Nokia Business Report: Impact of Communication Barriers on Business

This report examines the critical role of communication within organizations, highlighting the adverse effects of communication barriers on business performance. The report begins by defining communication and its importance, emphasizing its role in connecting employees and management, and facilitating the exchange of information. It then delves into various types of communication barriers, including attitudinal, behavioral, environmental, language, and cultural barriers, providing specific examples of how they manifest in the workplace. The report further analyzes the negative consequences of such barriers, such as a culture of distrust, limited employee engagement, and reduced customer interaction. A case study of Nokia illustrates how poor communication contributed to the company's decline. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for effective communication strategies to overcome these challenges and foster a more productive and successful business environment. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of communication barriers and their impact on Nokia's business operations.

Running Head: COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
0
NOKIA
Business Report
Student
6/19/2019

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Executive Summary
Communication is like a lifeline to the organization, through which important message
can be passed through the different channels. The information can be transferred through top to
down or from down to up. Communication involves the process of exchanging the ideas between
the parties in where one person is speaker and the other person is a listener. Communication
today, is very essential in all the industry. In the Organization, a manager uses it as a source of
sharing the goals, values and norms to the subordinate. This system connects employer and
employee. However when such system are threaten due to some barriers, it reduces the efficiency
of the company. Same issue can be observed in the case of Nokia in which company was not
able to such of barriers and lost its share in the market of mobile devices. Therefore, the focus of
the report will be on the barriers faced by the company.

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Introduction
About Communication
Communication is technique of conveying the message. It has been acquired from the
two Latin words, which explain the meaning of sharing. Communication involves exchange of
knowledge, data between the individuals. From the era of golden times, Communication, has
been serving as a most prominent part of society (What is Communication?, 2019).
In today’s fast-paced world, the importance of communication has risen. As it can be observed
that the operations in the large organization are full of complexities, in such situations
communications plays a vital role in the performance for the effective management (Agarwal &
Garg, 2012).
However, when communication is interrupted, it can lead to the issue of distress in the
organization. Such incidents might create a negative impact the hierarchy of an organization and
result into communication barriers. During the communication process, there are various factors,
which effect the proper functioning of the system. These obstructions can be identified as a
disturbance in the channels of transferring the information. Due to the uncertainty at the
workplace, this type of problems often results into poor communication, reaches to the
employees in the distorted form, and creates the environment of misunderstandings.
Such issues of ineffective communication can be observed in the case study of Nokia,
who has faced problems while maintaining the proper communication system in the working
environment of the company (Sethi & Adhikari, 2010).

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Since communication hold a great importance in the activities of an organizations
therefore, the focus of the report will be on 4 important points which
 Importance of Communication in an Organization
 Communication Barriers
 Negative consequences of such barriers.
 Case Study of Nokia
1. Importance of Communication in an Organization.
Source: (What is Communication? 2019)
In the organization, Communication is like blood, without which the company cannot
sustain and accomplishes its futuristic goals. It is crucial for the survival of the organization as it
helps the organization to connect and deliver the message to the society. Different authors have
given the definition of communication in which William Scott states that it is a diffusion of
information with the degree of accuracy along with the security of feedback so the organizational
goals can be attained in the most effective way. W.H. Newman and C.F. Summer Jr have also
explained, “Communications is a way of interchanging and discussing the views, plans, and
goals by the individuals (Ahmed, 2018).

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In the Institution, powerful communication is essential to the management as it serves as
a base for planning and assists the managers in directing the potential and hard work of
employees towards the objectives of an organization. This skill bridges the gap between
employers and employees It acts as a motivator to the employees and boosts their enthusiasm by
encouraging them to strive hard for the future. The activity of controlling is not effective without
the appropriate system of communication. not only helps in building a professional relationship
but also develops the personality of the managers and subordinates. With the help of effective
Communication, an organization can satisfy the wants of the customer by conveying the
information, which helps them to prosper (Malik & Girdhar, 2018). In this process, majorly three
parties are involved –the sender who delivers the message, the transmitting channels through
which the details are transferred and the receiver -the collector of the message, who after
collecting the details, provide their necessary feedback to the second party. In the company,
communication is performed through 3 ways (Importance of Communication in an Organization,
2019) :
Verbal Communication: In this type of communication, information is conveyed through
words. Those words or sentences can be delivered in the spoken or written form. In Verbal
communication, two parties are involved: 1) speaker who wants to express the message and the
listener (reader) from whom the message is prepared.
 Non-Verbal Communication: In this, information is not directly expressed to through
phrases. Instead of communicating and explaining it in a comprehensive way, the
message is conveyed through physical expressions like nodding your head when you
understood the situation, gestures, and facial expressions. It adds more value to verbal
communication.

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 And, Technology- aided: In involves transmitting the messages by e-mail, SMS, mobile
devices. It is known as telecommunication where messages, words are sent through
technical assistance.
These techniques support the institution so that they can perform effectively. By fostering
strong communication channels, the company can create a flexible environment for its
employees, where they can communicate freely and express their ideas and queries. Such
communication assists employees to work with the coordination and avoid the worse conditions
like conflicts with their peers and in the organization. Effective communication is one of the
important factors, which guides the integrated efforts of the company towards success
(Szymankowska, 2014).
2. Communications as a barrier:
Communication is an essential procedure, which is comprised of 3 important stages 1)
Transmission,2) Evaluation, and 3) feedback. They act the backbone of the entire procedure
without which communication is fruitless. Attributing to the effective performance, this
technique starts with the sender who forwards the message in the encoding form through
different channels to the receiver who then decodes the information. This process is beneficial
only when the receiver perceives the information delivered by the communicator in the same
way a sender wants to convey.
However, any kind of blockage in the process of communication affects the nature of the
message. Due to such disturbance, the flow of information becomes ineffective and furthermore,
affects the organization and results. This type of disturbance is known as communication
barriers. These barriers can be explained as any restriction, which threatens the existence of

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communication between two parties that is transmitter and collector. These barriers limit the
scope of conversation between the parties, which results in conflicts among the parties. One of
the major causes of such hurdles is the diversity at the workplace where the employees have a
different ideology, attitudes, behavior to deal with the situations in the organization and
discrimination. Moreover, misbehavior and wrong attitude and breach of ethical standards in the
business environment are also one of the key issues that may create a contraction in the views
and beliefs of both the sender and receiver. Some of the examples of such obstructions (Hamlin,
2018).
 When the messages are not clear and the transmitter has used typical words and
abbreviations in the information, which is difficult to interpret for the other party.
 When the employees perceive the information in an incorrect way and do not provide
accurate feedback.
 When the manager is not attentive and is indifferent towards the needs and requirement
of the workers, hence creating the troubling situation for him/.her.
 Culture difference and values also act as a hurdle in the operations of the communication
 Issues in the pattern of decoding can appear when the information does not correlate to
the encoding standards due to which
 When the information is circulated regarding the declaration of the dividend without any
knowledge of management. Such situations might threaten the relations of the company
owner with the shareholder.
In the organization, there is a different type of barriers, which affects the stability of
managing relations with employees and stakeholders (Kumbakonam, 2016):

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A. Attitudinal Barriers:
In the workplace, different people are working together from different cultures. The
people have different values and norm and they behave accordingly. Due to such a difference in
the attitude of the colleagues results in a clash of ideas and opinion which results in disputes on
larger-scale. In such kind of conditions, managers go through stages where h/she expects respect
from his subordinates. However, this attitude forces the managers to take the unethical route
where he wants to exert and dominates its employees. This causes the barriers of attitude
(Barriers to Effective Communication, 2019).
B. Behavioral Barriers:
For the organization, employees are the asset but their biased reviews and discriminatory
attitude towards other colleagues can cost the company. Such behavior adversely influences the
growth of the organization. Since both parties form their opinion about each other, it results in a
communication breakdown.
C. Environmental Barrier:
They are unexpected barriers, which affect the efficiency of the communication system.
For example: Due to the disasters or weather change message is not able to reach the receiver on
time. They are the unforeseen contingencies, which might lead to the delay of completion of
work.
D. Language Barriers:
This barrier occurs when both the sender and receiver do not share a common language.
However, these can also take place when people have the same ability to understand each other

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language still uses short and twisted abbreviations, which might be misinterpreted by the
receiver.
E. Cultural Barriers:
In the corporate culture, people from different cultures and backgrounds come together to
achieve professional as well as personal goals. Employees must work with the integrity to avoid
cultural conflicts.
3. Negative Consequences of Communication Barriers
Ineffective communication reduces the competencies of the organization to perform better
than rest the companies. Lack of communication creates a negative impact on the culture of an
organization and results into (Kokemullar, 2019):
A. Culture of distrust:
Due to the absence of effective communication in an organization, the employees can
difficulties while working in the company. It acts as an obstacle in the development of mutual
trust among the members of the company. When the manager does not exchange the information
regarding goals, with the subordinates, they often feel neglected by them. Moreover, such a
situation results in individualism. Attributing to this, it becomes difficult to foster cross-
functional relationships since lack of communication leads to poor interpersonal communication
objectives (How Can Communication Barriers Affect Organizations?, 2019).
B. Limited employee engagement:
Every employee expects to work in an environment where they can enhance their
knowledge and expertise so that they can work with full potential, to achieve the organizational

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goal. They desire to establish positive relationships with their superiors and colleagues.
However, communication breakdown reduces the ease of effective conversation. Lack of
organizational dedication towards its employee, and performance of unethical norms eventually
lead to the worse conditions of employee turnover in the company. In an Organization,
subordinates depend upon their managers for the direction and necessary feedback. However
when management becomes ineffective, the gap between the member also increases
C. Reduces the interaction with the customer:
Unstable and weak communication of an organization in the market can affect its relations
with the prospective buyers. Such a negative attitude reflects poor communication skills and sets
a bad example for the present and future employees. Thus, it reduces the scope of building
quality relations with customers. These problems can be observed when management does not
give heat to the problems faced by the consumers and improve their skills to give the utmost
satisfaction to the employees.
4. Case Study of Nokia
The case of poor communication can be observed in the management of Nokia who has
ruled the market of mobile phones, and still, today is known for its style and different range of
technology at affordable prices. For more than 10 years, it was considered as the largest
producer of mobile devices, which has expanded its services in the global market of devices.
However, due to the complexities in the working system, the company had faced serious issues
and tried to sustain in the competitive market (The many ways poor communication can prove
fatal, 2017). However, on 2nd September 2013, it lost its game to Microsoft. After the
acquisition, Microsoft later discovered the major causes behind the downfall of such a big

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company. They evaluated the organizational problems in which they identified that Nokia was
struggling with the major issue of "Communication Barriers" (Surowiecke, 2013). Microsoft
conducted the process of analysis where they found out that the communication system in the
company was not flexible. The company used to hardly communicate and share any information
with its employees due to which the employees were felt neglected. There was the rigidity in the
environment, because of which employees were not able to express their views. All these
activities created a suspicion in the mind of employees regarding the attitude of the company
towards them. Moreover, the company had failed to convey the value and norms to the workers
(Cribbs, 2018).
Another main issue of Language Barriers was also observed in the activities of the
company. With the diversity in the organization, it failed to foster and recognize the proper
system for the employees so they can work freely without getting conscious. Today, English is
recognized as a common language in every other company however, in the Nokia it was
something different. Since its headquarters was in Finland, many of its employees were facing
difficulties in speaking the Finnish language (Cribbs , 2018). Furthermore, the company was not
cooperating with the employees and was not helping the employees in the process of adaption.
However, such a situation can be avoided by following the effective communication (Why did
Nokia fail and what can you learn from it? 2018).

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Recommendation and Conclusion
Communication barriers can be avoided by the practice of following activities in an
organization.
 The information collector must listen to the speaker attentively and raise the query if he
or she is not able to understand the details of the information. For fostering the effective
exchange of information, the speaker while communicating must use simple language
and should avoid the usage of twisted words so that the listener and easily relate to
him/her.
 In the organization, managers while providing feedback to the employees they must
emphasis on giving constructive feedback rather than providing negative feedback. Thus
leading the organization towards the goals if proper communication.
Therefore, from the above report, it can be concluded that communication is the essence
of the effective performance of the organization. However, when such activity is not performed
fruitfully it might have a negative influence on the working of the organization and can lead to
Communication barriers.