Question

Describes positive and negative participation behaviors and describes their impact on communication. Describes the group's use of technology for communication and assesses the effectiveness of the group's use of technology for communication.

Answer 1

Positive and negative participation behaviours:

The positive behaviours have recently been outweighed by the negative behaviours. On the positive side, there is a clear vision of what we hope to accomplish. These goals were discussed and agreed upon as a group. The roles of each member of the group were decided as a collaborative effort with each group member and our management team. Although I would see efforts to support another team member as a positive behaviour, I feel that it has become the primary negative behaviour of this group. By repeatedly taking on tasks of team members that underperform, it has allowed the abuser to take advantage of those willing to go above and beyond to meet the goal. In addition, group moral has been affected in a negative way. The group has begun to form a negative opinion of other team members. Each excuse for not meeting a deadline seems to be adding to the frustration of the group as a whole, whether valid or not.

Impact of positive and negative behaviours on communications:

We do our best work in environments that promote enthusiasm and motivate us to achieve our objectives and goals. Positive communication is a sign of a positive work environment, while negative communication can quickly derail us. Negative communication in the workplace accounts for decreases in employee performance, enthusiasm and creativity. Illnesses triggered from the resulting stress can further impact the organization through absenteeism. All of these repercussions translate into performance and revenue losses for companies that allow negative communication to continue.

Workplace Productivity and Accuracy

Workplace productivity relies on the active engagement of employees. Negative communication, whether from superiors or peers, can quickly lead to disengagement. Employees can experience stress from the situation, which can affect their attention to detail and put them at risk for making errors. Employees experiencing negativity tend to focus on how to eliminate or avoid the source of the problem at the expense of actively thinking about their job responsibilities. In business, the result can mean financial losses. In health care, the consequences can be life-threatening.

Workplace Culture

The culture of a workplace represents its behavioural norms. Positive communication breeds positive outcomes and serves as a source of motivation and creativity. The reverse is also true. Negativity generated by any employee can have a negative effect on the workplace culture. If leaders don't take action to prevent a repeat occurrence, other leaders and employees will see negative behaviour as acceptable. Some will even start to exhibit the same behaviours. Organizations cannot afford to allow such behaviour to proliferate. Progress toward goals and objectives will stall as attention is directed instead toward addressing conflicts.

Labour Costs

The employee on the receiving end of negative communication isn't the only one who will lose focus and feel stress. Anyone who witnesses it experiences it. In extreme cases, employees under stress could encounter health problems that require them to take extended leaves of absence. Workloads must then be redistributed to other colleagues or contract labour. Colleagues taking on the extra load could see their regular work suffer and feel the need to work longer hours, which further costs the company in overtime or even additional absenteeism as those workers start to become affected by stress. Ultimately, companies could face a high degree of employee turnover as employees leave to escape the problem.