Working and Writing in Teams

2. To learn how to Work in teams. constructively. Be a productive leader. Resolve conflicts Write collaborative documents. Working and Writing in Teams

3. Start by answering these questions: What kinds of messages should groups attend to? What roles do people play in groups? How should we handle conflict? How can we create the best coauthored do Working and Writing in Teams

4. To learn how to Work in teams Be a productive leader Resolve conflicts constructively Write collaborative documents. Working and Writing in Teams

5. Start by answering these questions: What kinds of messages should groups attend to? What roles do people play in groups? How should we handle conflict? How can we create the best coauthored documents? Working and Writing in Teams

6. Working and Writing in Teams • Teamwork is crucial to success in an organization. • Some teams: • produce products, • provide services, or • recommend solutions to problems. • Other teams produce documents. • Teams are usually more productive when they establish ground rules for behavior.

7. Working and Writing in Teams • Interpersonal communication is communication between people using • Listening • dealing with conflict • These skills will make you more successful • on the job, • in social groups, and • in community service and volunteer work

8. Group Ground Rules • Teams are often most effective when they explicitly adopt ground rules: • Start on time; end on time. • Come to the meeting prepared. • Focus comments on the issues. • Avoid personal attacks. • Listen to and respect members’ opinions.

9. Group Ground Rules Continued • No one speaks twice until everybody speaks once. • If you have a problem with another person, tell that person, not everyone else. • If you agree to do something, do it. • Communicate immediately if you think you may not be able to fulfill an agreement.

10. Positive roles and actions that help the group achieve its task goals include: Seeking Information and Opinions: ask questions and identify gaps in the group’s knowledge. Giving Information and Opinions: answer questions and provide relevant information. Summarizing: restate major points, pulling ideas together. Evaluating: compare group processes and products to standards and goals. Coordinating: plan work and give directions. Positive Roles in Groups

11. What roles do people play in groups? • Encouraging Participation • Relieving Tensions • Checking Feelings • Solving Interpersonal Problems • Listening Actively

12. Negative Roles in Groups • Negative roles and actions that hurt the group's product and process include: • Blocking:disagreeing with everything that is proposed. • Dominating:trying to run the group by ordering and shutting out others. • Clowning: making unproductive jokes and diverting the group from its task. • Withdrawing:being silent in meetings, not helping with work, or not attending.

13. Some actions can be positive or negative depending on how they are used. • Criticizing ideas is necessary if the group is to produce the best solution, but criticizing every single idea raised without ever suggesting possible solutions blocks a group.

14. Leadership in Groups • Being a leader does not mean doing all the work yourself. Indeed, someone who implies that he or she has the best ideas and can do the best work is likely playing the negative roles of blocking and dominating. • Some groups formally or informally rotate or share responsibilities, so that everyone—and no one—is a leader.

15. Leadership in Groups • Informational leaders • generate and evaluate ideas and text. • Interpersonal leaders • monitor the group’s process, check people’s feelings, and resolve conflicts.

16. Leadership in Groups • Procedural leaders • set the agenda, make sure that everyone knows what’s due for the next meeting, communicate with absent group members, and check to be sure that assignments are carried out.

17. Leadership in Groups • Several studies have shown people who talk a lot, listen effectively, and respond nonverbally to other members in the group are considered to be leaders. • Leaders can encourage groups to make fair decisions.

18. Characteristics of Successful Student Groups • Students in successful groups were not necessarily more skilled than students in less successful groups. • Both groups communicate differently in three ways: • One:

19. Characteristics of Successful Student Groups • Students in successful groups were not necessarily more skilled than students in less successful groups. • Both groups communicate differently in three ways: • Two:

20. Characteristics of Successful Student Groups • Students in successful groups were not necessarily more skilled than students in less successful groups. • Both groups communicate differently in three ways: • Three:

21. Peer Pressure and Groupthink • Groups that never express conflict may be experiencing groupthink. • What is groupthink? عدم التشجيع على المعارضة بل و محاربتها وهذا خطأ • It is the tendency for group to push such a high premium on agreement that they directly or indirectly punish dissent. • A business suffering from groupthink may launch a new product supported by management but has no demand by costumers. • Student groups suffering from groupthink turn in (deliver) inferior documents “less important”.

22. Peer Pressure and Groupthink The best correctives to groupthink are to • Consciously search for additional alternatives • Test assumptions against those of a range of other people • Encourage disagreement • Protect the right of people in a group to disagree

23. Conflict handling • Conflict will arise in any group that many of us feel uncomfortable with it. • To reduce conflicts in group: • Make responsibilities and ground rules clear at the beginning • Discuss problems as they arise • Realize that group members are responsible for each other’s happiness • Next are suggested solutions to conflicts that student groups often experience:

24. Troubleshooting Group Problems

25. Troubleshooting Group Problems • We can’t find a time to meet that works for all of us. • Possible Solutions: • Find out why people can’t meet at certain times. Some reasons suggest their own solutions. • Assign out-of-class work to “committees” to work on parts of the project. • Use e-mail to share, discuss, and revise drafts.

26. Troubleshooting Group Problems Continued • One person just criticizes everything. • Possible Solutions: • Ask the person to follow up the criticism with a suggestion for improvement. • Talk about ways to express criticism tactfully. “I think we need to think about x ” is more tactful than “You’re wrong.” • Value criticism about ideas and writing (not about people). Ideas and documents need criticism if we are to improve them.

27. Troubleshooting Group Problems Continued • People in the group don’t seem willing to disagree. We end up going with the first idea suggested. • Possible Solutions: • Brainstorm so you have several possibilities to consider. • After an idea is suggested, have each person in the group suggest a way it could be improved. • Have each person in the group write a draft. It’s likely the drafts will be different. • Talk about good ways to offer criticism. Sometimes people don’t disagree because they’re afraid that other group members won’t tolerate disagreement.

28. Troubleshooting Group Problems Continued • I seem to be the only one in the group who cares about quality. • Possible Solutions: • Find out why other members “don’t care.” • Encourage others to volunteer to do extra work. • Be sure that you’re respecting what each person can contribute.

29. Troubleshooting Group Problems Continued • One person isn’t doing his or her fair share. • Possible Solutions: • Find out what is going on. Is the person overcommitted? Does he or she feel unappreciated? • Encourage the person to contribute. Then find something to praise in the work. • If someone misses a meeting, assign someone else to bring the person up to speed. • Consider whether strict equality is the most important criterion. • Even if you divide up the work, make all decisions as a group.

30. To Respond to Criticism • Paraphrase • Check for feelings • Check for inferences • Buy time with limited agreement

31. Unit Five End of Module 18