Business communication is paramount for an effective business; to have an effective communication it is the work of leaders to ensure that their organization has such structures that can allow the flow of information from the sender to the receiver as well as the information has been received in the most correct form. There are a number of ways that managers can improve communication in their organization, they include:
Ensuring that the organizational culture is positive towards communication; a positive organizational culture facilitates free flow of information where managers and subordinates share information and give feedback to each other to improve business operations and processes.
Organizational culture has the symbols and signs of an effective communication thus any employee of the company will receive information as intended. The medium of communication should be well implemented and serviced; communication takes places via a channel or medium of communication; the medium needs to be effective and well understood by the majority of the organization.
Organizational structure should be well framed and ensure that teams are well made; an orchestrate team has high chance of good communication than a team that is not bonded and well framed. An orchestrate team undertakes numerous trainings on the best communication methods they should adapt to share ideas among themselves.
Since teams are made of people, there is need to address people needs and social evils that might hinder their communication; for instance there is need to have conflict resolution mechanisms that ensure people live well with each other for an effective business and team communication. Communication is an art that can be learn, thus team leaders should take the role of training their subordinates.
Arctic Mining Consultants
The team of Tom Parker, John Talbot, Greg Boyce and Brian Millar had engaged in an assignment that required to have been completed within a week; however according to Parker who was the overall leader of the team, the work was too much for them.
The initial cause of the problem that arose in the team was the volume of work verses the people who were available for the task. The work seemed too much for them as well as they were having different experiences.
When deciding the targets to be met, there were some assumption that the team leader made that the situations and conditions would be the same, although the workers has been promised some allowances on their efforts, there was an issue on how matters were handled thereafter.
Another cause of the problems or the missing of the set objective was the way parker held the team members when they failed to meet their target, he failed to communicate and seek feedback from the team members but concluded that one’s missing of target was because of relaxation and poor working style.
The main symptoms that Parker would have looked for was the reduced outputs of Greg Boyce and Brian Millar; this was against the expected results as well as their track record.
When parker observed that they were not able to meet their targets, there was need to understand the reasons why they were not able to meet the targets. At day eight, the team was de-motivated and they working with less enthusiasm, Miller lost the sense of self responsibility for the work and Boyce had to be assisted by Talbot to finish his seven and half.
The solution to the problems of the team lied on the leadership and communication strategies as adopted; the team needed to have an effective communication system where the team would share the experiences they got on the ground and the leader is willing to listen to them.
Parker should not have assumed that the team members were comfortable and were supposed to offer results, he would have been concerned and listen to the team members. In the case study, there is no where that Miller and Boyce seek to defend their position and low performance; in this case the team seemed to have a poor communication strategy and they were used to dictatorial kind of leadership.
Parker seems to have forgotten one of the most important roles of a leader, to mentor and coach subordinates; the fact that he was able to attain his daily targets and surpass them can be argued to have been favored by his experience, he failed to share the experience with his colleague.
The centralization of knowledge that Parker failed to share can be the reason why he never understood why the team was failing to yield high results as would have been expected.
The best approach for the team at Arctic Mining Consultants to get higher results is restructuring to their company’s teams; leaders should take the responsibility of the team, mentor them, delegate, and enact effective communication systems that allow free flow of information. When making decisions, managers should consult their subordinates for a collective decision.
Reference
MeShane, S. Olekalns, M. and Travaglione, T., 2020. Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim Focus. Sydney: McGraw Hill Irwin