Effective Communication and CSR Strategies for Copper Extraction Project in Maori Area

Introduction
In New Zealand, Maori culture is integral to most of the organizations and the
corporate social responsibility of these organizations. As a Project Executive Director (PED)
of Koper Resources Company (KRC) – extreme fluency in interpersonal skills are important
to build up a relation with the Iwi based in the local area where there is a high chance of
finding a copper reserve. The aim of our project is to find the copper reserve in the areas that
can compensate for the price of extraction and exploration. The study explores into the
organizations having Maori values that works by altruism, cultural authenticity, long term
thinking and guardianship and humanity – must be embedded in the communication
techniques and the overall communication with the iwi people (Rangihau, 2017)
PART A: Effective forms of communication
A.1 Non-verbal and verbal communication
An effective communication is the correct proportion or complementation of verbal
communication with the non-verbal communication. A useful verbal communication in this
cultural context should be the right usage of words and dialects which are very close to iwi
culture and using the culturally rich words and phrases can be a very useful way to build
communication and a further relationship with the iwi people (Arnold & Boggs, 2019;
Hargie, 2016). While verbal communication is critical – the body language and the other non-
verbal cues exhibited by me and my team members is very vital for the building of
relationships with iwi people (Unit, 2015). It is extremely important that the right vocal tone,
the right posture and proximity should be used as important tools to enhance the overall
meaning of the effective conversation (Mehrabian, 2017).

In the team that worked with, there were various instances of communication gaps
especially in the areas of decision making by understanding of each other’s ideas. There were
many people who came from different communal and cultural backgrounds and this made the
situation even more complex as different team members expressed different strategies and
there was a considerable amount of disparities between the ideas and ideologies.
A.2 Questioning
During the discussion, B shared about the Treaty of Waitangi- giving back lands to the Maori
people (Orange, 2015) and C did not seem to know about that so C asked everyone and then
B explained for her clearly.
Questioning is a great way of communicating with the colleagues and the team members in
order to explore each other’s ideas. Different people working in the team have different ideas
and different process knowledge and experience all together. Hence it is very important that
the as a project executive director of the company, it is my duty to find right people with right
ideas to discuss and apply in order to make this copper extraction a profitable venture (Giles,
2016). Questioning the other members of the team working in this project is important for
planning the right strategy, develop rationalization and procedural skills in order to make the
ideas take a right route while implementing the project plan (Hargie, 2016). As a director, it
is my duty to empower each and every member working in the team so that they can
scrutinize their own ideas and improvise their motives to make the project strategy work in
the correct direction. Individual knowledge and multiple intelligence plays a great role in
success of a team and hence, by questioning and having the team members share their ideas is
a great effective way for improving the self-awareness, problem solving and decision making
skills of each team member.

I reflected in my group work to understand the intricacies of effective communication
that can be fostered from questioning and rationalization. I understood a number of things
from the reflection that it is important to question your own approach during a strategic
planning and implementation process.
A.3 Effective Conflict Resolution Skills
A.3.1 Compromise
All group members were so busy with work and their own schedule so coming to meet is a
hard job. Initially, we planned to have a group meeting every Tuesday but then not all could
agree to show up so C, D and B decided on a face to face meeting on another day while A
suggested using an online meeting and record that as evidence to the group work. Finally,
after considering the time for online meeting which could even get harder to arrange, we all
agreed to spend some time for group work at an appropriate time.
Compromise is an important tool in enhancing decision making or rather make a
decision when consensus is not reached. Although, the term compromise itself appears like a
negative approach but it is very useful in making decisions of the team and it has a great
impact on a short term basis (Gol-Guven, 2017). It is to be noted that compromise can have
severe disruption and adverse effects if continued on a long term basis and can lead to team
break down and strategic failures but on a short term basis, when a decision has to be taken
and different team members has different contrasting ideas that cannot come to a proposition
point and related consensus, it is that some members should compromise their ideas even
though they feel the ideas have a great potential to change the course of the venture positively
and as a project resource director of Koper resource services – I would encourage
compromise only on certain areas of the decision making and strategy making in order to
elevate team spirit and team consensus on collaborative decision making.

A.4 Effective form of Negotiation Skills
A.4.1 Active Listening
A and D were distracted by their part-time jobs and other subject’s assignment so sometimes
they did not listen actively to what others were saying. Later they had to ask back and C must
explain some points from the beginning for them. It was time-consuming
Active listening is considered as very important skill when it comes to communication.
Effective communications amongst two professional is not effective till the point when one
individual actually starts to hear the other person actively without prompting or speaking out
his own ideas (Jones, Bodie & Hughes, 2016). Active listening also takes logical flexibility
and patience to comply with the active listening process (Bodie et al., 2015) and it is highly
important that the team members in the copper extraction process are involved in an active
listening process.
A.5 Conclusion
Hence, effective communication with active listening, compromise, negotiation are all very
pertinent to conflict resolution and reaching a consensus. All the team members must feel
equally involved in the processes of the projects – the strategic and the operative and does not
feel left out (which can occur if there is a lack of communication affection their dignity and
esteem needs).
Part B: CSR VS Maori Organizations
B.1 Characters for exploration testing opportunities in New Zealand
For exploration of the testing opportunities in New Zealand, the copper extraction project
members must imperatively consider the factors that are imperatively related to the
exploration testing. The reason to be explored for the copper extraction belong to iwi people