Improve communication Essay

The reason why Carly didn’t come to me earlier to report the project delays was because she knew the reasons of the delay were not genuine. She was definitely part of the problem and therefore she didn’t have the language of reporting the conflict that was affecting the team project. Also, since the rest of the team knew her weakness she knew if she reported the case to me I would involve the rest of the members thus exposing her weaknesses. Carly hasn’t had a conversation with Morris about their differences despite being the supervisor since she was aware of the root cause of the problem (herself). On the other hand, Morris did not break the ice and discuss the problem with Carly because he assumed that it was Carly’s responsibility as the manager to approach and solve all differences. Furthermore, it was clear to him too of Carly’s participation in the problem. He had also been treated unfairly by Carly and this made it difficult for him to approach Carly. Coupled with the fact that Morris was more educated than Carly, pride could not be ruled out. If Morris had had a conversation with Carly, he would have mentioned about his unfair treatment to her. I tend to think since the other team members knew that Carly was treating him unfairly, this would have been his motivator to mention of this problem. He knew he had support from the entire team. As for Carly, I bet she would have owned up to this problem and promise Morris of a fair treatment in their future interactions. After such a conversation she would have realized that she was losing a key team member and the other team members had observed it previously which would also affect the whole team thus portraying her as an incompetent manager. For Carly to have been given this role of a project manager meant she had positive leadership qualities and therefore would have owned up to her failures. Failure to accept her mistake would have left her as a lone ranger thus breaking the team spirit. The biggest problem with the way these team members interacted lied on communication breakdown and barriers. This is because it’s clear the other team member had noticed the dispute but no one had shared about it with me or even asked Carly or Morris. Teamwork was minimal in this team and this would have affected this project very adversely if not handled well and quickly. To break this communication barrier and improve communication, it would be beneficial for the team to encourage more frequent and effective upward, downward and team communication. With more communication, any arising problem would be handled well in advance before affecting the project negatively. I think Carly should continue serving as the project manager. This because having discussed the dispute openly, the parties would have understood the facts of the problem and hence allow them to see their areas of agreement, thus turning the conflict into new ideas of enhancing teamwork in the project.