I personally think that listening as well as communicating effectively with each member of the participating group is equally important. When working in a group setting, it is extremely crucial to have the necessary skills to listen and react appropriately as well as communicate your needs or thoughts as well. I think that communication is a multi-way channel and everyone involve needs to be able to reciprocate the information being presented in one way or another to make the group successful. Effective communication within a group setting is so important because say for instance the team is working on a project that can either promote or demote their salary. Of course, everyone is going to want that pay raise, which will be the goal of the group. However, if the presentation of the group is not on point and misunderstood somewhere along the line, that one mistake could cause the group the raise. A group setting is a team in which needs to work together for the same goals and the way to do so is by communicating effectively. This goes hand in hand with listening effectively as well. Listening is just as important as doing the speaking because while listening, you are able to better understand your personal role within the group, and the overall group goals. According to Robbins & Judge, “communication must include both the transfer and the understanding of meaning. Communication is more than merely imparting meaning; that meaning must also be understood” (pp. 345). Organizational culture and the culture of the individual impacts the group because communication among different cultures varies. One culture may have different meanings for phrases or words, or even hand gestures or facial expressions. It is equally important to know whom you’re communicating to as well as what you are communicating. “In international business practices, reason and emotion both play a role. Which of these dominates depends upon whether we are affective (readily showing emotions) or emotionally neutral in our approach. Members of neutral cultures do not telegraph their feelings, but keep them carefully controlled and subdued. In cultures with high affect, people show their feelings plainly by laughing, smiling, grimacing, scowling, and sometimes crying, shouting, or walking out of the room” (Kinsley pp. 10).
Kinsey, Carol. 2011. Communicating Across Cultures. ASME. Retrieved from: https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/business-communication/communicating-across-cultures
Robbins, S. P. & Judge, T. A. (2017). Organizational behavior (17th ed.). Pearson Publishing.