Background of the Study

Communication is one of the most integral aspects of workplace effectiveness (Okoro & Washington, 2012). With increasing diversity amongst employees across globalized workplaces, barriers in communications are expected to rise further. Diversified work cultures impose tremendous amounts of challenges which might allow employees in communicating with each other. In diversified workplaces, employees from varied different ethnic backgrounds work together, so there is bound to communication barriers (Tange & Lauring, 2009). In the current study communication barriers in diversified workplaces has been identified along with strategies which can allow overcoming them in an effective manner.      

Communication is an effective tool that allows bindings diversified employees together. Through the process of communication breaking of ice and to bring them closer together. Employees can belong to any religion or community, but their strength is communication that helps them to know their colleagues. It is important for an individual to speak and share their experiences (Ray, 2014). Unless they continue to work, they will never be able to enjoy their work and consider it a source of accusation. In case employees work in isolation, they will not be interested in being engaged in office. In the current situation of competition, employees have to discuss, think about ideas to find new solutions that not only benefit their teams but also help their organization overcome their competitions. Communication really helps to express ideas and opinions.

One of the most common causes of misunderstanding and conflict in the workplace is the lack of communication between them and their superior (Shachaf, 2008). Leaders interact regularly with their teams, not just tracking their work regularly, but also offering them opportunities every time. People feel abandoned and depressed when their leaders do not have time to talk to them. With effective communication, all employees can be involved. Do not use interaction with high-level employees, but everyone involved in the organization. People must communicate effectively about customs, traditions, religion, culture and other people. Effective communication provides people with different backgrounds, religions to mingle with each other. The community or age groups have strong relationships and no cooperation problems (Penn & Watermeyer,  2012). Individuals when they communicate, solve half the problems themselves. They expose this question to the authorities only if it is really serious and requires intervention. Reasonably efficient communication not only governs a versatile organization but also leads to a supportive work environment. There are situations where another misunderstanding can occur between teams, but it is always better when the employees sit and say it is clear as before. Productivity is really greater when people interact with each other effectively. Challenges in communication in diversified workplaces might impose a significant amount of impact on productivity (Kawar, 2012). Managers need to devise strategies so that barriers to communication in the workplace can be overcome. 

The scope of this study will be aimed at identifying strategies that allow the employee to overcome communication barriers in a diversified working environment. In order to attend to the above-stated aim, the following objectives for the study need to be met.

• Research Objective 1:To identify the various communication barriers faced by employees in a diversified working environment
• Research Objective 2:To identify the various communication barriers faced by employees in a diversified working environment
• Research Objective 3:To identify strategies that allow overcoming communication barriers amongst employees
• Research Objective 4:To analyze ways in which adapting such strategies can enhance the productivity of employees

Research Aim and Objectives

In order to complete the study, the following research questions need to be attended to;

• Research Question 1:What are the various communication barriers faced by employees in a diversified working environment?
• Research Question 2:How do the communication barriers faced by employees impact the organization?
• Research Question 3:Which strategies allow overcoming communication barriers amongst employees?
• Research Question 4:How can adapting such strategies can enhance productivity amongst employees?

The scope of this research will include various barriers to communication faced by employees in a diversified working environment. Then various strategies will be developed which will allow employees to overcome barriers faced in communication.

In order to complete this study, a brief literature analysis is undertaken. In order to complete this study, varied journals had been taken into account. Guffey and Loewy (2010) analyses every firm is now trying to extend their business operations in abroad to cope up with changing scenario of the business. The most challenging task is to deal and communicate with people of varied cultures. The behavior of the business that is needed to deal with the cross-culture international markets is mold by cultural awareness. Every firm should learn the skill of understanding cultural differences because this has been proved to be the major obstruction towards international business. A lot of issues in respect of international business are faced by the firms who do not get a deep understanding of the cross-culture communication. World peace and prosperity are promoted by cross-culture communication but without proper knowledge, this can affect various aspects of the business. Few aspects of business that gets affected by improper cross culture knowledge is the international business management, standardized business decisions of the business, interpersonal relationship in the business, the brand image, free trade policies, international negotiations, building up teams, standardizing, localization, international marketing strategies and staffing (Patrick & Kumar, 2012).

The cultural diversity barriers that are imposed on cross-cultural communication gives rise to various workplace problems. Anxiety, ethnocentrism, stereotyping and uncertainty are the common barriers that are caused due to inadequate cross communication knowledge and important communicative skills. The only step that can be taken to eliminate such barriers is to provide adequate cross-cultural training and other knowledge about other cultures. Edmondson and Roloff (2009) state that this has been already known that cultural factors are the greatest barrier and that has to eliminate by every firm. The globalization that is increasing every day is the main reason that the barriers that are caused by cultural factors need to be eliminated. Not only this, the only way to strengthen the organizational climate is to eliminate the cultural factor barriers that occur. The moment the overall climate of the organization strengthens, the organizations will get the opportunities to expand the business and the geological outlook of the organization gets widened. When people from various countries comprising of varied cultures, traditions and caste come together, there is a chance of problems that can arise. There may be a rise in conflicts and many other challenges while working with a team that comprises of people from varies cultures and views and such conflicts can affect the performance of the firm including the individuals. The firms that deal within multicultural teams should adapt to ways that can bring sharpness in communication to let the operations go smoothly (Cohen, Benesty & Gannot, 2009). The only way to avoid conflicts and misconceptions is to understand the barriers and find for ways to eliminate such barriers. The workplace cross-cultural communication barriers are diversified in nature. The misunderstandings among various people belonging to varied cultures and caste that arises are the main barrier of cross-culture communication. Such cross-cultural differences in communication lead to anxiety in people and this is the origin of misunderstanding in people. It is very important to note that the misunderstanding that arises due to anxiety lasts for a longer period.

Research Questions

Norms and Roles: The determination of appropriate and acceptable behavior is possible with the help of Norms and Roles. Pyattaev, Johnsson, Andreev, and Koucheryavy (2015) states that the rules that are framed by individuals are to be followed by everyone. Every people belonging to different class have different norms. These norms are hence to be followed by everyone. Every people working in multinational teams should adapt to these norms and this is when they fail to understand the norms of different people. Every people in a team are assigned different norms and they fail to work accordingly because of the inadequate understanding. The roles differ from person to person depending on cultures. People working for cross-culture teams very often fail to follow their respective roles and the roles are thus violated. Such violation of roles leads to anxiety and misunderstanding and as a result what happens is the communication process gets interrupted.

Beliefs and Values: Not all firm has similar beliefs and values, each and every firm has different norms and values because every people have different values and beliefs that depends on the culture. Olaniran (2008) states that to create proper communication every person in the team should know the cross culture values and beliefs efficiently.

Stereotyping Judgment of Value about people: The unintelligent choices of cross-cultural communication causes due to the inadequate information of the people. Our perception of people is exaggerated by cultural stereotypes and due to which anxiety rises. A stereotype or groups is enacted by every individual. Lack of group knowledge and fear of groups is when stereotypes take birth. The problem of miscommunication that arises due to the presence of various cultures is mainly occurring due to the stereotypes because they create a difference in opinion. Rivera-Vazquez, Ortiz-Fournier and Rogelio Flores (2009) provides that a person feels that the culture he/she belongs to is the distinctive because of the cultural experiences and even these distinctive feeling among people creates anxiety in people. Such distinctive feelings in the workplace are sure to create anxiety among the group members. The groups that deal with multi-cultural people face a lot of issue due to the problem of ethnocentrism.

To avoid the cross-cultural barriers organizations should set-up cross-cultural competence in the organization. The interpretation of signs, languages and another form of communication is diverse in employees with diverse backgrounds and this determines the way they make decisions from the company (Dutta, 2008). Approaching different organizational conflicts also depends on the diverse cultural backgrounds of the people. Teamwork is inspired on a worldwide scale with the help of organizational diversities which enables the employees to work at their best. The workplace diversity leads to a lack of communication in the organization and this, as a result, lead to confusion in the business. Employee division and degradation of employee morale are also the reason for ineffective communication. The main aim of the study is to make the organizations aware of the challenges that can take place due to ineffective communication. Below are the four listed categories that can obstruct a team success:

• Direct versus indirect communication
• The trouble with accents and fluency
• The difference in attitudes toward authority and hierarchy
• Decision Making Conflicting norms
• Direct versus Indirect Communication

Research Scope

The western culture, unlike the other culture, has a different communication style. The form of sending messages in western style is direct whereas the form of sending messages in the other cultures is discrete. This is another reason for workplace miscommunication because an organization may have various western and non-western employees and this result in confusion (Aneas & Sandín, 2009). The virtual and face to face communications are affected by the problem of cultural diversities. The cohesiveness of an organization is caused due to the way the employees belonging to varied cultures interact with each other. The main problem with the non-western culture is that the employees without saying it directly suggest an option. The board meeting that is conducted also brings out a great difference between the two. Because a nod during such meeting is considered that the statement is agreed by everyone in case of western cultures whereas this does not necessarily case in case of non-western cultures.

The difference in the languages is considered as one of the greatest challenges that occur in an organization that have diverse culture peoples. The non-native languages are not that famous in workplaces and hence the persons who are not comfortable in speaking in English usually speak in their native language (Yang, Yu, Chen & Huang, 2014). This is another barrier because of English the universal language that is used internationally for all types of business. The employees speaking in their native language face a lot of difficulties because they are unable to interact with all the employees in the organization and they are sometimes are not appreciated as well. Such employees are sure to get frustrated because of their unnoticed position in the workplace. As a result, those employees fail to contribute to the organizations and the organization is affected adversely. Teamwork is the key to achieve success in the organization. Likewise, the profitability of an organization is dependent on the effective work of the whole team. There are certain organizations that treat their employees based on the position they hold in the organization (Noll, Beecham & Richardson, 2010). The process of presenting data to the managers by the multi-cultural companies is different because there is a certain organization who presents their ideas to the top-class team members whereas in few other organizations the employees work as a team. Such lack of awareness disrupts the workflow.

Every culture that exists in these worlds has their own way of dealing with things. They reach the agreement in their own terms and then decisions are taken. The process of making decisions and the time taken for coming to a conclusion and the efforts that are to be taken all of this depends on the cultures (Lauring, 2011). These vary from culture to culture. As per the Harvard Business Review article, The Americans are considered to be very quick at making decisions. Apart from American’s other cultures suppress information until and unless analysis and performances are done to reach a conclusion. The ability of attitude, skills, and knowledge to participate in activities is known as cross-cultural competence. There are three main pillars on which the development of cross-cultural competence depends on namely the cross-cultural ability, cross-cultural sensitivity and cross-cultural awareness.

Literature Analysis

Defining the research methodology is most integral in any study. In the current scope of the discussion of research, the methodology is undertaken. It allows an arriving at the objectives and the questions related to the study (Neuman, 2013). Positivism and interpretivism are two main research methods that can be used in this type of communication-related study. Positivism for quantitative scientific methods is preferable, whereas application-based studies make use of interpretivism by making use qualitative methods. The scope of this study can be carried out with qualitative methods. The reason being that challenges to communication barriers can be analyzed in a descriptive manner. The researcher collected qualitative data and interpreted them interpretatively to obtain the results of the research.

A research method provides various underlying assumptions related to the study. Visualization and analyzing the data for the study can be undertaken through qualitative or quantitative techniques. Quantitative data refers to mathematical and statistical data, while qualitative data consists of subjective data (Flick, 2015). The qualitative method of this study was chosen as various information related to communication challenges were analyzed in a descriptive manner. Qualitative data can be analyzed using inductive or deductive approaches, it is better to use the inductive approach. Generally, deductive approaches are used for quantitative data. The study has already developed the theory to obtain a brief summary and establish relations between the objectives of the research.

The study has primarily opted for qualitative data of secondary nature. The study has ignored in totality primary data, meaning first-hand data due to lack of time and money.  The study has primarily collected data from secondary sources meaning company magazines, journals, and other internet sources in order to understand the impact of communication challenges and identifying suitable strategies for overcoming them (Gomm, 2008). While companies are globalizing a large number of them are facing challenges in communication from increased diversity. Some of those organizations were identified and then descriptively there challenges were identified and analyzed. There are various search tools that allow the collection of research data. The survey uses secondary data collected from observations of the technology industry. The data collected is then analyzed in a descriptive manner and interpreted in order to arrive at the findings related to the study. The following will the timeline set for completion of the study. The study has followed all possible ethical guidelines in accordance with the University set standards.

Table 1: Gantt Chart for the Study Timeline

Project Criteria	Timeline
0-15 days	15-40 days	40-75 days	75-90 days	90-110 days	110-130 days	130-145 days
Proposal
Introduction
Literature Analysis
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Findings
Recommendations

The data collection has revealed the following findings related to the study which encompasses strategies for overcoming barriers in communications. The following findings have been arrived at while assimilating the findings from several journals and company magazines which have been undertaken for the study. While varied organisations apply variety of techniques, some of the most popular techniques have been diagnosed and identified here. Technological companies such as IBM, Cognizant, Infosys and similar other companies while operating in India, Mexico and while operating in other Asia location have adopted varied strategies so that their expatriates from US are able to interact with employees within the team and overcome any substantial communication barriers faced. The following scope of findings have been assimilated from some of their adopted strategies to design broader based findings. An organization achieves objectives with the help of respecting to norms, beliefs, and values of the people. In order to make people appreciate their cultural differences it is necessary to develop these aspects. An individual’s grasp for self- possession, neutrality, and self-concept is possible only through the cross-cultural sensitivity. The cross-cultural awareness is basically the cognitive aspect of cross-cultural communication. There are few methods to improve cross-cultural competence and those are:

• Findings 1 – Cross-Cultural Training: Every employee should be trained well about the cross-cultural barriers that can arise in the organization and they should have the ability to accept the differences in cultures. They should also have the ability to accept and cope up with the cross culture beliefs, opinions, and perceptions. This is only possible when basic cross culture training is undertaken in the workplace.
• Findings 2 – Language Training Sessions:Difference in the languages that are used in the workplace is also a major barrier that affects the workflow in organizations. The individuals who have a chance to get in contact with the foreigners should especially be given the language training. Equal importance should be given to all the culture that exists in the organizations and undertaking language training can help many cross culture individuals to adapt to the existing working environment without being felt neglected.

If all the misunderstanding was reduced and the people started communicated in a better way with each other then everyone would have led a peaceful life. But the diverse workplace that exists in the present day will actually not let this happen because of such environments the people who work come from a different section of the society belonging to a different culture. Ineffective communication skills among people can increase the misunderstanding among employees.

No matter in which industry a person goes to work such misunderstandings is sure to exist because every industry is composed of employees of diverse culture and beliefs. The only way to overcome such situations is to deal with the problems and eliminate the obstacles. Here are a few listed strategies that have been collected that can be used to combat communication errors:

• Findings 3 – Listen properly:The present day scenario of speaking at every matter to get heard at the point of life has bought about a disadvantage among the people that they are almost reduced the habit of listening to people. Unless and until the person is heard saying something it is actually not listening. The work environments also face such problems. The only way to solve this problem is to carefully listen to the opponents and think to his opinion before placing own views deliberately. This is the only way misconceptions can be avoided and the opponent can even sense the respect that one is  giving.  
• Findings 4 – Avoiding jargon:Certain insider languages or maybe jargons may not be known to people especially the newcomers and they might feel like an outsider. Hence it is very much necessary to use languages that are common to all people because using unknown languages in group discussions can make many people not understand to the topics that are being discussed as not all abbreviations are known to every people in the group.

All the members in the group should be respected. Not taking necessary steps towards making them comfortable with the language that is used in the group discussion can disrespect the member of the group. If even one person in the group fails to communicate and understand the means of communication used in the group discussion can harm the operations of the business. The best way to deal with such problems is to e4limate such unknown languages and jargon from a speech that is delivered.

• Findings 5 – Keep an open mind: The phrase ‘walk a mile in their shoes’ is quite applicable here because there are various people who react to different opinions in a different way. As in if a person is appreciated for a work by saying well then they might be of an opinion that why not great and just good. This is a perfect example. When different people are working in the organization the issues also are compounded and this is a reason why every people need to keep their mind open. Knowing about the place from where the person is coming from is the only way to deal with these problems and when this is kind of impossible people should know that there is the difference in an opinion that is going to exist and just letting things happen the way they are going.
• Findings 4 – Be aware of cultural differences:These particular works is getting attached to the day by day where every person is irrespective of the caste and religion work together in organizations. This particular job is tough that imagined. From place to place the cultural sensitivities different and things which might be wrong for the person.

In the same way, things can appear normal by a group of people may be abnormal for another group of people and such misunderstanding and misconceptions always prevail. Especially in the multi-cultural work environment the problem of misconception always prevails. Asking for confirmations and opinions can help in such problems. This step can reduce misconceptions.

Conclusion 

The idea of establishing a brand new culture in the environment should be the aim of every organization. Such a culture should be created in which every people understands the values and beliefs of the other person and respects it. A climate that is away from conflicts between people and the difference of opinion among people should be created in every organization. Undertaking cross-cultural training to improve cross-cultural competence among employees should be done. Such training should include an ample amount of knowledge about the cross-cultural barriers that can be an obstruction for the business operations. The person who sends the message must be aware of what that means. The sender of a message may not create a message structure at level or capacity but must take into account the recipient’s level, understanding or environment. Ask everyone when planning communication to make appropriate suggestions. The biggest advantage is that all people who have heard the preparation of the communication plan promote the success of the communication system. The sender must ensure that the message is written in a clear and comfortable language. A message must not harm the recipient’s feelings. If possible, the content of the message must be the short and excessive use of technical words should be avoided. The subject of the message will be useful to the recipient. The needs and interests of the recipient should be considered. Communication is more effective in such a situation. The purpose of the feedback is to determine whether the recipient understands the importance of the information received. In face to face communication, the answer to the recipient’s face can be understood.

However, in the case of written communication or other communication, the sender must provide the necessary feedback. The information sent to the recipient must not be contradictory. It must be compatible with the organization’s goals, working methods, programs, and technology. When a new message is to be sent instead of an old message, there is always a change or can cause suspicion. In order to streamline communication, management must try to identify the communication system’s shortcomings regularly. In this context, efforts can be made to determine whether more emphasis should be placed on formal or informal communication. Similarly, communication suggestions (oral, written and written) can be determined to determine which support is most effective and appropriate. Communication’s essence is that the sender and receiver should be good listeners. Both should listen to each other’s attention, patience and positive attitude. The sender can get very important information by being a good listener. Organisations need to use a variety of techniques such that they are able to overcome communication barriers within their organisations.

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