Effective Team Work and Communication

This article discusses the importance of effective team work and communication. It covers models of communication, communication skills, and advantages and disadvantages of technology in communication. The article also includes case studies and workplace examples to help readers understand the concepts better.

Effective Team Work and
Communication

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Models of Communication......................................................................................................1
2. Communication Skills..............................................................................................................3
3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology in Communication........................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Communication can be defined as the process of transmission of information between
two or more persons. The transfer of messages could be oral, written or with the help of gestures.
It is not necessary for the individuals to be physically present in front of each other during this
process (Chu, 2019). They can perform the same function over a telephone or social media, etc.
Transmission of information is very important in the day to day life as it helps in carrying out
tasks effectively and create value. But there are certain barriers to communication such as
semantic barrier, organisational barrier and so on. These barriers lead to poor communication
which creates difficulty in the transfer of data in order to create value.
MAIN BODY
1. Models of Communication
 Shannon and Weaver Model
The communication model of Shannon and Weaver was given two individuals Shannon
and Weaver. The former worked as an electronic engineer other than being a mathematician
while the latter was a scientist (SHARMA, 2019). As per the model, stated by these two
geniuses, a decoder cannot decode the message received from the encoder due to noise. In simple
words, the receiver of the message is unable or faces difficulty in decoding the message
transmitted by the encoder due to the noise in the background during the process of
communication (Lowery-Hart, 2019). Due to the noise, the receiver is unable to understand the
message received in the way it was actually transmitted.
Maria and Pedro Case Study
in the given case of Maria and Pedro, due to the disturbance or the noise in the
background when Maria ping Pedro was the reason for all the misunderstanding. She asked
Pedro to bring chicken while Pedro heard she will see him in the kitchen when he comes home
back. The words “chicken” and “kitchen” sounds somewhat similar and due to the noise the
misunderstanding was created. This made Pedro misinterpret the message delivered by Maria.
How misunderstanding could be avoided?
Misunderstanding in the process of communication is very common and could be avoided
with the help of some measures (McCauley, 2021). The sender can ask the receiver of the
message what he understood from the delivered message, this is the best measure which can
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avoid the happening of any king of misunderstanding while communicating. Active listening
could be another measure. A written message by Maria, in the above case, could have avoided
from the happening of such a confusion and misinterpretation.
Workplace Example
A conference video call was organized by the manager of an organization with other
employees. The network was quite disturbed and the result was that the employees were unable
to understand the message delivered. Manager was not aware of this and so he did not leave a
written message too for the clarification. This made employees confused and they misinterpreted
the information which affected their performance to a great extent.
 Schramm Model
In 1954, the theory of Schramm model of communication was given by Wilber Schramm.
As per the Schramm model, the sender focuses on taking the feedback from the receiver thereby
proving that communication is a two way process (Johnson and Hackman, 2018). Focus on
feedback differentiates this model from the one of Shannon and Weaver. The feedback make the
encoder ensure that the message is being delivered to the receiver and is understood by them in
the appropriate manner.
Case study of Barry and techniques to avoid misunderstanding
Barry was the owner of a restaurant who had a range of employees working for the
restaurant possessed by Barry. The owner was very cautious about the food safety and took all
the necessary measures in order to maintain the safety regulations. The owners has provided the
employees with hand sinks, soaps, paper towels, so that they can regularly wash their hands
maintaining hygiene. In addition to it, Barry put large signs to keep safety regulations in mind.
Still the workers left the uncooked meat open at the room temperature. This made Barry angry.
Barry should take strict measures against them and punish them for their mistake by deducting
their salary as a punishment
Workplace Example
Once a meeting was conducted where the spokesperson was speaking in English. The
person was too fast and fluent in the conveyance of information. Most of the audience belonged
to another nation and thus had a great difficulty in understanding the message that was being
conveyed. This was an ineffective communication as the receiver did not understood the message
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that was being conveyed to them by the receiver neither did the sender asked for the feedback.
Asking for feedback could have helped people solve their queries. Berlo Model
The concept of Berlo's model of communication was given by David Berlo in around
1964. It is known as Berlo's SMCR model and is a linear form of communication model. Sender,
message, channel and receiver are the four major components around which the concept of
whole model revolves (Al Nahyan And Et. Al., 2019). Sender sends the message which is
conveyed with the help of a medium known as channel to an individual or a group known as
receiver.
Case study of Professor and techniques to avoid misunderstanding
A well educated English professor from Welsh University went to a village. The villagers
were not educated. This made the professor think that the villagers do not match his standard and
he behaved with them rudely by not talking to them. When the professor was screaming for help
as the house caught fire, no one came for help. This was due to the high vocabulary used by the
professor which the villagers did not understand and could not help the professor. In order to
avoid the misunderstanding or to make the villagers understand the message, the professor
should have used presence of mind and easy words. Those words could be conveniently
understood by the villagers and they could have helped the professor. Hence, it is very important
that the message conveyed by the sender is being understood by the receiver in the appropriate
manner.
Workplace Example
Individuals of other nation work in our organization as employees. As the country is
completely new for them, it is difficult to understand the local language used by the
management. This results in inconvenience and is one of the barriers of communication as being
foreigners they do face difficulty in understanding and having command over the native
language of the country in which they work. Due to this, the information being conveyed to them
is not, sometimes, clearly understood by them.
2. Communication Skills
Communication skills refer to the ability of an individual to transfer information or
messages to another person or group in such a manner that the information so passed on helped
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them to perform the related tasks effectively. Verbal and non verbal communication are
discussed below: Verbal communication – When the process of communication takes place with the help
of words, whether oral or written, then such is a form of verbal communication. It
involves usage of sounds or words in order to express ones thoughts and feelings
(Stollings And Et. Al., 2020). The sender speaks and uses his voice or writes so that the
receiver can decode the transmitted information. Generally the way a receiver
understands the given message is highly depended on the words spoken or written.
 Non verbal communication – The non verbal communication refers to the
communication when the individuals communicate with each other rather than using
words (Peeters, Van De Voorde and Paauwe, 2022). This form of communication
includes body language, gestures and silence. Ones body language or facial expression
says a lot. For instance, when passing by a known and smiling shows that you are happy
to see them. It is a simple and kind gesture.
In the given case study of A Day with the Chief, Mark, a salesman is being rewarded by
the company for his good efforts and commendable performance with a free trip. Higher
authorities already communicated about the same to Mrs. Brown whose behaviour was rude
enough with the staff members. This made Mark nervous at the beginning but the good
behaviour of Ms Brown made the salesman feel comfortable later. This made Mark to behave in
a quite informal manner which was not acceptable by Mrs. Brown and asked Mark to leave the
office. At this, Mark made bad gesture and used a bad body language which communicated a lot
to Mrs. Brown. This made Mrs. Brown angry and so shouted upon Mark for such a bad
behaviour.
 Listening – For a communication to be effective, it is very important that the receiver of
the message listens to the transmitted information patiently and understands. It is also
essential for the individual to understand the delivered message in the manner in which it
was actually being transferred (Breen, 2020). For understanding of the message, the
receiver has to decode the message and for decoding, the receiver has to listen to it
properly. Listening is also classified into two categories, namely, active listening and
empathetic listening. When the receiver is fully attentive while listening to whatever the
speaker is saying, such a listening is known as active listening. On the other hand,
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empathetic listening is one where the receiver understands the transmitted information by
experiencing the same with the sender.
In the case study of Max, the multitasker, Max was an event organizer who manages all
the work solely as the multitasker was not able to keep subordinates. One of the clients, named
Tamara, asked Max to organize an event for Tamara's parent's 50th anniversary. Due to some
reason Tamara's father was hospitalised and so they have to postpone the event. In order to
inform Max about the uncertainty, Tamara called and asked to shift the date. Max was talking on
another call too which made the multitasker not fully attentive while listening to Tamara. This
made Tamara angry for on the date of event Max organized someone else's event instead of
Tamara as the organizer forgot to mention the date in the diary. This shows how important it is to
be fully active and attentive while listening to someone.
3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology in Communication
In today's high tech world, communication with the help of technological tools is quite
common. When the information is transferred from one individual to another with the help of
such technical tools its is known as communication technology (Muñoz And Et. Al., 2018).
However, everything has its own pros and cons. The benefits and drawbacks of communication
technology are discussed below:
Advantages
 With the help of technical tools, it becomes easy as well as convenient for the people to
communicate faster with each other in emergency situations with the help of, say,
telephone.
 Communication technology help people communicate to their loved ones who stays far
away from them. People are able to connect to anyone from anywhere in the whole
damn world. Communication technology reduce manual efforts of writing also reduced the wastage
of paper. This helps in preservation of trees.
Disadvantages
 Communication technology lacks privacy as the everything is online. There is risk of
hacking and the people may read your messages as these are recorded. This is a cyber
crime which is quite common now-a-days.
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 Social media such as Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. is used by people, usually, for chatting
purpose. There are high chances of misinterpretation of the message. The sender may
send the message in a different way while the receiver ma6y decode it in a different way
as there is no voice, facial expressions, etc., involved.
 Communication technology have become an addiction now, especially for students and
youths. It is very dangerous for their studies and can affect their career to a great extent as
the addiction of technology and peak of the career is, usually, at the same time.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that communication is a very important part
in the life of an individual which helps them to carry on the tasks effectively and create value.
Further, the models of communication are used to understand the concept of communication in a
better and detailed manner. The communication skills are explained in order to relate them with
the given case studies and make them understand well. There are several benefits and drawbacks
of communication technology.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Al Nahyan, M.T. And Et. Al., 2019. Communication, coordination, decision-making and
knowledge-sharing: a case study in construction management. Journal of Knowledge
Management.
Breen, A., 2020. Vision Setting: How Leadership Communication Empowers Workers and
Teams. In New Leadership in Strategy and Communication (pp. 95-106). Springer,
Cham.
Chu, R., 2019. Code blue: Effective resuscitation teams. Nursing made Incredibly Easy, 17(5),
pp.13-16.
Johnson, C.E. and Hackman, M.Z., 2018. Leadership: A communication perspective. Waveland
Press.
Lowery-Hart, R., 2019. Leadership Team Development and Succession Planning in Times of
Crisis. Team leadership in community colleges, pp.108-123.
McCauley, K.D., 2021. The Arena: An Activity to Foster Teamwork, Communication, and
Cooperation in and Across Teams. Management Teaching Review, 6(3), pp.199-209.
Muñoz, M. And Et. Al., 2018, September. Gamification to identify software development team
members’ profiles. In European Conference on Software Process Improvement (pp.
219-228). Springer, Cham.
Peeters, T., Van De Voorde, K. and Paauwe, J., 2022. The effects of working agile on team
performance and engagement. Team Performance Management: An International
Journal.
SHARMA, V.K., 2019. 14 Team Working: From Theory to practice. Targeting in Mental Health
Services: A Multi-disciplinary Challenge.
Stollings, J.L. And Et. Al., 2020. Best practices for conducting interprofessional team rounds to
facilitate performance of the ICU liberation (ABCDEF) bundle. Critical care
medicine, 48(4), pp.562-570.
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