Challenges

Challenges of Groups and Teams
Groups and teams face many challenges while trying to become more effective. Individuality can complicate or enhance the team’s ability to communicate effectively, collaborate well, and manage conflict. “A team’s ineffectiveness can negatively affect another team’s work, creating problems across the organization” (Coghlan, 1994). In order to overcome conflicts that the team may face, it’s important to develop a training plan to increase the group’s effectiveness so that certain issues will not cause problems in the future. The following will discuss ways in which communication, collaboration and conflict management can be beneficial in the effectiveness of teams in any organization such as Enron.
Communication
Communication is the central focal point to the success of any team. Because perfect communication does not exist, it’s important to learn how to communicate effectively within the group. According to Robbins and Judge (2007), “communication must include both the transference and the understanding of meaning”. Each member of the team may have a different style of communication which may be a barrier that prevents effective communication. In order to learn of the different communication styles among team members, preferences should be discussed among team members. Group members may prefer to communicate messages through email, video or phone conferences, or even face to face meetings. Other barriers that the team may face are filtering, selective perception, information overload, and communication apprehension (Robbins & Judge, 2007). To overcome communication barriers, the team should focus on team building activities that will allow all ideas to be expressed and group members who are apprehensive about expressing themselves will feel more comfortable in the group.   Team members should be honest and open about their opinions and ideas. This is one practice that the Enron executives did not practice. They falsified documents...