The Communication between the Teammates - Essay Example

? I am currently the team leader of a seven person crew. The s of the members of the group are John, Julie, Jinsoo, Shahid, Harpreet, and Tom. Most of the team members have being working together for nine months with the exception of Shahid and Harpreet who have been working on the team for the last six months. The team has an extremely diversified composition. Each of the members of the group belongs to a different culture and ethnic group. The team is experiencing friction and conflict. Due to their unique skill sets Shahid and Harpreet must work together, but currently there are major interpersonal problems among these two co-workers. The problems between Shahid and Harpreet have escalated and it is hurting morale within the team. The inefficiency of the team is causing loss of productivity. The project is at risk of not being completed on time. This report will analyze the problems the team faces and it will give alternative solutions to resolve the situation. The first step toward resolving the situation is improving the communication between the teammates. Opening the lines of communication within the team can help the team accomplish its tasks and deliverables. The team leader will schedule three weekly team meetings with the members to discuss progress made on the project and to force the members to communicate with each other in a professionally setting. Due to the importance of teamwork the others members of the group are going to confront Shahid and Harpreet about the conflict. They have to make it clear to them that their behavior and fighting is hurting the team. Everyone in a team gets hurt by team conflict. The team members have to recognize the problem they are causing and they must remedy their behavior for the good of the team. Our team has a lot of diversity within its composition. Diversity must be used to the advantage of the team. Currently the team is not taking advantage of the virtues of diversity. One of the benefits of diversity is creativity within the group. For creativity to manifest itself the team members must unite to seek synergy. Synergy occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2003). As the team leader I must intervene to stop the conflict between Shahid and Harpreet. The use of conflict resolution techniques can help me accomplish that goal. Five conflict resolution techniques are accommodation, collaboration, compromise, avoidance, and authoritative command. Out of these five options the technique that I chose to help resolve the problem is compromise. The team leader and the two team members with issues will sit down to talk about the problem. I will reiterate to both members their importance for the team. The team members must also know that the project is facing time constraints. All team members must give their best efforts to accomplish their tasks on time and in accordance with the expectations of the project. My role in the compromise process is to be a neutral agent that monitors the negotiation between both parties. The first issue that must be resolve immediately is the racial tension between Shahid and Harpreet. Both team members are going to be sent to a three week sensitivity training with a psychologist. The behavior of those employees was unacceptable and if it continues in the future it will be grounds for dismissal. Mutual respect must be achieved between all members of the team. “Treating all others in an organization with respect, regardless of rank, will improve communication relationships in the workplace” (Lane, 2013). To increase the efficiency and accountability in the team I will take a more active role to provide the team with leadership and support. Each day each team member must submit a short progress report in order document their advancement in completing the assigned tasks. During each morning I will have short meetings with some of the members of the teams based on the needs for support identified in the previous day’s progress reports. At the end of each week I will provide a report with a tabulation of the progress of each of the deliveries the members must complete. Any member that shows he is ahead of schedule will be temporarily reassigned to become the assistant to the member that is behind the most. Working as a team is the best way to accomplish the team goals. Teamwork has become a critical success factor in today’s competitive business environment. The team is experiencing from symptoms of stress, lack of energy and motivation. In order to remedy the situation I will immediately develop a wellness program for the workers. “Having a healthier work force can reduce your insurance costs while improving your company's productivity” (Entrepreneur, 2013). The wellness program will include paid membership to a gymnasium near the company’s facilities. The gym service will include a paid trainer during the first 90 days of membership. All of the employees will be mandated to visit a nutritionist. Employees that are obese will be given continued medical assistance to lower their weight to their desirable goal. The company will also help the employees by instituting a flexible time system. Flexible time allows employees the ability to set their own hours during the week. Single parents can greatly benefit from the implementation of flextime. If my approach to solving the situation using a variety of methods does not work I will hire a consultant to intervene and serve the role of a mediator. A mediator is a person that specializes in reconciling differences between disputants (Thefreedictionary, 2013). The mediator will be given the task of resolving the conflict within five days after been hired. The consultant will have the authority and power to deal with the situation. Any punishment or rewards assigned by the mediator will be validated by the human resource department. The mediator will try to avoid any backlash from the resolution and will put the best interest of the employees as a top priority. References Entrepreneur.com (2013). Wellness Programs. Retrieved February 20, 2013 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82650.html :Lane, R. (2013). Effective Communication Between Coworkers. Retrieved February 20, 2013 from http://www.ehow.com/about_6606900_effective-communication-between-coworkers.html Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Thefreedictionary.com (2013). Mediator. Retrieved February 20, 2013 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mediator / Read More