Corporate Communications - Essay Example

? Corporate Communications Introduction A team skill is part of professional skills that is expected from employees to apply in the work place when employers recruit them. Therefore, educational institutions are expected to cooperate in providing opportunities required for the development of professional skills. This leads to successful preparation of the students to work effectively in the workplace. Team skills are transferable and generic in that they have a lifelong relevance. Team skills include resolving conflicts, negotiating with peer groups, collaborating to solve problems, and communicating with team members. In today’s work educational institutions, organisations, dynamic and cultural environment require employees and students to work together in groups at certain coordinative and tolerant levels. This will provide vast experience of working in teams or groups. Members of the team should apply reflective practice for the success of the team. In everything we do we learn from experience. After analysing previous experiences it gives us deep understanding of what was done, why it was a failure or a success, and what could have been done for better results. Reflection enables teams, groups, and individuals to improve working practices and move forward. It reinforces sense of accomplishment and competence at the same time helps in recognising areas of weaknesses. The concept of practice is where an individual has an active idea which reflects on various events and use what they learn from them to improve future events. Reflective practice has been recognised as essential skill for individuals who are required to evaluate and analyse their professional or personal performance (Cornelissen, 2004, p. 122). An effective teamwork is both difficult and simple; this is because there might be lack of cooperation, limited resources, and misunderstanding between group members. Factors, which affect the groups and teamwork, are both in the work environment and within the team itself. The team should understand the targets and goals and commit themselves to attain them. This is a clear agreement and direction as purpose and mission are essential for effective groups and teamwork. This will enable the team to have clarity as reinforcement in an organization having clean and precise expectations for the group’s goals, accountability, outcomes, and work. In many groups I have participated and experience; they collapse or get poor results due to lack of understanding on the goals of the team or group. The first thing the team or group should do is to set goals and targets such that they will fight to meet the goals. This will lead to better results and findings as each and every member of the group will have understood and commit themselves on the task for achievements. A team creates a comfortable environment where people or members can take reasonable risks in advocating positions, taking action, and communicating. Team members should not be punished when they disagree; this will discourage them in participating on future events or even leading to the collapse of the team. The disagreement should be treated as weaknesses on the team and look for solutions for successful group work in future. Communication should be respectful, honest and open in the team discussions. In many groups, some members do not have freedom to express their points. This will lead to contribution of points by few members; this is a weakness in the team as there will be limitation in the ideas contributed. In many groups minority members are not given time to contribute, they are suppressed by the leaders and this is a major problem which should be urgently addressed (Cornelissen, 2004, p. 38). These minor members might have important points but due to the suppression, they are not heard. The team members should be given time to ask questions for clarifications, in this regard, they will spend their thought listening keenly and not forming rebuttals when another member is speaking. The team members have a strong sense of being part of the group. This makes them to commit themselves to the action and decisions of the group. This sense of belonging is reinforced and enhanced when the team members are allowed to participate and spend their time in developing relationship guidelines or the norms together. This participation will make the members to be satisfied with the decisions taken and rules formulated such that they will not feel that the rules are against them. The members will feel free as they are involved and recognized in the teams’ decision-making processes. The team members should be viewed as unique people in the team. They should be treated as all being the same and having irreplaceable knowledge, opinions, points of view, and experiences to contribute. The main purpose of forming a group is to take advantage of different points and ideas contributed by the members of the group. In this case, the team contributed more divergent points of view, which are thoughtfully supported, and presented with facts and opinions will boost the strength of the team. For the success in the target of the group, innovation, different view points, and creativity should be allowed in team work (Cornelissen, 2004, p. 102). Different members have different innovations and creativeness, which they should contribute for the achievement of the targets and goals in the team or group. The team should consider the freedom of correcting each other in the team when one is seen going wrong. This will greatly assist for the members corrected not to be tempered when they are corrected or even deciding to quit the group. It is very important for the team to agree on the procedures for analysing, diagnosing, and resolving teamwork conflicts and problems. Grant (2007) argued that we could reflect in action and on action. In the groups I have participated we were mostly practicing in reflection on action. This is the process of thinking after an event has been completed. This process was very important for us and we did it in thorough discussions and short brain storming sessions. We were analysing our past experience to realise and recognize the areas of weaknesses to improve them. Therefore, reflecting on the incidents that occurred before, the group understood the problems, behaved flexibly, and made the decisions using the best options available. For groups and teams in an organization, observation sheets should be kept on records so that they can be reflected on to demonstrate the progress of the group. Team works assist in the division of workload. Many organizations undertaking large tasks, divide the duties into manageable units by assigning teams to undertake the duties. This enables the small units to be completed whilst providing a sense of completion for every member of the organization as a whole. Teamwork allows tasks to be divided among members and completed to meet strict datelines. Team members accept and tackle a problem when it arises. When a right form of production is chosen, it will automatically increase productivity. Conflict is another challenge in teamwork. Nevertheless, sometimes conflict can be good. It is noteworthy that conflict help in illustrating new methods, or a points of view in accomplishing a task. When members of a group, conflict over ideas or leadership in a group, the matter of conflict will be addressed in an early stage to avoid future problems when matter is chronic (Cornelissen, 2004, p. 88). There is a big problem when choosing a group or team. When the right procedure is not followed when choosing a group, it will affect the results of the task handled by the group. This is especially when someone who is not participant in the group has chosen the group or team members. For example, when the lecturer or manager chooses group members, some of the members will not participate in contribution of ideas. This will leave the burden to few members who are active in the group. The results will be of poor or of low quality, because the ideas and points were from few members. When this mistake happens in a group, the disappointment should not be displayed in the present of the other members. The disappointed member should act positively to avoid influencing the other members. This will make the other members to think positive of the matter of choosing the group. The better way to choose a group is when the participant is given the task of choosing the leader. This will be much better when the members to be chosen had worked together previous for the success of the group. If they had not worked together before, it will be very hard because it might lead to failures in the group. An important part in a team is the leader of the team. When the team leader discharges the duties professionally to the members, it will lead to the success of the group. The team leader is responsible in allocation of work to the team members and motivation of the team. This is the crucial part of the group, when team leader is poor in delegation of duties it will lead to the failure of the group. Many groups have been failing and are still failing due to team leadership. Person with the right qualities of a leader should be selected. Team leader should be good in motivation and communication in the group. When there is a good communication in the team, it will lead to achievement of goals and targets. In addition, when the members are motivated they will work tirelessly to meet the targets. It is obvious that in every group there will be members who are not interested in participating to undertake the duties they might be assigned to. In addition, there might be an under or over participation in work and meetings in the group (Cornelissen, 2004, p. 116). The first step to take when the team leader realises that there is a dormant member, is to talk to the member to ascertain the reason for not participating. If the reason does not satisfy the leader as provided by the member, the member should be send to the senior. This can either be the manager in an organization, or the lecturer in case of college. The team leader should try to avoid this issues, this is because as the problem persist the work will be delayed most. Another challenge to the group is when a group member becomes sick. In case of such incident the team leader should delegate the duties of the member to the other group members equally to safe time. After this, the team leader should notify the senior most staff of the changes. When the team leader is sick, the deputy should resume the duties. When there was no deputy elected, the process should be taken to elect one with immediate effect. Many members do not enjoy participation in groups especially students in schools. This is due to lack of planning, when there was poor organisation and planning in the previous group work, members will not be willing to participate. This can be made worst when the members are dealing with issues, which they do not face when they are together. This might lead to constant conflicts, which are difficult to solve. This will affect the view of the benefits they should have achieved when working together. Members have different abilities in groups they are assigned to. They will be uncomfortable to be in a group where other members are not will to work to achieve the points and grades they are used to. This will make them discouraged as they knew that their usual grades will be affected. Conclusion Teamwork is an important tool for better achievements in goals and targets set in institutions, organizations, and companies. Measures should be taken to make team work a successful. Competent leaders should be appointed to lead the teams or groups. When the team leader is competent, the members will be motivated to cooperate and treat the leader as their role model. There should be good communication within the group and senior staff for the success of the group. When there is a clear communication in the group, the sharing of ideas by the members will be easier. Problems should be addressed in a reasonable manner for all members to be satisfied (Cornelissen, 2004, p. 159). The team leader should treat all members equally irrespective of their status. When a members has gone wrong he/she should be dealt with according to the rules of the group. Motivation is another important tool for the success of the group. Some members may lack interest in the subject of discussion by the group; the group leader should motivate such members such that they can enjoy the discussion. Every member should be allowed to participate in the selection of the group leader. This will make them satisfied with the leader and they will cooperate in the contribution of ideas in the team. Duties should be delegated equally among the members to avoid idleness and other members being pressed up by the duties delegated to them. Individuals, institutions, organisations, and companies all over the world should adopt the art group work. This will portray a sense of success in an organisation. Reference Cornelissen, J. (2004). Corporate Communications: Theory And Practice. Netherlands. SAGE, 2004 Read More