Mastering Team and Interpersonal Communication

In chapter 2, we learn about working as a team and how it is important to business communication.
- Teamwork is an essential part of business and uses communication as a top priotity --> includes teams, problem-solving teams, task forces, and committees.
- A successful team can: increase information and knowledge, increase diversity, increase acceptance of a solution, and high performance levels

- Disadvantages include group think, hidden agendas, and cost
- Effective teams have a clear objective, open communication, reach decisions by consensus, creativity, and effective resolutions

- Collaborative communication is important in business but can involve special effort. Guidelines involve select collaborators carefully, agree on project goals, give time for bonding, clarify responsibility, establish a clear process, avoid group writing, make sure tools and technologies are compatible and check along the way.
- Technology for all collaboration inclues multi-author blogs, content management systems, and wiki.

The following website shows a great way to of how to build a successful business team:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/team_one_stop.htm

-Group Dynamics: interactions between a group. Each group member makes decisions in the outcome of the group activities that include self-oriented roles, team-maintenance roles, and task oriented roles. Team evolution, or the growing and changing of a team a a whole is about orientation, conflict, brainstorming, emergence, and reinforcement
- Conflicts in groups can be destructive or constructive.. However, for a conflict to beconstructive everone must believe it is possible to find a solution that both parties accept, coorporation over competition, all parties can be trusted and greater status cannot influence a decision.
- To overcome resistance by group members, all of the members of a group need to express understanding, bring resistance into the open, evaluate objections fairly, and hold arguments until all parties are ready.
- Social networking communications redefine teamwork and communication by erasing the constraints of geographic and organization.
- Productive communication will take place in meetings--> where most of the business communication takes place. The best way to prepare for meetings is to identify your purpose, select participants, choose time and prepare, and set an agenda.
- All people share responsibility for successful meetings by keeping the discussion on track, following rules, engourage participation, actively participate, and close effictively.
- Meeting technologies like virtual meetings, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and web based meetings, can promote interaction and participation from all participants
- One of the most important parts in communication is listening. It can strengthen relationships, enhance product delivery, and alert an organization for innovation.

- Four types of Listening
1. Content listening: understand and retain the speakers message
2. Critical listening: understand and evaluate the speakers message on many levels
3. Empathic listening: understanding the speakers feeling, needs, and wants so you can appreciate his point of view
4. Active listening: making a conscious effort to filter one's own biases to know what the other party is saying

- Five steps ot the listening process
-->Receiving --> Decoding -->Remembering -->Evaluating -->Responding

- Good listeners try to overcome barriers for successful listening. Selective listening, or only hearing what you want, is one of the most common barriers. There is a need to focus on listening effectively
- Nonverbal communication is also a huge part in business communications. It is the non-spoken language including facial expression, gestures and posture, appearance touch, and use of time and space.
- Nonverbal communication needs to match the tone an content of what is spoke to be effective.
- Business etiquette is also an essential part of business communication. It can include many behaviors, habits, aspects of non-verbal communication. A very large part of it would be personal appearance as well.
- In public as well inside the company, etiquette is extremely important as you are always representing your business. Making your appearance and actions appropriate and know the customs of the people you will be meeting

- Media and technology usually are a breeding ground for poor business etiquette. To avoid these problems:
1. Avoid personal attacks
2. Stay focused on the topic
3. Do not present opinions as facts
4. Follow basic expectations of spelling, grammar, and punctuation
5. Use virus protection
6. Watch use of language and control emotions
7. Never assume privacy
8. Do not use "reply all" unless everyone can benefit from your reply
9. Don't not waste time of others with sloppy or incomplete messages.

Interesting Sites:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/Team_Building_Employee_Empowerment_Employee_Involvement.htm
This site gives information about building teams in the workplace and how important it is to the communication of the business. It also speaks about how teamwork can empower employees.