Chapter 6 & 7

Chapter 6: Working in teams

Some important things to remember when working in team are to get your views across to other members, accepting criticism, getting along, and compromising. 

Guidelines:

• ·         Group manager
• ·         Clear goals
• ·         Type of document
• ·         Divide the tasks
• ·         Schedule
• ·         Drafts and Check each others work
• ·         Problems
• ·         How are decisions going to be made
• ·         Evaluate each other
• ·         Project plan
• ·         Progress reports

Meetings

• ·         Agenda
• ·         Preparation from every member
• ·         Observer
• ·         Minutes from last meeting
• ·         Give everyone a chance to speak
• ·         Stay on topic
• ·         Keep things moving
• ·         Guide and listen
• ·         Summarize important information
• ·         End on time 

Every person is different and is used to different ways of doing things.  

·         Interpersonal Differences 

·         Gender and Cultural Differences

When addressing a conflict in the group, remember to listen to everyone and to give and accept constructive criticism.  To reduce animosity, don’t be aggressive or attack anyone.  

Listening is very important.  Listening is more complex than just staring blankly at the speaker, but to actually be receptive and focus on the message.  Being courteous and keeping an open mind will also allow you to get more out of listening.  Even if you don’t agree with the message being stated, listening and seeing the opposite point of view could open your eyes to information you shut out, or even strengthen your opposition.  Spending 90 percent of your time listening and 10 percent talking is ideal.

• Creatively Thinking

  ·         Brainstorm- collection of ideas
  ·         Mind-mapping- more in depth brainstorming
  ·         Storyboarding- images are presented, this is a more hands on technique
  
  

  When reviewing and proofreading others work the main objective is to make sure the document connects with its audience and has purpose.  Making sure that the document is well organized, easy to follow, engaging, and accurate are also important characteristics that a document should include.

  
  

  Face to face vs. electronic communication depends on the situation.  Personal contact requires face to face whereas emails or instant messaging might be less time consuming.

  
  

  Ethical abuses in the workplace are enviable, people intimidate other people, people claim work when it’s not theirs and people hoard information because it gives them a sense of empowerment.  Working as a team and allowing every member to actively participate and giving credit where credit is due could help eliminate these problems.  Also hoarding information is not really doing someone good when they could share for the bettering of the company.  

  
  

  Chapter 7

  
  

  When critically thinking about the research process, it is important to ask the right questions which means ask good questions, exploring a balance of views, evaluating your findings and interpreting those findings in the best possible way.

  
  

  Balance of view:

  ·         Best answers
  ·         Sources that agree
  ·         Sources that disagree
  ·         Good quality information
  
  

  Evaluate:

  ·         Information precise, reliable, unbiased?
  ·         Are the facts substantial
  ·         Is the information useful
  ·         Is this the whole/real story?
  ·         Need more info?
  
  

  Interpretation:

  ·         Does the conclusion state the research question
  ·         Are there other options
  ·         Is there enough evidence
  ·         Should more be done?
  
  

  Experts are not always a reliable source because their opinions sometimes intervene.  Experts are people to which could lead to making a mistake.

  
  

  A very important point for evaluating any information is to learn everything you can about the presented issue and make your own view on the topic before accepting anyone else’s so that you’re not swayed in one way or another.