Communication Skills 2 EG2157

Topics

Team Dynamics

Report Writing Skills

Team Presentation Skills

Communication Relationships & Strategies

Interpersonal Conflicts

Conflict Management

Negotiation Skills

Assignments

ASSIGNMENTS Week ICA No. Unit Marks 3 ICA 1 Team Dynamics 20 7 ICA 2 Team Presentation Skills 30

13 ICA 3 *eAssessment: Comm R/S + Interp Conflict + Conflict Mgt 10 14 ICA 4 Conflict Management 20 2-16 Class Participation 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.

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 organised around a common set of objectives and their work is mutually dependant.

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

Key Areas Of Resistance to Teams In Organisations

Organisational Structure

Management and Supervision

Individual Workers

Reasons why workers 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

Characteristics Of An Effective Team

1. Common commitment and identity2. Specific team purpose and goals3. Size of teams4. Skills mix5. Team roles6. Mutual accountability

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.

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

Skills Mix

1. Technical and functional expertise

2. Problem-solving and decision-making skills

3. Interpersonal skills

Team 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.

ROLES WITHIN A TEAM

A role is a set of expected behaviours associated with a position. Work teams have a set of expectations about how members in the team should behave in the team.

Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis

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

Tas roles (Get job done) 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

Maintenance-related roles (Morale) 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.

Task or Maintenance? Task 61. “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.”

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.

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 - criticises 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.

Belbin’s Team Role Theory  IMPLEMENTER  Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas

into practical actions. Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.

CO-ORDINATOR Mature, confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals,

promotes decision-making, delegates well. Can often be seen as manipulative. Off loads personal work.

SPECIALIST Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge

and skills in rare supply. Contributes only on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

Belbin’s Team Role Theory SHAPER Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage

to overcome obstacles. Prone to provocation. Offends people's feelings.

PLANT Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems. Ignores incidentals. Too pre-occupied to communicate effectively.

RESOURCE INVESTIGATOR Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities.

Develops contacts. Over-optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has

passed.

Belbin’s Team Role Theory MONITOR EVALUATOR Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options. Judges

accurately. Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.  COMPLETER FINISHER Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and

omissions. Delivers on time. Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.  TEAMWORKER Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens,

builds, averts friction. Indecisive in crunch situations.

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.

Group Decision-Making Methods

Majority rule

Compromise

Consensus

Outcomes:

a. Majority rule:Outcome:Win-lose

  b. Compromise:Outcome:

Lose-lose   c. Consensus: Outcome:

Win-Win

ACTIVITIES AND QUESTIONS

ICA 1.

ICA 1ICA 1: TEAM DYNAMICS (20 MARKS)   Objectives:   To encourage cooperation among classmates and help you come

together as a team, You can gather together concepts on ‘Team Dynamics’ into a practical experience and it is also hoped that you will become more comfortable with the idea of introducing, leading and presenting an activity in class.

Description:   Your tutor will divide the class into 4 teams. You should give

yourselves opportunities to work with different people for different assignments throughout this semester. Each member in your team should have a role to play and must take up a ‘position’ which gives him sufficient speaking and presentation opportunities.

ICA 1 Part 1: Team-building activity

In your team, run a team-building activity in class (or other suitable areas in campus) to achieve at least one of the following objectives:-

-to encourage cooperation among students/ help them come together as a team

-to show that everyone contributes to the team’s success -to show that skills in speaking, questioning, listening are

important to team performance -others, please specify Make sure that each team in the class presents a different

activity. 

ICA 1 Part 2: Debrief   Before you run the activity, you need to present and give clear instructions on how

the class can participate. After the activity, give a debrief. Your debrief should cover objective(s) achieved and learning points and concepts shown by your activity.

  You are given 20 minutes to run the team-building activity and give the debrief.

You should allocate sufficient time (at least 5 minutes) for the debrief.   Part 3: Reflection/ Evaluation (via email to your tutor before the

next lesson)   Reflect on and evaluate your learning experience when you ran the team-

building activity or participated in other team-building activities by other groups. Reflections or feedback should be meaningful and specific – describe specific things that you did, saw or heard which had an impact on you. If you are giving feedback on other activities, remember to be constructive.