Essentials of Business Communication 10th Edition by Dana Loewy,Mary Ellen Guffey

تمرين 12

Participating in group presentations and collaborating on written reports are good ways to develop teamwork skills. However, working with other people on team projects is often challenging and frustrating, particularly when team members don't carry their weight or when conflict occurs. Team projects can be productive and rewarding when members establish ground rules at the outset and adhere to guidelines such as those presented here.
Preparing to Work Together
Smaller teams with two to five members tend to be more successful and have fewer challenges than larger teams. Before beginning the project, meet as a team and establish roles and ground rules.
• Select a team leader to coordinate and manage the project and a recorder to write and distribute the ground rules and take notes on each meeting's accomplishments.
• Decide how to distribute the workload. Perhaps certain team members have areas of expertise on the topic. Try to divide the workload equally.
• Decide whether your team will be governed by consensus (everyone must agree) or by majority rule.
• Compare team members' schedules, gather contact information, and agree on meeting times. Regularly held face-to-face team meetings are more beneficial than virtual meetings when collaborating on group projects. The group can decide how to involve those who miss a meeting.
• Discuss the value of sharing diverging opinions. When multiple viewpoints are shared, a better product results. Talk openly about conflict and how it should be focused on the issues, not on the people.
• Discuss how you will deal with members who are not meeting deadlines or doing their part.
Planning the Document
Once you have established ground rules, you are ready to discuss the project and resulting document.
• Establish the document's specific purpose and identify the main issues involved.
• Discuss the audience(s) for the document and what appeal would help it achieve its purpose.
• Write a detailed outline of the report. What parts will be assigned to each team member? What graphics and visuals will be included in each part?
• Develop a work plan. Set deadlines for submitting the first drafts, for integrating the parts into one document, and for proofreading the final draft.
• Decide how the final document will look. What fonts and format will be used? What software will be used to create the report? Will the report need a cover sheet, a table of contents, or a list of citations?
Collecting Information
The following suggestions will help teams gather accurate information:
• As a group, brainstorm ideas for gathering relevant information.
• Establish deadlines for collecting information from primary and secondary sources.
• Discuss ways to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information collected.
Organizing, Writing, and Revising
As the project progresses, your team may wish to modify some of its earlier decisions.
• Review the proposed outline of your final document, and adjust it if necessary.
• Share the first drafts and have all members review them. Make sure all writers are using the same format, heading styles, and font sizes.
• Appoint the strongest writer to integrate all the parts, striving for a consistent voice. The report should read as if it were written by one person.
Editing and Evaluating
Before submitting the document, meet and review the final copy.
• Review the document's overall design, format, and heading levels. Is the report's organization easy to follow?
• Although all members should review and suggest edits to the final document, assign a strong writer to copyedit the report for grammar and punctuation errors.
• Evaluate the final document. Discuss whether it fulfills its purpose and meets the needs of the audience.
Using Online Collaboration Tools
Hosting companies such as PBWorks (http://pbworks. com/content/edu+overview) offer easy-to-use, free wiki accounts to educators to run in their classes without involving the IT department. Other writers prefer using Google Docs, a free document management solution that is popular in the workplace. Some writers prefer to create drafts in Microsoft Word and use the Track Changes feature to gather comments from multiple readers. Search online or ask educators and project managers what documentsharing platforms they prefer.
Career Application. Select a report topic from this chapter or Chapter 10. Assume that you are preparing the report as a team project. If you are working on a long report, your instructor may ask you to prepare individual progress reports as you develop your topic.
Your Task
• Form a team of two to five members.
• Prepare to work together by following the suggestions in this workshop.
• Plan your report by establishing its purpose, analyzing the audience, writing a detailed outline, developing a work plan, and deciding how you want the final document to look.
• Collect information, organize it, and write the first draft.
• Use the same formatting, heading styles, and font sizes as other team members.
• Offer to proofread and make suggestions to the drafts of team members.
Your instructor may assign grades not only for the final report but also for team effectiveness and your individual contribution, as evaluated by fellow team members.