Question

For your response, please address the following:

Think about organizations that you are a member in. This could be a workplace setting (past or present), a student club, a religious organization you're active in, etc. Pick one formal group you are a part of while addressing this prompt.

Paragraph 1: Within that group context, what produces effective communication? What traits, roles, organizational structures, etc. help you (and/or your group) communicate effectively? Identify one critical communication ability and explain what it means.

Paragraph 2: Next, please think about the power structures of that group (who's in charge, who's a follower, etc.). Offer one example of an instance when you (or another person) used a specific power strategy (see below).

You should identify the power strategy (legitimate authority, information power, expert power, reward and coercive power, or referent power).

Then, provide a brief overview of what happened when you (or another person in your group) used that strategy. You should make sure to draw on the descriptions in the table.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) In a work setting, there was a group that I was a part of. It was a group that was set up for a particular project. Since the project required several skills at different stages, the group was made up of people from different areas of the field. The group consisted of a designer, a developer, a marketer etc.

Under such a circumstance, the individual within such a group tends to not have much in common. This might make it difficult for seamless communication to be carried out. In such a situation, it is essential that the people of the group should get to know each other and get used to expressing their ideas around each other. Preferably a relaxed work environment is what might get the communication flowing.

Once a certain comfort level is achieved, it becomes easier to manage the difficult and the easy parts of the project. The group had one coordinator. However, the hierarchy was fairly flat as the coordinator did not particularly have managerial duties. It was only the job of the coordinator to liaise with other departments, the client and the manager if necessary.

Such a flat hierarchy made it easier for the team to function. This meant that there was no authority to be intimidated around or that there was no competition for position. The team thrived because they shared the common goal of completing the project.

In several other workplaces like banks, for instance, there is a defined hierarchy. This means that there is a certain competitive spirit for the next promotion or to acquire a raise, appraisal or an authoritative position. Assuming that such a situation would depend not only on an employee being good at their job but, other employees would have to be fairly bad in comparison. Such an environment would lead to unhealthy competition, sabotage or other unethical behaviours. This is not to say that all authoritative environments are unethical. However, offices that have a flat structure might help employees develop better relationships with each other as there are not many higher positions to acquire.