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Communication Skills 2

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What we will cover:

1. Team Dynamics2. Team Presentation Skills3. Report Writing4. Communication Relationships & Strategies5. Interpersonal Conflict6. Conflict Management7. Negotiation Skills

Go to http://eg2157.wikispaces.com/ for info.

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Marks Allocation:

ICA 1 Wk 3  20% Team Dynamics

ICA 2 Wk 7  30% Team Presentation

ICA 3 Wk 13  20% Conflict Management

ICA 4 Wk 15  10% Evaluation & Reflection

Class Participation (CP)

Whole Course

 20%

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WORKING SMART THROUGH TEAMWORK

All of us know in our hearts that the ideal individual for a given job cannot be found. He cannot be found because he cannot exist.

This is why it is not the individual but the team that is key to the success of any enterprise.

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Definition Of A Team

A ‘team’ is defined as a group of members who must rely on group work to achieve success.

Members in team are organized around a common set of objectives and their work is mutually dependent.

The most effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal.

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Think through this.

Discuss and share with your classmates situations where you have been (or could be) a team member, committee chair, etc.

in a class group project, campus club, community, or church group and

you used teamwork skills.

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Why is Teamwork important? Teamwork has become an important

part of the working culture and many businesses look at teamwork skills when evaluating a person for employment.

Companies realize that product is sufficiently complex that it requires a team with multiple skills to produce, and/or a better product will result when a team approach is taken.

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When To Form A Team

A team should be formed only when a group of individuals have to work together in a coordinated effort to achieve specified goals.

A team need not be formed if individuals can work separately or if they can do the work equally well without being a team.

Forming a team for the sake of forming a team results in frustrated members because there is no “real” reason for the team.

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When To Form A Team

Conditions needed for a successful team : 1. A specified, measurable objective that

can be best achieved by a team effort. 2. Knowledge and use of various

problem-solving techniques. 3. An organisational culture that

supports the team concept. 4. Sufficient time for adequate training,

debating, and discussion

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Benefits of working in a Team Achieving Goals Efficiently Collective team activities are very important if the

company wants to reach its goal faster. Some tasks that cannot be done individually.

Increasing Individual Learning In a team, there are many intelligent minds. When

members work together as a team, they can learn each other’s skills and capabilities.

Exploiting different skills No one has all of the skills to do everything. Generating Innovative Ideas A group of people can have different skills, knowledge and

personal attributes. By utilizing all of these, more ideas can be generated.

Providing Support A lot of camaraderie is created in teams, especially when

the going gets tough. People may go to extreme lengths when they know that they can rely on the support and encouragement of the team.

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Think through This: Reasons why people resist being in a team:

1. Fear losing individual rewards and recognition

2. Fear losing individuality 3. Fear that teams will create more work

4. Fear assuming responsibility 5. Fear conflict

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Characteristics Of An Effective Team

1. Unified Commitment to Goal2. Appropriate Size3. Right Skills Mix4. Clear Roles/Task Distribution5. Mutual Accountability6. Open Communication7. Effective Decision Making

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Size of Teams

For a team to be effective, there should be between 2 to 25 members

With the majority of them having less than 10 members.

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Size of Teams

• large group of more than 10 would have trouble interacting and communicating constructively.

• harder it is to manage.

• subgroups will emerge

• dominated by a few talkative and aggressive members.

• group of 4 to 8 allows everyone to say something

• Yet it is big enough for a range of specialized skills

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Skills Mix

1. Technical and functional expertise

2. Problem-solving and decision-making skills

3. Interpersonal skills

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Clear Roles + Mutual Accountability

Every member of a successful team does equivalent amount of real work; all members, including the team leader, contribute in concrete ways to the team’s work product.

Team accountability is about the promises members make to themselves and others, promises that underpin two critical aspects of effective teams: commitment and trust.

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ROLES WITHIN A TEAM

A role is a set of expected behaviour associated with a position.

Work teams have a set of expectations about how members in the team should behave in the team.

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Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis

▪Task-related roles▪Maintenance-related roles▪Defensive roles▪Dysfunctional roles

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Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis les’ Interaction Process

Task-related Roles: Initiator – suggests new ideas, ways

of doing things. Information giver – offers relevant

facts, information Co-ordinator – brings together ideas,

suggestions Evaluator- measures progress, acts

as time

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Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis nance-related roles (Morale)

Maintenance-related Roles: Encourager – praises and supports contributions of

others. Gate keeper – opens channel of communication,

ensuring that quiet members who want to contribute can do so and close-down over-talkative members.

Harmoniser - helps to maintain the relationships between members by working to avoid conflict and reduce tension.

Group Co-ordinator – calls attention to group processes and offers suggestions about problems the group may have in functioning.

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Think Through This: Task or Maintenance?

1. “That’s a good idea, Jenny.” 2. “Tom, I think Marion would like to make a

point.” 3. “Are we agreed on the proposal?” 4. “Let’s move on then.” 5. “Are you saying that storage is a

problem?” 6. “Should we discuss the production issue

first?” 7. “You sound disappointed with the

suggestion.”

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Defensive Roles

Defensive roles are behaviours intended to protect the group from anxiety. Scapegoat - a member who tries to deflect

the group’s feelings of failure or incompetency from the group to himself.

Tension reliever - jokes, fills long silences with chatter or suggests breaks. Such a role helps the team when the tension is increasing and needs to be broken.

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Dysfunctional Roles

Dysfunctional roles are behaviours intended to distract the team from its purpose or to inhibit the team’s progress towards its goals. Examples:

1. Blocker – raises irrelevancies or argues a point for too long.

2. Pessimist – negative about task and/or group; gloomy.3. Aggressor - criticizes or blames others in a hostile

manner.4. Rebel - breaks team norms and attacks authority. 5. Show-off -draws attention away from the team’s purpose.6. Lobbyist- puts personal goals ahead of team’s goals7. Recognition seeker - themselves ahead of needs of team.

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Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team

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Absence of Trust

Without trust, productive work and growth impossible.

Team members spend time and energy protecting themselves.

Takes time to build trust in a team, and it’s important to realize that trust has to begin with us.

This means keeping your word, being honest, and being a good role model.

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Fear of Conflict

Conflict can be productive when there is trust on both sides.

People challenge and improve one-another’s ideas.

Productive conflict avoids personal attacks, politics, and destructive fighting.

Team members who fear conflict spend energy being nice to everyone, and hold back their true opinions.

Encourage members to challenge one another’s ideas when they disagree, and to engage in healthy, spirited debate.

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Lack of Commitment

Teams that lack commitment delay making important decisions and miss opportunities.

Members may want to gather more data to make a decision, or may prefer to wait to simple support the winning side.

To get support, involve members in the decision-making process through effective team decision-making.

Give everyone a chance to voice their opinion, including the less vocal members of your team.

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Avoidance of Team Accountability

Members don’t challenge one another about actions or mistakes that hurt entire group.

Rely on team leader to call out mistakes, give feedback, or manage performance.

Avoid direct conversations about performance and behavior with colleagues, only highlight issues with team leader.

Allow team to fail without making a effort to avoid this.

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Increasing Team Accountability

Ensure everyone takes responsibility for own work and actions.

Write down roles and responsibilities within team, as well as team objectives.

So that people know what they’re accountable for.

Encourage team members to give one another regular mutual feedback on their work, behaviour, and achievements.

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Inattention to Team Objectives People are working towards objectives that

don’t help team meet its overall goals. Members focus on own goals instead of

those of the team. Members don’t pull together to succeed. Team regularly loses out to competitors. So, make sure team members focus on

real goals of team. Use Mission statements and Written

records to clearly highlight team’s goals.

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COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN TEAMS

Speaking Skills Supportive Communication

An open supportive team encourages people to offer suggestions and solutions and to be part of the team process.

Supportive communication is genuine, spontaneous and non-evaluative.

Supportive communication creates a climate of trust, respect and cohesiveness within the team.

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Group Decision-Making Methods

Majority rule

Compromise

Consensus

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Think Through This:

a. Majority rule:Outcome:Win-lose

  b. Compromise:Outcome:

Lose-lose   c. Consensus: Outcome:

Win-Win