BUS610 Week 3 Discussion 2

Communication and Team Building Norms are “customary rules that govern behavior in groups and societies” (Bicchieri and Muldoon, 2014), our text (2012) asserts that “Norms can provide vital organizational functions when they clarify the group or organization's key values and convey a sense of identity” (Baack, 2012). The significance of understanding norms within a team setting is that it enables an individual to work more cohesively within the team. By having an understanding of your role on the team along with the expectations for all team members as they relate to the overall objective, allows for team congruence. Communication is an essential element within team development because it allows team members, both established and new, to voice their respective matters and to be heard by all. Communication can also assist in determining a team member’s role within the group.
Years ago I was a management team member working on a regional team of about 12-15 fitness and wellness managers. We would hold quarterly development and programming meetings and a few days prior to the meeting we were provided team objectives, the meeting schedule, and the required contribution for each manager. For one meeting I was set to present with two other managers and after exchanging emails prior I realized that one of the managers failed to open an email attachment with vital instructions so when we were to present out group only had two-thirds of the necessary information thus, making our presentation inefficient. As a result of the manager failing follow through on a relatively small part of the team process, opening an attachment, it caused the entire group to underperform.
Reference
Baack, D. (2012). Organizational behavior. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Bicchieri, C., Muldoon, R. (2014). Social Norms. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Spring 2014 Edition. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/social-norms/>.