CheckPoint: Group Communication

From a business aspect, group communication is an essential part of business that involves multiple people collaborating on a specific assignment, aimed at achieving a certain goal. Individual communication is different as it generally includes two people working together to complete a project or projects. In group communication, all members have individual responsibilities and each one is assigned to a particular task. It is possible to elect a leader who may do the bulk of the discussion; but most group members will also have the opportunity to extend their ideas and opinions. A re-occurring problem with this form of communication is that a single member of the group might be a weaker communicator, which can hold back the group. In order for the group to achieve success, everyone must come together as a team and assist each other in any possible way.

As we all know, not everyone writes proficiently, so it is best to assign a different task where other members can step up. Leaders will plan out the project, understand what the project entitles and know when it needs to be accomplished. Time management is vital to projects because we live in such a competitive world and deadlines must be met. Meeting these deadlines, guarantees integrity and reputation for any organization as well improving the group’s overall job performance. Working in groups can cause conflict. In order to achieve success one must develop strategies that adhere to conflicts. Sometimes people are under so much pressure, they may become frustrated or they may appear to be having a bad day and start yelling. To resolve this keep the line of communication open and ask them if they need something or is there anything I can do, and repair negative feelings. If people’s feelings have been hurt, the group needs to deal with those feelings to resolve constructively.

There several steps in conflict resolution; make sure the people involved really disagree, check to see that everyone’s information is correct, discover the needs each person is trying to meet, search for alternatives and repair negative feelings (Locker-Kienzler, p.470-471, 2008). There are strategies that can be used to foster group communication. One type of strategy that it most effective and can be used for both forms of communication is listening. There is a method of listening called active listening. Active listening, receivers actively demonstrate that they’ve understood a speaker by feeding back the literal meaning, the emotional content, or both.

These strategies create active responses: Paraphrase the content, Mirror the speaker’s feelings, Ask for information or clarification and offer to help the problem (Locker-Kienzler, p.459, 2008). An example of active listening would be in a group setting for department meeting. I think about what the speaker is saying, listen for the tone of his or her voice, if I do not understand, I will ask the speaker to please clarify and ask him or her, if there is anything you need from my department to help solve the problem. Another strategy that used for group communication is teamwork. Team work is the ability for everyone working together without disturbances or ego to achieve operational success. The two strategies I chose for group communication are effective and used often. I probably used it several times without even knowing it.