Effective Team Communication: A Reflective Analysis and Strategies

This report examines the importance of effective team communication in a business organization, particularly focusing on the role of an office admin in facilitating smooth information flow. The author uses the Gibbs reflective model to analyze personal experiences, highlighting the challenges of passive listening, lack of cooperation, and inadequate horizontal communication during a project involving foreign clients. The report describes feelings of excitement and pride, followed by the realization of communication breakdowns. The author evaluates the situation, identifies the root causes, and proposes solutions such as fostering a horizontal communication system, conducting workshops, and utilizing communication theories like constructivism and accommodation theory. The report concludes with practical applications, emphasizing the need for well-developed communication skills, time management, and patience. It also discusses the skills necessary for successful office administration and strategies to overcome communication barriers, such as customizing messages and encouraging employee feedback. The author aims to improve workplace dynamics and ensure clear, transparent communication between management and employees.

Running head: TEAM COMMUNICATION
EFFECTIVE TEAM COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
Communication is one of the most essential tools for the proper functioning of the
business organization. In the modern-day business scenario, all the employees need to make sure
that they are taking part in business decisions. The work of an office Admin is one of the most
crucial ob as they have to look after all the essential works like talking with the aspiring job
candidates, talking with them over the phone and also booking the right time slots for the
aspiring candidates. Apart from this the office admins also have to communicate with the
employees and the management on the floor so that there is a free and smooth flowing of the
communication between them (Somerville et al. 2017). Therefore it can be said that
communication is one of the most essential aspects that the office admins must inculcate within
themselves. They have to make sure that their communication system is well developed and they
are being able to act as a bridge between the manager and the employees who are working in the
organization.
Analysis
The Gibbs reflective model can be used so that I can reflect on the different experiences
that I have been undergoing. As per my perception working as the office admin has been very
useful for me as I have been able to understand the issues that can arise while communicating the
messages and his business decisions in the workplace. At the same time, I have also been able to
understand the tools and the approaches that must be used to find solutions to those problems.

3EFFECTIVE TEAM COMMUNICATION
Description
There was an annual meeting going on in the office and we got foreign clients from
outside. There was a very schedule that was being followed in the organization as all the teams
were busy in making some group projects for being presented in front of the foreign client I was
in charge of the operations team and we had to produce the report for the foreign clients. I had a
feeling of pride and also excitement (Fletcher and Van Hein 2017). I felt that this was a very
good opportunity for my career; I will be able to work in a team and also develop the team
members in such a way that they will be able to understand all the job requirements and then
prepare a good and effective presentation.
However, as the project started I was thinking that the work is going on well. All the
employees or the team members are being able to understand the task and are preparing the
presentation properly. However, as the days passed by I have been able to realize that the team
members were not being able to develop proper cooperation or understanding and many errors
were being made in the presentation. There was a huge lack of the proper understanding of the
business decisions being taken or the essential points that are to be included in the presentations.
However, I felt that there are some of the other reasons going wrong in the communication
system of the organization. It is for this reason that several issues are going on at the time of the
final presentation.
Feelings
It was during that time I had this feeling that passive listening is the major cause that is
causing all the issue. However to solve this issue of passive listening I had to take some of the
other kind of measures. I realized that the employees are hurrying and trying to understand all

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the situations and the decisions without developing any in-depth and proper understanding of the
issues that are being communicated. Some of the employees responded too soon even before
understanding the decision (Hunter et al. 2015). This is mainly because the employees were
much stress because of the work stress and they did not know how they could deal with this
decision. I realized that there was a lack of horizontal communication system. The employees
were not able to reach out to me whenever they wanted to. They suffered from this feeling that if
they spend too much time in understanding the task or the business requirements then they will
not be able to keep pace with the project and would be terminated. I realized that it was my
mistake as I did not take any pre hand sessions or meetings with the employees.
Evaluation
As per my evaluation, one of the major faults that took place in the communication
system was the lack of cooperation and the lack of proper understanding among the employees.
The employees were not trained to be god and attentive listeners. Therefore they used to speak
first before listening to the things attentively. Therefore I evaluated that to make sure that the
project or the presentation is going well it is the duty or the responsibility of the leader to make
sure that the employees are being able to approach to their respective heads or their team leaders
whenever they need to. Therefore I made sure that I am making myself approachable to all my
team members and develop a horizontal communication system so that all the team members can
be able to understand all the different messages in detail and an in-depth manner before
responding to it or taking any final step about it.

5EFFECTIVE TEAM COMMUNICATION
Analysis
The thing that went wrong or undesired was the confusion or misunderstanding that as
being caused due to the lack of cooperation among the team members. However, the good thing
that I experienced through this experience is that I was made aware of the things that can go
wrong in the future and how can I make the right steps about solving the same. I have realized
that being the office admin, I must develop a free-flowing and smooth communication system so
that all the team members can understand the business decision and give their own opinion.
I will have to make sure that there is a proper voting system being conducted before the
business decision is being taken; sound workplace communication can be taken place only after
the proper consultation and the discussion with the employees or the team members. I developed
the system of group discussion every week of that all the employees can understand the business
decisions that are being taken. It will be made sure that all the essential business decisions and
the important business presentations will be conducted after the in-depth explanation and the
doubt clearing sessions with the employees.
This will be helping in understanding how employees can understand the issue being
discussed before making their opinions on the same. After conducting the communication
system workshops and also develop a free-flowing horizontal communication system, the
employees developed the listening ability along with the speaking ability. I have realized that to
be successful as the office admin, I have to develop transparency and clarity among the
management of the employees.

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Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that passive listening is one of the major issues that can arise in
the field of workplace communication. Being the office admin I will have to make sure that all
the employees are being given the proper skill training and development facilities so that they
can understand all the issues before starting working on them.
Practical Application and Deployment
I have realized that to overcome all the issues of workplace communication I will have to
follow some of the communication theories. As per the opinion of Patton and McMahon (2016),
the theory of constructivism can be used in the workplace context so that the messages are being
conveyed in a very meaningful and understandable manner, I have realized that during the peak
seasons there is usually a huge pressure in the organization and all the stakeholders are under a
huge pressure. Therefore to control such, I will have to comprise the messages in such a way that
they are employee friendly and are very simple nature. In other words, I will make sure that the
official messages are crisp and are composed in a lucid language. Wheeler (2017) has opined in
the similar context that customization of the messages as per the client need or the employee
need is one of the most useful strategies that can be used to make the workplace communication
to be carried on in a very easy and smooth manner.
I will always try to develop an official message in such a way that it creates a kind of
interest within the employees. Each of the official mail will be read by the employees and
replied. This will ensure that I have given a chance to each employee for expressing their views
and opinions over every business decision that is being taken. Therefore the employees will

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know that they can freely express their doubts and their opinions in case of any business decision
or any new projects that are being undertaken. This will also help me in understanding. Apart
from this will also help me in communicating the issues of the employees to the management so
that the right actions can be taken at the right point of time.
Communication Accommodation Theory will also be used so that I can accommodate
my communication style as per the needs and demands of others. For instance a nit very
comfortable speaking in front of all the employees. It is for this reason that always tries to
develop and convey the official messages in the form of emails or other written forms so that the
employees can understand about the business requirements in the form of emails. I am more
comfortable in the nonverbal forms of communication. However, from my last experience, I
have realized that she employed are not always able to comprehend the official messages that are
sent in the form of the official emails. Apart from this often they do not have ample time to
understand and then respond to those messages. Therefore I will have to change my
communication style and accommodate as per the choice of the employees or my team members.
Therefore I will develop a free-flowing and two-way communication system where the
employees will be able to give in their votes and also express their doubts and their fears.

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Skills for professional practice
The different skills that will be needed for working successfully at the post of an office admin
are as follows
Well developed verbal and communication skill
I will have to develop a proper fluency in both the verbal and the nonverbal skills. This is
needed to train the employees for any presentation I will have to teach the employees the
importance of the body language like eye contact. This is because eye contact is a sign of
confidence and will naturally help in developing the employees for getting better results in the
official projects like the presentation.
Time management
As I am working as an office admin, I will have to carry on all the work within the
scheduled period so that employees can enjoy flexible shift timing. Apart from that, a sound
management system will also ensure the effective utilization of valuable resources of the
organization. Employees will be able to get the right kind of resources at the right time and also
apply the same.
Work over the patience level
An office admin has to perform many different kinds of work within a short period. An
office admin is one which has to act as the link between the managers and the other employees of
the organization. Therefore it is of utmost importance for them to maintain a proper patience
level. I will always try to take short breaks in between the long hours of work so that I can
refresh my mind he will help me to interact with all the employees soundly. This will help me to

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understand the doubts of the employees and also cater to them at the same time. This, in turn,
will help in overcoming communication errors.

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References
Fletcher, K. and Van Hein, J., 2017. Does Lack of Communication Regarding Pay Negatively
Affect Perceived Justice in the Workplace.
Hunter, W.C., Chung, N., Gretzel, U. and Koo, C., 2015. Constructivist research in smart
tourism. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems, 25(1), pp.105-120.
Patton, W. and McMahon, M., 2016. Constructivism: What does it mean for career counselling?.
In Career Counselling(pp. 21-34). Routledge.
Somerville, M.M., Imhof, R., Bruce, C.S. and Abdi, E.S., 2017, September. Workplace
information literacy: Co-designed information experience-centered systems and practices.
In European Conference on Information Literacy (pp. 3-10). Springer, Cham.
Wheeler, A., 2017. Designing brand identity: an essential guide for the whole branding team.
John Wiley & Sons.