Diversity and Effective Communication

This assignment analyzes the impact of employee diversity on workplace communication. It argues that diverse cultures, languages, and communication styles can create barriers to effective communication, leading to misunderstandings and inefficiencies. The essay explores potential solutions, such as cross-cultural training and open communication channels, to mitigate these challenges and leverage the benefits of a diverse workforce.

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Introduction
In present time, the organisational workforce is a mixture of different religions, ethnic groups,
genders, ages and races. It is necessary for an organisation to fit all the diverse pieces of mosaic
in a coordinated and peaceful way so that the abilities of every each and every individual can be
utilised. If the employees’ diversity is managed in an adequate manner then it can offer a number
of competitive benefits but if not then it can lead to several negative implications for the
organisation and mainly in respect with the effective communication. The following essay will
focus on how the diversity of the employees inhibits the effective communication in the
organisations (Banks, 2015).
Employees' diversity inhibits effective communication in organisations
In the global organisations, there is a change in the organisational workforce which gives rise to
increased level of employees’ diversity. Due to such high level of employees’ diversity, the
organisation has to face issues at the time of workplace communication. Workplace diversity is
the strategic force which influences the organisational communication. The diversity exists
because of the differences in the culture and culture can be understand as an integrated system of
communication patterns, behaviours, values and beliefs which are shared by the people in a
group. When an organisational individual socialized in diverse cultures but look from a similar
point in a similar direction but usually see different things due to different level of perceptions
which often shape their interpersonal communication. When an employee is different from other
employees due to diversity it may lead to affecting the communication and the coordination in
the organisation in an adverse manner. The cross cultural communication or the communication
among the diverse employees may act as a barrier to the success and growth of the organisation
in terms of effective communication at workplace (Mazur, 2010).
The communication among the diverse set of employees comprises of number of potential
barriers to effective communication which are in relation to the use of the non-verbal and the
verbal methods of communicating and conveying messages. The people with diverse set of
cultures, religions and gender may result different perceptions which increase issues at the
organisation in respect with the communication (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2011). It
often happens that the message which is communicated is entirely different from the message i.e.

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intended due to the barriers developed because of employees’ diversity. The use of diverse set of
languages usually create a number of communication issues because one or both the sides are not
articulated because of the reason that they could be in their native tongue and such kind of
linguistic diversity results in difference of opinions. Linguistic diversity is one of the major and
significant aspects of global diversity. To manage an organisational workforce which does not
possess a similar language may result into a major challenge for the management as well as for
the employees (Lauring and Tange, 2010).
The employees’ diversity may have a direct and a powerful impact on the organisational
communication. The issues takes place between individuals and act as a barricade in achieving
effective communication because of the reason that the employees are from different cultures
and values and thus they tend to assume that the way they are doing the things is the right way. It
is perceived that some of the particular patterns which are adopted in their culture are the
universally accepted norms which are not true in case of organisational communication. Thus,
the stereotypes of the culture affect the communication and thus issues occur (Stahl, et al., 2010).
The employees’ diversity may also lead to miscommunications and misunderstandings but there
are opportunities associated which can offer an opportunity to the organisations to improve the
organisational communication. There is a need that the managers must be aware of the cultural
diversities and adequate efforts must be made to have better communication channels among the
employees to reduce miscommunications and errors. The diverse workforce leads to several
communications related challenges which include slowness, inefficiencies, inaccuracies, typical
communication and misunderstandings among the employees (Moran, Abramson and Moran,
2014).
The communication breakdowns takes place when the employees often assumes that the message
is understood by the other party in a same manner in which it is conveyed when in fact it has
been interpreted in a different way. Even when the language used is similar then also message
communicated is interpreted in a different manner. Thus, the non-verbal communications as
well as the diversities in the communication styles creates problems for the organization in
achieving effective communication among the employees (Ochieng and Price, 2010). The issues
and the problems magnified when they are not being discussed openly or carried forward for a
longer period of time. Due to employees’ diversity, sometimes people also mistook the message

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when the message is communicated in an informal way. Therefore, there is a noteworthy role of
employees’ diversity in restraining effective communication among the organisational
individuals (Nakui, Paulus and van der Zee, 2011).
Conclusion
To understand that how to communicate in an effective manner with the employees from other
cultures or with high level of diversity has become one of the most integral part of the working
environment of the business organisations. There are several issues and problems which occur
due to misunderstanding and miscommunication took place because of employees’ diversity. In
Present time, it is essential that the managers must manage the organisational diversity and
remain sensitive towards the differences of the individuals so that they can contribute effectively
in achieve effective cross-cultural communication. Therefore, from the essay, it can be
concluded that to reduce the barricades of effective communication arise due to employees’
diversity, the organisations must have indulge the employees in robust cross-cultural trainings
and there must be continuous discussions on the issues faced by the employees in the
organisational communication. If the diversity is managed in an effective manner then the
organisation can attain several competitive benefits as well as can take complete utilization of the
workforce.

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References
Banks, J.A., 2015. Cultural diversity and education. Routledge.
Lauring, J. and Tange, H., 2010. International language management: Contained or dilute
communication. European Journal of International Management, 4(4), pp.317-332.
Mazur, B., 2010. Cultural diversity in organisational theory and practice. Journal of Intercultural
Management, 2(2), pp.5-15.
Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014. Managing cultural differences. Routledge.
Nakui, T., Paulus, P.B. and van der Zee, K.I., 2011. The role of attitudes in reactions toward
diversity in workgroups. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(10), pp.2327-2351.
Ochieng, E.G. and Price, A.D.F., 2010. Managing cross-cultural communication in multicultural
construction project teams: The case of Kenya and UK. International Journal of Project
Management, 28(5), pp.449-460.
Stahl, G.K., Maznevski, M.L., Voigt, A. and Jonsen, K., 2010. Unraveling the effects of cultural
diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. Journal of
international business studies, 41(4), pp.690-709.
Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C., 2011. Riding the waves of culture: Understanding
diversity in global business. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.