Professionalism ideally refers to the code of conduct in a given career. Teamworking is a coordinated duty execution while acting as a group under the leadership of one person. Without a doubt, most people think that communication is just the passage of a message from one person to another. In an ideal case, communication entails how the message is framed, how it is passed to the recipient, and understanding it exactly how the sender expects (Tripathy, 2018). In teamwork, therefore, effective communication is of paramount salience for the group’s operation
A team’s success relies entirely on the structure of its culture, characteristics, and behavior. An essential aspect of a team is to have a skilled and enthusiastic leader. The leader is responsible for the team’s performance and should therefore possess high leadership techniques. A team should have clearly defined targets well explained to the team members. For instance, in the case scenario provided, all members understand that the goal is to provide the unemployed with programs that prepare them to join the workforce.
For effective teamwork, it is essential to observe certain specific characteristics that impact the team positively. The team should have a clear division of roles and responsibilities. In all projects being conducted on a given timeline, the group should organize to complete each of them based on urgency and priority and roles divided as per one’s skills (Coffelt & Smith, 2020). Trust and respect are of paramount salience for the effectiveness of the team. All individuals on board should show respect and dignity to the leaders and members in their communication. From the case, we can see members disagree on opinions, but they oppose one another with respect.
On the other hand, an ineffective team prevails with poor characteristics that hinder its performance. Such behaviors include low tolerance and diversity among the members. The members will openly and disrespectfully disagree with their colleagues’ opinions. Individual members of the group will present with a lack of camaraderie, which will lead to boredom in the team. Task execution is impaired due to vague role definitions that lead to poor performance.
Referring to the case scenario, there are various ways of improving team performance. As such, they include the leader selecting members based on their qualifications and performance (Coffelt & Smith, 2020). Before the members start working on a task, the purpose and vision of the team should be explained to members, and if possible, a few posters can be prepared and pinned to their workstations.
Maintaining a professional code of conduct and communication is vital to the team. When communicating with group members, one should maintain a professional choice of words even in a disagreement. The team’s channels of communication should be followed diligently to ensure that the message always gets to the intended recipient (Tripathy, 2018). As the leader allocates duties, they should ensure the division is done based on areas of specialization, and each member is assigned what they do best. Mutual respect and friendship should prevail throughout team interactions.
Unprofessionalism is best defined as moral turpitude amongst members of a specific team. Such behaviors include intimidating colleagues verbally. This can be prevailed by behaviors such as laughing at someone’s opinion. Such acts are unprofessional, disrespectful, and discouraging to the members (Coffelt & Smith, 2020). Communicating with another member with a suggestive facial expression is not ideal in the professional scope. Leaders ought to take charge of the team as members interact. When a member disrespects another, the team leader should intervene immediately.
As a team member, I could conduct myself professionally by treating and communicating respectfully with my teammates. During my speaking turns, I could maintain appropriate eye contact throughout my presentation and pay attention to what others had to say. When disagreeing with one’s opinion, I could use a respectful tone to correct them and propose an alternative idea that is likely to be more effective. If someone raises a positive idea, it is professional to support and, if possible, suggestions on how to improve it.
Some of the strategies I have to promote and enhance professionalism in teams include educating team members on professional conduct and putting more emphasis on professional communication. Treating and communicating to members unprofessionally should be considered misconduct, and I could propose some punitive measures to be taken for anyone found guilty. To promote professionalism, it is also important to be keen when selecting team members; the selection should be based on good conduct and professional qualification.
Once I worked with a team that had challenges with members not respecting each other. The group consisted of members from different professions and with different levels of qualification. Due to the superiority tussles, members who thought they were senior could disrespectfully communicate with the juniors. To promote professional communication and respect, I could gather the members to get and explain to them what teamwork meant. I could help them understand that in teamwork, there is no one senior to the other and that the success of the team relied on everyone’s input.
In conclusion, communication is critical in the everyday operations of each profession. Disrespect in communication can lead to poor team performance and result in poor relationships among teammates. Behaviors such as verbal intimidation, inappropriate eye contact, and tone are indications of unprofessional communication. For a team to be effective, the members should embrace positive behaviors such as having a good leader and assigning tasks as per one’s skills. Any member who demonstrates any form of disrespect to members should be punished.
References
Coffelt, T. A., & Smith, F. L. (2020). Exemplary and unacceptable workplace communication skills. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 83(4), 365-384. Web.
Tripathy, M. (2018). Building quality teamwork to achieve excellence in business organizations. International research journal of management, IT and social sciences, 5(3), 1-7.