Communication Strategies

Keeping team members motivated is part of a managers job. A team consists of people from different backgrounds and different personalities. They each have different attitudes toward the work and other team members. An understanding of the different personalities of the team members is essential in dealing with personality clashes and other problems that may result from the interactions of different people.

Dealing with People of Different Personalities
Different sociologists have come up with different models of human personality. The MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) is the most widely used classification for personalities. The Big Five personality model which ranks people on their Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Openness to experience has borne greater scientific scrutiny. People have also been divided into type-A, who are impatient, hostile and competitive, and type-B, who are relaxed and easy going (Robbins  Judge, 2007).

Our learning team has been evaluated as being composed of judgmental as opposed to perceptive individuals, who proceed at their own pace and are slow at taking action. In light of this the overall motivation strategy for our team will be geared toward recognizing and rewarding specific and concrete accomplishments such as team members performing their jobs thoroughly and meeting their deadlines.

In order to keep individual team members motivated, the tasks assigned to them and the management style for each individual should be tailored toward their personality type. For example team members of the ISTJ type need to have the task done, the time available and the required results clearly communicated to them and a combination of type-A and type-B individuals on a time sensitive task may result in the generation of a great deal of friction and hostility. Similarly team members with a great degree of agreeableness and extroversion may be better suited for task with require them to interact with large numbers of people and extensive supervision may be required for team members with a low level of conscientiousness. Team members with a low level of emotional stability may need to be protected from team members with a low level of agreeableness

Dealing with the Attitudes of Team Members
It is imperative for the team leader to understand each team members attitude in order to generate job satisfaction which is necessary in order to keep a team member motivated. A persons attitude has three components The Affective component, i.e. their emotions and feelings, the Cognitive Component, i.e. their opinions or beliefs and the Behavioral component i.e. their intentions (Robbins  Judge, 2007).

The team leader needs to keep a watch on the team members attitude toward each other and toward the job and strive to increase job satisfaction. Two important attitudes a leader needs to foster within the team members is Organizational Commitment or identification with the team and Perceived Organizational Support or a team members perception that they are cared for an valued in the team (Robbins  Judge, 2007).

The most important factor in job satisfaction is a persons positive core self evaluation, if a person sees themselves as essentially positive light they are likely to be satisfied with their jobs as well (Robbins  Judge, 2007).

People with a low self evaluation can be helped to improve their self image through the use of moderate praise and encouragement this may help improve their motivation level and job performance. If the team member is not of the type that is protective of their privacy, Perceived Organizational Support may be increased by maintaining a list of important events in a team members life and being up-to-date regarding their activities outside the work of the team and congratulating them or consoling them on victories and setbacks unrelated to the work of the team.
Teams building and trust building exercises such as team sports and obstacle courses etc. may be used to improve the Organizational Commitment, Perceived Organizational Support and self image of the team members, build loyalty and trust and reduce tensions (Price, 2007).

Listening to Employee Grievances, Suggestions or Complaints
The leader should give importance to communications from team members. Members should not be under the impression that their complaints and grievances or their input at meetings etc. are not given any importance by the leader. Often team members have insight into the working of the business which can be used for the companys benefit. The team leader should encourage employees to share their ideas for improving business by recognizing and rewarding those who come up with workable ideas and innovative solutions to problems (Bohlander  Snell, 2009).

Accommodation, Tolerance and Respect for all Regardless of Race, Culture, Gender and Ethnicity
The modern workforce consists of people from a variety of different cultural, racial, religious or ethnic backgrounds in such a situation the possibility of friction resulting from cultural misunderstandings or cultural insensitivity becomes great.

Friction results in the reduction of team cohesiveness and efficiency and sometimes in the formation of factions. The end result of all these, is demotivation of the team members and a reduction in their productivity. Hence there is a great need to foster an atmosphere of respect and tolerance in the team where no ethnic, religious or cultural group feels discriminated against and where everyone is respectful and accommodating of the cultural requirements and beliefs of others. The company should attempt to create a culturally non-judgmental atmosphere where team members feel free to share with the management insights from their own culture without facing criticism or mockery (Jacob, 2003). The team members should also be made aware of the type of behaviors which are or can be construed as sexual and gender harassment. Male team members should be especially wary of behavior which may be awkward, embarrassing or uncomfortable to the female team members (Bohlander  Snell, 2009).

Avoiding Cross Cultural Miscommunication
One key factor in cross cultural communication, which is necessary for employees to understand, is that different people view the world in different ways. People from one background may interpret a certain communication in a different manner than people from another background. This is of true of non-verbal communication such as facial expressions, the presence or lack or eye contact, how close people prefer to stand or sit next to each other while conversing, their posture etc. as much as it is true of verbal communications. It is therefore necessary for team members to be taught that they should be wary of inferring their own meanings from the communications of people from cultural backgrounds different from their own. Attribution of wrong meanings to the verbal and non-verbal communications of others may result in serious consequences and embarrassment to the team and team members (Jacob, 2003).

Conclusion
Keeping team members satisfied and well motivated isnt just the requirement of polite and civilized behavior it is also important for the smooth and efficient working of the team.