A detailed description in management

Posted: October 17th, 2013

A detailed description in management

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A detailed description in management

Case

The school where I studied had a group project for the History class. This class assignment was to be done in groups of ten. I was put in a group with nine other people. Within the group, we had the following tasks. We were to research on the impact of vandalism on the power supply in a state of our choice. I was elected to be the group leader; thus I was responsible for ensuring the complete success of the project. Communication was the dominant issue within this group, and it caused many problems for our academic positions, the group and I.

Communication problems and their solutions

My group consisted of ten students who were all responsible for contributing towards doing a project for a particular class. From the start, it was evident that communication was a big problem for us. Although we had agreed to discuss the date and venue for our first meeting during class, there were only two of us on the first day. We had agreed to meet at the school gym at 5pm on Saturday. Joanne and I waited for the rest of the group members, but no one came. Of the entire absent group members, only one called to pass her apologies for not attending. The other seven did not communicate to me at all.

After the failed meeting, I arranged for the whole group to convene behind the Chemistry lab after a class on Monday. I inquired into the absenteeism experienced previously and did not get any reasons or excuses. We decided to meet again on Saturday. This time, everyone attended, and roles were awarded. However, the group members did not communicate amongst themselves, and the research work was poorly done. The information in it was quite disjointed forcing me to go edit it again. This communication problem was resolved by us sitting down as a group and talking to each other about their need to communicate. I also stressed the importance of communication to each individual separately.

After doing this, I felt satisfied and in control of the groups’ activities. I also felt confident of my group being able to do the right thing to give us good grades in the project. Communication was the most significant issue but which was solved after deliberations. The next time I would be responsible for such a group, I would make sure the channels for communication are kept open. In evaluating myself, I can say that I handled the situation in a competent manner. Although it did get out of hand in the beginning, I was able to rectify the situation and unify the group to follow one objective.

The choices that I had made in managing the situation would have been beneficial to me as a manager in an organization. Within companies, communication is the link between the workers and management. Therefore, good communication will be beneficial to the manager as he/she can make informed, timely decisions. By avoiding the conflict altogether, miscommunication would have led to “negative work culture” (Mortensen, 1997). Workmates always quarrel. Lack of communication also leads to low productivity that will be blamed on the manager (Novell, 1997).

Miscommunication within an organization can lead to huge losses when deadlines for payments are not made (Tzanne, 2000). Some studies have discovered that, with proper communication, the employee inputs and morale are boosted (Andrewartha, 2002). All these negative effects have a detrimental effect on the manager, as he is the overall supervisor of these workers. The project helped me realize I needed to hone my communication skills as I had a very hard time trying to relay my thoughts to other group members.

References

Andrewartha, G. (2002). Be understood or be overlooked: Mastering communication in the workplace. Crows Nest, N.S.W: Allen & Unwin.

Mortensen, C. D., & Ayres, C. M. (1997). Miscommunication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Novell, Inc., & Ronin Research. (1997). Shaming, blaming and flaming: Corporate miscommunication in the digital age. Bracknell: Novell.

Tzanne, A. (2000). Talking at cross-purposes: The dynamics of miscommunication. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.