1.2 Encourage Involvement
Individuals want to be involved and hence, part of the team. By encouraging team members to become involved, trust and respect are often built. Team members will give more than 100% if they contributed to the decision making process. On the other hand, if an autocratic leader is dictating all the ideas, people have a tendency to become disengaged and lack enthusiasm for the team effort.
Team members need to be involved the decision making on key issues so that there is joint ownership of solutions and commitment to their implementation.
1.3 Promote Feedback
Feedback should be given and received in a positive way to ideas, attitudes, activities and results. When an individual is truly comfortable with whom they are, they can receive both positive and negative feedback without an emotional reaction.
Everyone has room for improvement. It takes a very strong individual to accept valid criticism from someone who is clearly younger, less experienced or just learning a new job. Never forget the old admonition: “If the shoes fit, wear it”. You will be a better person.
1.4 Develop Discipline
A team that works together for a while will develop norms- everything from ways dressing to ways of interacting and members will behave according to these norms.
Our team must put in the commitment and time to organize our meetings. Firstly we need to find out the availability of all the members of the team. After that, the team needs to agree on team norms and the ways of dealing with exceptions. The place for the meeting also affects the processes of the team. We have to consider variables such as accessibility for all members, comfort, resources that we might need, and the place's environment and background.
Hence, teamwork requires that members establish standards and procedures for their meetings and for outside preparation. Team must agree on basic norms about time and responsibilities.
1.5 Cultivate Respect
This is very important. Because our members come from different cultural backgrounds, the team's language must develop to transfer information and idea from one to another member or the team. The way we communicate and treat each member is based on his or her cultures, and respect. We must listen to each member first before give out our view. When we do this, we make sure that all the members are satisfied and involve every one in the decision making process of the team.
1.6 Strive for Balance
Every action undertaken is usually to gain a benefit or to avoid a loss. Once you accept the reality that everyone’s primarily concerned about their own self-interest it makes it a lot easier to build a team.
Each person has to personally benefit from his or her efforts. Additionally, the team must benefit. The challenge is to combine the two benefits. The individual must win. The two are mutually dependent on each other for success. The quality leader will assist each team member to work this concept out in his or her own mind. This is best done with several one on one meeting.
These fundamental principles should be used to build an effective team. These should be often reviewed between each team member together with practicing learning to ensure these principles are remembered
2. Communication
Communication is the act of transmitting information between individuals. Peter Little defines communication as follows, “Communication is the process by which information is transmitted between individuals and / or organizations so that an understanding response results”.
As communication plays a vital role in day today activities, we still confront with some problems in communicating certain information. Even if you are a skilled communicator, you may not be communicating effectively at work. Your business culture, priorities, processes, and physical environment, all play a part in how well information is sent and received. A large part of improving your communication environment is improving your own ability to communicate on an interpersonal level.
Empowered communicators learn to receive signals so they can be proactive rather than reactive to what they send. When communicating, step into the shoes of the other person. Read body language, tone of voice, statements, and silences. Investigate the employee's motivation and fear.
2.1 Communication Cycle
The transmission of the senders idea to the receiver and the receiver’s feedback or reaction to the sender constitute the communication cycle.
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Input: The information or ideas the sender wants to give the receiver is the input stage. One’s communicative success includes speaking, reading, listening and reasoning skills.
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Channel: This is medium through which the information travels. There are two ways by which the information can be sent and they are the formal and the informal channel. The formal channel is established by the organization and transit messages that pertain to the job related activities of the members. The informal channel is the one used for conveying information about social or personal matters.
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Message: The message is the actual physical product from the source encoding. ‘When we speak, the speech is the message. When we write, the writing is the message. Different set of codes and symbols are used to convey the message in the communication process.
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Output: The information thus sent in those codes and symbols are directed to a receiver who is to decode these into an appropriate information for further usage.
Feedback: Feedback is the check on how successful we have been in transferring the messages as original as intended and this is the stage that determines whether the sent information is understood or not.
(Stephen P.Robbins, Bruce Millett, Ron Caciaoppe, Terry Waters-Marsh – Organisational Behaviour)
SENDER Channel: Message RECIEVER
Input letter, fax, phone call, electronic mail, etc Output
Idea Feedback Idea
Brain down Brain down Brain down
2.2 Barriers to effective communication
It refers to sender manipulating information so that it will be seen more favorably by the receiver. Filtering is mostly likely to occur in organizations in which there is emphasis on status differences and among employees with strong career aspirations.
It is the process in which the receiver in the communication process selectively see and hear based on their needs, motivations, experience, background and other personal characteristics.
When the information we have to work with exceeds our processing capacity, the result is information overload. Due to overload of information there is loss of information and less effective communication.
When people feel they are insecure, they react in ways that reduce their ability to achieve mutual understanding and they would react like verbally attacking and making sarcastic remarks.
Words mean different things to different people. Specialized terminology and technical terms may disturb and cause problems in effective communication.
2.3 Effective Communication
Communication and organizational development tools are the fodder of many intellectual discussions. However, without action, all they collect is "mental dust" and no benefit
Three tools to boost effective communication in a meeting
Ensure that no one person is the "head of the table" or in control of the discussion. A circle of chairs welcomes others to participate fully and contribute ideas that enrich the group.
If you find that you are not learning or contributing in the meeting, use your two feet and walk to a more productive place. This saves your time and reduces the likelihood of worthless meetings.
Don’t arrive at conclusions until you have honestly absorbed multiple perspectives and ideas. When you automatically conclude that you're right and others are wrong, you eliminate any possibilities for dialogue and participation.
3. Culture
It is really important to understand what culture is and what the different cultures we would be dealing with are. Australia has been one of the most culturally diverse countries. Many Universities in Australia have vast cultural diversity. In a culturally diverse group, various cultures can affect the way in which group processes group work, making decisions and performance and etc. Without understanding the effect of cultural differences, the group may face difficulties cooping with one another.
3.1 Cross-Cultural Comparisons
There are a lot of differences in culture between nations. Languages, customs and different social values are part of the cultural differences. Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede is known for his cross-cultural study of organizational behavior. During the 1970s, he queried more than 116,000 IBM managers from 72 countries to create a comparative profile of cultural differences. (Holt. D and Wigginton. K., 2002)
In this manual based on Hofstede’s theory, following dimensions of culture will be dealt with.
- Power distance
- Individualism & collectivism
- Uncertainty avoidance
3.2 Power Distance
Power distance is the degree to which human inequalities are emphasized.
“This is the degree to which less powerful persons in a culture accept the existence of inequality and the unequal distribution of power as a normal situation. Although inequality exists in most cultures, the degree to which it is accepted varies from one culture to another. Countries with a low power distance incline towards 0 and those with a high power distance incline towards 100.” (Richard. F and Linden. B., 1999)
Figure.1 below shows power distance contrasts between Australia and Asian countries.
Figure 1 Power Distance (Australia vs. Asia)
Power distance also implies that less powerful members of a society or an organization accept their subordinate status, and they are expected to conform to authority enjoyed by members in superior positions. According to Hofstede, the nations that scored high in power distance are particularly Mexico, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Japan. The nations with low score are Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, and Finland. (Holt. D and Wigginton. K., 2002)
3.3 Application – Power Distance
Group members of Universities are arguably similar but different to the members of business organizations. Students are considered equal – there are no distinguishing positions among students – and they tend to share equal level of responsibilities among group. However, in a group with variety of culture, students have different ways to initiate group work. Some starts by seeking leaders whereas some starts by taking a role as a leader. This reflects the variety of cultures.
In many cases students with Asian backgrounds tends to seek leaders among group whereas students with western cultural backgrounds tend to take role as leaders. It could be argued that fluency in English have affected this fact, however it is important to recognize the cultural difference such as power distance in order to be able to understand the differences in depth. Most importantly, one must bury in mind that the generalization of individual characteristics based on theories could be wrong in some cases. Instead, each and every individual must not only be dealt with cultural theories behind but also with concept that individuals are unique and have differences even among people with same cultural background.
3.4 Individualism & Collectivism
Individualism is the degree to which independent initiative is valued relative to collective effort. A culture high in individualism would emphasize personal achievement, innovation, autonomy, and adventure. (Holt. D and Wigginton. K., 2002)
“This reflects the extent to which people in a culture look after their own interests and those of their immediate family, and where ties are loose. The collectivist dimension reflects the extent to which people in a culture are members of a group and group needs should be subordinated to individual desires. Membership of the group confers status and plugs the individual into a network, but in exchange the group expects permanent loyalty of its members. Cultures with a high degree of collectivism tend towards 0 and those with a high degree of individualism tend towards 100.” (Richard. F and Linden. B., 1999)
Figure.2 below shows individualism/collectivism contrasts between Australia and Asian countries.
Figure.2 Individualism vs. Collectivism (Australia vs. Asia)
According to Hofstede, United States, Australia, and Great Britain are nations where individual achievement is clearly a mark of success. In contrast, a society low in individualism would likely endorse group harmony, social order, and conformity in group relationships, deference to reference group norms, family relationships, and loyalty to consensus viewpoints. The nations with low individualism include many Asian nations, Latin American, and West African nations. (Holt. D and Wigginton. K., 2002)
3.5 Application – Individualism & Collectivism
In a group, there will be people more focused on self interest and people more focused on group harmony and achieving group’s objectives. Individualism & Collectivism may not have great effect on group work. After all, the group shares same objectives: ‘Get the work done on time and pass the subject.’ The only difference based on individualism and collectivism would be that the individualists will argue with the group if the group’s progress doesn’t match with his/her perception whereas the collectivists will not be against anything as long as it represents best interest for the group. Collectivists tend to protect each other and expect the same from the group members. The trust among group members is very important in this aspect and that is something that cannot be achieved easily. It is important for group members to understand the differences in order to avoid conflicts between group members. People with different cultural backgrounds have different perceptions and way of doing things. Understand these differences and avoid conflicts among groups. When conflicts occur, confront it with courtesy and understanding the differences in cultures.
3.6 Uncertainty Avoidance
The uncertainty avoidance reflects the degree to which ambiguity prompts anxiety in a society. A culture high in uncertainty avoidance seeks to reduce ambiguity, and members of the society feel relatively uncomfortable in unstructured situations. This measure also relates to a society’s philosophical or religious beliefs in absolute truth. Cultural traditions based on Judaism, Christianity, and Islamic fundamentalism reflects clear beliefs in absolute truth that exclude similar claims in other societies. Consequently, societies that value their images of ultimate truth seek definition and clarity in both past and future events.
Japan, Greece, Portugal, and Korea are examples of societies that seek to avoid uncertainty, leading to relatively well-articulated laws and expectations for scrupulous conformance to social standards.
Many South American countries fall along less certain points of the continuum, and France scored relatively higher in uncertainty avoidance than its European neighbors, suggesting that France is less tolerant of ambiguous social standards.
In contrast, societies with dualistic social philosophies or multidimensional religions place little value on any absolute truth. Instead, these “uncertainty-accepting” cultures practice religious and social relativism, and they tolerate ambiguity relatively easily within their organizations. The countries that best suit as example of these are the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and several African nations.
(Holt. D and Wigginton. K., 2002)
3.7 Application – Uncertainty Avoidance
In a group work, there are many things that involve uncertainty. The issue of uncertainty affect when choosing a topic, designating different responsibilities among group members and etc. A conflict may arise when people have different level of tolerance to these uncertainties. Some will be at ease and just pursue with the group work and some may refuse to pursue unless the uncertainty is cleared and become certain. In this situation, it is important for the entire group to understand each other’s level of tolerance on uncertainty and work together as a group in order to be effective and efficient in progress as a group.
4. Leadership
It is very important to have an effective leadership. A good leader can effectively lead subordinates and achieve himself. There are three conditions to be a good leader: the ability of leadership, the ability of trust and the ability of bringing up an outstanding goal.
In this changeful Age, a manager who can make a definite strategic decision and give subordinates clear direction is expected. A real esteemed manager is the manager with leadership that can establish direction by developing a vision of the future, then align subordinates by communication this vision and inspiring them to overcome hurdles. (Robbins, et al. 2001, p.399)
4.1 Different kind of leader
An excellent leader can affect his subordinates, just like an idol can influence the society. There are two kinds of leader, one is the “nominal leader” who owns the power that comes from the title, and always reprimands to his subordinates. The subordinates maybe seem very obedient, but would not to follow his command. The other is the “real leader” who maybe doesn’t have a real title, but other people would like to follow his direction. The reason of the difference is the way of exerting power.
