FINAL PAPER

COMMUNICATION IN TEAMS/GROUPS

Do you ever wonder what makes teams more effective in the communication channel? Do you ever wonder how you can make your teams grow effectively by learning from one another? I have been introduced to several topics in this course but the communication research that I would like to continue to would be communications in teams/or groups. Communication is the process through which the sender conveys a message that the receiver readily receives and understands. The function of team communication is to empower and inform the team with one vision and common goal. Team communication enables the members to be on the same side, which increases motivation and productivity. Members produce tasks and meet goals more effectively when they send and receive the right information at the right time. Members will differ based on learning style, job level and responsibility, and specific task. Leaders must know their members well enough to know who can handle how much information, as well as help each member understand the impact he has on the team, the project or the company.
All team members can contribute to the overall effectiveness of their unit by observing a few procedures. Foremost, members should converse freely about the project, especially any problems or concerns they have, focusing on specific actions or work-related behaviors. They should actively listen, clarifying what they hear with questions or by paraphrasing their grasp of the situation. They should share their ideas, questions, and answers, supporting others’ ideas rather than criticizing or blaming others or looking to take credit. Improper communication can leave a group or team at a standstill, or worse, dissolve the group or team completely. When communication breaks down, group members feel disconnected and lose trust and bonds with the other members of the group, which can lead to apathy and group disloyalty. For a group or team to function properly, clear, accurate, and ongoing communication must be present among all members of the group. The reason I am interested in this topic because I am a team member at my job site. My team consists of five energetic women along with along our supervisor. I am the youngest on the team and the team leader. I only have been with the agency a year. Due to my educational background and experience, it pushed me up the ladder greatly. I would like to focus on researching how to make the team even better. Our team works well with one another but at times, I can see a drift that I will further discuss in the assignment. A work team is an organized group, committed to the individuals within the group, whose members share the same intent of accomplishing a common goal. Teams are established when involving problem solving, solution development, and decision-making. One advantage a team has over an individual is its diversity of resources, knowledge, and ideas (Townsley, 2009). Teams allow for greater creativity due to the extensive styles of thinking that collaborate when groups are created. The outcome using teams include quality improvements and enhanced productivity gains obtained by bringing individuals with matching skills together (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2005). Teams enable better outcomes since there is a combination of multiple experiences and knowledge bases joining together to resolve issues and make decisions.
An example would be the government agency is implementing a new change statewide that would benefit the customers and the employees and save the time on certain cases. In order for the agencies to make the best decision possible, it should utilize members from all departments: marketing, finance, legal, administrative, etc., in order to develop the best plan for the agencies. This allows management to have knowledge obtained from every area within the organization that is involved in determining the success or failure of the new change.

From the organized work team, all necessary information is there to create the new change. As problems arise from a specific area, the team will be able to resolve issues more effectively by the input provided from the various departments. On the conflicting end, if the agencies were to choose a single individual to create the plan for the new change he or she is unlikely to be capable of making such decisions alone. In most circumstances, work teams tend to be more successful at formulating these types of decisions because they use input from team members who may have qualifications in the area. That is where good leadership standards play a factor. Good leadership can make the team outcomes excellent. Good leadership characteristics requires great confidence, values such as integrity, they lead by examples, generate ideas that follows great leaders, intellect to meet job, aware of the team, exhibits trust, represent the organization as a team and lastly they are aware of its own behavior. Skills of that area leads to team members who are open to voice their opinions, gives excitement and achievement to work, they are willing to take risks and higher above their means, and they are consistent in knowing the leader’s values and morals, inspires confidence, performance, and commitment (Adair, pp.39-41).
Effective teambuilding requires the following functions, which are planning, initiating controlling, supporting, informing, and evaluating. All team members must have an understanding of the following team properties, common background/history, participation, patterns, communication, standards, and structure. (Adair, pp.48). When individuals come together in work teams there are differences in terms of power, values and attitudes, and social factors that all contribute to the creation of conflict. Conflicting factors such as these may cause abnormality from the key goals of the group and may normally fall into three categories: communication factors, structural factors and personal factors” (Townsley, 2009).
Communication factors are the primary cause of disagreement among individuals. Barriers to communication can result from misunderstanding of information, differences in interpretation and perception, cultural differences among the team, as well as poor listening. For example, problems arise when judgments are viewed on the different communication styles. If team members disagree and one exemplifies views and feelings with a forceful voice, another more restrained team member may see that as arrogant and aggressive. I have encountered a similar situation when I worked in retail a few years ago. We had monthly meetings that would entail new changes that would we progress. One of my teammates disagreed on a complaint that was made on her due to a conflict of interest she had with the customer. Our store manager did not let her explained the situation and the employee asked to be excused and never returned. It is very important to hear out your employees because it is always three sides to every story: their side, your side, and the truth. In the end, the store manager find out as she call the customer back to do the follow that was a past interactions along the two and later had to apologize to the employee.
Misinterpretation can cause incorrect views of the sender or receiver’s intent. The second category, structural factors, can from basics such as the background of the team members, structure issues, participation levels (within the team), or possibly the size of the team. Personal factors that could also promote the chance for conflict within a team include individual values and goals, needs, self-esteem, or individual motives (Townsley, 2009). Cultural differences are another important issue that may cause conflict within a team. Those individuals come from different nationalities, religious, ethnic groups and organizations. Certain interests that are appealing to you will be opposing for them. These types of cultural differences may influence the dynamics of a work team and must be understood and respected in order for the team to function successfully. A communication team is where members are capable of handling conflict and portraying the knowledge gained from disagreements to arrive at a better decision. However, negative consequences occur whenever the team members do not resolve conflict. If conflict continues, the effects can be harmful to the team, as well as the organization. A work team may consist of individuals or groups of individuals from different areas within an organization. Positive functional conflict is a confrontation between groups that enhances and benefits the organization’s performance. Positive consequences of functional conflict include awareness of problems, search for solutions, positive change and adaptation, as well as innovation. In addition of functional conflict in organizations might inhibit change from ever occurring and could cause a team to become stagnant and unproductive (Baugh, & Green pp. 367-368). Dysfunctional conflict is confrontation between groups that harms or hinders the goals of the organization (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2005). Functional conflict can lead to disruption of activities and disagreement among the team members when the conflict becomes dysfunctional. Other conflicts that may cause dysfunction includes idea creation, project cancellation and profit loss.
Conflict resolution is an essential part of effective teams and organizations. There are several recommendations that prove effective in managing and resolving group conflict. The leader of the group should develop a strategy for training and preparing team members for group process to manage or avoid conflict. Conflict management and resolution training is a great way for an organization to teach employees on how to prepare for resolving conflict when working in teams. It provides awareness of how conflict may arise and different methods of managing conflict to maximize effectiveness of the team. Open communication is necessary to resolve differences in perception and interpretation. A facilitator is designed to assist with managing and resolving group conflict. They can use the effective communication process by assisting the team in communicating with one another. The dominating approach requires that one group holds a balance of power so that it can force its resolution on the other group. The accommodating approach involves one group meeting the needs of another over its own between members of different cultures should be highlighted and differences reduced. Problem solving involves collaborating and working together to maximize the results. The information that was perceived about communication in groups is that team members must trust within one’s self. It must be honesty at all ends. Team-members should also share information and feelings with one another. That openness can lead to a positive outcome of communication. (Bass, 2010)
Working with a group of three or more people on a project is the most effective process than a single individual. More ideas are generated that can lead to a greater outcome. The accuracy of the work provided is also an advantage of having a team. Effective communication also allows team members to understand their roles and the roles of everyone else on the team. Learning how to communicate with one another is just an important factor to have because lack of communication can lead to misunderstanding, lack of work ethics to get the assignment done and lack of trust issues. Team members who lack this competence would not be willing to open up and express their ideas therefore they will shut out the others. I have learned over my collegiate years that communication is an essential factor to have During my senior year of college, working in teams was the only thing we were accustomed Out of my five classes I was taking three of my classes required working with others. We were obligated to create a business plan from scratch, to complete a business vision for a company locally, and lastly I had to complete a Human Resource project. Throughout that process, I have to learned each other’s views and process them along with mines. We had to learn one another strengths and weaknesses to ensure we met all requirements of the assignments. I was the team leader in one of my groups. I designated each member a topic to complete and we will meet once or twice a week depending each other availability. Video chatting and G-docs was our communication channel to complete the assignments. Our communication process was excellent we did not lack in any area we all were one mission and that was to complete and obtain a great grade, which was an “A.” When sharing similar communication skills you will not lack problems but when you have different people, who share different views from you can cause a problem. That incident happened in HR class no one wanted to complete the assignment on the same company so therefore we all have to common ground and decide on a company. Everyone shared their views on what company should be decided after it was picked the communication process was successful and we will able to complete the assignment without any failures.
The communications skills that were established throughout my collegiate years strengthened me to my career I have now. I am the type of individual who likes to be behind the scenes getting the work completed. I never was the vocal piece to the puzzle. I expressed my ideas and let the team visualize the effect all of that changed once I was hired as a case manager. Case managers are designed to express their views and ideas to their clients to ensure they have a better life standard for themselves and their children. Communication process consists of interviews, speaking with them over the phone as well the clients coming into the office to speak personally about their issues. Over the months, I become confident within one ’s self and reached out to my clients. I am young adult who can understand and assist more due to extensive educational background and expressed. My clients are comfortable when speaking to me because they know I will go out my way to service them. Communication can be challenging at times because you have clients who will challenge your judgment to ensure you know your information but with the methods that I research about communication, I will be effectively successful. The method that I would use is to establish a strategy or plan, to initiate the control of the communication, to control the issue, to support the issue, to inform the team, and evaluate the situation to find a better solution. (http://www.ehow.com) A proposed action I that would present to my supervisor would be visual effect when we have our team meetings. Visual images would ensure the team-members would have a better understand of the information at hand. As a team lead, I would create a visual image suitable to the approval of the supervisor and present it to her. Our team is a formal group. The supervisor is the chain in command who oversee the employees ensuring the work is completed and accurate. (Baack, 2010). Honestly, our team is the youngest team in the agency in our county. Therefore, our teamwork is defined and in order. We help one another out in need and we share similar work ethics. Overall, we work as a team and having a balanced team will shape you to become a better work as an individual or a team. When working in a governmental agency you are obligated to communicate with one another. Without communication in the workplace, you will see failure before success if you are close-minded.
Work teams will encounter conflict whether the conflict exists among the individuals within the work team, or among multiple teams working together. Regardless, a good understanding of how conflict occurs, the consequences of conflict, and how to manage conflict, may allow groups to arrive at better solutions for the team and the overall organization. Learning how to manage and resolve conflict requires training and preparation, active listening, open communication, as well as an understanding of the views, personalities, and behaviors shared among the group. Leading a group requires an understanding of different cultural factors, both internal and external, are also helpful in managing conflict within a group. However, most importantly, implementing good practices and approaches to conflict resolution will allow conflict to enhance the behavior of the group members and the work performance of the group. In closing, a group that communicates effectively will be able to achieve their purpose and goals while promoting group loyalty and active participation. By researching the communication in teams/or groups I will be able to utilize all resources obtained through this research to enable my teammates and I to a much better productive and effective communication process.

References:
Adair, John. ‘Concise Adair on Leadership.London”, GBR: Thorogood Publishing, 2003. p 39. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10071301&ppg=45
Baack, D. (2012). Management communication. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Bass, Alan (2010. ‘Why Is Team Communication Important When in Teams?”http://www.livestrong.com/article/105939-team-communication-important-teams/

Baugh, S. Gayle, and George B. Graen. 1997. Effects of team gender and racial composition on perceptions of team performance in cross-functional teams. Group & Organization Management pp.367-83 CONFLICT IN WORK TEAMS: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
Sikes, Brittany; Gulbro, Robert D; Shonesy, Linda.Allied Academies International Conference. Academy of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict. Proceedings15. 1 (2010): 48-52.
http://www.ehow.com