equipment ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
Workspace Station……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10
Technical Challenges …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
Work Ethics in China …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
Vacation and Holiday Time ………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
Communication Challenges ………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
5.
Report and Presentation ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Marketing Strategy …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Feedback from Company Representative ……………………………………………………………………… 12
Team Response …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14
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ECOM 201 Virtual Team Project
1. Introduction
According to Google Insights, more than half of global consumers use search engines to
study product attributes. They visit brand pages and will look up in the mobile apps. That is why
many marketers try to reach the target audience through virtual marketing. It refers to the
company marketing products and services on the internet. Marketing on the Internet has a
transformative influence on companies (Makrides, Vrontis, & Christofi, 2019). It immensely
influences brands and their relationship with consumers because it allows interaction with
consumers in real-time, irrespective of time and regional differences. Online presence increases
brand awareness at a global level and helps potential customers learn more about the brand.
2. Virtual Team
The CEO has tasked our virtual group to assist a Chinese company in digital marketing that
wants to establish a fashion business in Saudi Arabia. Our virtual group is famous for its unique
solution, named Eccentric. The group’s task is to assist the company in marketing fashion
watches in the local Saudi market. We will establish virtual marketing strategies for the fashion
clothing brand to reach the target audience and increase visibility to stand out from rivals. The
team has one manager, a brand representative, a technical support expert, and a general member.
Roles and Objectives of Team Members
The team manager will create guidelines, schedules, and checkpoints for members to
improve productivity. He will provide support and motivate employees. His primary objective is
to manage the group members and the procedures. The representative from the company will
help promote the product to a target audience. His prime goal is to determine the best means for
advertising fashion watches and connecting with customers. The technical expert will provide
technical assistance to help solve operational issues. His goal is to solve a technical problem. The
general member will participate in team meetings and complete administrative tasks.
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Collective Goal and Team Building
Eccentric, emphasizing the Chinese brand and digital marketing, intends to nurture an
association between the brand and the target market. We will take their creations to target
audiences and to influence consumer association with the brand. The team included members
with less familiarity. We needed clear guidance and purpose at the forming stage. We struggled
to reach an agreement over the team’s purpose. Every member tried to overshadow the other.
However, the distribution of roles and responsibilities helped us accomplish our collective goal.
The team manager delegated tasks to each member to focus on the team goal. Every member
effectively works on the allocated task.
3. Virtual Tool
Clear and consistent communication of expectations around goals, roles, tasks, and processes
is essential for successfully managing a virtual team. Communication technology empowers
virtual teams to create and share information and knowledge at extended distances. Virtual tools
establish a sense of physical presence. The virtual team members can distribute and exchange
needed documents (Dávidekova & Hvorecky, 2017). These virtual tools replace physical places
with a virtual presence. Virtual collaborating tools permit professionals to communicate and
collaborate with team members from a distance.
Prime and Complimentary Virtual Tools
We selected Trello for managing group activities. It provides an easy and visual means
for managing projects and organizing tasks. Trello System uses cards created by the user that list
assigned tasks. We can show the progress of each by creating phases as in progress or task
complete. It allows for the addition of many members to events. It also
allows for personalized color codes. We also used Flock and WhatsApp
as complementary tools for messaging and collaboration. Flock offers
messaging and group collaboration. It allows for creating team
discussions around projects and common goals. We also used Flock for
conducting virtual meetings. We used WhatsApp in urgent cases, such as
calling for missing members to appear for unplanned events.
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Features of Virtual Tools
Trello helped us create three boards for task development, growth, and Strategy. We have
lists named ideas, to-do, ongoing, and completed in each card. Team members added cards to
ideas. Other members looked at the thoughts. They commented on them and discussed them with
the team. The manager moved the idea after approving it to the To-do list and distributed tasks to
members. Each member started working on the task assigned and moved the card to the ongoing
board. The manager checked if everything was going smoothly. The members having issues will
move their cards back to in-progress to ask for support from tech experts.
Trello also allowed adding due dates. It helped members track the task. In addition, its
update feature helped keep members aware of any changes. Flock was helpful in direct
messaging and video meetings. It helped in file sharing and real-time communication. Its
unlimited chat history helped the team members collect from where they missed. WhatsApp
helped reach the members anytime without cost. The messages were free and private. It allowed
sending one message to all members at one click.
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Reason for Choosing These Tools and 10K SAR Budget
The only reason we chose these tools is cost-effectiveness. We do not have that much
budget and would want to use tools that are free of charge and easy to navigate. Suppose we
have a budget of SAR 10,000, then we would like to upgrade our current free service to a
Premium plan. The premium plan comes with additional features of tracking and visualizing
multiple projects. We can create timelines, calendars, and boards with more security and control.
Team Meeting and Minutes
The team members meet daily to update progress on the task. Each meeting continues for
about an hour. Sometimes, a meeting will extend to two hours because of disagreements and
lengthy debates. Team meeting minutes create clarity about team goals and planned agenda.
Team minutes gave insights into each meeting and the significant points for each task. It gave a
glimpse of the decision made. It helped members focus and avoid conflict. One sample of our
team meeting minutes follows:
Attendees
Team Manager, General Member, Tech
Support, Brand Representative
Discussion Topics
•
Overview of Current progress
•
Current Scope and Progress
•
Identify Glitches to fix
Action Items
•
Evaluation of Social media
•
Implement new security features
4. Virtual Work Dynamics
Virtual offices are in trend for improving organizational performances. The shift to work
from home facilitates flexibility in time and location. It enables employees to work with more
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responsibilities (Zhang, 2016). Many companies enjoy the benefit of a positive environment
through establishing virtual offices. However, virtual offices also create many challenges and
problems. The team members had to manage and balance work and personal life. They had to
allocate a separate space at home for work. Each member also incurred some expenses- from
buying equipment to purchasing internet packages.
Investment in Equipment
Members set up their workspace station at home. We all invested in buying the latest
equipment to facilitate high bandwidth conversation. We purchased a high-speed internet
package, got a headset, improved the lighting, and colored one wall white. A white background
is always appropriate for video calls.
Workspace Station
We chose an area of the house that was peaceful and away from distractions. We chose a
room that family members will not visit. It was not mandatory. Fewer members also set up a
wireless printer on their table and bought two internet connection packages to use the other in
case one went out of service. We all ensure to keep the workspace station calm and not noisy to
avoid background issues during team meets.
Technical Challenges
Virtual teams do not share the same workspace. It could lead to several challenges
because of a lack of communication and time and zone differences (Indeed, 2023). Our team
encountered several challenges. They were unique to us but manageable. We struggled with
collaboration. Our physical distance caused us to feel separated. Hence, we started a group for
private conversation on WhatsApp to become familiar and engaged with each other. The absence
of office culture leads to different attitudes and belief characteristics at work. Professional
boundaries are necessary for limiting the overlap between personal and office work. We struggle
to create professional boundaries, and our professional duties influence our home life. Many
times, team members will work more than required to produce results. It caused sleep loss, the
feeling of fatigue, and motivation.
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Work Ethics in China
The Chinse culture is collectivist. They value hard work. Chinese are not only willing to
work hard. They feel that they are obligated to work hard. Every team member has a role and
duty to the team and each person. They consider failure to meet these obligations shameful
because that person has let down the others in the group. The Chinese work system considers
laziness as letting the entire team down.
Vacation and Holiday Time
We conducted virtual holiday parties over video conferencing tools. We used Google
Meet for this specific purpose only. We send congratulatory messages and share our stories on
personal social media accounts. We FedEx gifts and cakes to the most performing members and
call for a video conference to celebrate it together. Every member was entitled to take a two-day
vacation leave and take an off from work. The members had the same luxury of public holidays.
We did not work on public holidays. We helped the members with their workload on the holiday.
We would take their part and let the members enjoy the day.
Communication Challenges
One of the challenges was the communication barrier. We resolved it using the
collaborating tool and WhatsApp for instant messaging to facilitate regular communication. Lack
of face-to-face interaction would lead to misunderstanding. We regularly conducted video
meetings to foster a sense of connection and familiarity among team members. It encourages
casual conversations and virtual team-building activities. Time zone differences created the most
hurdles. We were very mindful of time zone variations when scheduling meetings. We rotated
meeting times to accommodate different regions and asked all members to make themselves
available on time. Sometimes, we may have to call for an urgent meeting outside the scheduled
timetable. There was always a possibility of unavailability of all team members. The missing
team member had to scroll through the chat history to catch up with the team. It added load to the
existing workload of the absent member. The member had to adjust their daily schedule because
of the communication gap issue.
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5. Report and Presentation
Every fashion product needs a feasible marketing strategy to stay ahead of competitors. The
Saudi fashion market will generate $109 billion in revenues in 2023 (Bell, 2021)). Analysts
expect the fashion market to grow annually by 5.7% by 2027. The market estimates also reveal
that about 21.4 million users in Saudi Arabia are willing to buy fashion clothing. The youth is
putting the Kingdom on the global fashion pages. The young population studying abroad is
bringing back different cultures, mixing them with Saudi culture. It creates an excellent
opportunity for the Chinese brand to sell its products. The brand should market its product with a
traditional touch for everyone to notice.
Marketing Strategy
Digital marketing should become a considerable part of the marketing and branding
strategy. The company should use social media platforms for marketing. The youth frequently
use social media platforms to search before every purchase decision. Instagram will pair well to
appeal visually and communicate brand personality. High-resolution pictures will help the brand
stand out. Regularly posting content on social media platforms, blogs, and Google ads will
improve search results. It also encourages customers to engage with the company. The company
may also use paid ads on Facebook to target the specific (youth) market. In addition, to focus on
the target market, the company must connect with fashion Vloggers with a youth fan following
to recommend the product. The youth will view these influencers as a trusted voice. It could lead
to creating new customers and create repeatable customers. The company should constantly
engage with customers to gain brand loyalty.
Feedback from Company Representative
Thank you for sending us your ideas and the marketing strategy that will align with our
goals. Your insight really helped us understand the market trend.
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Team Response
We are pleased to know that your experience was a good one. Thank you for entrusting
Eccentric and your kind words. We hope you will not hesitate to let us know if we can serve you
in the future.
Conclusion
Virtual teams have become a significant part of organizational work. The virtual team
comes with many benefits. However, it has its demerits. Team collaboration was challenging due
to time and zone differences. The absence of face-to-face communication leads to many
misunderstandings. We met daily to overcome communication gaps and oversee task progress.
Eventually, our team could propose a marketing strategy to promote the Chinese brand as a
fashion clothing with variation in traditional dress. Promotion on social media platforms,
blogging, and paid ads on Facebook will help attract the target youth audience. The company
should also connect with influencers, having youth following to recommend the brand.
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References
Bell, J. (2021). Inside Saudi Arabia’s thriving fashion industry and its global ambitions .
Retrieved from Al-Arabia News: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudiarabia/2023/08/30/Iside-Saudi-Arabia-s-thriving-fashion-industry-and-its
Dávidekova, M., & Hvorecky, J. (2017). Collaboration Tools for Virtual Teams in Terms of the
SECI Model. 97-111. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-50337-0_9
Indeed. (2023, September). Challenges of Virtual Teams: Causes and Solutions. Retrieved from
Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/challenges-of-virtualteams
Makrides, A., Vrontis, D., & Christofi, M. (2019). The Gold Rush of Digital Marketing:
Assessing Prospects of Building Brand Awareness Overseas. Business Perspective and
Research, 8(1), 4-20. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/2278533719860016
Zhang, J. (2016). The Dark Side of Virtual Office and Job Satisfaction. International Journal of
Business and Management, 11(2), 40-46. doi:10.5539/ijbm.v11n2p40
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Saudi Electronic University
College of Administrative and Financial Sciences
E-commerce Department
Group Presentation Slides
Group Names:
Group IDs:
Course Title: Introduction to EManagement
Course Code: ECOM 201
Academic Year/ Semester: 2023/20241st Term
Instructor Name:
CRN:
Group Grade:
Grade Level: Low/ Mid/ High
out of 10
ECOM 201 Group Presentation
Group Presentation (due by Week 10)
[10 marks)
This is a group presentation and must be done in-class or virtually using Power Point or any
other tool. The presentation should reflect your answers and experience in Assignment 2 (the
project). Please refer to the following criteria:
•
Create 10 slides maximum
•
The slides should contain the following:
o
Group members names, IDs, and CRN
o
A brief description of the virtual team
o
A brief description of the virtual tool
o
A brief description of the Virtual work dynamics
o
A brief description of the proposed reports
o
Suggestions for future teams.
•
Support your presentation with pictures from your virtual teamwork.
•
Each group has 10m (8 minutes presentation + 2 minutes Q & A).
•
Each student presents for ~2 minutes to divide the time equally between group
members.
•
The presentation should be written and presented in English.
•
Upload the slides to Blackboard under the Assignment 3 tab by the specified due date.
Saudi Electronic University
College of Administrative and Financial Sciences
E-commerce Department
Student Names:
Student IDs:
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
4.
4.
5.
5.
6.
Course Title: Introduction to Virtual
Management
Academic Year/ Semester: 2023/2024 _1st
Term
6.
Course Code: ECOM 201
Instructor Name:
Assignment: 3 Project Presentation- GROUP X
Student Grade:
out of 10
CRN: XXXXXX
Grade Level: High/ Middle / Low
2
The Virtual Team

1. Name:

2. Roles:

3. Collective goal:
3
The Virtual Tool
1.
2.
3.
The Virtual Work Dynamics

1. Virtual Office:

2. Virtual communication:

3. Challenges:
4
5
The Proposed Reports

1.

2.

3.
General Suggestions for Future Teams

1.

2.

3.
6
7
Pictures of Your Virtual Team Process
8
Thank You!
Questions & Feedback

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