Experiences of misunderstanding at work scenario 1

Last year as we were preparing for our quarterly meeting, somewhere along the line in our group a misunderstanding occurred within the group. The operations market team who are responsible for putting the quarterly meeting consist of six staff. Five of the staff in the group has been with the company over six years. The last member on the team was a recent transfer from another department, though has also been with the company for about six years as well. Therefore, the majority of the team had taken part in previous market meetings except for the new member. We received an email directed to the team from the Partner in charge of the meeting with bullet points of what each person was expected to do prior to the meeting. The meeting was scheduled one month from the time of the initial email. We knew we had a deadline to meet and what was expected had been outlined in the email. We all proceeded to work on our respective parts, as each part was involved with the other therefore keeping constant communication was key to meeting the deadline. The team noticed that the new team member was not being responsive to emails and it was extremely important we know of her progress since all parts were integral of each other and without her input we were lost. Her non-responsiveness caused stress among the team because we did not know if her portion was completed, and this was imperative for the rest of us to complete our part. The deadline was close approaching and having to follow up consistently with her with minimal or no response was really starting to take its toll on the rest of us, not to mention had us at a standstill to complete our work. The group decided to have a call with her rather than continue to use email, since it was getting us nowhere. Coming from another department we were not quite sure how things were done there, therefore before assuming that she was just blowing the rest of us off, we decided to have the call. We coached her on how important it is to keep in constant communication when it comes to working on our team, especially when we each rely on the other's part to complete our own. To our surprise, she had misunderstood the email and missed the part where it indicated that we must stay in constant contact to ensure that we advise when each other's part is completed for the next person on the team to move forward with theirs. She thought she only had to send an email when she had completed her portion to the Partner who sent the original email. We reiterated that in the future she should re-read the email received and to ask questions if she is not clear on something, to please reach out to someone on the team and we would be very happy to make sure she understands the process expected. It was good that we decided to take another path of communication to seek clarity among the team. The discussion was a bit uncomfortable at the beginning, but the end result was great and our team was able to complete everything for the meeting and never had another issue like this on the team again.
Experiences of misunderstanding at work scenario 2

Last fall we had our new hire class start (7 new staff) and we typically conduct a local orientation to get the acclimated with what is expected of them. The orientation was conducted by the Market Leader and the audience as I mentioned were the new hires. Typical new hires are straight from college, with very little experience, if any. During the orientation it was discussed how important it is for them to stay in contact with the person in charge of their schedules and their respective teams. How imperative that all phone numbers are accessible (i.e. home, cell, etc). The orientation took approximately forty-five minutes and it was encouraged that they should take notes, ask any questions if they were not clear on something. The next morning they each received their respective schedules and who they should contact on their assigned team for any further details. On the second day the operations team was contacted by one of the teams that their new hire did not report to the office nor had he shown up at the location where the team was expecting him. The new staff had not called any of the people indicated on the contact list provided during orientation. The team as well as the Human Resources department was trying to locate the staff because the team explained that he was expected to travel out of town for the work they were going to perform. An email was sent from the head team member to the new staff advising to call in immediately. When the email was not acknowledged the team member proceeded to contact the cell number provided. Much to everyone's surprise the number had been disconnected. After, much waiting and trying to contact the staff, to no avail, he showed up at the office. He explained he had a family emergency that morning and was not certain who to contact or what protocol to follow. He explained that he arrived late to the orientation and missed some of the information provided. He said he was also apprehensive about asking any questions since he arrived late and did not want to interrupt during the session. The new staff was coached and feedback provided on what must be done in case of emergencies or any type of instance that changes the course of what is expected. That regardless of what is going on, there is always a moment during or after that questions can be asked. If not, a follow up email to the presenters could have been sent to seek clarity. During the discussion a map of different types of protocol to follow was provided and it was again emphasized that the best way to obtain a clear understanding of what is expected is to ask questions. When in doubt on how to handle a situation, please contact the Human Resources department as well as the team members. It was then suggested that in the future he contact someone in his new hire class to get the information missed. The new staff should have been proactive in reaching out to one of the staff in his class to find out what he missed. He should have also asked questions during the session regardless of arriving late. Also, a follow up email with all the information provided at orientation should have been sent from the human resources department to ensure that everyone was aware of what was discussed at orientation. The later was put in practice and now it is done after every orientation session to avoid an issue such as this in the future.

Question 1. What did you learn about the communication process from this activity?
During this activity I learned that communication must be clear and concise. It must be open communication to ensure the message is understood clearly. Paraphrasing on behalf of the listener of what is expected or what the message is conveying is very important for both the communicator and listener to be on the same page.

Question 2. What seemed to be the main causes of the misunderstandings?
The main cause of the misunderstandings was not asking questions to seek further clarification on the situation. In both instances the lack of questions or assumption of what was expected and not seek clarity is what caused the misunderstandings.
Who was the sender?
In the first work experience, the sender was the Partner was the sender of the communication.
In the second work experience, the sender was the Market Leader.
Who was the receiver?
In the first work experience, the receiver was the operations team which consisted of six staff. In the second work experience, the receiver was the new hire class which consisted of seven new staff.
What was the message? The message in the first work experience misunderstanding was the work expected from the operations team to complete prior to the quarterly meeting.
The message in the second work experience misunderstanding was the expectation of the new hire class and the protocols to follow. What channel was used to send the message? In the first work experience the channel used was email and later the phone to seek clarity for the team.
In the second work experience, the channel used was in person and later email.
What was the misunderstanding that occurred? In the first work experience the misunderstanding was with one of the team members not understanding clearly the email received and not seeking clarity from the rest of the team. In the second work experience the misunderstanding was with a new hire not following protocol because he did not seek clarity by asking further questions.
How could the misunderstanding been avoided? In the first work experience misunderstanding, it would have been beneficial to have a conference call immediately following the email received to ensure that the entire team was clear on what was expected. In the second work experience misunderstanding, it would have been beneficial to send a follow up email to all new hires reiterating what was explained and discussion during local orientation. This way anyone that arrived late or did not want to ask questions during the session as not to interrupt, would have full understanding of what was discussed and expected of new hires.