Table of Contents
Abstract
Cooperation among employees is important to the achievement of a company’s goals and objectives. The company’s management should enhance employee cooperation through the establishment of teams in the workplace. The management can establish effective employee teams through some steps that will aid in the grouping of employees with common goals together. There are different internal environmental factors such as political affiliations, technology, language and employee cultures that are important in the process of team building by the management. To overcome the physical communication barriers between the company and its branches the management should adopt a common language and modern technology to enhance communication.
Steps applied by management to enhance team cohesion
Appropriate selection of team members
The company’s managers should analyze the employees and their roles in the company so that they can know the similarities and differences that they have in the performance of their roles. The management should group employees with common goals and objectives together (Dyer, 2007). The employees will help each other by contributing equally to the achievement of the goals and objectives since they have similar work experience and goals.
Objective and goal identification
After the grouping of employees by the management, the employees’ roles should be defined ant the management should state their objectives. The individuals should be assigned tasks that require them to work together rather than work individually. Identification of goals and objectives will ensure that they work towards a common goal (Salas, 2007).
Establish effective communication channels
The employees should be able to communicate with each other freely. The ease in communication will enhance sharing of ideas and information hence combined efforts towards problem solving. The communication channels should also ease the accessibility of the management by the employees. The employees should be able to share their ideas and grievances with the management freely.
Provide leadership support to the employee teams
The management should motivate the teams by instilling confidence in all the team members. The managers should assist the employees in areas that they require advanced support. The management should improve the skills of the team members so that they can perform their roles effectively. In times of conflicts and disagreements between the team members, the management should assist in solving the conflicts.
Provision of feedback
The management should encourage the team members to express their opinions on the management and performance of the teams. The feedback helps the management in correcting various matters that surround the teams’ operations. The management should recognize team members’ efforts and appreciate the contribution of each member towards the team and the company.
Importance of internal environmental factors on the team building process
Different internal environmental factors impact the team building process initiated by management positively. Language is a key factor in the creation of teams in a company. A common language between the employees ensures that they understand each other. The team members should be grouped in a manner that they can communicate to each other effectively without communication barriers due to language differences. Secondly, cultural differences affect the team building process positively. Individuals with different cultures have a variety of ideas that they present to the company in the achievement of its goals and objectives. Grouping people with different cultures will enhance innovation and diversity. Moreover, technology helps in the fast and effective performance of roles by the employees (Shay, 2010). Technology improves the communication channels in the company and its branches. Groups in different locations can communicate with each other easily due to the facilitation of technology. The technology minimizes wastage of time in the performance of team roles. Lastly, political affiliations have a great influence on the success of the company’s team-building process. Individuals with different political affiliations are unlikely to cooperate fully with each other in the performance of their roles. The management should consider grouping individuals with similar political views and affiliations together since they will cooperate well with each other.
Practices to overcome communication barriers between locations
The company’s offices cannot be able to communicate easily with each other and share ideas and information without proper communication channels. The management has to apply appropriate and reliable measures to enhance communication between its offices and the company.
Firstly, the company should incorporate modern and upgraded technology in its activities. The management can create communication software or a messaging app (Gregory, 2007). The messaging app will provide a platform for the employees of the company based in different countries to share and get ideas and information on the company’s operations. The company should acquire modern video conferencing equipment that the management will use to communicate with employees and branches in different regions. The management is not required to be physically present in different locations since they can communicate with the headquarters.
Secondly, the management should encourage adoption of a common language by all its employees in the different branches. Since the offices are located in other countries, the employees tend to speak the native languages of those countries. The management should impose the speaking of a common language such as English on all its employees. The speaking of a common language will eliminate language barriers and employees will be able to understand each other easily. The employees can gain verbal information easily from the management since they can understand the management’s language.
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