Intercultural Business Communication In Workplace

Introduction

Communication is basically the exchange of information among the parties. In response to Intercultural Communication In Workplace, communication defines to exchange ideas, thoughts, business plan, business issues, business decision, and business file among employees internally, among other different stakeholders externally. From, other point of view, to increase interaction with the customer or to increase product promotion among customer, communication is the key process but the fact is it should be an effective commination (Wilson, 2017).  There are some basic principles of communication must be followed and there are some challenges as well which make the communication difficult and meaningless.

So, as a manager of Mr. Fishy Restaurant, I must have to play the role to overcome those challenges occurred in communication internally or externally. Here, I must have to think about the principles of communication while applying the strategies to over the challenges (Bovée and Thill, 2018)

Literature review

Business communication:

Business communication is the way of interacting with the people related with different kinds of business activities. It is a continuous flow of interaction from sender to receiver and receiver to sender. The communication process is the way of making a business dealing with different parties with the help of communication and maintains the process for the longer period of time (Bovée and Thill, 2018). Business communication is very helpful to increase interaction with different parties and making fruitful dealing to make the overall communication successful as well as developing Intercultural Communication In Workplace. The process of business communication can be divided into formal and informal communication process to make better interaction with the business related organization.

Importance of business communication

For the advanced world of business it is impossible to ignore or deny the importance of business communication and Intercultural Communication In Workplace. It is the blood flow of business. Without proper use and implementation of business communication the overall business process can get hampered. The business communication is the part and parcel of the communication process (Greer, 2012).

It helps to interact with the employees, suppliers, distributors, shareholders, customers and many other parties related to business activities. Any kind of communication gap can make whole process problematic. So it is necessary to complete the business communication process effectively as much as possible.

Communication of the business can increase the expansion of the business activities; workers can perform their job effectively and also can interact with each other well to bring out the best performance for the organization in the long run (Greer, 2012).

Principles of business communication

• Completeness and correct flow of Information: The complete and correct flow of information can provide the best experience of communication process. In case of business communication any information on the right time and right place adds value to the communication strategy. So the communicators provide the utmost importance to interpret and collecting perfect and errorless information (Guidelines for Special Issues of the Journal of Business Communication and Business Communication Quarterly, 2010). According to the principal of communication process, wrong or flawed information can hamper the overall communication flow and also creates confusion among the business communication parties. So it is very important to analyze the completeness and correct flow of information to ensure better flow of the overall communication process.

Organizations which are solely dependent on the communication and the flow of information they need to provide prime importance to the process of communication regarding Intercultural Communication In Workplace. Without correct and complete information and authentic and reliable sources it is impossible to ensure the progress of communication in the long run (Wilson, 2017).

• Clarity and Consistency of communication: Clarity and consistency of the communication are the prime principle to follow by each and every organization. The communication clarity provides the best experience of communication among the parties related with the overall communication process through Intercultural Communication In Workplace. They process become more realistic, flexible and stress free. It improves the flow of communication from one party to another easily. So both the external and internal communication can take place successfully for the effective communication process (Guidelines for Special Issues of the Journal of Business Communication and Business Communication Quarterly, 2010).

The consistency of communication brings new information easily to process and implement the best ways to succeed in any such issues of the work. So, overall process of communication make the work progress relevant, consistent and on time. The interaction of the parties all can happen without any interruption or misconception.

• Need for Communication Network: The communication network is the used route for the communication process from sender to receiver and receiver to sender. It plays a very significant role to perform better and effective communication among the parties of the communication (Hunter, 2014). Depending of the availability and the use of network, the managerial effectiveness of communication can add value to the overall process of business interaction.

Analysis and discussion in the context of Fishy Restaurant

Challenges and barriers in maintaining effective communications

The most common challenges and barriers of Mr. Fishy organization are described below to ensure the better understanding and find out the solutions of overcoming them. So here the problems and barriers are:

• Language Diversity: There are different kinds of languages are used in Mr. Fishy restaurant as the employees are from different countries. So most of the time it is hard for them to communicate with each other or understand their language properly. It creates misunderstanding among them. As English is not their first language them also feel uncomfortable to use the language properly and sometime cannot understand that.
• Cultural barrier: Each and every cultural of the country are different. Though they can have some similarities but most of the time the differences are way more than that. In the restaurant of Mr. Fishy employees belong from different cultures and heritage. So they have come up with different values, cultures, norms and other diversity which is another problem in their communication gap (Hunter, 2014).
• Workforce Diversity: Workforce is a severe problem of the Mr. Fishy restaurant in their communication process. The restaurant has employees from different culture, age, race, gender etc. So the employees face problems in their interaction process. They do not feel comfortable to communication with each other for their differences. So the communication barriers are increasing.
• Jargon: Fishy restaurants use different work related jargons but some jargons are not familiar with the employees. So they get confused with the meaning and cannot communicate with them properly. Employees of Mr. Fishy again fall into dilemma of communication barriers for the use of jargons (Knight, 2013).

Strategies to overcome communication barrier and challenges

The following strategies and solution can be used to overcome the barriers and challenges of the Mr. Fishy restaurant. As a manager of Mr. Fishy Restaurant I would like to suggest the following solutions as below:

• Use of simple language: Employees should use simple, easy and understandable language. They should also use common words to communicate with each other. So it becomes easy to avoid misunderstanding and increase their level of interaction. Use of simple language will also give them the opportunity to interact more and work together.
• Providing feedback: It is important for the employees of Mr. Fishy Restaurant to communicate with their employees more often and talk to each other openly. They should also provide each other feedback about their work and progress (Knight, 2013). The employees also need to help each other to overcome their mistakes by communication and interaction by providing generous feedback time to time.
• Listening appropriately: For better communication it is very important to listen. It is the best quality to build up better communication process among the employees. By listening and understanding each other most of the communication problems can be solved. Employees need to interact well and listen to their co-workers for communication improvement.
• Use pictures, signs, graphs: by using picture, sound, graphs or any kind of multimedia it is possible to overcome the problems of communication. If the language is not understandable, the employees of Mr. fishy restaurant can use different pictures, signs and other sign languages to communicate easily (Krapels and Arnold, 2015).
• Choice of right communication channel: The choice perfect tool for communication is also important to overcome the communication barriers. The clarity and consistency can make the communication process errorless and smooth. So the miscommunication does not take place easily. Employees can communicate through the proper channel by using the right tools at the right time (Krapels and Arnold, 2015). It will also make the communication process effortless in a very stress free and effective way. Workers do not easily face communication barriers by using right kinds of tools and channels of communication.
• Cross cultural knowledge: It is important to focus on developing cross cultural knowledge of the employees to understand each other. Bu developing cross cultural knowledge and knowing about different cultures will enhance their learning. They will become close to each other with the practice of respecting and sharing cultural norms, values and differences (Krizan, 2011). It will make the employees efficient to make better communication and barriers of communication will be decrease in the restaurant. They will not have any significant problems to communicate with each other.

Conclusion

So, from my point of view as a manager of Mr. Fishy Restaurant, it is revealed that the challenges those occurred while communicating with other could be overcome if the strategies of using simple language, increasing cultural awareness, using right communication are utilized properly and these things are more effective. So, the problem of communication could be solved if those techniques are utilized by us properly in Mr. Fishy Restaurant.  Maintenance of good internal relationship in Mr. Fishy Restaurant will also play a vital role in fulfilling effective communication needs.

References

1. Bovée, C.L. and Thill, J.V. (2018). Business communication today. New York, Ny: Pearson Education.
2. Greer, R.R. (2012). Introducing Plain Language Principles to Business Communication Students. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(2), pp.136–152.
3. Guidelines for Special Issues of the Journal of Business Communication and Business Communication Quarterly. (2010). Business Communication Quarterly, 73(2), pp.237–239.
4. Hunter, A. (2014). Business communication. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
5. Knight, M. (2013). Usability and Business Communication. Business Communication Quarterly, 76(4), pp.395–396.
6. Krapels, R.H. and Arnold, V.D. (2015). The legitimacy of Business Communication. Journal of Business Communication, 33(3), pp.331–352.
7. Krizan, A.C. (2011). Business communication. Australia ; Mason, Oh: South-Western Cengage Learning.
8. Wilson, R.L. (2017). Principles of business: Management. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, A Division Of Ebsco Information Services, Inc. ; Amenia, Ny.

Written by

Md. Shadequr Rahaman

Email: [email protected]