Training Teams and Groups

Employees in today’s business world are expected to collaborate on group and team projects that can impact the entire organization. The sad fact is many people hesitate or dislike working in a group or team settings mostly as a result of prior experience or perhaps just from what they have heard. In order to lessen this hesitation, companies can use training programs to increase employee skills in the areas of collaboration, conflict management, and communication.
For teams to be effective they must understand the strengths and weaknesses of each member. A very useful method of achieving this is for the members to fill out a team charter upon the groups’ formation. Not only does it include contact information, but it includes relevant experience (relevant to the teams’ purpose) as well as individual member skills.      
Poor communication is probably the main contributor to Daimler-Chrysler’s sales declines. “Because individuals spend nearly 70 percent of their waking hours communicating — writing, reading, speaking, listening — it seems reasonable to conclude that one of the most inhibiting forces to successful group performance is a lack of effective communication” (Robbins $ Judge, 2007, p.368).
Implementing an effective communication training plan will first start with the type of communication that will be used throughout Daimler-Chrysler. Downward communication is the most common communication paths. “It’s used by group leaders and managers to assign goals, provide job instructions, inform employees of policies and procedures, point out problems that need attention, and offer feedback about performance” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p.369).   One of the greatest challenges of organizational communication is the difficulty in portraying or controlling the mood, emotion, or motivation in electronic and printed forms of communication. There is a lot of important information in nonverbal communications. Therefore a significant key to success would be incorporating...