Chapter 5: Collaborating in the workplace

This chapter explains the importance of effective collaboration in the workplace. This is when two or more people come together to complete some specific goal. This doesn’t mean that they necessarily need to physically be in the same place; even computer-mediated communication, such as this class, is considered to be a form of collaboration. There are many different reasons that professionals may form a collaborative relationship, but they will mostly fall into one of these four categories:
· Subject of the project
· Process used in the project
· Product that collaborators create
· Benefits of collaboration
The subject of a project is a big reason that makes collaboration essential. Sometimes complicated subjects require the expertise of more than one individual. This brings into play a lot wider range of skills held by these individuals to work toward their common goal. Collaboration may also enhance the process of completing a project. It does this by offering a lot more viewpoints than if one person was working alone which may save time and effort and also end up with a better final product. The type of a product itself is another reason we have a need for collaboration. Some things are just simply better when they are made by several people. One example would be a website. If only one person were to design an entire site, it would be likely that it would be less appealing and efficient than if they were also the perspectives of others to aid in its design. Benefits are the final reason we have the need for collaboration. Many people agree that it is more enjoyable to work with others than to work alone.
Reasons collaboration could be a problem.

These are some typical problems that can occur with collaboration:
Time- Working together often takes more time than working alone.
Discomfort- Unfamiliar poeple sometimes are uncomfortable interacting with one another.
Control- Managers may not allow a group to make certain decisions.
Credit- Accomplishments may be credited unevenly to members.
Conflict- Unproductive conflict can take over.
Criticism- Some people can’t take criticism.
Ethics- Everybody has different beliefs and that has potential to cause friction.
Style- People have different ways of approaching problems.
Responsibility- Some people don’t like to share authority.
Technology- The technology simply might not be there to allow for effective collaboration.

Types of collaboration
The first is called coauthoring. This is where coequal collaborators both analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their own and the others ideas. As progress is made, each may abandon certain ideas and use that of the other coauthor. The next type is consulting with colleagues. This is where an author uses the expertise of others when needed to complete a task. The last type is contributing to a team project. This can be seen as several people dividing a task up into equal parts and everyone taking care of a certain task.


These are some things you can do to become a better collaborator:
Self-asses- This basically means that you should know your part or your stand on a subject so that you’re ready to hear those of others.
Be engaged and cooperative- Be cooperative and supportive rather than competitive and antagonistic.
Listen- Be an active listener instead of a passive listener.
Conform to conversation conventions- This means that you should have and appropriate place to converse and to also use proper conversational etiquette.
Ask questions- Try open ended questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no.
Share- Be willing to share the information that you have.
Use technology effectively- Be familiar with new software before using it for its intended purpose.
Reflect- Take time to consider all the different ideas that you’ve heard.

Types of conflicts in collaboration
Affective conflicts involve your attitudes and biases, personality and value. These factors shape how you interact with others and therefore your approach to collaboration. The only way to really avoid these types of conflicts in collaboration is to figure out your biases that may get in the way of productivity and to make an effort not to be negatively influenced by them during your collaboration. Another type is procedural conflicts. These are conflicts that may arise because the procedures of the collaboration aren’t understood by all parties. These can be avoided by having all the details of the meeting worked out as far as the setting (time, place, duration, etc.) and also make sure that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities so everyone knows what to expect. The last type is called substantive conflicts. This has to do with the substance of the project itself. These could include content, purpose, audience, organization or many other things. These can be minimized by all parties agreeing on the purpose of the collaboration and also agreeing on the project objectives and outcomes.

Chapter 6 : Managing Critical Processes

The chapter talked about ways to gather information. There is primary and secondary information. Primary information is information coming straight from the source, like in an interview. Secondary information would be if you wrote a paper based on that interview, that paper would be secondary information since it would have gone through you.

The chapter then talked about different ways of collecting information. The first way was from print and electronic resources, these include Internet sites or library sites like the one that MSU has. There are also government web sites that are created by the government. These are good sources because the government is required by law to post many of their records as public record.

The second way the chapter discussed was internal records. These are records about a company or corporation that a company must keep about itself, like a memo. The problem with this source is the information has to be deciphered and then decide if your information is relevant.

The third way is through corporate libraries, these are resource libraries kept for a companies employees. The library is run by a librarian that saves time and money for the company by looking up information for employees and giving them the information.

The fourth way was personal observations. These should be given by an expert in the field. For example a chemist should explain why a chemical reaction occurred rather than a person with no experience. This also includes your hands-on experiences. The largest problem with this information is that its not always credible. Two people can experience the same event, but interpret them happening differently.

The fifth way is through interviews or letters of inquiry. An interview is conducted face-to-face, over the phone or via email. Its best to have your questions ready before you arrive or start the interview. There are two types of questions; convergent (only one right answer) and divergent (open ended essay questions). You should always send a thank you letter after the completion of the interview or after a response is received from your letter of inquiry.

The sixth way is through surveys and polls. This information is good for getting statistical information about a large group of people. The problem is you need to get a good sample in order to get valuable information. If you are looking for views about a fishing lure. You would not get valuable information by polling 5 year old children. Or if you ask how they like the lure if none of them have tried it. There are different types of questions, you can ask yes or no questions, short answer (fill in the blank an example would be age), essay questions, ask them to rate things on a scale, or to rank a list per your criteria.

Lastly you can gather information through empirical research. Empirical refers to your senses, so this includes and experiment where you try to observe a pattern or prove your hypothesis. You must take notes and interpret these findings. The problem with this method of collecting data is that it is sometimes difficult to report your findings impartially rather than report your findings to "fit" the hypothesis you are trying to prove.

The last thing the chapter talked about was ways to use these sources ethically. You must make sure you are getting your information from a credible source, Meaning not from a blog usually. Also it touched on ways to avoid plagiarism, including ways to not plagiarise a summary. That is by writing it with the book closed.

Chapter 4 - Addressing Audiences

You're probably wondering why there are 2 posts for chapter four...well, let me kind of explain...I joined Eng271 midway through the second week, 
I was assigned to a blog team (team4) just in time to see that Trevor had allready posted a 
summary by himself.  And now to satisfy the class requirements, here's my summary of chapter 4. =p 

When presenting information, especially technical information, it is important to know your audience. Whether it’s an email, operating procedure, or an oral presentation; knowing your audience’s knowledge and personal interest in the subject matter greatly increases the effectiveness of the information.  Chapter 4 explains pretty thoroughly all the variables you should consider in order effectively communicate technical information.

Identifying the Purpose
There are 2 basic reasons to prepare technical documents or presentations, to inform or to persuade. From my personal experience, most technical documents generally provide some type of information but presentations can be informative and/or persuasive. Figure 4.1 on page 112 provided some questions to consider depending on the purpose of your information.

Identifying the Audience
The book says there are 4 categories of audiences: initial, primary, secondary, and external. The Primary Audience is the biggy, the person(s) who will use the information to perform tasks or make decisions.

Analyzing the Audience
There are several main strategies for analyzing your audience...

• Where/how a technical document will be used
  
• Reason the audience is seeking the information
• Prior knowledge of the audience
• Reading level of the audience
• Organizational role of the audience

A very interesting statistic posed by the reading was that 47-51% of the adult population could not complete simple literacy tasks like finding information in short articles, forms, and tables.  The text didn't mention much on English as a secondary language, but having to communicate information to someone who isn't fluent in English is something we'll all have to do, whether it's orally describing a process to a fellow coworker or developing operating procedures for an overseas division in your company.

Adjusting to Audiences
The three main points presented at the beginning of this section sum this up quite well.

• Adjust complexity of material based on audience knowledge
  
• Shift focus to details that relate to audience's role in an organization
• Design websites that allow users to construct unique sequences of information to meet their own needs/interest

I know I can relate the last point quite well.  I've spent many hours wading through company web pages just looking for the section of the site that might contain the info I needed.  

Chapter 3 – Reading Technical Information

This chapter is a guide on how to properly and efficiently read documents. According to "exerts," reading is not just merely decoding words but is a complex activity that requires interpretation of the ideas present.

There are four main categories that nearly all purposes for reading fall into; identifying which category you require will help you get the most out of the information. These categories are, reading to assess, reading to learn, reading to learn to do, and reading to do. The first category is merely another way of saying reading to skim, the second is gathering information in order to make logical conclusions and decisions, the third is learning how to go about doing a given task, and the fourth is like a reference book that is used while performing a task.

In order to be effective at reading, readers need to see the documents and the situations they are part of as a whole, not as separate entities. Experienced readers will soon see re-occurring, evolving patters that are present in almost all forms of technical documentation.

There are three steps that you can perform to help read effectively – skim, scan, and predict. By skimming the documents first, you can get a quick, overall sense of what the document is all about and where it is located. You can get an idea of what you need to put the most amount of time and energy into reading. Scanning involves glancing at each page for specific information which is usually made to stand out by the use of italics or bold words, for example. After you have done these two steps, you can predict what will be coming up ahead and formulate questions that you will want to have answered in the upcoming text.

Many texts that are published have an abstract included along with the full report. This is a very useful part of the document that will help to prepare you for the majority of the information that will be given to you. The four kinds of information that will help you out in an abstract are the objective, purpose or rationale, the methodology, the results, and the conclusion.

Along with the abstract, you can use visual clues that are scattered throughout the text to help you get the main points that are present. Some visual cues that are used to make the information more readable are chunking together information in order to form a clear relationship, arranging the information in a clear sequence, and placing emphases on the important parts.

There are additional strategies that the reader can use to optimize their reading habits. Determining the main points and sub points strengthens the ideas that are present. Questions can be asked to draw out the main points such as, what is the main issue or problem, who is involved in the problem, what approach is used to solve the problem, or how will the approach be implemented. Inferences can also be drawn to get more information than is given through the text and visuals.

In conclusion, while reading technical documents, you as the reader cannot just go through the words and pictures and expect to get all of the information that is present. Careful planning must be made to ensure that all of the essential points that are given are interpreted correctly. There are many different strategies that have been outlined and while each one does not have to be used at all times, the reader should try to get a good grasp on what works most effectively for that individual for different situations.

Chapter One- Nick Annoni

Chapter One-Characterizing Workplace Communication

This chapter talks about the need for communication in the world. Good communication is actually considered to be a specialty. Good communication skills can be what makes or breaks a person in their career. It is to your advantage to have good communication skills in and out of the workplace.

To be good at communication is to be able to get your message across without confusion. In order to be good with communication you need to learn how to use visual aids properly. Good communicators will also changes his means of communication when they are in different situations.

Good communication also requires a good audience. The audience needs to be able perceive the message being sent to them. The person sending the message needs to adapt to how the audience is reacting to the message.

Technical communication doesn’t always mean that it has to be done by computers. It is a form of communication that can either be good or bad. Sometimes the technology can be fast and convenient. Some people may also struggle with the technology and that creates a barrier to communication. There are some flaws to the Internet communication and one being lack of privacy.

In conclusion this chapter talks about the importance of communication. It talks about the different forms of communication and how it can be affected if it does not go to plan. There are many needs for communication and this book and assignment are both considered communication.

Chapter 4- Addressing Audiences

Many times a subject may have many different interested parties but by presenting it in a certain fashion may get those peoples attention. Before presenting information, the first step is to narrow the purpose, then identify your audiences. After selecting an audience the presenter should take a closer look at chosen audience. If these steps are maintained the presenters point should be taken a lot more seriously.

Identifying the Purpose

What information are you trying to convey, or what do you want them to learn. Then you need to decide how you are going to persuade the target to believe in what you are trying to get them to learn.

Identifying the Audience

Before you are doing any kind of research on your audience you must select one of the 3 different kinds

Initial- the person that you tell your information to. Primary- Who the information is intended for.

Secondary- other people who are affect by what you presented

Analyzing Audience

After selecting an audience you will want to study them to be able to come up with the best strategy for presenting the information.

Here are some things that you want to look at when analyzing an audience.

Context- Is how they will interpret the information

Purpose and Motivation- Will allow you to increase receptivity and decrease resistance

Prior Knowledge- so you don’t bore them or loose them.

Reading level- How complex of information they are able to understand

Organizational Role

How the categorize their company (2 ways)

Hierarchical- Boss-->managers-->workers

Non hierarchical – Bosses=managers=workers