Team Dynamics and Communication Quiz

What is Communication?

• Communication is the exchange of meaning between individuals.
• It's a continuous process using various symbols (spoken, nonverbal, visual).
• The goal is mutual understanding.

Why Study Communication?

• To articulate ideas verbally and nonverbally.
• To build confidence.
• To achieve personal and professional goals.
• To maintain relationships.
• To be an audience-centered communicator.
• To understand how context and communication channels influence messages.
• To become an ethical communicator.

How to Communicate Effectively

• Consider your goal and audience.
• Create a thoughtful message.
• Communicate clearly and directly.
• Ensure understanding is achieved.

Communication Competency Skills

• Clearly state ideas using precision and conciseness.
• Communicate ethically.
• Know when it's appropriate to communicate.
• Choose the right message structure.
• Show credibility.
• Manage misunderstandings and conflicts.
• Open-minded.
• Ask questions, attentively listen.

Barriers to Communication

• Ethnocentrism: Judging other cultures based on one's own.
• Culture Shock: Discomfort in unfamiliar environments.
• Groupthink: Pressure for unanimity in groups.
• Formal organizational structures.
• Cultural diversity.
• Intense pressures in management.
• Gaps in age and technology competency.

Types of Communication

• Intrapersonal (self-talk).
• Interpersonal (between individuals).

Models of Communication

• Linear: One-way transmission of messages.
• Interactive: Two-way communication with feedback.
• Transactional: Simultaneous exchange of messages from multiple senders.

Intrapersonal Communication

• Goals: Building self-awareness, maintaining relationships, facilitating behaviors.
• Focuses on increasing knowledge of self and others.

Interpersonal Communication

• Goals: Inclusion, affection, sociability, team work, control.
• Affected by contexts (norms, rules)

Emotional Intelligence

• Understanding and managing emotions.
• Recognizing emotions in others.
• Applying emotion knowledge to guide thoughts and actions.

Social Intelligence

• Understanding group dynamics.
• Understanding how information flows.
• Managing conflict within groups.
• Managing communication dynamics in a group.

Networks

• Definition: A complex mix of communicators.
• Roles: Brokers, connectors, energizers, challengers.
• Networking: Establishing trust-based relationships for knowledge exchange.

Strength of Weak Ties

• Close relationships are less useful for new information than acquaintanceships.
• Acquaintances are valuable because they connect us to diverse contacts.

Network Typologies

• Dense but non-centralized.
• Centralized.
• Fragmented.
• Closed.

Mentoring

• Provides career and psychological support.

Interference/Noise

• Anything disrupting a message's transmission.

Context

• Situation of communication.

Feedback

• Receiver's response to a message.
• Essential to communication, inherent to communication process, creates trust and learning.
• Good feedback is descriptive.
• Good feedback is desirable.
• Good feedback is helpful.
• Good feedback is relevant.

Triggers for Rejecting Feedback

• Truth triggers: Disbelief about the feedback being accurate.
• Relationship Triggers: Dislike, distrust, or disrespect of the feedback giver.

Positive Feedback/Praise

• Express appreciation for good work to inspire further excellence.

Constructive Feedback

• Supportive act focusing on underperforming to develop better performance.

Receiving Feedback

• Attempting to understand the other person's objective, processing and implementing the feedback.
• Accepting feedback and using it as learning tools.

Mass Media Theories

• Self-disclosure: What individuals choose to disclose and how.
• Social cognitive theory: Knowledge acquisition through observation.
• Cultivation theory: Media's influence on individuals perceptions.
• Agenda-setting theory: Media's power to influence public priorities.
• Uses and gratifications theory: Media consumption based on satisfying individual needs,
• Social comparison theory: Using media as a benchmark to compare with others
• Encoding:Converting the intended message into symbols.

Perceptual Errors

• Halo effect: Preconceived impression affecting future judgments.
• Recency effect: Recent information dominating perception.
• Stereotyping: Generalizing about individuals based on group membership.
• Attribution theory: Explaining behavior by attributing it to internal or external factors.

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Tendency to underestimate outside influences on others' behavior.

Actor-Observer Difference

• Different perspectives on behavior of self versus others.

Self-Serving Bias

• Selective perception to suit one's needs.

Self-Concept, Self-Esteem, and Self-Image

• Perception of oneself.
• Confidence levels.
• Self-perception.

Conflict

• Definition: Perceived negative impact on something by another.
• Conflict can be personal and professional, stemming from culture, values and expectations.
• Workplace variables: personality, personal and professional relationships, cultural differences, working environments, demands of the workplace.
• Conflict Modes: Avoider, Competitor, Compromiser, Accommodator, Collaborator.
• Benefits of conflict: stronger relationships, self-respect and personal growth.
• Managing conflict:
  • separate people from the problem
  • focus on interests, not positions
  • keep emotions in check
  • stress equality, and similarities
  • express interest in the other person's position
  • never humiliate

Types of Conflict

• Functional: Beneficial for growth, professional survival.
• Dysfunctional: Impedes progress, achievement.

Small Groups

• Activity, Personal Growth, Educational, Problem-solving.

Team Elements

• Size, Roles, Norms, Cohesiveness

Reflective Thinking Process

• Identify the problem, analyze, generate solutions, choose a solution.

Functional Teams

• High task accomplishment, member satisfaction.

Facilitators (In Teams)

• Maintain focus, encourage participation, stick to timelines, offer alternative solutions when a deadlock occurs.

Difficult Behaviors in Teams

• Talking too much/little, arguments, complaining, ignoring/ridiculing.

Formal Communication

• Official, used by professionals.
• Official channels (emails, meetings, reviews)

Informal Communication

• Relational, faster, more personal.
• Unstructured, no paper trails; includes gossip, phone calls; valuable for employee connections and morale.

Grapevines

• Informal communication networks within an organization.
• Characteristics: fast, avoids formal channels, carries important information.

Non-Verbal Communication

• Includes: body language, facial expressions, posture, tone of voice.
• It's significant for how individuals perceive you and influences audience attitude.
• Plays a critical role in effective communication, it's crucial to understand non-verbal cues as a whole.

Clothing as Non-Verbal Communication

• Clothing effects nonverbal communication (NVC), with categories of uniforms, dress, leisure clothing used for signaling identity or professional status.

Proxemics

• Physical space and distances in communication.

Semiotics

• Study of signs and symbols.
• Iconic (representation), Indexical (cause and effect), Symbolic (cultural).
• Codes are frameworks used for interpretation of signs.

Language and Linguistics

• Verbal Language: System of symbols (words).
• Grammar; Rules of language.
• Linguistics: Study of languages.
• Cultural context is significant in language interpretation.

Semantics

• Study of linguistic meaning.
• How meaning changes with context..

Pragmatics

• Focus on a context-driven meanings in language and communication.

Verbal Communication Forms

• Creative, Instrumental, Analytical, Social.

Language and Audience

• Considering how language affects the audience and its meaning in their context.

Creating an Argument

• How to structure an argument (1-sided, 2-sided).
• Quality and presentation of evidence.
• What are the roles and significance in communication?
• Polysemy; a word with multiple definitions.

Visual Communication

• Uses images, typography, layout, color schemes to convey messages.
• Important considerations: audience, purpose, and context.

Visual Rhetoric

• Use of images and visuals to convey persuasive messages.
• Concerns: structuring and arranging the visual elements for clarity.

Graphic Design

• Artistic and professional discipline using visual communication and presentation techniques - layouts, colours, images, typography.

Principles of Visual Rhetoric

• Grouping.
• Arrangement.
• Emphasis.
• Clarity.