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