Analysis of effective Group Communication

The purpose of this portfolio is to reflect and analyse a critical incident that occurred while undertaking the group task of BSB124. Reflecting on the task is valuable for employers to develop the work progress since the ability to analysing team work will be beneficial to my career. In this portfolio I will analyse this critical incident specifically using the SMARP model and the Media Richness Theory (Dennis & Kinney, 1998; McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013). Following this, I will reflect on my personal development from the group communication perspectives. In addition, I will outline my career development strategies using SMART goals and measuring ways to improve my effectiveness in the organisational setting. Critical Incident AnalysisCritical incident reflection is an extension of “critical thinking” which requires us to not only examine the past progress we have achieved but importantly it requires us to prepare and develop the future action (State of Victoria, 2007). In order to develop my interpersonal skills, the critical incident occurred in my group will be discussed in this portfolio using the STARP model.

In the first meeting, we talked about what kind of work we are good at. Two of the members did not turn up, so the rest of us had to delegate the roles to each member and upload the file to our Facebook group, recording the day we film the video, what every single member need to do and when they should send the materials to me since my main role is to edit and design the PowerPoint slides. T= Task I completed one of my roles, which is to do the research which I was going to present. After this, I wished the others to send their work sooner so that I could finish the slides editing because it would take very long. A= Action We talked about details and problems occurred mostly on Facebook group and Skype but it did not work very productively.

Most of the time, the boys talked too far away. Jimmy is shy and not very active. Ken is not showing his ideas and what he disagrees. R= Result Three members did not send me the materials of their own part by the deadline we set so that I was so passive and had to wait for them. At last, I ended up editing slides through overnight before we filmed the video which means we did not have time to discuss and improve the PowerPoint slides and practice our presentation. In addition, when we were filming the video, Ken said, it is very weird to film a video for a presentation but he did not mention a word when we were deciding to film a video. P= Plan For the next team work, I will:

Try to arrange more meetings instead of only chatting on Facebook or Skype. Make sure that every member would attend the meeting. If there is someone could not submit their individual work by the deadline, I will try to communicate with them and let them know what it would cause. Ask every single member for their opinions and what they prefer for the activities. Theoretical Analysis and ReflectionFor better understandings of this critical incident and reducing similar situations in the future action, I am about to analyse it from the group communication perspective. According to the Media Richness Theory (Lengel & Daft, 1998), the volume and variety of information can be transmitted in the different medium’s data-carrying capacity. In the hierarchy of media richness, the most effective environment to communicate is “face to face” and the bottom one is “financial statement”. “Video conference” and “telephone” are the rich medium as people can receive massages and feedback immediately.

Furthermore, “emails” or “newsletters” are the lean medium due to the delay of responses. In the face-to-face communication, the top of hierarchy, people are allowed to “communicate both verbally and non-verbally at the same time, receive feedback almost immediately from the receiver, to quickly adjust our message and style” (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013, p294) so that for every group member, those talking would be more active and productive. Group communication is all about exchange ideas and opinions in order to work together better. As it showed on the SMARP model, the only once face-to-face meeting of my group were very productive and were of great progress while the other online chatting on Facebook and Skype were not very active because not every member were putting their opinions on the chat bar. In addition, another problem about the deadline which is not very good to just post the certain time on the Facebook wall without entirely discussing. Some members might be not able to finish it by the due day because of certain reasons. From the hierarchy, we should use the “instant massaging” to clearly inform the deadline to each member instead of putting it on the blogs, which is easier to be ignored.

Media Richness HierarchyAreas of DevelopmentBased on the analysis I have I have indicated, I am aware of that I was not doing very effectively throughout the group task and there are some areas of my interpersonal effectiveness needed to be improved. From the group communication perspective, follow the Media Richness Theory can be more productive for the group work. Using the top hierarchy of richness, “face to face”, are the basic way to communicate well. However, it is difficult to communicate face to face with every kind of individuals because it is not everybody that prefers that way. In addition, according to Klitmøller and Lauring (2013, para.1), certain types of media are more useful for certain types of knowledge sharing depending on the variation between the communicating parties. Furthermore, the use of new virtual media communication technologies for information sharing, which are a mix of mass communication and interpersonal communication, now has never been that important than ever before (Curtis, 2013, para.1).

As a result, the ability to multi-communicate is the comprehensive way to work effectively. We can either hold face-to-face meetings and online face time, or use social network in terms of chatting on the Facebook group, posting notifications on the wall, internet calling and sending massages. Those multi-communicating methods are beneficial to various situations. SMART Goals for DevelopmentMy future career is to be a project manager, which requires me master project processes and manage the relationship among team members. Communication skills are highlighted in my career requirement. For the details of my setting goals refer to GoalsSpecific Goals Activities Time Frame Use various communication methods In every group work, use as much effective medium types as possible, such as holding face-to-face meeting and social network communications. Adjust those methods while undertaking various situations.

One Year, starting Semester 1 2015 Understanding each member Not only comprehend why they could not submit their work by due day, but also comprehend the reason why they do not agree the decision which the majority of members do. Try to engage with them and come out with a better solution when those problems coming up. Two Year, starting presently The measuring way for my goals is to draw a table to record every step of my progress in order to compare each performance with the last time. If it shows progressing dramatically, mark it down and put the period between each progress. Social and Cultural Factors

Due to the variation of individuals’ background, there are other factors influencing the communication effectiveness. In our group, Jimmy is shy, he was not active for the group activities and he did not attend the meeting or share his ideas. In my opinion, the personality of shyness affects the effectiveness of communication. On the other hand, according to Klitmøller and Lauring (2013, para.1), cultural and linguistic variations are known to have a great effect on information sharing. As far as I concerned, the people whose first language is not English, for example, myself, may not be able to communicate very frequently or share opinions with other members hence the communication might not be that effective.

Conclusion

In this portfolio, I have analysed a critical incident that occurred while undertaking the group task from the group communication perspective using the SMARP model and the Media Richness Theory (Dennis & Kinney, 1998; McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013). After that, I reflect on my interpersonal effectiveness development and specifically make my career development strategies, as a project manager. Furthermore, I have set 2 goals to improve communication skills, which are measured by my progress table. In addition, I have indicated the other factors that influence communication effectiveness in terms of personality and linguistic difference.

Reference

Curtis, A. (2013). New Media of Mass Communication. Retrieved from http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/NewMediaCommunicationTechnologies.html Dennis, A. R., & Kinney, S. T. (1998). Testing media richness theory in the new media: The effects of cues, feedback, and task equivocality. Information Systems Research, 9(3), 256-274. doi:10.1287/isre.9.3.256 Klitmøller, A., & Lauring, J. (2013). When global virtual teams share knowledge: Media richness, cultural difference and language commonality. Journal of World Business, 48(3), 398-406. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2012.07.023 Lengel, R. & Daft, R. (1988). The Selection of Communication Media as an Executive Skill. Academy of Management Executive, 2(3), 266.McShane, S., Olekalns, M., & Travaglione, T. (2013). Organisational Behaviour (4th ed). North Ryde, NSW: McGraw Hill. State of Victoria. (2007). A Critical Incident Reflection Framework. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/childhood/professionals/support/pages/reflectframework.aspx Appendix

STARP Model
S= Situation In the first meeting, we talked about what kind of work we are good at. Two of the members did not turn up, so the rest of us had to delegate the roles to each member and upload the file to our Facebook group, recording the day we film the video, what every single member need to do and when they should send the materials to me since my main role is to edit and design the PowerPoint slides. T=

Task I completed one of my roles, which is to do the research which I was going to present. After this, I wished the others to send their work sooner
so that I could finish the slides editing because it would take very long. A= Action We talked about details and problems occurred mostly on Facebook group and Skype but it did not work very productively. Most of the time, the boys talked too far away. Jimmy is shy and not very active. Ken is not showing his ideas and what he disagrees. R=

Result Three members did not send me the materials of their own part by the deadline we set so that I was so passive and had to wait for them. At last, I ended up editing slides through overnight before we filmed the video which means we did not have time to discuss and improve the PowerPoint slides and practice our presentation. In addition, when we were filming the video, Ken said, it is very weird to film a video for a presentation but he did not mention a word when we were deciding to film a video. P=

Plan For the next team work, I will:
Try to arrange more meetings instead of only chatting on Facebook or Skype. Make sure that every member would attend the meeting. If there is someone could not submit their individual work by the deadline, I will try to communicate with them and let them know what it would cause. Ask every single member for their opinions and what they prefer for the activities.