Addressing Challenges of Groups and Teams Paper

LDR 531

3.30.10

Dr. Donald Wicker

Working in groups and teams can be very challenging given all the obstacles that each member faces. When put into a group or team situation, all members should be working together to reach a common goal. The tricky part is that when you have several people of different personality, gender, age, education and experience together, their difference of opinion, attitudes, beliefs and values come into play creating a challenge and sometimes conflicting situations. We will focus on a few main items such as communication, collaborations and conflict resolution that are required in order to increase the effectiveness of groups and teams. This plan will involve using the nominal group technique which “restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the decision-making process, hence, the term nominal. Group members are all physically present, as in a traditional committee meeting, but members operate independently” (Robbins & Judge, 2007). This gives each member the opportunity to interact with the group but still use their independent thinking skills.

Communication

Members of teams and groups have to be able and willing to listen effectively, process and understand what their fellow members are saying and presenting to the group. “In other words, each individual team member should pay attention to aspects of communication, such as the spoken words, the body language, the tone of voice, and emotional content” (Watson, 2008). Communication is a key component in a person’s work place, school, family and personal lives. A major benefit to working in teams is the opportunity for multiple people to bring their thoughts and ideas together to produce an effective philosophy and/or solution to conquer the task at hand. There are several ways to communicate with group and/or team members. With technology advancements, members can communicate and share their thoughts...