Essentials of Business Communication

Introduction

With changing times and demographics of population, economies, and ever connected world due to globalization several complex problems are faced by the organizations. Some of which are, developing efficient interpersonal skills, understanding cross cultures, managing the ever happening conflicts because of the diversity in the workforce. Developing a culture which is universally accepted by each and every employee of an organization is very difficult. In the corporates a person is judged by the work he/she does and that they can do by communicating effectively with their oral and written communication. Also effective non-verbal communication such as hand gestures and greetings in different cultures plays a very important part in effective communication. To address all these issues employees need to be updated and acquainted through training related to different practices and cultures followed in different organizations in different countries. Thus, this report takes into account two such issues Intercultural communication and managing conflict in an organization various aspects of both the concepts , how would it help the staff and how to effectively train the employees have been further discussed.

Intercultural communication

As the technology is getting advanced, getting developed on a daily basis, the world has become smaller, boundaries of doing business have nearly disappeared local has become glocal because of the extensive infrastructure in IT, Telecommunications and Internet. Businesses cannot function in isolation nowadays, gone are the days when companies were confined to a particular geographical area (Fuld, 2012). Decisions these days not only effect the citizens of one nation but all over the world therefore working in the global teams and across cultures with different business partners requires intercultural skills and attitudes. Lack of knowledge about practices in different cultures can lead to very embarrassing situations which is where the need for intercultural training comes in. (Nardon, Steers, & Carlos, 2013).

Particularly for the managers in the field of marketing and public relations it is important as what may be right in the particular country might not be in other countries, such as coca cola had to change the name of its product from Diet coke to coke light in Japan Because Diet carried an embarrassing connotation in their culture.

Staff Benefits from intercultural communication training.

Through intercultural training people know more about themselves as they are exposed to facts and information about their own culture which is new to them this increases their self-awareness. It increases confidence and motivation as both are directly related to knowledge. Also it helps break down barriers such as preconceived notion and prejudices which obstruct our understanding about people. Trust is generated due to increased understanding. Moreover, it helps the employees in their career development as the need of intercultural managers is increasing this gives them an edge over others in finding better Job opportunities. Lack of intercultural knowledge increases problems such as of miscommunication, misinterpretation and misbehaviors which hampers career progress this risk can be eliminated through training.

Aspects of intercultural communication (Guffey & Loewy, c2014)

To develop cultural awareness or to transcend the different cultural etiquettes.

To know when to adapt business like or transactional approach, when to build relationships with the stakeholders (clients, business partners, suppliers, investors etc.)

Whether to focus on implicit communication or explicit communication.

Understand what the environment of the business meetings is.

How to interpret and use appropriate gestures and body language.

How to get out of situations which make them uncomfortable.

Strategies to implement in order to promote cross cultural communication

• Organizations can appoint consultants or tie up with various institutes that provides training workshops to the corporations in order to equip the managers with the practices followed in different organizations in different parts of the world.
• Online resources such as globesmart developed by a Poland based company may be used to give e-lessons in sensitivity training and cross cultural orientation to the employees.
• Exchange programmes within the organization functioning in various geographical areas may be implemented, with which the employees for a particular period may get an opportunity to get exposed to different cultural practices in different countries.
• The teams in the organizations have at least one member who is from a different culture.
• Various activities such as quizzes, trivia, role plays, and informal lunch sessions can be conducted in order to make the learning happen in a fun way.
• Internal magazines containing facts about the various cultures may be circulated within the organizations to promote the culture of learning.
• Annual cultural fests or may be a particular day in a month may be identified to have such activities.

Managing Conflict

Due to increased globalization various people from different culture work in an organization in a team every individual is born and brought up in different style, culture, and have different values,  beliefs, tastes and preferences. Thus it is bound to have different ideologies and viewpoints about things, hence it is impossible to stop conflicts. Conflicts happen when people with these differences don’t compromise with each other (Sousa, Gonçalves, & Cunha, 2015). Conflicts in any organization will lead to negativity and culture of frustration. It becomes necessary to take precautions at the right time before these small arguments become fights, because at the end of the day it is organization which would suffer.

Conflict management is particularly important for the employees working in production department as everybody works on different levels and have complaints and issues of their own equipping the employees with such training will help manage conflicts in an organization effectively.

Staff benefits from conflict management training:

If a staff knows how to handle conflicts it would have a positive increase in its productivity. Increased work and personal life balance, whenever there is a conflict it creates stress which effects all the people around us with lesser conflicts an aura of positivity is formed around us which spreads and tend to make us happier. They can face difficulties with a smile, this lets them be a good problem solver which are very much required in an organization this increases the chance of career development.

Conflicts are also of different types particularly personal conflicts are between two employees related to self-image, lack of confidence etc. instrumental conflicts they are related to structures, hierarchy or procedures followed in an organization. Conflict of interest related to time, space, and remuneration etc. All types of conflicts may not be solved by the single strategy hence we must learn various techniques to manage conflicts of different type (Spaho, 2015).

Techniques to manage conflict: A communication skill approach

The process talks about the five step model approach to handle conflict namely assessment, acknowledge, attitude, action and analysis. Assessment talks about identifying the source of conflict whether it is the personal cause or the professional cause which causes conflict, once the source is identified employee must acknowledge the viewpoint of the other employee, his idea and beliefs. Keeping a positive learning attitude and an attitude of cooperation in order to bring positivity, employees might take verbal or non-verbal communication styles to take action towards settling the conflict between the two parties. Verbal communication will have the elements of understanding, tone of speech, timing, empathy, sympathy, equality and description of the problem (França, & Lourenço, 2010). Non-verbal communication cues such as body language and gestures play a very important part in conveying the message. Written communication is more concerned with the tone of writing, language, medium of communication, miscommunication of the message. After the action is taken it should then be reviewed and analyzed for results if the response from the other party is positive, the communication between the two parties is smooth and understanding exhibits that the process is in sync and is providing a meaningful solution to the problem. If the conflict is still on the process needs to be repeated in order to find out the short comings. (Kreitner, & Kinicki, c2010).

Recommendations:

Training is an integral function of the organization it should happen continuously as it helps both the organization as well as employees.

HR department should conduct various sessions on different issues prevailing in the organizations and how to effectively solve them.

Series of videos can be released by the organization which shows the nuances of various cultures and how to handle conflicts.

To improve upon the communication and presentation skills of the employees’ tricks and methods can be communicated.

Employee development programmes should be introduced to help employees’ career development this may include training as well.

Conclusion:

The main focus of this report was to understand various nuances and problems a business can face due to the ineffective intercultural communications and the conflicts that arise because of it, for ex coca having such a big global brand face certain issues due to the ineffective intercultural communication, however this could have been easily avoided if the managers at Coca cola were given effective training to understand the Japanese culture, ineffective intercultural communication is not only an issue for the organization but also for the managers in their day to day working as in discussed in the report above the conflict management model though communication can prove to be very effective in handling the conflicts and sorting them out before they tend to pose a serious issue to the organization. Effective conflict handling mechanism not only helps the managers working in the organization or the organizational culture as a whole but also the surroundings as it helps in taking an action on the situation rather than reacting on it. So, it is in interest of the organization to build a culture where training in the fields of intercultural communication and conflict management takes a center stage.

References:

Guffey , M.E.G & Loewy, D.L. (c2014). Essentials of Business Communication. (10th edition ed.). United states: Cengage Learning.

Nardon, L.N, Steers, R.M.S & Carlos, J.C (2013). Seeking Common Ground: Strategies for Enhancing Multicultural Communication . Organizational Dynamics, 40(2), 85-95

Fuld, L.M.F. (2012). Cross-Cultural Communication Takes More than Manners. Harvard Business review, 10(2), 179-196.

Spaho, K.S. (2015), Organizational Communication and Conflict Management. Journal of Cross-Cultural Research, 18(1), 103-118

Sousa, C., Gonçalves, G., & Cunha, M. (2015). Cultural values as a support to the development of intercultural competences. Spatial and Organizational Dynamics: Discussion Papers, 1(14), 7-22.

França, C. B., & Lourenço, P. R. (2010). Diversity and intragroup conflict at work: An empirical study in Portugal. Revista de Administração Mackenzie, 11(3), 131-158.

Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (c2011). Organizational Behaviour (9ª ed.). New York: McGrawHill.

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