Importance of effective communication in the workplace

1. What are the communication challenges and barriers Barryfaces? 

2. WhatsolutionsmightBarryconsiderinaddressingeachofthesechallengesandbarriers?

3. What Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) would be helpful for Barry to implement and enforce?

4. What are some ways Barry might use effective communication as a motivator for employees to follow safe food handlingpractices

5. Did the union use “fair” or “ethical” negotiation tactics? Explain.  

6. Was the government’s response to the strike fair and appropriate? Explain.  

7. Who was at fault in this negotiation breakdown and why?  

8. What do you think could have been done better by the PATCO?  By the Government?

The importance of effective communication in any workplace scenario is often underrated. Effectiveness of communication is significant and is a crucial relationship-building skill in the workplace for any particular employee and particularly for managers to emulate. In case there is the absence of proper communication, the capability to limit individual’s ability to connect on a meaningful level is lost as there is a disconnection (Cahn and Abigail 2014). This also creates the chances of conflict among the team members. The position of any individual in the workplace determines the expectations the subordinates will have from him or her. There are different existent barriers to communication in the place of work including, physiological barriers, psychological barriers, differences of language and perceptual differences among others (Robbins and Judge 2012).

In the given case study it is seen that the manager of foodservice, namely Barry is in charge of the supervision and management of all the employees who work at the back of the house. Employees who he is in charge of belong to several different age groups and also from numerous cultural as well as ethnic backgrounds. Another important fact which can be said in this particular connection is that, many employees under Barry are such who do not know the language English well as it is not their primary language (Greer and Bendersky 2013).

Therefore it can be clearly stated that the most important barrier to communication in this particular case is language. Barry needs to explain the requirements and concerns to all the employees equally. He also needs to make them understand the importance of food safety in their respective restaurant. However, the different types of language which they use cannot be mastered by Barry and therefore it is a serious issue which he faces according to the given case study (Rahim 2017).

Communication challenges faced by Barry

Another challenge which Barry experiences is psychological barrier. Personal problems and worries need to the lack of concentration, memory loss, and other issues. Emotional situation at a specific point in time also impacts the communication at that time point (Olekalns and Adair 2013). It happened with Barry that he was upset due to the problems which he had been facing at home and he could not help feeling disturbed at the time when he had come to work.

In addition to this, Barry also witnessed certain perceptual differences in the organisation because; he found that the certain employees had different levels of perception. In case different employees perceive messages differently they are bound to confuse their manager. In this particular it can also be said that expectations and prejudices also lead to false assumptions. People often make improper assumptions and therefore cause issues in the workplace. Barry also faces age barriers as the employees which work under him at the back of the restaurant range from an age of 16 to 55 years of age.

In this particular case study it is seen that despite Barry explaining several times to the employees to demarcate between food items which have to be kept hot or cold, they have caused problems. Barry also found several trays of uncooked meat which was kept in the kitchen area. This frustrates Barry as he is unable to realize how to react and what to do. Despite clearly explaining to the employees the importance of food safety and the significance of measuring temperature of the food, the employees have not met with the needs and requirements to maintain food safety (Almeida Marodin and Saurin 2015).

Thus it can be said that Barry faces several barriers and challenges to communication that challenge his credibility as an effective leader and communicator.

There are several ways in which Barry can overcome the language barrier to communication. As the employees working under Barry in the restaurant come from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, the documents in the restaurant which the employees need to abide by can be translated in the primary language of the employees. Websites are also available which can translate documents into several languages. This can also be utilized to make the commands understandable by the employees (Cahn and Abigail 2014).

Another possible option to get rid of the barriers in communication is the usage of a particular interpreter. This can ideally even be a person of the organisation who is capable of speaking both the languages fluently. The interpreter however needs to be someone who is capable of being trusted by the managers in the organisation.

Solutions to overcome communication barriers

Proper and regular language classes need to be provided to the employees in order to make them capable enough of understanding the basic language requirements of the business industry they are a part of.  It needs to be ensured that every employee has a sufficient survival crash course in the predominant language of the workplace which can help Barry communicate properly and manage his responsibilities better.

Visual modes of communication can also be utilized to make the restaurant requirements understandable to the employees. The demonstration of what a person wants and then having the employees perform accordingly is a suitable way in which the employees can be explained the rules which they need to abide by. In case pictures are used, this helps the employees clearly understand what they need to follow and need to do. The pace of communication needs to be slow for the people to understand the needs of manager (Pruitt 2013).

In order to overcome interpersonal barriers to communication the messages conveyed by the managers need to be in simple language. In order to have an effective procedure of interpersonal communication, language needs to be simplified (Cahn and Abigail 2014). No person particularly likes to decipher every spoken word and hence the deciphering need to be converted to writing and at the time of speaking the words needs to be simple and easy to understand. As heads of the employee the managers need to keep a proper composure at the time of communicating whatever they feel.

The managers also need to provide constructive criticism which implies that the manager in this case Barry is communicating with their subordinates on a much more personal level. This helps in effective inter-personal communication (Shockley-Zalabak 2014).

With respect to the psychological barriers and overcoming them it can be said that the sole power lies with the individuals themselves. In this particular case study, Barry the manager is facing psychological barriers due to the issues which he is facing at home. This is because of the fact that he is not being able to move himself from the incidents or happenings which are hurting him. Thus he needs to be build his self confidence and if possible take a short vacation in order to come back rejuvenated and at peace.

Finally overcoming cultural barriers in the workplace comprise of determining which behaviours are relevant and important for their fulfilment in the workplace and which are not. A little effort also needs to be given to learn other cultures and how to effectively understand the differences and move ahead in the workplace.

Standard operating procedures for effective communication

The standard operating procedures which would be suitable for Barry to implement and enforce comprise of the following:

The messages which Barry needs to give out have to be linked to the strategy and goals of the organisation. The employees need to be explained clearly about the impacts of mishandling of food or the unhygienic conditions. The message which Barry has to deliver in this particular situation needs to comply with the goals of the organisation. Every organisation has a set of goals which need to be complied with at every stage of the organisation’s journey and therefore it is expected that the manager has the best understanding of what he needs to convey to his employees. In case each individual member has an understanding of what the goals are for the organisation, they can perform accordingly. The employees are also bound to feel connected towards the needs of the organisation. The knowledge of unhygienic conditions and the ways in which this can be prevented also needs to be properly provided to the employees (Shockley-Zalabak 2014).

The attention of the audiences need to be held at all steps of the organisation There need to be suitable eye catching symbols and signs which catch the employees’ eye. The signs need to be strategically placed as they need to be clearly visible to the employees in order to abide by them at each step of the organisation. The messages also need to be clearly understood to ensure that they are being followed and the situation is being bettered.

Whatever messages are to be given to the employees need to be explained in clearly understandable language. Meetings or common gatherings need to be carried out at significant steps such that the decisions and commands are easily understandable to the people around. The meetings should appeal to the people who are from different cultural backgrounds. The message needs to be given on the all round development of the people. The meeting needs to focus on the safety precautions in the restaurant, the demarcations between cold and hot food, proper training regarding the measurement of temperature of the foodstuff and in addition to this the hygiene of the place of cooking needs to be maintained (Pruitt 2013).

Motivation tools need to be employed to help the audience accept and understand the message which is being mentioned. The proper understanding of the messages needs to be ensured at all times. There should be a certain amount of authority which needs to be employed by the rational reasoning or by the utilization of motivational speeches which can help the pros and cons of the mishandling of the food. The reasons for maintaining the safety and the possible consequences for the organisation in case hygiene is not maintained are very important to be understood by the employees. Motivation is a great tool to uplift employees as it is positive and gives hope to the workers that they can do better.

Motivation tools to encourage safe food handling practices

The employees need to be inoculated against contrary messages and positions, which can be done requesting the audience to perform and also properly pledge that they will comply with the actions which have been laid out to them and also follow the specific rules of the organisation with the utmost sincerity. In case the employees are asked to pledge that they will abide by the rules of the organisation, there is an inherent wish within them to contribute positively towards the needs of the organisation. The employees need to be sincere at all times and for this they need to be aware of how they might contribute to the organisation (Van Kleef 2010).

As a supervisor of the company it is the responsibility of Barry to ensure that he motivates the employees working under him at each and every step of their lives. Barry needs to ensure that he communicates effectively with his employees and motivate them positively to ensure that they fulfil all the needs of the organisation in a positive manner. In case the managers are encouraging, the employees are bound to look up to them and help them in gaining a proper name for their organisation.

A way in which effective communication can be used for the motivation of employees is by providing sincere and encouraging words at times when employees follow safe food handling behaviours. A communication method suitable for an employee needs to be used by the managers. The managers need to have a proper idea about the employees. The acknowledgement by the supervisors goes a long way in ensuring that they remain connected to their work.       Depending on the stature of the employee and the nature of the work which he or she has performed for the organisation, there can be short text messages or little thank you notes to ensure that their contributions have been acknowledged by the organisation.

Managers can also serve as role models by means of both verbal and non-verbal communication. It needs to be ensured that the actions help in the conveyance of the message to the employees. In case he needs the employees to be clean and hygienic, Barry the manager needs to be clean and hygienic himself. The managers need to embody the personalities which they want their employees to be. This is possible only when they abide by all the rules and regulations successfully (Cahn and Abigail 2014).

Conclusion:

Effective communication is a crucial aspect of a manager in the workplace and proper skills are necessary to maintain effective communication in all spheres of life. Communication is effective at a time when the stimulus is initiated and is intended by the sender or source. Facing problems in communication might cause people to become complacent towards their work and this might negatively impact their overall performance and their ultimate success in the organisation. Therefore it needs to be the aim of each person to ensure that they effectively overcome the barriers to communication and perform their functions well.

            The standard operating procedures to be utilized is explained in the recommendations section. The standard operating procedure is related to the new employee orientation (Wilkins and Boxall 2014). The policy comprises of the fact that the employees will receive training on the basic food safety procedures prior to or during the first day of their employment (Miller 2017). The procedure comprises of the following steps:

1. Meeting with the manager of the restaurant to receive training on the very basic processes related to the food safety.
2. Review of each point in the food safety checklist with the manager concerned. Each process is to be discussed thoroughly with meanings for the safety of food which has been described
3. Ask questions to the managers and supervisors in case the requirements are not clear
4. Read, sign or date the statements at the checklist’s end indicating a proper understanding and agreement with the processes stated
5. Receiving a copy of the document which has been duly signed

The restaurant manager needs to:

1. Schedule 30 minutes for the purpose of orientation
2. Inform new employees about the time and the reason for the session
3. Explain the purpose of the checklist to the employees concerned
4. Discussion of each policy and procedure on the checklist
5. After a proper review of the procedures manager needs to ask the employees to read, sign and date the statement at the end of the form
6. Provide a copy to each employee
7. Remind employees about a location of the copy
8. Thank each employee for their valuable participation
9. Emphasize the priority of food safety and involvement of each member of the staff

Another possible procedure can be regarding the employee health and their personal hygiene. It is desirable for the employees to fulfil certain criteria for this which have been described as follows:

1. Arrive clean to work
2. Maintain proper length of fingernails
3. Wash hands at all important junctures
4. Wash in the designated sinks for the purpose
5. Dry their hands with single use towels
6. Turn off faucets with paper towels to prevent hand contamination
7. They need to maintain a proper attire
8. Take off apron before using the restroom
9. Change soiled aprons
10. Change disposable gloves as often as hand-washing is needed
11. Keep hair covered at all times
12. Refrain from using dangling jewellery
13. Keep beards and moustaches neat and trimmed.

It can be found by union negotiators that their limits of authority which they are authorized to utilize in a labour negotiation by their members might be both to their advantage and also their disadvantage. One tactical advantage of the use of their constituency authority can include the capability to manipulate public visibility. They can hide what is happening behind closed doors and gain considerable sympathy in the process. By way of bringing out such issues in the public forum they might be able to manipulate the support of the people for their plight (Bayne and Woolcock 2011).

It is the requirement of each individual and each union as a whole to maintain a certain level of conformity to the principles of negotiation. Every member and every leader for that matter has a certain level of authority which they cannot afford to overstep. It needs to be ensured that each of the people who have a certain amount of authority, make proper use of their powers. Unless each individual understand the step to which they can utilize their powers, it often leads to the misuse of powers and creates problems for the leader and the union as a whole.

Ethics is basically the study of morality as it is applied to the moral judgements and the principle of behaviour. The people in positions of power are viewed better as they have liabilities and responsibilities which they need to maintain at all costs.

In the particular case study provided it has been mentioned that the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Union had gone on a strike against the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in
the United States. As a result of this strike every controller who was governed by the federal agency had walked off the job, the representative of the union had gone to negotiate a new labour management contract with the FAA but the tentative proposal was declined by majority of the Union members. In this connection it can be said that the tactics which was adopted by the Union was not at all fair and just. It is not unlikely for the members of an organisation to feel dissatisfied regarding their needs being met or their demands fulfilled (Zerres et al. 2013). Hence, they need to realize that their responsibilities are existent towards the public as well which they cannot ignore due to their own selfish needs. In this particular case, the in-charge of the union had been trying to come to a proper term of contract between the PATCO and the FAA. Despite the fact that no proper conclusion was being arrived at even after several months of negotiation, the decision of the union leader, Robert Poli to instruct his union members to strike against the FAA was not fair and not ethical as well.

It is not wrong for Poli to suggest anything to his team members, but making wrong use of his authoritative position is not justified at any particular stage. The limitations as well as the proper applications of a person in power need to be understood at all stages of his tenure as a leader. While the repeated chances which Poli took with the FAA in order to come to a proper negotiation with both parties was just, the command to his team to call for a strike when a proper negotiation was not reached at, was incorrect. Thus it needs to be ensured that a balance exists between the duties and the responsibilities of the people in power. So that misusing their power is not an option to the leaders (Leung and Olomolaiyev 2010).

Strike action also known as labour strike, grave or simply as strike is actually the stoppage of work which is caused due to the mass refusal of the employees to work. A strike takes place in response to the grievances of the employees; Strikes have become common since a long period of time, particularly since the time of the industrial revolution. This was because of the fact that at that time mass labour became important in factories as well as mines. Strikes were made illegal as the factory owners had far more power and control in comparison to the workers. Most of the western countries partially legalized the concept of striking in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Strikes are sometimes utilized to pressurize governments to change their respective policies. Occasionally strikes become noteworthy enough to destabilize the rule of a particular political party or that of a leader as well (Goldberg et al 2014). 

It has been seen that in case of the PATCO specially, their leader had tried to spend many months attempting to find solutions and also come up with an agreement in a new and innovative labour management along with the FAA.  The reaching of a tentative proposal led to the chance of a new labour management contract with the FAA.  All the controllers were subsequently fired. This led to a severely bad situation for all the people involved in the process. This was followed by the imprisonment of the striking controllers and the leaders were also severely fined for their violations. This led to a bad situation for the controllers and the people.

In this regard it can be said that the response of the government was not completely fair and appropriate. The needs of the union members as well as their grievances need to be taken care of and they also need to ensure that they stay happy. Coming to a fair deal so that both ends are happy is definitely the duty of the government to ensure that they help in the overall development of the union for public benefit. Despite the fact that the decision of the union as commanded by Poli was wrong, the government needed to show some initiative to reach a consensus among both parties for future opportunities. It is necessary for the government as a responsible governing body to take certain actions against the union members and leaders but some sort of meeting or opportunity for negotiation needed to be arranged by the members in order to ensure that their grievances would be properly heard out (Cleary 2016).

Due to the concept of globalization and the growth of the business trends, the concept of negotiation is the form of teams is becoming widely adopted. The teams can effectively collaborate to break down a complex concept of negotiation. There is much more of knowledge and wisdom dispersed in a team which can be in comparison to the mind. The teams as a whole might reduce the amount of blunder and increases the familiarity of negotiation. Emotions play an important part in the procedure of negotiation though this was not given much of importance in the recent times (Greer and Bendersky 2013).

In case of situations where two or more parties are involved which have an impact on the common people there need to be proper thought into the process of negotiation. The negotiation breakdown happened since something went wrong in the situation. A negotiation involves two parties and therefore the fault lies with both the parties which leads to breakdown. Proper action needed to be taken at the ideal time. The situation should be kept in control at all times (Snyder and Diesing 2015).

This negotiation breakdown was a cause of severe concern to both the parities as well as for the general public. It had also been seen that no side was willing to either wait or budge or understand the point of view of the other person. In this particular case both the parties were unwilling to compromise on their individual ideals or philosophies. While a certain patience was required on part of the union members to reach a proper negotiation between both parties, a certain considerateness was needed towards the needs of the union members on part of the government in lieu of the services provided by them. Therefore it can be said that in the said negotiation breakdown both the parties were at fault. A both-sided understanding needed to be established to ensure that the grievances of both the parties could be solved easily (Ting?Toomey 2015).

The connections between the people have deteriorated considerably between the two involve parties in the concept of negotiation. The FAA did not agree to offer any more concessions to the members of the union. There were two fruitless weeks of further talks between the parties but to not much of avail. The contract had been signed previously with the FAA, had completely prohibited the strike action and this cannot be done properly.

In this particular scenario it can be stated that both the PATCO and the government could do many things better. The PATCO needed to clearly explain what problems they were facing and the particular grievances they had against the FAA. Instead of going for a strike, they needed to arrange for a proper meeting where all the members of the union would be present in addition to the representatives of the government so that all the concerns of the union members could be solved effectively.

On part of the government it needed to be ensured that they be concerned about the wants and demands of the union members. In case they kept on ignoring their needs, it was natural for the union members to feel complacent regarding the interest of the government regarding their demands and feeling the need for engaging in a strike was natural in this particular scenario.

Negotiation is basically the two way communication by which a person can get what he or she wants from the other parties with respect to the requirements. By this procedure, the two parties involved could resolve their conflicts by the modification of their demands in order to reach a mutually acceptable solution. There can be both distributive and integrative negotiation. In this case the parties could arrange for an integrative negotiation as the two parties find a mutually acceptable solution in this particular case (Pruitt 2013).

Bargaining is also a method which can be applied in this particular case, which is nothing but the procedure of finding a mutually acceptable solution to a difficult conflict. Distributive bargaining is the concept of a competitive negotiation strategy which is used for decision making and solving those disputes which cannot be solved in any different way. This sort of bargainng also comes in play in case of cooperative negotiations (Zerres et al. 2013). Integrative bargaining is the method of making the joint value as large as it is possible to make it. The parties need to distribute the value which it has been able to create. The concepts of integrative and distributive bargaining are not mutually exclusive bargaining strategies (Caputo 2013). In this particular case the concept of integrative bargaining could have been used. Both the parties could have utilized the concept for reaching a consensus on the said solution. In case of a distributive negotiation it is necessary that the information is carefully guarded. (Olekalns and Adair 2013).  In case of distributive bargaining the conflict is because the goals of a particular party are against the goals of the other. Therefore it needs to be understood that the goals need to be conducive to be manageable. The parties could also have adopted the techniques of being accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, compromising and competing (Kirk, Oettingen and Gollwitzer 2013).

Conclusion:

Conflict is an inevitable part of work. Every person has to face situations where people with different goals and the needs have to be clashed. The animosity needs to be resolved at all costs. There needs to be an increased understanding the process of resolving conflict. The people might improve the overall knowledge on the issue of negotiation. There also needs to be a proper cohesion regarding the issue of the conflict resolution. Thus it can be concluded that there might be several problems which can arise in a particular scenario and problems are bound to occur in case the opinions of the involved parties do not match. It might also happen that the involved parties create problems for the situations which they have to face.

So the concepts of conflict resolution and negotiation need to be applied in such cases so that the problems such as strikes of the union members do not arise and they do create problems for the common people. Depending on the severity of the situation, the different methods of distributive or integrative bargaining might have been applied. Proper methods of conflict management could also have been applied.      The source or the major reason of the conflict need to be identified and the reason which might have caused the problem need to be understood. The best interests of the people need to be kept in mind at the time of conflict resolution.

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