Managerial Communication

HRMC001
Unit 11: Team Communication and Cross-Cultural
Communication
Teams:
• A team is a unit of two or more people who share a mission and the responsibility
for working to achieve a common goal (Bovee and Thill). There are problem
solving and task force team that are formed to resolve specific challenges and
once the goals have been accomplished these teams gets disbanded.

• Committees are another type of teams which are formal in nature and they have
a larger lifespan, and they are a kind of integral part of the structure of the
organisation. These committees generally deal with the recurring task for
example and executive committee meets every month to plan the strategies and
assess the results.
Advantages of teams

 Increase in information and knowledge

 Increase diversity of views
 Increased acceptance of solution
 Higher performance levels
Disadvantages of Teams
 Groupthink
 Hidden agendas
 Cost
Group dynamics
• The interactions and processes that takes place among the members
of the team are called group dynamics. Productive teams create and
share, clear norms that is informal conduct and standards that guide
behaviour of the members in the group.
Team Roles
Dysfunctional: Self- Functional: Team- Functional: Task-
Oriented Roles Maintenance Roles Oriented Roles
Controlling: Dominating Encouraging: Drawing out Initiating: Getting the team
others by exhibiting other members by showing started on a line of inquiry
superiority or authority verbal and nonverbal support,
Information giving or seeking:
praise, or agreement
Withdrawing: Retiring from Offering (or seeking)
the team either by Harmonizing: Reconciling information relevant to
becoming silent or by differences among team questions facing the team
refusing to deal with a members through mediation or
Coordinating: showing
particular aspect of the by using humour to relieve
relationships among ideas,
team’s work tension
clarifying issues, summarising
Attention seeking: Calling Compromising: Offering to what the team has done
attention to oneself and yield on a point in the interest
Procedure-setting: Suggesting
demanding recognition of reaching a mutually
decision-making procedures
from others acceptable decision
that will move the team
Diverting: the team towards a goal
discussion on topics of
interest to the individual
rather than on those
relevant to the task
Team evolution
Resolving Conflicts in Teams
• Proactive behaviour: handle even the minor conflict before it turns into a major one.

• Communication: make all those who are directly involved in a conflict to participate in resolving it.

• Openness: before dealing with the main issue, you must get the feelings out in the open.

• Research: before seeking a solution get the factual reasons for the problem.

• Flexibility: consider other solutions before finalising a decision.

• Fair play: insist on the fair outcomes.

• Alliance: it is better to unite in fight against an outside force instead of fighting against each other.
Cross cultural Communication

• Culture is defined as the lifestyle of people of a community; however, it also encompasses

various attitudinal and behavioral dimensions such as values, beliefs, expectations, norms etc.

• Cross cultural communication is a field of study, that looks at how people from different cultural
backgrounds communicate in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they
endeavour to communicate across cultures.

• Communication is a process and culture is the structure through which communication is

formulated and interpreted. As we grow up, we imbibe values, beliefs and norms that are
practised exclusively in our culture. Therefore, to communicate effectively, we have to be
informed and sensitive towards the cultural practices across the globe.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
Power
Distance
Index

Individualism
Indulgence
vs.
vs. Restraint
Collectivism

Hofstede’s
cultural
dimensions
theory
Long-term
Orientation Uncertainty
vs. Short- Avoidance
term Index
Orientation

Masculinity
vs. Femininity
Understanding cross-cultural
communication complexities:
• Spoken communication
• Dealing with variations in English language
• Dealing with conversation taboos
• Dealing with reasoning and argumentation
• Dealing with presentations
• Written communication
• Nonverbal communication
Thanks