Personal Workgroup Evaluation: Communication Analysis at Toyota

This essay provides a personal workgroup evaluation focusing on the marketing expert group within Toyota Company, examining their communication dynamics and performance. The group, responsible for coordinating marketing resources, faces challenges such as information hoarding and rushed product launches without proper quality testing. The analysis delves into the roles played by group members, including coordinators, opinion seekers, and recorders, as well as energizers, summarizers, and harmonizers. The essay outlines the stages of group development—forming, storming, norming, and performing—and identifies norms that regulate both positive and negative behaviors. While the group actively engages in reaching clients through online and physical methods and has developed innovative solutions like an automotive database and a company website, communication difficulties persist, hindering multitasking and overall performance. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of individual roles and team rules while acknowledging ongoing communication challenges and their impact on the group's ability to support each other effectively.

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Personal Workgroup Evaluation
Many organizations use formal communication to interact with clients and among
themselves. The connection can take place between workers in their departments or between
manager and the employees. In Toyota Company, the marketing expert group is concerned with
coordinating and making all the necessary resources representing the business (Kotler &
Armstrong, 2010). The group experience communication difficulties such as keeping information
for personal productivity reward and hurry to get products to market without proper quality
testing. The paper aims at investigating marketing experts group in Toyota Company about
communication theory.
The group plays different roles such as formal and group communication roles. The
precise functions of the group members include clarification of relationship between different
ideas and proposals by the coordinator, the opinion seeker request more explanation about the
values relevant to the group responsibilities, the recorder records the marketing suggestion tips
and record the decision of the group where in case of Toyota market problems the recorder notes
product of discussion. The group communication roles involve energizer urging the group to
continue with activities and arouse them to advanced quality actions; the summarizer describes
the situations of the group in regards to the marketing goals through providing a summary of
what has occurred. Also, the harmonizer intercedes the diversities among other members and
reconciles disagreements. The roles lie in individual’s abilities and personalities as some people
fill more than one position.
Establishing marketing experts group in Toyota Company took time as members went
through stages to have an active group with a united goal. The initial phase is forming, at this
point, members met and introduced themselves (Bonebright, 2010). They shared information

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concerning their interests, backgrounds, experiences, and discussed marketing projects using
well-organized goals and objectives. The next stage involved storming where members provided
their ideas of how things should be done. The norming stage is where all members engaged
themselves to work as a team with respect and appreciation for each other's ideas. There
established policies guide individuals on how to carry themselves in the organization. In the
performing step, many members of the group started playing by widening their market for
Toyota products. The team is active, but due to communication problems in the group, the
performance is declining.
The norms of the marketing expert group include all members performing same tasks,
ensure members privacy, the extent of time consumed on the work, practicing respect to other
group fellows views, and acceptable level of productivity (Paluck, Ball, Poynton & Sieloff,
2010). The norms regulate the positive and negative behavior of group members. The adverse
reaction by the experts involves blocking the ideas of other fellow members, withdrawal from
group participation as a result of viewing members’ ideas as not necessary and reduced listening
of other members’ contributions. On the other hand, the positive behavior of the experts is
offering member support in time of need and proper analysis of task.
According to the level of communication competencies, the group actively participate in
reaching different people through several means. The marketing experts use both online and
physical methods to reach clients. Some members face difficulties in multitasking duties. For
example, if a member is absent others find it hard to assist in more than one task because of poor
communication. Furthermore, the marketing group is more creative; they have developed an
automotive database for marketing Toyota products. The group members came together to
design the database which is used is serving customers. The expertise collaborated with the

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company and developed a website that enables them to reach most parts of the world (Fileru,
2015). Therefore, Toyota marketing expert group has few challenges in communication.
In conclusion, members of the expert group have individual roles to play in their levels of
specialization. The group is governed by the rules set by the team to assist in aligning their
behaviors. They experience communication challenges such as understanding colleague's
problems to assist. Even though they have difficulties but they also work and produce results for
the team.

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References
Bonebright, D. A. (2010). 40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman's model of small
group development. Human Resource Development International, 13(1), 111-120.
Accessed at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13678861003589099
Fileru, I. F. (2015). Toyota Prius-A Successful Pioneering in Hybrid Vehicle World. Applied
Mechanics & Materials. Accessed at https://www.scientific.net/AMM.809-810.1139
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. Pearson education. Accessed at
https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/product/Kotler-Principles-of-Marketing-
16th-Edition/9780133795028.html
Paluck, E. L., Ball, L., Poynton, C., & Sieloff, S. (2010). Social norms marketing aimed at
gender-based violence: A literature review and critical assessment. New York:
International Rescue Committee. Accessed at http://www.eldis.org/document/A62687