Communication improvement

proposal
Denny Nguyen
Salt Lake Community College
COMM 1010
11/08/2015

Contents
Overview

Project Description

Group Assets

Group Limitations

Recommendations

Conclusion

Overview

While our group was brainstorming on a problem we could find a

solution to, we decided to choose something we thought would be
relatable to the majority of the readers. In our scenario, the boss of the
workplace didn't value the suggestions and comments that were given by
employees of a lower rank, didn't see other people of the workplace as
equals. Employees were not recognized for all the time and hard work
that they dedicated to the company and workplace. We were given class
time each Friday to work on analyzing the situation and producing a
solution that would best meet goals to benefit everyone involved.

Project Description

Our goal was to find the best solution to overall work-flow,

creativity, stamina, listening abilities, and attitudes towards co-workers
in the workplace possible with the smallest room for error on where it
could escalate more problems. We did this by trial and error, for every
solution we came up with there would be pros and cons, the pros had to
outweigh the cons and we had to modify the solution further to negate
the cons. Our solution had to meet certain criteria, we decided that it
would need to: improve attitudes in the work place, make the
environment of the workplace more enjoyable, that it would improve the
productivity, keep a healthy relationship with your fellow co-workers
and boss all while benefitting the company.
Solutions we came up with while brainstorming were: encouraging
others to speak their mind if they had suggestions, they their ideas
mattered, call the company hotline to report issues, report to other
peoples your problems whether it was friends or family to see if they had
the same problem in the past to help you, personally going around the
office and talking with fellow employees or sending an email out to
them.
Since we wanted the solution that would leave the smallest margin
for error, we looked at our chart and wanted to come up with a solution
that would combine them all to best fit the various aspects that the
problem presented.

Group Assets
An important part of a successful team is how the members of a
team interact with each other.
Adler and Elmhorst describe interaction as "A collection of people
studying in a library or working out at the gym is merely co-acting.
Likewise a roomful of trainees at a seminar isn't a group unless and until
the individuals start interacting."(238) From the start of our group
meeting, we did not all have much "healthy group" interaction between
one another. We met in the morning and took turn answering questions
on group members laptop. As time went on, the things got worse in
which we didn't work much as a team and the case of little interaction
that we had started to deteriorate. Some members of the group seemed to
be off in their own world and isolating themselves from providing any
help towards the assignments and were often just on their phones. That
was a setback, but a good example of interaction was that became
friends with one of the group members. We both knew that these
segments had to be done by certain dates so he and I stepped things up to
work hard during the time we were given.
"No matter how brilliant you are, being a solo player is not an
option in today's business world."(236) Adler and Elmhorst go on to tell
us the old saying "Two heads are better than one" can be true, because
We built off one another's ideas while brainstorming to create the best
solutions for certain scenarios.

Group Limitations
Although we completed a well done project, it was
not easy and there were bumps in the road we had to
overcome.
"Most experts say that a twosome is not a group
because the partners do not interact in the same way
that a three or more people do"(237) I have to both agree
and disagree with what Adler and Elmhorst had to say. I
believe it that a well constructed team of 4 could be more
beneficial and productive than a well constructed team of
2, but certain factors could change that. We had a group
of 4, but 2 of the members rarely participated and didn't
seem to be want to be engaged in the group.
Given a free class period every Friday was a vital
factor on why we were able to complete assignments on
time. We met in the library from 10-11, but I had a class
at 11 so I was limited on how long I could help. The
others in the group didn't have class afterwards, but no
one ever stayed to help complete the tasks if we didn't
completely finish. At times one of the members finished
up what we didn't on their own time, so it's an example of
emerging as a team leader and going the extra mile.

Recommendations
I learned a lot from this group project, both on the
real life solutions we came up with for our project, and
learning about actual group projects themselves.
Some things I will take away from this experience
towards future group assignments is making sure to get
everyone to participate. It is easier done earlier rather
than later after people get into the habit of having others
do the work for them. It's important that everyone has a
drive to complete the task at hand and make sure that
goals are met. Don't be afraid to speak up, I know that
public speaking or talking to people you don't know very
well can be a challenge to some, but it is nothing to be
afraid of.
As a form of communication outside the classroom.
We established a group message via text and exchanged
emails. It worked well, emails were used to send
everyone a copy of what was turned in every week so we
could take a look at if we had any changes we wanted to
make and for references for the upcoming week's
assignment.
Choosing who you want to be in a group with for
projects is important. Find those who you think you will
work well with and if you can find others that have a
share a focus on the goal, then things will run smoother.
7

Conclusion
We came up with multiple solutions that we and
other groups have agreed could prove helpful if they ran
into a problem in the workplace with their boss. Although
it wasn't easy and extra efforts had to be made, we
completed it.
The experience from this project will prove to be
useful in other team projects in any class. It showed me
the importance of communication between each
individual and ways to get the group to work together to
up productivity. I will take what I have learned during this
assignment and use it in future work to help the group
find success.

References

Adler, Ronald & Elmhorst Marquardt, Jeanne,

Communicating at Work: Principles and Practices for
Business and the Professions. The McGraw-Hill
Companies, 2010.