COMMUNICATING
IN TEAMS
By:-
M. Usman Qadir
Talha awan
Anila Shafiq
Nimra Zubair
M. Rizwan Ishaq
CONTENTS
Introduction Management of Conflict and
Consensus
Quotations
How to solve conflicts in a group?
Information theory
Cultural Diversity in Teams
Groupware theory
Negotiation Phases
Team based organization
Team Learning
Types of teams
Conclusion
Stages of team communication
Communicative Dimensions of
Teamwork
Decision making in teams
INTRODUCTION
Unity is strength
“Individual commitment to a group effort--that is
what makes a team work, a company work, a society
work, a civilization work.”
Quotations
"Talent wins games,
but teamwork and intelligence win
championships.“
-Michael Jordon
“Alone we can do so little, together
we can do so much.”
-Helen Keller
INFORMATION THEORY
• Concerned with how information travels with the
fewest mistakes
• If you view your communications through the lens
of information theory, you focus on how to fix
messages so that they can't be altered
• Need to put measures in place to confirm
communications for accuracy.
• You might even hold the message recipient more
accountable than the sender for the final version of
the communication
GROUPWARE THEORY
• Suggests that old lines of communication may
change along with rapid technological
advances
• Employees can communicate through computers and
mobile devices so quickly that information can spread
throughout a company before management wants it to
• Even positive information might flow from one
department to another before management has time to
notify all stakeholders of a change in policy or an
initiative
TEAM-BASED ORGANIZATION
Structured around interdependent decision-making
groups (not individual)
TEAMS-groups of employees w/ representation from
a variety of areas in an organization
(ex. Sales, manufacturing…)
This helps in the cross-functional exchange of
information.
TYPES OF TEAMS
Project Teams
Work Teams
Quality-Improvement Teams
Virtual Teams
PROJECT TEAMS
A project team is a team whose members
usually belong to different groups, functions
and are assigned to activities for a same
project.
Help coordinate
Usually made up of different members
Facilitates horizontal flow of authority
WORK TEAMS
Employees responsible for the entire work
process
Resides together, outlines its own work flow
Aid organizations' efficiency
Working in teams results in a “strong” outcome
WORK TEAMS CONTINUED…
Employee Stock Ownership Plan
(ESOP)
This process may encourage team
members' motivation and dedication to the
team approach as well as the company
itself.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TEAMS
Goals are to improve customer satisfaction,
evaluate and improve team performance, and
reduce costs.
Made up of members from a variety of areas to
bring different perspectives.
Generate innovative ideas
VIRTUAL TEAMS
A group of individuals who work across time, space,
and organizational boundaries with links
strengthened by webs of communication technology.
They have complementary skills
STAGESOF TEAMCOMMUNICATION
Communicative
Dimensions of Teamwork
I. Roles
II. Norms
III. Decision-Making Process
IV. Management of Conflict
and Consensus
V. Cultural Diversity in
Teams
ROLES
Consistent patterns of interactions
within a team.
Three broad types of communication
roles
1. Task Role
2. Maintenance Role
3. Self-centered Role
TASK ROLE
Summarizes and evaluates the team‟s
ideas and progress
idea-generating process
MAINTENANCE ROLE
Relieves group tension or pressure
Reconcile conflict or disagreement
SELF-CENTERED ROLE
Seeks to dominate the groups
discussions and work
Divert the group‟s attention from serious issues
by making them seem unimportant
Always considered inappropriate and
unproductive
NORMS
The informal rules that designate the
boundaries of acceptable behavior within a
group
Shaped by the national and organizational
culture and personal agendas
Often passed down through time by a culture or
society
DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES
More effective than individual decision
making
Gets more team members involved and
generates more ideas and information
Groupthink - a concept that refers to
faulty decision-making in a group.
DECISION MAKING CONTINUED
Stages for finding the best
recommendation or course of action
1. Orientation
2. Conflict
3. Emergence
4. Reinforcement
ORIENTATION
The first phase is the orientation phase, where team
members establish relationships but also tensions.
Individuals may need to put the interests of the team above
their own personal needs and decisions. The final phase is
the reinforcement phase.
MANAGEMENT OF CONFLICT
AND CONSENSUS
Conflict
• Interaction of interdependent people who perceive opposition
of goals, aims, and values
• Any decisions taken at any level have to take into account the
conflicting needs of the individuals who are affected by the
decisions and hence conflict resolution is a part of the decision
making process.
HOW TO SOLVE CONFLICTS IN A GROUP?
1. Collaboration-emphasizes high assertiveness
combined with high levels of cooperation.
2. Talk together. Set up a time and place so you can talk
for an extended span without outside interruptions
3. Put a positive spin on the situation. ...
4. Avoid blaming and labeling group members. ...
5. Lay some ground rules for resolving the conflict. ...
6. Let everyone involved have their say. ..
EMERGENCE
The next phase is emergence,
Where the outcome of the conflict phase takes
form. During this phase some people may need to
soften their positions so as not to seem
dominating.
REINFORCEMENT
This is the final stage of small group communication.
Here the members try to observe their
final decision through an array of their own viewpoints.
It creates solidarity within the group.
Accord and reinforcement is given to the decision with
approving opinions.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN TEAMS
Cultural diversity is becoming more popular but
have researchers concerned with the effects of
cultural differences on team member
communication.
Negotiation is a key to managing intercultural
team differences. There are four phases in the
negotiation process.
NEGOTIATION PHASES
1. Developing relationships with others-
build trust and adapt to cultural
differences
2. Exchanging info about topics under
negotiation
NEGOTIATION PHASES CONTINUED…
3. Recognizing multicultural techniques of
persuasion
4. Emphasizing the role of concession in
achieving agreement
TEAM LEARNING
Team Learning is an “alignment” or
the “functioning of the whole”
Applying the principles and
practices of „dialogue‟ to make
the learning happen.
The Ladder
of Inference
A RETREAT FROM TEAMS?
SUCCESSFUL TEAM FORMATION:
Teams are only as good as their
members
Teams must be trained in group decision
making and communication
Only some decisions can be assigned to teams
