Cultural Differences Impacting Business Communication in Healthcare

This report examines the impact of cultural differences on business communication in the healthcare sector, specifically within the NHS. It analyzes various studies that highlight communication challenges arising from linguistic barriers, diverse beliefs, and cultural sensitivities. The report concludes with recommendations to improve communication effectiveness and patient care.

BUSINESS WRITING
AND COMMUNICATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The study is based on cultural differences impacting business communication in health
care sector : a study on NHS. To make valid discussion and argument it identified the
significance of topic according which it is important to analyse cause of increasing ineffective
communication in order to remove issue business communication. Further, the report fount basic
study to develop understanding over communication problem due to diverse culture. The study
was based on advancement in organisation and work environment, It was primary research in
which the scholar outlined the interaction problem due to linguistic barrier. Apart from this, the
report determined study of heath care services from where it has been discovered that
communication is the common cause which is leading to poor paten care. Thus, it summarized
with appropriate researches, their types and their results like, interaction is problem when nurses
have to deal with immigrant patients.
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Cultural diversity and content and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams
.....................................................................................................................................................1
Unravelling impact of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural
work groups.................................................................................................................................3
Student nurses' experiences of interaction in cross-cultural care encounters..................................3
Perceptions of effective and ineffective nurse-physician communication in hospitals..............4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Business writing and communication is an essential part of management of organisation
function. It is the source which helps in establishing coordination and co-operation between all
employee at workplace. Communication is tonic to formal and informal relationships at
workplace which derives positive and motivating work environment. The report will discuses
about the most common business communication problem which arise due to cultural
differences. The communication gap is increasing because the firm are encouraging equality and
diversity for promoting innovating work environment. However, the significance behind this
topic is to analyse the root cause of lacking interaction and to derive appropriate ways which
help in eliminating differences. The arguments in this study will be based on several secondary
and primary data which has been qualitative analysed by various scholar. The discussion over
the issue will help in developing critical understanding over communication problem of
enterprises.
“To study on cultural differences impacting business communication in health care sector : a
study on NHS”
MAIN BODY
Cultural differences has become turbulence to organisational communication and its
impact workplace relationships. The diversity leads to various barriers among staff members,
like language, communication, idea, opinion, beliefs etc. However, coordinating values and
working patterns for employee to a same level is the major obstacle to business interaction.
Cultural diversity and content and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams
Shachaf, (2008), has discussed about advancement in organisational and work
environment which is becoming hindrance to communication because of increasing
communication. The exploratory study of author is based on primary data collection and
qualitative analysis, where the researcher interviewed 41 team workers of Fortune 500
corporation which were employed from 9 countries. Hoover, the research discussed about inter
cultural communication which has made business communication complex for workers because
of dispersion and heterogeneity. In accordance, the study stated about miscommunication which
arise due to language differences.
Cons
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 It is the problem which lead to lack of accuracy in organisational functions, as the
language barriers makes it difficult for workers to write and speak.
 Language is crucial part of an enterprise because and due to linguistic differences team
members faces difficulty in encoding and decoding messages (Tan, Zhou and Kelly,
2017).
Pros
 As per the research, it has been found out that team members have started use tele
conferencing because encoding messages via phone in comparison to email because it
reduces the scope of confusion because of unfamiliar accent.
 The study analysed use of technology to reduce communication gap by interacting
through tele conferencing, e meetings, emails and chat rooms.
Cultural differences in medical communication
According to Schouten and Meeuwesen, (2006), cultural differences and ethnicity is the
barrier in health care services. The difference in beliefs and opinion over facts impacts
communication of doctor and patients. The study is based on secondary sources in which the
scholar collected information through online data bases. Further, from online study it has been
investigated that the different in patients verbal behaviour with health professionals. The study
outlined example stating that as per Dutch data bases, the minorities are less expressive about
their health concerns due to which doctors is unable to analyse the major reason behind the cause
and due to this the patients had to under diagnosis problems for even minor health problems.
The research also compared the intercultural doctor and patient communication with minority
service users in comparison to white American patients.
Cons
However, from study it has been analysed that minority patients are unable to understand
language of doctors which makes difficult for them to determine cause and reason of their health
problem (Omura and et.al., 2017). Thus, in accordance to this intercultural communication in
health care, it has been denoted that the core reason behind communication gap between health
professional and service users is ethnic background due to which doctors also behaved less
effectively to ethnic minorities due to which the individual become less expressive about there
health concerns.
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Unravelling impact of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural
work groups
As per Stahl and et. al., (2010), study which is focused on cultural diversity and team
dynamics. It will outline the communication of nurses in health care sector. The research is
based on 112 secondary studies where final sample was of 108 empirical studies which makes a
total sample of 10632 teams. Thus, from the quantitative calculation and final hypothesis of the
research, it has been derived that cultural diversity has a significant impact on communication.
Further, it indicates that ineffective communication between health practitioner also leads to
conflicts and mismanagement of work.
Pros
 Cultural diversity is based on creativity in managing duties.
Cons
 It increases task conflict due to which the employee become less interactive with team
members (Mariño and et.al., 2017).
Thus, the investigation outlined concept of convergence and divergence which occurs in health
care services due to cultural diversity. Convergence arises due to difference in opinion and
communication due to diverse nature of people, due to which work gets diverge in team.
Student nurses' experiences of interaction in cross-cultural care encounters.
Jirwe, Gerrish and Emami, (2010), has discussed about experience of student nurses of
communication in cross cultural care encounters. It is the situation when health practitioner do
not speak language according to service users. Thus, language barriers leads to ineffective
communication which hampers health care services. Ineffective communication of nurses
especially arises at the time of handling immigrant patient. The lack of interaction between
heath care provider and service users leads to inadequate information and also hampers quality of
nursing care services. The investigation is based on primary data collection and qualitative
analysis, for collecting relevant information the individual conducted semi structured interview
in which sample size was 10 final year students of university in Sweden, 5 participants were
immigrants and 5 were from Swedish background. However, from the research it has been found
out that as per nurses it is difficult for them to communicate with immigrants like in case the
individual is asked to remove intravenous line but the practitioner was unable to make patient
understand the reason behind the situation.
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Therefore, in situation like, the nurses are more like that individual are just doing their
job as per instruction given by health professionals. The statements by participants in study
difference from each other because of difference in experience like one participant who work as
nurse is from Swedish background stated example of African patient who was very vicious and
was not responding to any thin. As per respondent the individual was just staring to find the odd
in nursing care. In accordance to thus the nurses quoted tat she was scared and was unable to
deliver appropriate care because of anxiety and threat (Hawley and Morris, 2017).
Cons
However, participant form Kurdish background quoted that verbal communication can be
barriers to care services. Therefore, its is important to make use of gestures like asking patients
to have medicine by showing them, asking them to sleep by expression etc. Thus, the study
outlined various problems and measure to over come cross cultural communication gap. As per
the study, it has been analysed that nurses needs to trained with skills for managing cross cultural
communication which will assist in improve quality of care services.
Perceptions of effective and ineffective nurse-physician communication in hospitals.
According to Robinson and et.al., (2010), study ineffective communication of nurses
affects patient safety where the health practitioner are expected to provide safe and high quality
of care to ensure security of patients. The research is based on primary data collection where
focused group will be conducted in which the researcher focused on 5 years experience of nurses
and physician in acute care in hospital. The investigation is based on three groups with 6
participants which makes total sample of 18 respondents. The information collection of research
is based on inter professional care, communication between physician and nurses, and patients
safety. Apparently, from the study it has been determined that team working in profession of
nurses and physician can assist in removing communication barriers, and will help in delivering
safe care services to patients. In accordance to research, it has been determined that quality of
care and patient safety are the key concern of health care services which are hampered due to
communication gap between physician and nurses (Nishi, Christakis and Rand, 2017). The study
also outlined the example quoting about medication plan given by doctor to practitioner and
medical plan followed by practitioner needs to same but there are cases of ineffective
communication in which the nurses are unable to follow recommended procedure which affect
patient care and safety. Thus, it can be said that effective communication is root of health care
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services and there are various factors and which hampers interact at different level of heath
services. Therefore, with regard to all the studies some recommendation can be made which are
as follows:
 Nurses should be given training to communicate with people form diverse background.
 The physicians should make coded for specific procedure which can helps in minimizing
error of handling patients (Daim and et.al., 2012).
 The nurses should make use of gestures and expression in case of language barrier.
 In case of linguistic barriers the information between physician and health practitioner
should exchange via e mails or through written communication.
CONCLUSION
The report summarised findings and discussion on cultural differences impacting
business communication in health care sector. It outlined different studies of scholar over
ineffective communication in health care due to diverse culture. Further, from researcher it has
been concluded with study of cultural differences in which the doctors discriminate between
patients like minority and White American However, this study identified that it is the situation
where the patients becomes in secure in sharing their health problems with doctors. It has been
found out that it is difficult for manage communicate with immigrants patient because the
individuals are scared to providing care service because if their different attitude towards nurses.
Hence, the report outlined recommendation which can assist health care organisation in
removing communication barriers between physicians and nurses and between health
practitioners and patients.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Daim, T. U., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W., & Bhatla, A. (2012).
Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams. International Journal
of Project Management. 30(2). 199-212.
Hawley, S. T., & Morris, A. M. (2017). Cultural challenges to engaging patients in shared
decision making. Patient education and counseling. 100(1). 18-24.
Jirwe, M., Gerrish, K., & Emami, A. (2010). Student nurses’ experiences of communication in
cross‐cultural care encounters. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences. 24(3). 436-444.
Mariño, R. & et.al., (2017). Cultural competency and communication skills of dental students:
clinical supervisors' perceptions. European Journal of Dental Education. 21(4).
Nishi, A., Christakis, N. A., & Rand, D. G. (2017). Cooperation, decision time, and culture:
Online experiments with American and Indian participants. PloS one. 12(2). e0171252.
Omura, M. & et.al., (2017). The effectiveness of assertiveness communication training programs
for healthcare professionals and students: A systematic review. International journal of
nursing studies. 76. 120-128.
Robinson, F. P., Gorman, G., Slimmer, L. W., & Yudkowsky, R. (2010, July). Perceptions of
effective and ineffective nurse–physician communication in hospitals. In Nursing forum
Blackwell Publishing Inc. (Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 206-216).
Schouten, B. C., & Meeuwesen, L. (2006). Cultural differences in medical communication: a
review of the literature. Patient education and counseling. 64(1). 21-34.
Shachaf, P. (2008). Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts
on global virtual teams: An exploratory study. Information & Management. 45(2). 131-
142.
Stahl, G. K. & et.al., (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). 690-709.
Tan, T. C., Zhou, H., & Kelly, M. (2017). Nurse–physician communication–An integrated
review. Journal of clinical nursing. 26(23-24). 3974-3989.
Online
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Robinson P. & et.al., (2010). Perceptions of Effective and Ineffective Nurse–Physician
Communication in Hospitals. [Online]. Available through:
<https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4a7f/e24d4c0d0f9fafce91792e2efc01e2de3901.pdf>.
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