AByssinia College

Basic Account Works Level II

Unit title-Work Effectively With

others
Unit code-BUF BAW2 02 0812
 Information sheet#1 Unit of competence: work with others

Lo1 Develop effective work place relation ship

1.1. Identify own responsibilities and duties in relation to workgroup

Responsibilities and duties may include:

Code of Conduct
job description and employment arrangements
organization’s policy relevant to work role
skills, training and competencies
supervision and accountability requirements including OHS
team structures
Workgroup members may include:
 coach/mentor
 other members of the organization
 peers/work colleagues/team/enterprise
 supervisor or manager
How to Build Effective and Meaningful Relationships in the Workplace

It's up to you to actively build relationships with others in the workplace. Don't approach
relationship-building in a selfish manner. Work at building strong workplace relationships for
greater job satisfaction and because you value a healthy workplace culture.

 Learn the Norms of the Workplace Culture.

Observe formal and informal norms: Become more effective upon joining a new organization,
or when reinventing yourself in the current workplace, by studying the norms, or expected
behaviors, in the office culture.

Read organizational manuals, statements of goals and values, codes of ethics, personnel
policies and procedures, your job description and your performance appraisal forms that codify
the organizational culture; they are just the starting point.

 Adopt a Positive Communication Style

Show people a positive attitude and respect their diverse backgrounds, values and perspectives.
Encourage others to share their work problems with you, and help them find solutions.

 Schedule Time to Build Relationships

 Devote a portion of your day toward relationship building, even if it's just 20 minutes,
perhaps broken up into five-minute segments.
For example, you could pop into someone's office during lunch, reply to people's postings on
Twitter or ask a colleague out for a quick cup of coffee.
These little interactions help build the foundation of a good relationship, especially if they're
face-to-face.

 Appreciate Others

 Show your appreciation whenever someone helps you. Everyone, from your boss to the
office cleaner, wants to feel that their work is appreciated. .

 Be Positive

Focus on being positive . Positivity is attractive and contagious, and it will help
strengthen your relationships with your colleagues. No one wants to be around someone
who's negative all the time.

 Manage Your Boundaries

Make sure that you set and manage boundaries properly – all of us want to have friends
at work, but, occasionally, a friendship can start to impact our jobs, especially when a
friend or colleague begins to monopolize our time.

 Avoid Gossiping

Don't gossip – office politics and "gossip" are major relationship killers at work. If
you're experiencing conflict with someone in your group, talk to them directly about the
problem. Gossiping about the situation with other colleagues will only exacerbate the
situation, and will cause mistrust and animosity between you.

 Listen Actively
Practice active listening when you talk to your customers and colleagues. People
respond to those who truly listen to what they have to say. Focus on listening more than
you talk, and you'll quickly become known as someone who can be trusted.

Tip
People who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their
jobs. And it doesn't have to be a best friend: people who simply had a good friend in the
workplace are more likely to be satisfied.
.

Why Have Good Relationships?

Human beings are naturally social creatures – we crave friendship and positive interactions, just
as we do food and water. So, Good working relationships give us several other benefits

 The better our relationships are at work, the happier and more productive we're going to be.
 Our work is more enjoyable when we have good relationships with those around us.

 Also, people are more likely to go along with changes that we want to implement, and we're
more innovative and creative.

 What's more, good relationships give us freedom: instead of spending time and energy
overcoming the problems associated with negative relationships, we can, instead, focus on
opportunities.

 Good relationships are also often necessary if we hope to develop our careers. After all, if
your boss doesn't trust you, it's unlikely that he or she will consider you when a new
position opens up. Overall, we all want to work with people we're on good terms with.

1.2. Take time and resource constraints into account in fulfilling work requirements of self
and others

1.3. Encourage, acknowledge and act upon constructive feedback provided by others in
the workgroup

Feedback

It is important that your work performance is monitored and that you receive feedback
which is constructive and encourages you to strive for improvement.
Sources of feedback on performance
Feedback on performance may include:-
 formal/informal performance appraisals
 obtaining feedback from clients
 obtaining feedback from supervisors and colleagues
 personal, reflective behavior strategies
 routine organizational methods for monitoring service delivery

Feedback on performance may be formal or informal.

 formal performance appraisals generally occur on a regular basis. The first appraisal
usually takes place three months after an employee starts a job then every six or twelve
months thereafter. These appraisals allow for a formal method of feedback which can
lead to modification of a job description, further training and re-evaluation of
performance.
 feedback from supervisors and colleagues. This is mainly in the form of informal
comments on a job well done or suggestions of how to complete a task.
 feedback from customers giving positive comment and praise for good customer service.
 personal reflection. This involves thinking about what you have done and how you can
improve on it next time.
  routine organisational methods for monitoring service. These include customer complaint
or satisfaction forms, and surveys that are completed at the end of a task or a job for a
customer.

Feedback can be:

 positive
 negative
 constructive

Positive feedback indicates that tasks were carried out well. It acknowledges personal efforts
and the good cooperation among team members. It encourages all members to continue to strive
for excellence.

Negative feedback informs team members that tasks were not completed well. It analyses the
reasons for the problems encountered and proposes ideas for improvement.

Constructive feedback encourages and acknowledges good job performance. It also suggests
areas for improvement and strategies for achieving this improvement.

Value of feedback
Feedback is valuable to a workplace as it can:
 improve business relationships
 identify and overcome existing problems
 eliminate entrenched work practices
 improve productivity
 enhance output quality
 contribute to the future development of the workplac

Information sheet#2 Unit of competence: work with others

Lo2 contribute to work group activities

2.1. Contribute to workgroup activities

Supporting team members

It is important to provide support to team members to ensure that workgroup goals are met.
Providing support to team members may take the form of:

 explaining or clarifying policies, procedures, instructions etc

  helping colleagues to complete tasks on time, especially if you have completed your own
tasks ahead of schedule
 assisting with solving problems
 providing encouragement in order to foster a positive attitude,
 providing feedback to another team member, and
 undertaking extra tasks if necessary.

2.2. Contribute constructively to workgroup goals and tasks according to organizational

requirements

Organizational requirements

 Goals, objectives, plans, system and processes

 Legal and organization policy/guidelines
 OHS policies, procedures and programs
 Ethical standards
 Defined resources parameters
 Quality and continuous improvement processes and standards

A group is defines as “two or more people working together and satisfying needs through
interaction (Millar et al. 1996). The work-based supervisor and the student therefore,
constitute a group and the interaction can reflect the advantages and problems often
associated with group interaction.
Four aspects of groups are important to how they function, namely group size, roles of
members, group norms and group cohesion.
Group Size: The number of people in a group can affect the dynamic of the group and its
effectiveness. Group members are usually more satisfied in small groups but group
performance will depend on the task to be performed.

The value of sharing and updating information

The sharing and updating of information with the workgroup ensures:

 designated goals are met

 professionalism is maintenance
 products and services are promoted
 customer service is improved
 positive workplace relationships are developed.

The information to be shared may include:

 acknowledging satisfactory performance

  acknowledging unsatisfactory performance
 assisting a colleague
 clarifying the organisation’s preferred task completion methods
 encouraging colleagues
 open communication channels
 workplace hazards, risks and controls.
2.4. Identify and plan strategies/opportunities for improvement of workgroup in liaison with
workgroup.

Strategies/opportunities for improvement may include:

 career planning/development
 coaching, mentoring and/or supervision
 formal/informal learning programs
 internal/external training provision
 performance appraisals
 personal study

Information sheet#2 Unit of competence:

LO 3:Deal effectively with issues, problems and conflict

3.1. Respect differences in personal values and beliefs

 The first step in building better work relationships is to become aware of the differences among
people—and to be willing to accept these differences as a positive force within an organization.

 Show people a positive attitude and respect their diverse backgrounds, values and perspectives
 When you respect the people that you work with, you value their input and ideas, and they
value yours. Working together, you can develop solutions based on your collective insight,
wisdom and creativity.

 People with good relationships not only accept diverse people and opinions, but they welcome
them. For instance, when your friends and colleagues offer different opinions from yours, you
take the time to consider what they have to say, and factor their insights into your decision-
making.

Equality must be a cornerstone of the company's principles.

 Equality in a workplace takes several forms; employers and employees alike must view
people of different ages, genders, nationalities and sexual orientations as equal, and
when a company hires, it should do so based on the merit of the applicant. Managers
must also treat employees equally;

3.2. Identify any linguistic and cultural differences in communication styles and respond appropriately

Dealing with Conflict

ACTIVITY:

Conflict occurs at times between and within teams. This activity will assist you in
considering what strategies you use and need to develop to deal with conflict .

How do you think you deal with conflict?

Tick which style best describes how you approach conflict in the workplace
Avoid

Compete

Accommodate

Compromise

Collaborate

What are your strengths in dealing with conflict?

What aspects can you identify that require development in how you deal with conflict?

Resolving conflict
Working with others is not without its difficulties and problems and at times conflicts
arise, it is important that these are resolved to ensure effective and efficient working.

 Conflicts of all sizes occur in workplaces regardless of how effectively they're run, but what
separates a successful business from one that is unsuccessful is how the management team
deals with the conflict.

 Many businesses have human resources professionals on staff who are trained to resolve
conflicts, whether the conflict relates to an issue between management and staff, harassment
in the workplace or a disagreement between peers.

 An effective HR professional is able to deal with conflicts before they spread and worsen.

Problem-solving strategies
There are four steps in problem solving which can be appled to both the individual and
team situations. They are:

 identify the problem

 consider solutions

 take action

 follow-up.

Brainstorm with colleagues to identify the problem and discuss solutions.

From the brainstorming meeting decide which solutions are the most suitable.
Take action by implementing the solutions and follow-up by evaluating the solution over
time.
Brainstorm with colleagues to identify the problem and discuss solutions.
From the brainstorming meeting decide which solutions are the most suitable.
Take action by implementing the solutions and follow-up by evaluating the solution over
time.

\
 Workplace conflict
Causes of potential conflict in the workplace include:

 poor customer service

 variation in colleagues’ work practices/methods

 cultural misunderstanding

 poor communication - this can involve speaking too quickly or quietly; giving no
visual clues; having inadequate language skills; not clarifying or asking questions
and using inappropriate body language.

 barriers to communication

 aggressive behaviour

 personal animosity

 misunderstandings regarding roles and responsibilities.

Conflict resolution techniques

When conflict arises in the team, use the following conflict resolution techniques:

 eliminate adversarial contests[p’

 promote the concept of a ‘win-win’ resolution

 allow for solutions that meet all parties’ needs

 follow due process.

A ‘win-win’ resolution to handling conflict uses problem solving as a strategy. It finds an
acceptable solution that acknowledges all team members concerns, knowledge and skills.
Follow due process in the resolution process.

Using the ‘win-win’ approach will appease team members with differing viewpoints as each
will have their viewpoint considered in the formation of the solutions.
Accepting compromise by team members is part of this process.

Due process is followed when we listen to all viewpoints, acknowledge the value of each
view point, respond appropriately and with empathy, report the outcomes, solutions and
compromises that have been made and follow up on measures identified to resolve issues,
problems and conflict.

ACTIVITY:

Conflict occurs at times between and within teams. This activity will assist you in
considering what strategies you use and need to develop to deal with conflict .

How do you think you deal with conflict?

If the conflict cannot be resolved in this manner, mediation by a third, neutral party (as
in peer mediation); or arbitration (enforced resolution by a neutral authority) are options
to learn problem solving and conflict resolution strategies. Whether the conflict is a
0classroom real-life simulation ACTIVITY or an on-going emotional experience, learning
ways to resolve issues and collaboratively work through responses and solutions will teach
you skills that can be applied in other settings.

Negotiating Strategies
In order to resolve conflict at times you will require negotiation strategies and
will hope for win-win outcomes which have been described above. Unfortunately, some
opponents will attempt to win at all costs. Beware of the following negotiating strategies:
3.4 When issues, problems and conflicts arise seek assistance from workgroup
members in suggesting possible ways of dealing with the conflict.

Summarry

This unit has given you a brief introduction into the importance of working with others in
the workplace. It has tried to stimulate your thinking about the groups you work with and
their purpose and function. The activities have been designed to assist you in using the
theory provided to relate it to your own situation and context. The literature about
working with others is extensive and may be found in most management text so you may
find it useful to read more widely on the topics mentioned in this unit.