- Internal Code :
- Subject Code : BSB51415
- University : Southern Cross University
- Subject Name : Project management and people
Assignment task-1
1. Leading a team cannot be considered as an easy affair and the single factor cannot be a motivation for all. I would make all the team members to communicate with each other and develop a better understanding among them. Both good and bad experiences must be shared in order to recognize the behavior pattern of the individuals to avoid the chances of future conflicts of interests. The values must be showcased while interacting at the starting stage with the members of the team (Lee et al, 2019). A positive discussion includes the reasons behind the taken decision and the tasks which are on priority. I would tell the basis of evaluating their performance on individual and collective terms. I would communicate the vision and mission of the organization in order to establish high and healthy degree of transparency and develop positive motivation among the employees. I would describe the stages of carrying out the work in a proper and adequate manner so as to avoid confusion and encourage the team to participate in every discussion. I would try to create an environment where the team members won’t feel excluded and willingly present their ideas and suggestions to the number of problems (Adair, 2019). I would set achievable goals and objectives and provide the direction in which actions are required to be taken in order to accomplish them in an effective and efficient way.
2. Encouraging the participation of the team members in the process of planning, decision making and operational areas is considered important for the development of team cohesion because the development of cohesiveness requires substantial amount of interaction and group level attraction taking place with the help of collaboration and develops sense of belongingness among each other (McClurg, et al., 2017). It inspires the employees to communicate successfully which ultimately leads to the higher level of satisfaction of the involved parties. It helps in achieving the optimum level of resource allocation and establishes a strong sense among the employees to achieve the desired goals in the specific period of time. Anxiety and stress related issues remain far away from the cohesive team and thus lead to higher level of satisfaction (Buchanan, 2019). Their actual and standard performance is compared in order to check out the deviations and exercise effective control on the same. The feedback given by the employees is important for the organization. Sometimes, they notice something that is critical for the organization’s growth and have been left unsolved. In that case, employees can protect the organization from the losses. To get that kind of feedback, it is important to give them necessary amount of freedom to share their views on the same and show them that their opinions are valued.
3. Managing the teams is considered as a challenging task and it would not be possible to achieve the objectives when there is a lack of understanding between the members. Development of different types of formal and informalactivities would help in creating a sense of belongingness among each other (Filstad et al, 2019). I would take necessary steps to ensure effective, open, clear, respectful communication that will allow the members of the team to share their experiences, feelings, ideas, thoughts, etc. This will help in preventing the formation of distrust. I would lay emphasis on cross departmental meetings to make sure that the people will get to know each other in a better and effective way and organize team lunch and tea breaks. I would initiate the system of job rotation and make sure that the each member of the team is clear regarding their and others’ roles and responsibilities towards the organization. This will help in reducing the chances of conflicts between them and would provide better direction to their work. I would organize several training and development programs to make them perform in an effective and efficient manner to boost the profitability of the organization.
4. Both internal and external stakeholders are important for the organization to improve its profitability level. There are several benefits of communicating with the stakeholders such as reduction in the misunderstandings around the products, services and different factors of production, better clarification of the expectations of stakeholders from the organization, decline in the number of conflicts between different groups of stakeholders, increase the commitment and the amount invested by the stakeholders. Effective communication with the stakeholders will help in improving not only the internal operations with the employees but can also influence the relationship with the stakeholders that are external to the firm.
Key aspects to establish and maintain open communication process with the stakeholders are as follows:
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Proper identification of audience: To ensure effective communication, first step is to identify or select the audience with whom the communication is required to be done. Stakeholders can be categorized under two heads- internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders comprises of departmental managers, employees, team leaders, executives, etc. On the other hand, external stakeholders include customers, suppliers, government, competitors, investors, community, etc.
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Development of clear communication objectives: The objectives of the communication must be clearly stated to develop better understanding of the same. Message that is to be communicated can be framed in an appropriate way when the objectives are clearly known. It also helps in identifying the correct mode of communication (Samovar et al, 2017).
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Preparation of messages in advance: The messages or the information to be communicated must be prepared well in advance before speaking with the stakeholders. It will help in avoiding the wastage of time and other resources in framing out the messages on the spot.
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Use of proper language: Adequate words and language must be used while communicating with the stakeholders. Technical and difficult words must be avoided. Use of familiar and comfortable words help in reducing the misunderstandings and also clarifies the goals of communication.
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Medium of communication: There are several methods to communicate with the stakeholders like emails, handouts, phone meetings, personal meetings, notice board, etc. The selection of correct mode of communication is important to accomplish the objectives of communication.
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Regular follow ups: After communicating the information with the employees, regular follow up is important to ensure the proper implementation of the plans. It helps in undertaking the improvement measures and keeps a check that everything is going as per the plans.
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Ensuring proper feedback: Keep up the arms open for suggestionsfrom the side of stakeholders. Proper attention must be paid to them and necessary steps must be taken to incorporate the same.
5. The 10 principles for handling team conflict and issue resolution (Rahim, 2017) are as follows:
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Think before reacting:One must not react immediately on the conflicting situation. It is considered essential to think twice before reacting tothe situation.
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Active listening: One of the major components of communication is active listening. Conflict can be resolved if the parties are not heard clearly.
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Following up of a fair process: Proper method and criteria must be followed to ensure the resolution of issues and conflicts. Fair treatment must be ensures at each and every level.
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Attack the problem: Conflicts and issues can be resolved effectively when the problem is attacked in a proper manner. Search for the causes of problems and develop adequate solutions to solve it.
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Acceptance of responsibility: Employees are responsible for the tasks done by them. It is important to ensure that they must not put blame on other people.
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Use of direct communication methods: Avoid using the word “I” instead use “We” while communicating information or any kind of data to the employees.
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Look for best interests: The interests of the parties to the conflicts must be addressed so as provide satisfaction to them.
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Emphasis on future: While resolving the conflicts and addressing significant issues make sure that they must not be repeated in future period of time.
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Options for mutual gain: Identify and develop various options while resolving conflicts to provide mutual benefit to the parties.
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Discussion on both sides of perspectives: The perspectives of all the parties are important for the organization and they must be discussed to draw effective conclusions.
6. Some basic strategies for gaining team consensus are as follows:
Participation of team members: The leader must encourageevery member of the team to think about the problem on an individual basis and asks for the solutions on one-on-one basis (Blanchard, 2018). This will help in ensuring that the opinions and perspectives of different members are not affected by other individuals.
Introduction to multi-voting system: The other strategy that can be used to gain team consensus is that each member must be provided with the number of votes having different weights.
Involvement of team in developing a proper solution: The solution must be developed to each and every problem by all the members in order to develop the problem solving skills in the individuals. This will boost their creativity levels and would also help in generating more ideas.
References
Adair, J. (2019). Decision Making and Problem Solving: Break Through Barriers and Banish Uncertainty at Work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Blanchard, K. (2018). Leading at a higher level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations. FT Press.
Buchanan, D. A. (2019). Organizational Behaviour. Pearson UK.
Filstad, C., Traavik, L. E., & Gorli, M. (2019).Belonging at work: the experiences, representations and meanings of belonging. Journal of Workplace Learning.
Lee, M. Y., Mazmanian, M. A., & Perlow, L. (2019).Fostering positive relational dynamics in teams: The power of spaces and interaction scripts. Academy of Management Journal, (ja).
McClurg, C. E., Chen, J. L., Petruzzelli, A., & Thayer, A. L. (2017).Challenges and New Directions in Examining Team Cohesion Over Time', Team Dynamics Over Time (Research on Managing Groups and Teams, Volume 18).
Rahim, M. A. (2017). Managing Conflict in Organizations. Routledge.
Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2017). Communication Between Cultures. Nelson Education.