Effective Communication:

The HooHireWire, last accessed 8/4/14,https://hoojobs.com/blog/resume-tips/seo-for-resumes-using-keyword-optimization-in-your-job-search/

Effective communication is vital to the success of a team. When there is no open communication, miscommunication or misunderstanding is often the result, causing conflict and frustration among team members. In this age of real-time data, we process a lot of information on a daily basis. Messages are sent through various means including text messaging, emails, instant messaging and even social media platforms.

Listening is an important skill to master. It is about understanding and connecting with what the person is saying.

During meetings, you must create an environment in which your team feels safe to freely express their ideas and opinions whether they agree or disagree with you.
Do not interrupt team members when they are speaking, really listen to what is being said.
Focus fully on who is speaking.

Email is the most used form of communication when it comes to contacting clients and members.

Reply to emails in a clear and concise manner.
Don't leave members hanging if you cannot act on a message right away, send them a quick note telling them you'll get back them soon.
If there are documents that need revisions and team collaboration, use tools that can be accessed by the team instead of sending it as an attachment.
If a communication issue cannot be resolved by email, make a phone call

This revolution in technology has created electronic communication methods such a text messages, email and social networking. It has enabled society to become more connected and as a group we have used and continue to use a range of methods to communicate effectively some traditional and others modern. Ultimately communication within a group cannot be successful unless there is a common understanding and belief which is foremost to this group.

Building a Unified Communications and Collaboration Roadmap – Boston E20 Notes, last accessed 7/4/14,http://www.theappgap.com/boston-e20-notes-building-a-unified-communications-and-collaboration-roadmap.html?wprptest2=0

Internal Communication Channels

Face-to-face meetings, internal emails and memos, communications between team members.

Importance

Internal communication keeps a business project viable. Without communication between the group, directives cannot be completed, slowing the process.

Communication Breakdown

Effective communication in both channels must be clear and convey the correct message.

Body Language

Communicators must be careful that what they are saying is not contradicted by the method of delivery. Body language can undermine the actual message.

Clouding the Message

External communication should be as clear and concise as possible.

Cultural Considerations

Cultural differences also must be taken into consideration.

Methods:

10 levels of Intimacy in Today's Communication, last accessed 5/4/14, __http://funtech2000.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/todays_communication.png__

As shown in the above image there are numerous types of communication. The majority involve some form of technology as the information revolution has had quite an effect on communication. The increase and improvement in technology leads to many different ways to communicate but also creates problems. Person to person interaction is in decline due to the increase in technological communication methods such as wikis, social media and instant messaging. Meeting in person allows for instantaneous collaboration and ideas can be resolved quickly.

The effectiveness of communication relies on how well the types are used by the people involved. Productivity depended on the various types and methods we used to keep in contact with each other. The methods that allow for members to contact each other in their own time only work well if others respond as quickly as possible. These include email, text messaging and social media messaging.

Facebook chat was our main way our group kept in contact, It was a great positive to our project that helped us to organise meetings, ideas, changes and client emails together through chat. Its greatest positive is that messages can be sent to all members instantaneously and it provides a notification to those involved.

Topics:

Our first initial step of this project was discussing what we thought was important and necessary to effectively complete the project given to us. Our next step was to break down what we had discussed from our previous meeting and document these steps into areas or topics so that we are able to project a timeline for the project and delegate areas of research within the group.

Through discussing the project we were able to come up with the following main structure of task or topics that we believe are required to complete the project.

Precedent: Research into State and Local Rules and Regulation so that our bus stop would be in compliance with the city of Sydney and Ministry for Transport for New South Wales.
Materiality: Research into possible materials that would be feasible and applicable for our project and its requirements.
Connection Methods: Investigate different connecting methods that are related solely to laser cutting.
Costing: Research into the cost of materials, labour, time management and transportation to ensure that it would be feasible to use within our $20 000 budget.

Phone calls and emails were our main methods of communication between suppliers and ourselves. The main problems that arose involved not being able to explain our idea to the suppliers in order for them to supply us with the best quality material over the phone. Emails helped to alleviate the problem but it took days for constant replies between us.

Productivity:

Collaborative Communication: Why Methods Matter, Last accessed 6/4/14, __http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/12/collaborative-communication-methods-matter/__

In terms of experience with our Bus Stop of the Future project, the majority of our work was completed during our meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Social Media was our most used form of communication between the group as a posting board. Any information that was found or any work done was posted to the group page and allowed to be viewed by all members in their own time. This meant that any major changes and ideas could be analysed and then sorted during or before the group meetings, allowing for project efficiency.

The main communication method between the group and clients was E-mail. In our experience it was probably the best way to communicate but also provided a few problems. Emails were sent but replies weren't as immediate as we would have liked. It would take a few days to organise a meeting. This is not a client problem since they have other work to complete and various other emails they need to keep in contact with but we needed confirmations on meeting times and design changes and when they weren't incoming it resulted in time wasting and productivity declined.

Suppliers & Consultants:

external image 284360_255479427799234_5672571_n.jpg

Du Furniture & Interiors is being used as a consultant in helping us gain an understanding of connection methods, materials to use in relation to CNC machines and budgeting tips as they have a solid relationship with a wide range of suppliers.

Britton Timbers is a large wood supplier in Prestons NSW and can help us to recieve bulk amounts of wood. They can provide that competitive edge with price and delivery. Anthony Chami is close to this supplier and can consult with them if their are any issues.

Plastix is a large Sydney based plastic/perspex supplier with the ability to cut out specific sheets of perspex just in case our university CNC occurs any issues with cutting perspex for the roof piece of the bus stop.

Result of Methods:

The result of our communication thus far within our group assignment, can be seen as a positive result due to the assigned group leader creating different types of communication outlets for us to use.

In the list below are the various forms of communication we've encountered so far and their result ranging from a positive or negative level of communication.

1. Talking: Group meetings

Creating a gantt chart allowed us to schedule weekly group meetings with Russell, Hank and Elliot. The reason we chose to have this “one on one,” level of communication with our clients is to resolve any discrepancies or questions that may have surfaced throughout the week. Group meetings have resulted in acknowledging that this method of communication is the best way to communicate with all three clients due to the possible misunderstandings and negative aspects seen when communicating through email.

2. Facebook:

As stated above technology has aided communication with a faster more simpler way of sending and receiving information to a group of people. Facebook has been our groups next main form of communication, due to our group members living far away from each other this limited us to have a group meeting once a week. Using “Facebook Groups,” has allowed us to post and respond to group members suggestions, information and ideas on our Bus Stop of the Future project. When a group member needs certain information processed or analysed, Facebook Groups allows one to immediately respond and give the user feedback at a quick pace than communicating via group meetings creating a positive outlook towards this particular form of communication.

3. Emails:

Emailing is one major aspect of our group work that seems to be creating a negative affect towards communication between our clients and group members. Emailing depends on how regularly someone checks their inbox for new mail, there are certain factors such as, time restraint, no alert given when new mail arrives and so many more reasons for not checking email on a regular basis. Due to these particular factors coming into play this creates time delays, misunderstandings and even incorrect information being processed by the readers, due to these factors it’s defined as a negative form of communication.

4. Wiki @ Google Doc

Our Group Wiki and Google Doc was used a collaborative method to complete our group work. It is an interesting tool to use as it allowed us to work on the same document at various times when we were each available. The great aspect is that they save the documents to a server rather than one person using it at a time, which means changes are constantly changed to the one document result in a quicker process and a higher group quality. It also contains a chat device allowing for group members working at the same time to keep in constant communication resulting in an effective group result. This tool has aided our group

Full Coverage Communication – Can you Hear Me Now?, last accessed 6/4/14, http://agbeat.com/business-marketing/gen-y-plus/

Communication is key to success but communication isn't always successful. One of the important outcomes of human communication is the perceptions of each other which is stimulated in the participants as a result of their interaction. I believe this statement is a large reason why the group has interacted with each other so seamlessly, as individuals we each have had previous interaction with each other whether it be through university or socially and has allowed us to come into this project with a great amount of respect for each other and then in turn work more effectively as a group.