Employee Newsletter

Akbar and Sons prides itself in establishing good relationships amongst all members of staff and ensuring that all their needs are met so as to enable them to better perform their duties. Employees are not just members of staff but a family that works together to accomplish the objectives of the company as well as meeting the set goals. Following the acquisition of Akbar and Sons by BP Oil, new opportunities have thus been created allowing the family to grow to even greater heights. However, due to the different basis of operations for the two companies, there are likely to be some changes within the organization. To enhance sustainability and uniformity of the quality of products and services, some employees from both companies will be required to take some of the duties for both organizations. In order to facilitate this, employees will be expected to transition into a system where they will be working virtually for an extended period of time. Due to the geographical distance between the two organizations, it is impossible to travel to and from each organization as required. However, since the interests of the two organizations are now joined, virtual teams will be incorporated as part of the members of staff.

Akbar & Sons has greatly appreciated all your hard work and determination to build the company to the position it currently holds. It is through your cooperation, attention to details and exemplary skills and competence that have contributed to the success of this company. The acquisition by BP Oil should therefore be seen as an opportunity to extend your talents to further horizon and maintain the same work ethics and quality of service even with the new family and new clients that the acquisition is going to create. As for the virtual teams, all efforts will be put in place to ensure that operations run smoothly and that the company will continue to run smoothly.

“The acquisition by BP Oil should therefore be seen as an opportunity to extend your talents to further horizon and maintain the same work ethics and quality of service”

“The goal is to create good relationships amongst employees through frequent communication and bringing the team closer together”

“…People tend to identify with groups where they feel they have the most similarities with other members in the group”

Briefings will be held on the same day at the same time and all members will be expected to be present for the briefing. The time and day for the briefing will be communicated. The best way to reduce stress and to put team members at ease is by creating a routine where everyone knows what is expected of them and creating something that they are familiar with (Judy et al, 2011). In order to enhance the success of communication, video calls will be used to add a personal touch to the virtual teams. Since the team members lack the office feeling that employees in a physical organization have, the video calls will serve the purpose of recreating a normal office. This will further be facilitated by the official attire that all employees in the team are expected to wear. All communications will remain professional and good working environments must be maintained when any member of staff is online (Dragusha, 2012).

Other cultural factor that will be taken into consideration is the difference technological development for employees living in different regions (Caula, 2006). All measures will be taken to ensure that employees are provided with the means to enable them to work effectively so as to maintain a uniform quality of production. Also, since some cultures prefer to use the forms of technology that they are already familiar with rather than adopting new ones, employees will be allowed to use the forms of technology that they are comfortable with provided it does not affect their level of performance or contribution to the team (Zimmermann, 2011).

References

Aube C, Rousseau V and Tremblay S, (2011) “Team size and quality of group experience: The             more the merrier?” American Psychology Association

Caula G, (2006) “Virtual leadership” The Ashridge Journal

Dragusha C, (2012), “Managing Virtual Teams Guidelines to Effective Leadership” Saimaa             University of Applied Sciences

Judy, Kruyt, Malan, MichielRachel and Tuffield, (2011) “Three steps to building a better top team”             Mckinsey Quarterly

Kayworth, T. R., & D. E. Leidner, (2002) ‘Leadership Effectiveness in Global Virtual             Teams’, Journal of Management Information Systems, 

Serrat O, (2009), “Managing virtual teams” Research gate

Symons, J., & C. Stenzel, (2007) ‘Virtually Borderless: An Examination of Culture in Virtual             Teaming’, Journal of General Management

Zimmermann A, (2011) “interpersonal relationships in transnational, virtual teams: Towards a             configuration perspective” International Journal of Management