Introduction to Business

1. Introduction to Business Teamwork and Communication

2. Module Learning Outcomes Explain the importance of teamwork and effective communication in a business environment 11.1: Differentiate between groups and teams, and describe the characteristics of different types of teams 11.2: Explain the stages of team development and the factors that contribute to team success 11.3: Explain the importance of effective communication within an organization, and describe common barriers to effective communication 11.4: Describe the typical communication channels, flows, and networks within an organization, and explain when different channels are appropriate 11.5: Identify commons risks and ethical issues associated with electronic communication in business

3. Teams

4. Learning Outcomes: Teams 11.1: Differentiate between groups and teams, and describe the characteristics of different types of teams 11.1.1: Differentiate between a group and a team 11.1.2: Differentiate between manager-led teams, self-led teams, functional teams, cross-functional teams, virtual teams, and project teams

5. Groups vs. Teams A group is comprised of two or more individuals who share common interests or characteristics, and its members identify with one another due to similar traits. A team is a group of people with different skills and different tasks, who work together on a common project, service, or goal, combining their functions and providing mutual support along the way. 

6. Why Organizations Build Teams Teams allow an organization to achieve goals that individuals working alone may not. Teams help achieve: • Higher-Quality Outcomes • Higher efficiency • Faster speed • More thoughtful ideas • Greater effectiveness • Better Context for Individuals • Mutual support • Greater sense of accomplishment

7. Types of Teams • Self-managed • Project • Cross-functional • Manager-led • Virtual

8. Self-managed Teams A self-managed team is a group of employees working together who are accountable for most or all aspects of their task. • Determine how they will accomplish assigned objectives • Decide what route they will take to meet them • Responsible for planning, scheduling, organizing, directing, controlling and evaluating their own work process • Select their own members and evaluate the members’ performance

9. Project Teams A project team is a team whose members are assembled for a specific project or business objective. Project team members can be drawn from different departments or can all be from the same functional area Typically used for a defined period of time and are disbanded after the project is complete. • Provide autonomy and flexibility to team in the process of meeting their goals • Consists of a variety of members working under the direction of a project manager or a senior member of the organization

10. Cross-functional Teams • When team members have different functional expertise • Often come from different levels of the organization • Diversity of experience aids innovation • Are self-directed and focus on tasks that require the input and expertise of numerous departments • Makes sense for large corporate projects that touch and affect work across entire organization

11. Manager-led Teams In a manager-led team, the team members complete the required tasks, but someone outside the team (i.e., a manager) performs the executive functions. There is an inevitable tension between the degree of manager control in a team and the ability of team members to guide and manage their own actions. Manager-led teams provide more control, but they can also hamper creativity and individual expression.

12. Virtual Teams A virtual team is a group of individuals in different geographic locations who use technology to collaborate on work tasks and activities. The use of this kind of work team has become prevalent in organizations due to • the reduced costs of technology, the increased availability of collaborative technologies (videoconferencing software, etc.) • the shift toward globalization in business • greater use of outsourcing and temporary workers They offer flexibility around the logistics of doing business since team members can “meet” from any location—wherever they happen to be, such as a home office, coffee shop, etc.—at any time of the day or week.

13. Practice Question 1 How do we differentiate between a group and a (work) team? A. A team is people who work together on a common project, service, or goal, combining their functions and providing mutual support along the way. B. A group is people who share responsibility and work towards a common goal. C. A team is a group of people from the same department who share common interests or characteristics. D. The difference between a group and a team is the number of people involved.

14. Practice Question 2 Cathy works for a bank who is evaluating a new software system at the company HQ to replace an aging one. The team consists of Cathy, who is an IT analyst; Jon, who is an Operations director; Caitlin, who works in Purchasing; and Daniel, who is a staffer in Customer Service. The team will work with several vendors to evaluate their products, rate the systems, and issue a report to senior management in 3 months. This is an example of what kind of team? A. Planning team B. Manager-led team C. Cross-functional team D. Virtual team

15. Team Development and Success

16. Learning Outcomes: Team Development and Success 11.2: Explain the stages of team development and the factors that contribute to team success 11.2.1: Differentiate between forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning 11.2.2: Explain the factors that contribute to team success

17. Team Development When teams are formed they evolve from individuals into a cohesive unit. The stages of team development are: • Forming • Storming • Norming • Performing • Adjourning

18. Stage 1: Forming • Bring together a group of individuals. • Focus on defining and assigning tasks, establishing a schedule, organizing the team’s work, and other start-up matters. • Focus on the scope of the team’s purpose and means of approaching it. • Members gather impressions and information about one another; people generally want to be accepted by others so members will usually avoid conflict during this stages

19. Stage 2: Storming • Clarify team’s activities and goals. • Determine how team members will work independently and collectively. • Members begin to share ideas about what to do and how to do it. • Members start to open up and confront one another’s ideas and perspectives. • Storming can be contentious; members who are averse to conflict may find it unpleasant or even painful, and the team can become stuck and unable to do its work • Patience and consideration toward team members and their views goa long way during this stage

20. Stage 3: Norming • Focus on developing shared values about how team members will work together. • Norms of collaboration can address issues ranging from when to use certain modes of communication, such as e-mail versus telephone, to how team meetings will be run and what to do when conflicts arise. • Norms become a way of simplifying choices and facilitating collaboration, since members have shared expectations about how work will get done.

21. Stage 4: Performing • Team members work together easily on interdependent tasks and are able to communicate and coordinate effectively • There are fewer time-consuming distractions based on interpersonal and group dynamics leading to high motivation and confidence in their ability to attain goals. • While these four stages—forming, storming, norming, and performing—are distinct and generally sequential, they often blend into one another and even overlap. A team may pass through one phase only to return to it.

22. Stage 5: Adjourning • Last steps of completing the task and breaking up the team. • Some work teams are ongoing so they may not actually “adjourn,” but they may still participate in aspects of this stage—by winding up a particularly intense period of collaboration, for example. • For project-based teams that have been formed for a limited time period, this stage provides an opportunity to formally mark the end of the project. • Provides closure to a project.

23. Team Success What differentiates a successful team from an unsuccessful one? Some of the hallmarks of successful teams include:  • Members trusting one another • Effective communication • Common goals • Defined team roles and responsibilities • Group cohesion

24. Practice Question 3 The two primary factors that help us differentiate between the five stages of team development are: A. Productivity and interpersonal dynamics B. Productivity and project quality C. Frequency of meetings and interpersonal squabbles D. Communication and appreciations

25. Class Discussion: Equal Teamwork The most common complaint when people work in teams is that some people do more work than others. What ideas, structures, and norms are discussed in this module to address this concern?

26. Effective Communication and Barriers

27. Learning Outcomes: Effective Communication and Barriers 11.3: Explain the importance of effective communication within an organization, and describe common barriers to effective communication 11.3.1: Explain the importance of effective communication within an organization 11.3.2: Describe common barriers to effective communication

28. Defining Communication The simplest model of communication relies on three distinct parts: sender, message, and receiver. In business, the sender and receiver roles can be filled by many people within and outside of the organization.

29. Business Communication There is an enormous range in the kinds of communication that takes place within, and to and from, an organization. For example, business communication is used to promote products, services, or an organization and includes topics such as consumer behavior, advertising, public relations, event management, corporate communication, research and measurement, and reputation management. Business communication may also refer to internal communication: In a large company, a communications director may be in charge of managing internal communication and crafting messages sent to employees. Effective communication within an organization is vital to building trust and job satisfaction among employees.

30. Barriers to Effective Communication • Use of jargon: Overcomplicated and technical terms can create confusion • Withholding information: Within an organization, some information is kept confidential. • Chain of command: Hierarchy can reduce the flow of communication • Lack of trust: In companies with a competition-driven culture, there may be a lack of trust between employees • Physical barriers or disabilities: hearing, vision, or speech problems can make communicating challenging • Bias: Preconceptions or prejudice can lead to stereotyping and false assumptions • Filtering: People may hear what they expect to hear or want to hear, rather than what is said • Language and cultural differences: Language use and social norms vary greatly across cultures

31. Practice Question 4 The following are reasons why effective communication is important within an organization EXCEPT: A. Unclear communication can lead to employee confusion and mistrust and will certainly impact productivity B. Company goals cannot be met by employees if objectives are not being clearly communicated C. A company making inaccurate or misleading claims about its products or services risks legal jeopardy D. The sender must understand the receiver to ensure that they are hearing what is being sent rather than what they want to hear

32. Communication Channels, Flows, and Networks

33. Learning Outcomes: Communication Channels, Flows, and Networks 11.4: Describe typical communication channels, flows, and networks within an organization, and explain why different channels are appropriate 11.4.1: Differentiate between face-to-face, written, oral, Web-based, and other common channels of business communication 11.4.2: Differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate uses of different communication channels 11.4.3: Differentiate between downward, upward, horizontal, diagonal, and external communication flows 11.4.4: Differentiate between formal and informal communication networks

34. Rich and Lean Communication Channels Communication involves a sender, a message, and a receiver that create a channel. Rich channels: More interactive, provide opportunities for two-way communication, allow both sender and receiver to read the nonverbal messages Lean channels: Present information without allowing for immediate interaction, they often convey “just the facts” • Richest channels: face-to-face meeting; in-person oral presentation • Rich channels: online meeting; video conference • Lean channels: teleconference; phone call; voice message; video (e.g., Facetime) • Leanest channels: blog; report; brochure; newsletter; flier; email; phone text; social media posts (e.g., Twitter, Facebook)

35. Types of Communication Channels Web-based Emails Letters Presentations Telephone/Conference calls Face-to-face meetings

36. Class Activity: Team Communication Modern teams communicate electronically using email, chat, video, conference call, desktop sharing, etc. Many employees feel that there is too much “noise” generated from so many communication channels. In response, many organizations have adopted team communication tools that serve as a central platform to help organize communication by task, project, team, or other categories. Divide the class into groups to investigate some of the tools that are currently popular in this category: • Slack • HipChat • Wrike • Microsoft Lync • Google Hangouts

37. Present: Team Communication

38. How to Choose a Channel When deciding which communication channel to use, the following are some of the important factors to consider • Audience and their reaction to the message • Length of time it will take to convey the information • Complexity of the message • Need for a permanent record of the communication • Degree to which the information is confidential • Cost of the communication

39. Communication Flows Communication can occur between different types of employees and different functional parts of an organization. These patterns of communication are called flows and are commonly classified according to the direction of the interaction: downward, upward, horizontally, diagonally, and external.

40. Types of Communication Flows Downward communication: Leaders or managers share information with lower-level employees. Upward communication: Transmission of information from lower levels of an organization to higher ones; the most common situation is employees communicating with managers. Horizontal communication: Also called lateral communication involves the flow of messages between individuals and groups on the same level of the organization. Diagonal communication: The sharing of information among different structural levels within a business. External communication: When an organization communicates with people outside of the business.

41. Formal and Informal Communication • Formal communication is comprised of the communication that runs along the official lines of authority. • Informal communication is comprised of communication that arises from the social affiliation of members of an organization.

42. Traits of Formal and Informal Communication Formal Communication Informal Communication • Shaped by hierarchy, technology systems, and official policy • Documented • Often one-way • Initiated by management to employees • Occurs inside established channels • Often perceived as authoritative • Multi-directional • Between individuals of varying status • Commonly separate from workflows: often occurs between people who do not work together directly • Occurs outside of established channels

43. Practice Question 5 Face-to-face, oral, web-based, and written are all examples of communication channels. What is the most important factor in differentiating between these forms of communication channels? A. The richness of the communication channel B. The location of the communication channel C. The media of the communication channel D. The timing of the communication channel

44. Practice Question 6 When it comes to differentiating between formal and informal communication networks in business, the following is true: A. Formal communication networks are professional and should be the only vehicles used for communication within an organization B. Both formal and informal networks are important for communication within an organization C. Informal communication networks are handy for CEO’s and other senior management to communicate company goals and objectives on the fly D. An informal communication network should always be used to communicate among colleagues within a business organization

45. Electronic Communication

46. Learning Outcomes: Electronic Communication 11.5: Identify common risks and ethical issues associated with electronic communication in business 11.5.1: Identify common risks associated with electronic communication 11.5.2: Identify common ethical issues associated with electronic communication in business

47. Electronic Communication Risks The rise of information technology that makes business communication faster and more efficient brings unique ethical challenges and risks. Risks • Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses • Spoofing or phishing • Denial-of-Service attacks • Electronic communication is forever • Someone may be watching • Innocent messages can still harm you • Email avalanche

48. Ethical Issues in Electronic Communication • Employer and employee rights to employee email • HR use of technology to screen applicants • Data collection about a person and sale of that data to other companies

49. Practice Question 7 The following risks are associated with using electronic and digital technology for communication and commerce EXCEPT: A. Ransom for the return of stolen data or DoS B. Identity theft C. No digital footprint D. Unauthorized use of credit cards and bank accounts

50. Practice Question 8 You are shopping online for some new running shoes at a national sporting goods retailer. You put a pair of Nikes in your cart and move on to other sites. Within minutes you are seeing ads for the exact shoe style offered from Amazon.com, and then again, when you log into Facebook. What is going on? A. The sporting goods retailer has data-selling deals set up with major ecommerce and social media providers that allow for almost instant sharing of your personal information B. You are a victim of a Trojan C. You’ve been involved in a DoS attack D. Russian hackers