Working with Others in a Business Environment: BPP University Report

This report examines the dynamics of working with others within a business environment, specifically focusing on BPP University. It begins by outlining the operational sector of the university and the responsibilities of an assistant academic, including comparisons across different roles within the organization. The report then delves into team dynamics, contrasting the benefits of individual versus collaborative work, and presents a skills audit for assistant academics and their teams. It suggests methods to leverage individual strengths and provide support within a team setting. Furthermore, the report explores the significance of giving and receiving feedback, providing examples and suggesting a plan for improving team performance based on feedback. Finally, it addresses potential sources of conflict and effective resolution and prevention strategies within a business context, concluding with a summary of key findings and recommendations.

Work with Others in a Business
environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Sector in which BPP university is operating.........................................................................3
1.2 Main responsibilities of assistant Academic.........................................................................3
1.3 Compare responsibilities across roles within the organisation.............................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 what is meant by ‘team dynamics’........................................................................................4
2.2 compare the benefits of working alone to working with others............................................4
2.3 Carry out a skills audit for Assistant academic and members of its team.............................5
2.4 Suggest ways in which you can work together to make use of individual strengths............5
2.5 work with others, making best use of individual strengths...................................................6
2.6 provide support to others.......................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Explain the benefits of giving and receiving feedback in a business environment...............6
3.2 Provide others with feedback on achievement of objectives................................................6
3.3 respond positively to feedback from others by writing a formal letter to your manager......7
3.4 create a plan to improve team performance based on feedback............................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Possible source of Conflicts..................................................................................................7
4.2 Way for resolving conflict....................................................................................................8
4.3 most appropriate methods to resolve a specific conflict.......................................................8
4.4 Ways of preventing conflict.................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business environment is a sum of external and internal factors which can affect the
profitability or productivity of organisation in positive or negative manner. In addition, a large
number of employees and teams are working for the organisation so as to overcome the negative
influences of factors of surrounding environment of a firm. Present report is based on BPP
university which is a private organisation and provides services in educational sector along with
based in UK. This report will describes operating sector of organisation, main responsibilities of
assistant academic along with team dynamics. Benefits of giving and receiving feedback along
with feedback on achievement of objectives will also covered in this assignment.
TASK 1
1.1 Sector in which BPP university is operating
BPP university is private university that provides education in business, finance,
accountancy, technology, nursing and healthcare. Organisation is a part of BPP holdings limited
which is UK based provider of professional and academic education. BPP holdings is a
subsidiary of American private higher educational group i.e. Apollo Global. Organisation was
founded in 1992 and it is a for- profit higher educational institute that's headquarters are located
in Manchester (Cook, N., 2017).
1.2 Main responsibilities of assistant Academic
Assistant academic have to adhere various roles and responsibilities within the university
which are given as below:
 They have duty to assist the academic counsellor in daily activities so that all activities
should be performed in smooth manner.
 They also support the dean of organisation in preparing and scheduling of academic
programmes.
 They are responsible for maintaining inventory of books, stationeries within the
university.
 Interact with students so as to identifying their problems and provide solutions
accordingly.
 Formulate academic reports, statistical statements as per the requirements of dean and
faculties of university (Zott, C., Amit, R. and Massa, L., 2011).

 Supply the academic books and materials to faculty members in a given time-frame.
1.3 Compare responsibilities across roles within the organisation
Assistant Academic is the one who plays a very important role and perform its duties in a
collaborative manner with several departments in University. Like for Research and development
department Assistant Academic review the collected research and analyse data sometime they
can also interpret data or writing reports for the research. For an event, thy have duty to setup
computers and projectors so that event will be functioned in an effective manner.
TASK 2
2.1 what is meant by ‘team dynamics’
Team dynamics can be defined as psychological forces which influences the working
performance of team and its behaviour. In addition to this, It is invisible force that operate
between different people or groups in a team. For example- In a group of six members two are
good friends therefore, this kind of friendship can effect positively or negatively on the working
performance of whole group. Apart from that, if friendship is adopted by the whole group then
two outcomes can be expected such as whether work will be performed in quickly manner or
whether it will be delayed.
2.2 compare the benefits of working alone to working with others
Working alone can be called as individual working whereas, working with others is
called as teamwork. Comparison on the basis of benefit between individual working and working
with others are given as below:
Individual working Team work
 Major benefit of individual working is
that in it, person can work at their own
level without depending on anyone.
 In individual working, persons can
concentrate easier and complete the
task in a short time period.
 While, through team work
collaboration and coordination between
team members are increases and as a
result of it, more ideas are developed
for increasing productivity.
 Each person of team are unique and
having different skill, background and
experiences. Therefore chances of

gaining better results in a short time
period are higher.
2.3 Carry out a skills audit for Assistant academic and members of its team
Skill audit is an ongoing working record of knowledge, skills and experience of a person
that is gathered by it through current or previous held positions (Epstein, M.J., 2018). Skill audit
for Assistant academic and its members are given as below:
Skills Judging area Ability rating (1-5) Action for
improvement
Communication Management 3 Communication skills
are not good as per the
expectations for this
management have
suggested me to join
seminars and
conferences for
improving it.
Interpersonal Vice-chancellor and
management
4 Need to be more
confident.
Ranking is out of 5 which is given on the basis of their performance level.
Skills Member 1 Member 2 Member 3
Decision-making 4 3 4
Leadership 3 4 5
Problem solving 4 3 5
2.4 Suggest ways in which you can work together to make use of individual strengths
There are various ways through which assistant academic can work together for using its
team-mate's capabilities. Ways are given as below:
Observe employees' strengths- It is the best way for identifying the strength of their team mates
in which assistant academic have to regulate activities and functions of their teammates so that

actual performance level of workforce can be analysed in effective manner (Grayson, D. and
Hodges, A., 2017).
Encourage employees to share their strengths – In it, Assistant Academic have to identify the
area in which,teammates are lacking so that effective measure can be taken for encouraging them
for completing the task.
2.5 work with others, making best use of individual strengths
Working with others is more beneficial because through this way a superior can easily
identify actual performance level of their particular subordinate which will leads them towards
completion of given task in an effective manner. Because when a particular subordinate will be
focused then the chances of getting better outcomes are higher.
2.6 provide support to others
It is the best method that encourages the employees for performing their duties in more
effective manner. It is very important for the teammates to perform their activities in a supportive
manner so that preset objectives will be achieved in a given time period. For e.g. if a team
member is feeling demotivated then other teammates have responsibility to provide support them
because without coordination given task can't be accomplished in effective manner.
TASK 3
3.1 Explain the benefits of giving and receiving feedback in a business environment
In an organisation feedback is information which is sent to individual about the prior
behaviour of other individual so that the entity may adjust its current or future behaviour for
achieving desired results. Giving and receiving feedback is very important part of training
because with the help of it, individuals can easily identify that which way is beneficial for
increasing their confidence. Feedbacks are also very important because through this individual's
performance can easily improved. It also provide potential opportunities of development to the
individuals. By receiving good feedback individuals automatically motivated due to which they
perform better on the given tasks (Groebner and et. al., 2013).
3.2 Provide others with feedback on achievement of objectives
The feedback which is provided by the supervisors and subordinates regarding my
performance is good but some areas are identified which should needs improvement. Such as my
communication skills are week so they have suggested me to either engage in seminars or

coaching classes so as to improving it. Other feedback which was received from my co-workers
i.e. is related with my efficiency as it is low then expectations so that this area also needs
improvements.
3.3 respond positively to feedback from others by writing a formal letter to your manager.
To,
The manager
Dear sir,
As per the received feedback I have started taking seminars and conferences so as to
improve my communication skills and in future with the help of these skills I will communicate
my colleagues about the requirements of tasks properly. For improving efficiency, I have
divided all the daily activities in a limited time-frame so that all tasks would be completed in
preset time-frame.
3.4 create a plan to improve team performance based on feedback
Plan for improving team performance is given as below:
 Specific- Main skills which should needs improvement are communication skills of team
members and lower efficiency level of employees.
 Measurable- Through getting 25% efforts from the employees team performance will be
improved up-to 90%.
 Achievable- Preset objectives will be achieved by providing effective training and
development programmes to teammates (Hillary, R. ed., 2017).
 Relevant – Improvement in team performance is very important because with the help of
it organisational goals will be achieved in an effective manner.
 Time-bound- 45 days time period is decided for improving the team performance.
TASK 4
4.1 Possible source of Conflicts
Conflict are the problems which arises among the people when a person fails to
understand the opinions of other person. The conflicts can arise at the workplace or among the
team members when ideas and opinions of the members are not considered by the leaders or
team members. This create sense of detachment among the employees and they think that they

are not useful for the team members. However, conflict can also rise when team members are not
respecting each other or ignoring each other.
4.2 Way for resolving conflict
Through effective training, employees will be aware regarding their duties and perform
their given tasks in well manner because of which chances of conflicts within the workplace will
be removed. Apart from that, collaboration is also an effective method through which mutual
support among the team members are enhanced and situations of conflicts are easily eliminated
from the workplace (Noe and et. al., 2017).
4.3 most appropriate methods to resolve a specific conflict
Supervisors can chose collaborating method for resolving the conflicts of employees.
With the help of this method, employees will provide importance and support to their team mates
that supports the managers in creating better environment at workplace which automatically
leads the organisation towards gaining high productivity in marketplace.
4.4 Ways of preventing conflict
Most beneficial ways of preventing conflicts are, through providing opportunities to
employees for providing views and opinions in decision-making healthy environment will be
build at workplace, chances of gaining high profitability will be higher which assist the
management in achieving their goals in a limited time frame. By providing attractive bonuses
and incentives to the employees loyalty of employees will be enhanced which is beneficial for
the firm in gaining competitive advantage in market.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that role of assistant academic is very crucial
because it support overall development of the organisation. Team working is also an important
factor because through this organisational objectives can achieved in a desired manner. Feedback
is also an essential thing because through this subordinates can easily measure their actual
performance and take engagement in various activities so that it can be improved accordingly.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Cook, N., 2017. Enterprise 2.0: How social software will change the future of work. Routledge.
Epstein, M.J., 2018. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring
corporate social, environmental and economic impacts. Routledge.
Grayson, D. and Hodges, A., 2017. Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make
corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
Groebner and et. al., 2013. Business statistics. Pearson Education UK.
Hillary, R. ed., 2017. Small and medium-sized enterprises and the environment: business
imperatives. Routledge.
Noe and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Quinla and et. al., 2019. Business research methods. South Western Cengage.
Shenkar, O., Luo, Y. and Chi, T., 2014. International business. Routledge.
Zott, C., Amit, R. and Massa, L., 2011. The business model: recent developments and future
research. Journal of management. 37(4). pp.1019-1042.