Final Reflection on the Importance of Effective Communication and Teamwork

This assignment has 2 parts. One is a final reflection of the disscussion post. the second is the reply to 2 peers initial post. Please separate each of these in different paragraphs so i can distinguish the different posts.
Scenerio:
You are a member of a new product development team in a Fortune 500 firm. Management has put a lot of pressure on the team to be innovative (after all, it is part of the company vision published for shareholders and others to see), but all that ever seems to happen at the team meetings is a lot of yelling, name-calling, fighting, put-downs, and arguing. The marketing folks believe the engineers do not truly understand what the customer wants. The manufacturing folks are upset that they are never asked whether the product can be manufactured and maintained relatively easy – until after the product is designed and accepted by the management. Then, there are the finance folks; all they ever seem to care about is the bottom line. Will we ever be able to complete our task? Is it even possible to be innovative when no one seems to value what anyone lese has to say?
My Awnser:
My immediate reaction to the scenario is finding an amicable solution and building consensus in the team. This practical approach guarantees the team's ability to attain its objectives and strengthen any existing communication gaps. If I were the person this situation was about, I would seek ways to address the communication gaps and ensure that I consider other team members' views. This is an essential strategy that guarantees consensus and enhances collaboration within the team. Moreover, it is the basis for establishing long-term objectives to attain the established goals.
There are several ways through which conflicts could be avoided. First, it is essential to communicate with courtesy and respect. This ensures that individuals can cooperate and pursue common goals. Communication intends to build consensus and establish mutual goals to benefit the company (Kappel, 2017). Another way to avoid conflict is maintaining professionalism and avoiding any form of emotional manipulation. This guarantees ethical conduct and following the team goals.
Effective conflict resolution starts with communication. The team leaders need to organize a meeting and encourage the different parties to share their views and find lasting solutions. The leaders must seek ways to build mutually agreed team goals and innovate products based on the mutual agreement. The thing that can make this approach successful is bringing the team members together. Individuals must understand that every decision from the team affects the future of the organization. This will instill a sense of responsibility and mutual commitment to the team objectives. The parties involved must avoid being defensive and focus on the benefits of eliminating the conflict. This will guarantee positive outcomes from the team efforts.
THE ASSIGNMENT TO DO:
#1 Write a final reflection on this exercise. What have you learned about the case study? What have you learned from your groupmates about various ways in which one conflict may be resolved? What will you take away from this discussion?
#2 reply to at least two group members and react to their initial answers (each response should be at least 150 words). A strong peer reply will acknowledge and further extend on what the classmates shared, add new ideas fully supported by research (i.e., scholarly sources), and ask open-ended meaningful questions to extend conversations further.
Peer #1
My immediate reaction to the scenario is lack of teamwork. The scenario shows a failure among all the departments involve in seeking or considering inputs of others without arguing to find a solution with the best possible outcome, “A group becomes a team when members demonstrated a commitment to one another and to the end goal toward which they are working”. (de Janasz, Dowd, & Schneider, 2019, p. 215). If I were the person this situation is about, as a new member of the team I will develop possible solutions. First, I will focus in promoting harmony among the members with focus in positive advices and a possibility of growing together as a team with the same goal.
This situation could be avoid in many ways. I believe that by having a good team leader that constantly train and educate the team in the importance of effective communication will lead to a better performance in teamwork. It is also importance to find a balance in team member’s strengths as a group than in individualize solutions of a member. Another method can be using negotiation tactics that maintains the members focused such as, encouraging them by providing positive feedbacks and work recognition, cultivating positive emotions and showing respect to diverse point of views and opinions.
To solve the conflict I will go with “the ultimate win-win strategy” (de Janasz, Dowd, & Schneider, 2019, p. 247) which is collaboration by integrating each department in finding solutions through teamwork. The team has a goal, and is to develop a new product that fulfill the expectative of management so; they most trust one to another’s. Trust is develop with mutual collaboration. Another approach that can be use is to eliminate the dysfunctional strategic that is being use during this product development. Is evident that lacks of organization and structure. Team leaders needs a lot of expertise to turn this conflict between the team in a positive outcome for the good of the firm.
There are several things to make this approach successful, for example facilitating team success by using more reliable tactics, identifying and eliminating errors that interfere with the production process, developing problem solving strategies and, understanding and managing the teamwork dynamics. I believe that the most important thing that must be avoided during solving a conflict is confrontation, the team must focus in addressing any differences by listening and respecting other opinions. A solid team leads to successful outcomes.
Peer #2
When reading this case study, it seems like there are a number of things that are off with this scenario. From reading, I know that this team should be more organized, but they are having trouble along the lines of communication. Along with the fact that there does not seem to have been enough team building or negotiation of the what and how's of each department's needs and deadline, each department feels as if their needs are not being met. I feel this scenario could have been more productive if the groups would have followed along the lines of the team developmental stages. Each department should have met individually to discuss the importance of what their departments need to achieve and in what manner then, the department heads come together to relay this information and come to an agreement that can help with each department's demands thus resolving the conflicts that lay ahead. If there is any need for change then the leadership from each team can go over that. (De Janasz, 2019, #242)
To make this team more effective, there are a lot of changes that can be done that will make everything more productive. Case in point, everyone thinks their job is more crucial to the deliverance of the product than the other but if the product is not made as a whole what does it show the company and the shareholders? Everyone in the team should know what role they play effectively. Without that you will end up with conflict and no resolution as we have read. Some things to avoid when trying to develop a plan in teamwork would be to make sure the goal that is meant to be had. Of course management is putting on pressure to show the stockholders what can be done but what is the full intent? Another would be to watch out for egos as they can get in the way of development and also create a lack of communication. These can result in the aforementioned problems. (Dowdy, 2020)