Report: Learn and Analyze Working with Others in Business Environment

This report examines the concepts of working with others within a business environment, focusing on the educational sector, specifically Kingston University London. It delves into the roles and responsibilities of an assistant academic, comparing them to colleagues' duties. The report explores team dynamics, comparing the benefits of individual versus collaborative work, and includes a detailed skills audit. It suggests strategies to leverage individual strengths, provides insights into giving and receiving feedback, and outlines a SMART plan for team performance improvement. The report also addresses potential sources of conflict and methods for conflict resolution, culminating in a comprehensive analysis of effective teamwork and organizational dynamics.

Learn and Analyse the
concepts of working
with others in a
business environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
a) Describe in detail the sector in which the organisation operates.......................................3
b) Describe in detail the main responsibilities for your role in the organisation...................4
c) Comparison of the responsibilities with the colleagues responsibilities............................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
a) Meaning of 'team dynamics'...............................................................................................5
b) Comparison of benefits of working alone to working with others.....................................5
c) Detailed skills audit for self and other members in the team.............................................6
d) Suggest the ways in which you can work together to make use of individual strengths...7
e) Making best use of individual strengths.............................................................................7
f) Initiative in providing support to others.............................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
a) Benefits of giving and receiving feedbacks.......................................................................7
b) Feedback to others on achievements of objectives............................................................8
c) A formal letter for responding on the feedback.................................................................8
d) SMART plan to improve team performance .....................................................................9
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
a) Possible sources of conflict within a team.........................................................................9
b) Ways to resolve conflicts in a team..................................................................................10
c) Most appropriate method to resolve a specific conflict...................................................11
d) Ways of preventing conflicts from occurring..................................................................11
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................2
.........................................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Business environment is the combination of various factors that can be internal and
external which has influence on their operations. It helps the business in identifying the
opportunities on the basis of resources held by the organisation and the threats that will have
negative impact on the organisation. To have an understanding of the working of the individual
and the team in different departments, functions is necessary for the employees as it regulates
their behaviour and thus the organisational culture. This report is related to the educational sector
in which the concepts of working with others are considered. For this report the institution that is
considered is Kingston University London in which various responsibilities of employees,
teamwork, individual work, the benefits of giving and receiving feedbacks are studied. Also it
includes plans to improve the performance of the team, sources of conflicts and the ways to
resolve them.
TASK 1
a) Describe in detail the sector in which the organisation operates
Kingston University is situated in London, it offers various undergraduate and
postgraduate courses to various local and international students. They have been recognised as
top university that offers quality education to the students along with various opportunities for
their overall development which improves the capabilities of the students to compete against the
other students.
This institution belongs to education sector whose primary motive is to impart knowledge
to the children and young people. The education system in UK has been classified into four parts,
that are primary education, secondary education, further and higher education. The education
sector of the country has been classified into four stages on the basis of which their level of
education has been decided. Students and children are provided certificated when they move on
to the next stage. Along with the basic education various vocational and technical programs has
been launched by the government to develop a variety of skills in their students. Various
regulators have been working in UK to monitor the different levels of institution (Raziq and
Maulabakhsh, 2015).

b) Describe in detail the main responsibilities for your role in the organisation
I have been working as an Assistant academic in Kingston University where I have
various responsibilities that are related to the academics processes in the institution. Some of the
responsibilities are :
 to provide assistance to the team of academic counselling in their routine tasks
 to assist the dean of the Kingston University in planning and preparing various academic
programs for different courses offered by the institution, also the scheduling of the
academic programs are my responsibility
 to manage and maintain the stock of the books, journals and other necessary documents
 to procure and manage the material and supplies required in the organisation
 to integrate various practices and the methodologies in the techniques of the teaching in
the institution which will help them to offer the quality education to their students
 the major responsibility is to prepare the academic reports and records of the courses that
they are offering which are required by the faculty and the management of the institution
(Kakabadse and Bank, 2018).
c) Comparison of the responsibilities with the colleagues responsibilities
Responsibilities that I have to undertake are more in comparison to others working in the
organisation as :
 all the academic records are to be prepared by the assistant academic which should be
the responsibility of the assistant administrator whereas they maintain the records related
to the financial aspects
 to manage and maintain the inventory of the books and journal which are demanded by
the faculty is the responsibility of assistant academic while the librarian is responsible
for all other books and study material
 it is the responsibility of the assistant academic to plan and schedule the academic
programs and then pass it to the marketing team who will then prepare their strategies to
market them regarding various courses offered by their universities (Munir, 2017).
 assistant academic is responsible to provide assistance to the counselling team regarding
the changes that they have introduced in their existing programs etc. while the counsellor
will target the students who can be enrolled in the university

TASK 2
a) Meaning of 'team dynamics'
Team dynamics are the psychological factors that has impact and influence on the
performance and the behaviours of the members of the team. Such dynamism in the team can be
because of nature of the work the team has to perform, the relationship among the members of
the team, the environment in which the team works and most importantly the nature of the team
members.
At times team dynamics is beneficial for the organisation as due to diversity the solutions
to the problems can easily be identified also the cooperation is more while dynamism may affect
the performance when the conflicts arises due to differentiated ideology of the members. Team
dynamism is good fort the organisation in case where individual contribution and performance
matters more than the team work (Quinlan and et.al 2019).
I worked with the marketing team to make the analysis of the required changes in the
programs, it was identified that there was difference in ideology of the team but it did not
affected the performance as everybody was so determined towards their individual and team
performance.
b) Comparison of benefits of working alone to working with others
For every task it is identified that whether it has to be done individually or in team. I had
to work with marketing department where I analysed various benefits of working alone and in
team.
Benefits while working alone :
 one can work as per their personal opinion at their own pace without any interference
 while working individually one can easily concentrate and can done their part quickly
 decision making becomes easy as the they need not to discussed it with anybody
 individual are responsible for their part and get the whole credit for the performance
(Sattar, Dewri. and Annana, 2016).
Benefits while working with others :
 while working in team it is easier to solve the issues as different people have their
capabilities on the basis of which collective decision can be taken

 while working with others the communication between team members is improved which
helps them to build better relations
 due to collective working a spirit of togetherness is developed among the employees
which increases the productivity of the team members
c) Detailed skills audit for self and other members in the team
While working with other department it was identified that the skill sets of the employees
of that department varies from what I posses. For that skill audit is done for both :
Skill audit for self :
Strengths Weaknesses
 It was analysed that the decision
making skills are better in me as I
consider all the factors before reaching
to any outcome
 the ability of critical thinking is far
better then other people as for any
judgement analysis and evaluation of
the issue is done in detail
 their communication skills is strong
which will help them to develop better
understanding
 My level of patience is not that strong
as they have to deal the prospects
whom they have to convert into
customers but I do not
 creativity skills are weak as my role
and responsibilities of the job is
monotonous (McEwan, 2016)
Skill audit for other members :
Strengths Weaknesses
 they have better understanding of the
customers mindset which they can
analyse on the basis of their responses
 they have convincing skills which helps
them to convince the customers by
making them understand the
importance and uniqueness of their
 skills of flexibility is comparatively low
high as they cannot make changes ion
their policies
 as they have to take prompt decisions
which is why their critical thinking
skills is poor

programs
d) Suggest the ways in which you can work together to make use of individual strengths
To achieve any objectives it is required to focus on the strengths of the individual and the
team. While working in the team the strengths of individual can be used to achieve the objectives
of the team. While I was working with the marketing department it was identified that while
individual went out to gather information about market they faces various issue which can be
resolved when all the members work together as they will different minds which will suggest
various options to resolve the issue. This can be illustrated with using my skills of efficient
decision making with that of their skills of better understanding of the customers mindset will
help them to satisfy the customers more easily (Kim and Choi, 2017). When marketing team has
to go out for collecting the data of the students who can be enrolled in their university they can
take academic team as they have critical thinking skills. This is how the skills of individual can
be used while working together.
e) Making best use of individual strengths
Individual strengths can be utilised while working in the team as to accomplice the goals.
As in the case while assistant academic was working with marketing team the individual
strengths of decision making and critical thinking of assistant academic can be used with the
convincing skills and understanding ability of customers mindset of the marketing team. This
will help in taking decisions easily and quickly.
f) Initiative in providing support to others
To provide the support to other members of the team various initiatives can be taken such
as the strengths of one person can be made strengths of others by developing the skills in other
members of the team. Also by providing the guidance the issues can easily be resolved as it will
build better and supportive organisational culture. Along with effective communication this can
be achieved.

TASK 3
a) Benefits of giving and receiving feedbacks
Feedbacks play an important role in evaluating the results of the work that is done so that
the performance can be further improved by working on the areas where negative feedback is
received while enhancing the areas where positive feedback is received. These feedbacks help in
assessing how others perceive their performance and how can they be improved. Feedbacks can
help in improving my performance as the academic manager of Kingston University.
Benefits of giving feedbacks : This helps in giving a clear idea to other people about my
expectations regarding their roles and responsibilities so that their efficiency and behaviour can
be improved which impact and influence my performance.
Benefits of receiving feedback : Receiving feedback is important for me as it will help
me in increasing my performance and efficiency as a academic manager so that I'm able to better
manage and control the activities of other departments. The areas where improvements need to
be made can be identified through this process so that better results can be assured from my side
(Górny, 2015).
b) Feedback to others on achievements of objectives
The task was to develop the report of the books and journals that are required by the
faculties of different department so that the quotations can be taken from different publishers.
The task was completed by the team for which they have to be provided the feedback :
 The task that was done efficiently by collecting the name of the books that are required
by different faculties. The report so presented was good as all the names of the books and
the authors was written perfectly that too department wise. This made the procedure of
quotations and ordering simpler. But the time that was taken to conduct the task was
much more then in which it should have been done which was due to conflicts between
the team members which was not expected as every individual was allotted their own
roles and responsibilities. This feedback is been provided to the team not to any
individual so that such conflicts and delays must not arise arise further.
c) A formal letter for responding on the feedback
To,
The Assistant Academic,

Kingston University, London.
Sir,
I am are glad that our work has been appreciated and you provided us the feedback
regarding what all was good in the report so prepared and what are the loopholes in the
execution. This will help me and my team members to develop the required skills which we felt
missing or recessive while performing our job, also necessary training programs need to be
attended by me and the team members for the technical issues we faced. It was an amazing
opportunity for us to directly communicate with the faculties of different departments and collect
information this boosted the level of confidence of the team members. For the loopholes in the
performance I assure you that such issue will not arise before the team and the management as I
will develop all the necessary skill set in me and my team.
Thanking you,
Yours Sincerely,
Academic Team
d) SMART plan to improve team performance
SMART plan is something which is having four main features that is plan must be
specific, achievable, realistic, timely and measurable. All five attributes make a plan which can
help in achieving of set targets. To improve performance of the team it becomes necessary that
the loopholes which occurred must be corrected and prevention is done so that same mistakes are
not repeated. A plan must be created to identify various opportunities which can come for the
team members. Proper time management should be there so that there is Clarity in actions this
will help in achieving the set goals within specified time period. Organization culture should be
improved so that there is understanding and coordination developed amongst employees this will
help them in working according to laid objectives. Also, it is important that plan made should be
in accordance with skills and competence of all team members (Kaur, 2015). Various changes
should be made with time so that planned objectives are in accordance with the desirable
modifications required from view point of organisation. Such smart plan will help the
organisation in ensuring that their team is working according to desired manner and is successful
in attaining the objectives.

TASK 4
a) Possible sources of conflict within a team
In a team conflicts among workers may arise due to differences in their level of
understanding, power, views and opinions etc. Some of the sources of conflicts are discussed
below : Conflicts over positions, strategies or opinions : Within a team all the members have
different views and opinions regarding completing a task and everyone thinks that their
opinion is superior to that of others so conflicts arise. Unclear business values : If the goals and objectives of a business are unclear then it
might give rise to conflict as all the team members will have different understanding
about the business goals and they might want to use different ways in achieving those
goals. Poor management : If the team members are poorly managed then it might lead to
conflicts among them as all the team members will try to complete their task with their
own level of perceptions ( Awan and Tahir, 2015).
 Lack of equal opportunities : When equal opportunities are not given to the team
members based on their skills and talents then it might lead to conflicts among them.
Partiality in team members can lower the morale and motivation level of team members
which will also deteriorate their efficiency to work properly.
b) Ways to resolve conflicts in a team
The conflicts among the team members need to be resolved within time so that the
efficiency and performance of the team members can be enhanced so that the goals can be
achieved. Following are the ways of resolving conflicts in a team : Acknowledging the conflicts : The acknowledgement of conflicts is important in order to
manage and resolve them. This will help in analysing the conflicts from the root level so
that the cause of such conflicts can be dealt with properly. Training and development programmes : These programmes will help in enhancing the
skills and talents of the team members so that they can coordinate and integrate their
work together so as to reach to common goals.

 Equal opportunities : The team members must be given equal opportunities based on
their capabilities and skills so that the conflicts that arise due to emotional characters of
the team members i.e. jealousy, annoyance, envy etc. can be appropriately dealt with.
 Communication of clear goals : The goals must be clearly communicated to the team
members so that the conflicts due to confusion can be managed and strategies to achieve
common goals can be formulated ( Saha and Mazumder, 2015).
c) Most appropriate method to resolve a specific conflict
Conflicts in team members may arise due to differences in the views and opinions of all
the team members. In Kingston University a conflict among the various departments has arisen
related to the distribution of funds. The departments involved in this conflict are marketing,
administrative and academic departments of the university. This conflict can be solved by
collaborating and negotiation among all the departments. This can be done by first understanding
the cause of conflicts, then evaluating the view points of various departments and trying to come
to a negotiation so that the departments can be given budgets in proportion to their requirements.
This will be a win-win situation for all the departments which will help in solving their conflicts.
(Hillary, 2017) The approval of all the departments must be taken so that further conflicts do not
arise related to this matter.
d) Ways of preventing conflicts from occurring
The conflicts can be prevented from occurring by following appropriate methods so that
the functions of organisation does not get interrupted and smooth functioning of the business can
take place. Following are the ways in which conflicts can be prevented : Giving positive feedback : It means that the work of employees should be appreciated so
that they feel motivated towards enhancing their efficiency and performance so that the
goals of organisation can be achieved and they will focus on their work and not on
conflicts (McDonnall, 2017). Be aware about the potential conflicts that may arise : The managers needs to be fully
aware about the areas where conflicts might occur. This will help in dealing with the
team members properly so that they can be given clear instructions and directions which
will manage and control conflicts.
 Respecting differences : This means that the managers must give equal chance to the
team members to share their views and opinions so that they can be evaluated and the

best among all the opinions can be selected to carry out the task. This will encourage
employees to participate in the team decision-making and increase their efficiency.