It goes without saying that language barrier creates a communication problem. I can relate to the member who does not have great command of the English language and their need to have stressed messages when communicating to them. Furthermore, such team members can be expected to participate in group tasks but at a potentially slower pace which might reduce the group efficiency. Furthermore, such team members can have issues with deliverables if the message passed to them was not well coordinated and they fail to provide the required contribution to the rest of the team.
These problems can be solved through properly arranged coordination, ensuring that the challenged team member understand the team requirement from him instead of presuming that they understand. By getting their feedback on whether they have understood what the team requires of them, potential conflicts can be avoided. Also, ensuring that team tasks delegated to such members are submitted early enough so that the team leader can make necessary changes is vital.
Having a communication charter will give everyone a schedule and means to reach out to members. Watkins in the Harvard Business Review suggests that the charter can also set basic ground rules such as limiting background noise and side conversations, talking clearly and at a reasonable pace, listening attentively and not dominating the conversation which go a long way in creating a seamless functioning group (Watkins, 2013). The stages of group development includes forming, storming, and norming, performing and then sustaining the group or team. I believe that both virtual teams and traditional face to face teams have the same group development stages and go through the same challenges. However, there is a slight difference where forming stage in virtual teams will mean not just knowing each other but also forming a communication charter which each team member will follow religiously.
127 our experts are availableright now
According to Taylor in the Forbes magazine, groups go through these forming stages and understanding which stage the group is at goes a long way in determining the productive ability of the team. Teams should norm before productive efforts are engaged otherwise the team will face misdirection and possible delays in delivering tasks. In virtual teams, establishing the communication charter and ensuring that team members have an established routine before providing the team tasks to work on.
There are various barriers to communication. Such include emotional barriers, cultural barriers, language barrier, perceptual barriers and interpersonal barriers. These barriers to communication are the most basic in terms of one on one communication and may lead to conflicts when communication is blocked. Perception differences come from people who have different perspectives on the same issue. Emotional barriers are mostly because of fear, suspicion and mistrust. Different cultures communicate differently and a nod might mean yes in one culture and the total opposite in another.
When dealing with a person with a supersized ego, it is important to focus on solutions and offer alternatives. Furthermore, avoiding personal attacks, making requests and providing propositions is a proper way to approach such individuals. Often such people tend to deviate to other non-issue agenda hence staying on course and making propositions focused on the issues at hand. Kinicki & Williams propose that members concentrate on solving problems and completing the assigned task (Kinicki & Williams, 2014). Hence, engaging such people calls for a high concentration ability and driving the conversation on the solution rather than small talk and personal issues.
