Assignment scenario:
Communication and Organizational
Effectiveness
There’s been a major rapid onset flood in
Brown Trout Bay, a rural community with a population of about 3,000, located
fifty miles from the major metropolitan area of Riverbend City.
Roads and bridges are out, and the water
supply for much of the city has been compromised. The county’s emergency
operations center (EOC) has been activated, and a Leadership Team is being
assembled to address the crisis. You are in charge of this leadership team.
Leading a group of people who have a
variety of communication styles can be a challenge—whether you’re leading a
casual neighborhood committee meeting or a response to a citywide disaster. As
you coordinate this Leadership Team, you will have to work effectively with
eight people who have very different communication styles. As a leader, you
will need to develop a strategy for working effectively with this group of
people.
In this assignment,
you will analyze and respond to a growing controversy depicted in the Riverbend
City: Communication and Organizational Effectiveness scenario by writing a team
communication and subsequently analyzing your approach to devising it.
*Attached is the scenario*
PART 1: ANALYZE YOUR APPROACH TO THE ISSUE
Describe your approach
to constructing the email.
Describe possible causes for the caustic exchange
depicted in the email chain. Consider possible core organizational issues.
State any assumptions that you might need to make regarding the scenario
to support your assertions.
Justify why your message would likely be
effective. Consider content, tone, style, et cetera.
Explain your intent for how your message might impact
future communications and actions among team members.
Part 2: Write a
Response Email
Write an email that
effectively addresses the email chain. It should:
·
Properly consider the
audience, your position, and the circumstances.
·
Articulate a
well-conceived solution to the problem.
·
Effectively end the
thread completely and de-escalate the tension.
·
Send a message that this
exchange was “sub-optimal.”
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
The
assignment is expected to meet the following requirements:
Font: Times
New Roman, 12 point.
Length: 4–5 pages,
double spaced.
Resources that can be used, please utilize the highlighted
as one of the three chosen:
Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6),
384–399.
The initial ideas presented by Bruce Tuckman in
1965 regarding the stages of development that teams go
through are so ingrained in the literature about teams that some
authors forget to cite Tuckman. Reading Tuckman’s original ideas about
team development will help you understand how later authors formulated
their ideas on team development and listening.
Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., Colella, A., & Triana, M.
(2018). Organizational behavior (5th ed.).
Wiley.
Chapter 12, “Conflict, Negotiation, Power and Politics,”
pages 392–426.
This chapter discusses various types of conflict and how
communication affects their outcomes.
Backlund, G. (2001). Team effectiveness [PDF]. https://www.capella.edu/aspscripts/centers/learner/resources/classroom/bus_team_effect.pdf
This article, written by a
former Capella faculty member, digs into the stages of team development,
often described by the terms norming, storming, forming,
and performing, in an
easy-to-follow document.
Sriram, P. (2014). The art of leadership communication: 6 rules of effective
communication. Leadership Excellence
Essentials, 31(4), 54–55.
This article discusses the importance of leaders needing to build
a relationship with organizational members to develop a sense of shared
purpose.
Kelly, S., & MacDonald, P. (2019). A look at leadership styles and workplace solidarity
communication. International Journal of
Business Communication, 56(3), 432–448.
This article explores the outcomes of upward and downward
communication channels within organizations.
Embrace conflict. (2017). Hawaii Business, 63(1), 64–70.
This article considers the importance of effective
communication and how conflict can lead to problems if it is not
addressed properly.
Williamson, J. E. (2017). Managing workplace conflict in CS and beyond. Healthcare Purchasing News, 41(7), 38.
This article explores how a lack of communication among organizational
members can cause friction that then erupts into conflict.
Activity-Related Resources
Review Riverbend City: Communication and Organizational Effectiveness to
prepare for this week’s assignment.
Responding to Conflict Scoring Guide
· Writes
an email that exceeds specified criteria to create a professional, insightful,
and well-articulated message.
· Describes
possible causes for the caustic exchange depicted in the email chain, showing
exceptional insight into organizational culture.
· Describes
likely core organizational issues that were exposed by the original email and
cites supporting resources for support.
· Explains
why a message would likely be effective in detail that shows superior insight
into organizational communication strategies.
· Analyzes
how a message might plausibly affect future communications and actions among team
members.
· Produces
complex and concise text that conveys clear meaning, with no errors in grammar,
usage, word choice, spelling, or mechanics.
