In a typical hierarchical working relationships there are defined and independent communication paths between a leadership role and worker. For a collaborative environment it is essential to implement a cross-communicational team strategy. Within-team communication provides members with information about what their teammates are working on and where they are up to in the project development. When decisions and outcomes depend on the integration of different team member contributions it is important to be familiar with the tasks of fellow team mates to ensure a collaborative and comprehensive end result. This is particularly important for small teams or teams working with constantly changing environments or poorly defined outcomes (Fussell, S. 1998); something in which our group faces with roles and responsibilities continually being assessed and redefined throughout the project. It is therefore even more essential for us to focus on communicating directly to one another and include all participants in communication processes in order to achieve a successful outcome. Our group has achieved this style of communication by having many face-to-face meetings and setting up group communication platforms such as Facebook and Dropbox.
This type of group communication leads to increased passive awareness. "Passive awareness of what other team members are doing, provided by indirect participation in a communicative exchange...should enable a team member to better coordinate his/her activities with the rest of the team." (Fussell, S. 1998, p2) - Though this inter-team awareness is an important when dealing with a project such as ours it can also result in information overload; passive awareness consumes more of each individuals time and indirectly adds to an individual's work load. We face this problem on our Facebook group, were some posts are irrelevant to certain team members (e.g. querying measurements on a particular part of the bike that you are not working on). Using this type of team communication strategy lends to the group spending a lot of time on discussing ideas, concepts and solutions than actually implementing them.
There are many methods of communication but for the context of our project we are looking at written communication, oral communication, face-to face and communication through media.
The benefits of written form is that as a team we have a physical record and reference of everything that was mentioned during discussion, these record also serve as evidence to avoid miscommunication or arguments amongst members in the future. Written communication can also avoid mistakes which can be made in interpreting other forms of communication (e.g. verbal)as it is a clearly defined communication medium.
Oral communication methods are also essential for teamwork, as members can provide and respond to each other’s feedback quickly and the issues and conflicts that occurred throughout the process of the project can be resolved through talking. Oral communication encourages flexibility as the method we have chosen to manage our team is one of Agile Development and therefore being able to communicate verbally helps us to understand each other’s idea's with greater understanding.
A face-to-face communication method directly corresponds with oral communication. This method is the most effective medium and has the greatest ability to communicate convince. Externally, face-to-face communication offers the opportunity to engage with our targeted audiences, creating a two-way relationship that enables the ability for audiences to respond.
Perhaps the most powerful source of communication is social media; a form of networking which has the ability to reach the mass market with only a minimal input. The media world is limitless and is vitally important to our project as there is such dispersed target audience (Bikers & CAM enthusiasts). Social media offers the opportunity for anyone to comment, edit and embellish on our resources, enabling open dialogue and interaction between project and audiences.
Design teams commonly include members from different design disciplines that must integrate their individual specialised knowledge in order to effectively and efficiently produce professional design solutions. Communication, including the integration of inter disciplinary specialised knowledge, has developed into a fundamental aspect of the collaboration design process. Individual team members have specific roles and responsibilities in ensuring that the communication process remains fluent and allows for the exchange of information and conflict resolution.
Leadership Responsibilities
Team leaders represent a significant component in the team design and communication process. The ability of the team leaders to communicate the direction and the organisational structure of the design team is vital to the success of the collaboration process. Design teams are increasingly required to work collaboratively in complex and dynamic environments which force them to constantly develop new team organisational structures and communication strategies. Team Leaders need to be able to adapt their communicational strategies to overcome challenges and obstacles in these dynamic team environments. The team leader’s main responsibilities during the team communication process include the communication of team goals, direction and culture, communicating project requirements and time schedules through division of individual tasks for completion and advising each team member of new decisions and resolving any issues arising from a communication breakdown.
Team Member Responsibilities
Team members need to be able to integrate their individual roles and responsibilities for the collective success of the design collaborative team. A common cause of failure for design teams is the inability to communicate the coordination of individual team member contributions to the given project. The roles and responsibilities of each team member will depend on a number of factors including the project requirements and their individual design discipline background. Although the main roles and responsibilities of each team member will differ from project to project. There are still a number of common responsibilities that are common to all projects which involve the team member having to communicate. These usually include the need for team members to communicate their individual knowledge, abilities and skills to both other team members and the team leadership, communicate constructive feedback on current team work and progress.
Wallpapers – 3D Business People, LORDOFDESIGN, viewed 17 April 2013, < http://lordofdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Wallpapers-3D-Business-People.jpg>
Speaking Male, Speaking Female – Communicating into Another’s Listening, image, Friedman, Will, Mental Help.Net, viewed 17 April 2013, <http://www.mentalhelp.net/images/root/friedmantalk.jpg>
Communication Longevity
Communication plays a critical role in terms of keeping the project moving forward and the ongoing longevity of the project. Internal communication is vital as it allows team members to come together and keep them on target towards future goals within an allocated time frame. Without these small individual steps being taken, groups will struggle to finish their goal with higher quality work.
To keep work focussed on the target audience teams must have a way of communicating externally with their target market. Some people may do this face to face, others through oral communication or even through an online forum. Having this form of communication with a reliable external source allows groups to gain first-hand knowledge from within the market itself.
How to Use the Law of Attraction with Goal Setting, Bowen, D, viewed on the 19/04/13 <http://www.empowernetwork.com/dbowen/blog/how-to-use-the-law-of-attraction-with-goal-setting/>
Identifying Your Target Audience, Cordingley, D, viewed on the 19/04/13 <http://terrycordingley.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/day-2-identifying-your-target-audience.html>
Project Black is already looking beyond our group project, and how we can continue to develop our work for the future. As a group we have developed a wiki, whereby as both individuals and a team we are able to provide concise data to our target audience through the use of 3D models, analytical drawings and deconstruction videos. The space is a collection of data that provides not only the Honda CB750 community but also the motorcycle community as a whole, with a place to communicate, further their understanding or display jobs that are currently in progress or have been complete.
References
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Acacio, V. 2012, The Benefits of Face-to-Face Communication [online], Available from: http://bluejeans.com/blog/benefits-face-to-face-meetings [Accessed: 11.4.2013]
Management Study Guide 2013, Written Communication- Meaning, Advantages and Disadvantages [online], Available from: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/written-communication.htm [Accessed: 18.4.2013]
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