Communication barriers and strategies to overcome them

This document discusses the common challenges and barriers to effective communication in an organization, with a focus on the cultural differences. It provides strategies for overcoming these communication barriers and emphasizes the importance of cultural awareness in communication and negotiation. The case study is based on a fish and chips restaurant in London.

Communication barriers and
strategies to overcome them
as well as showing cultural
awareness

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Common challenges and barriers to effective communication...................................................1
Strategies for overcoming communication barriers....................................................................2
Awareness of cultural influences on communication and negotiation........................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
For having an effective communication in the organisation, companies have to focus on
the cultural difference and have to work in order to overcome the barriers of communication.
Present study is based on the company Mr Fishy that is a fish and chips restaurant in Borough
market near London Bridge station. Report will include Common challenges and barriers to
effective communication and Strategies for overcoming communication barriers. Report will also
include awareness of cultural influences on communication and negotiation.
Common challenges and barriers to effective communication
There are different challenges and Barriers for Mr Fishy in bringing an effective
communication in the organisation due to tensions with respect to the possibility of Brexit as it
have major effect on the relation between the British and non-British staff members at Mr Fishy.
As cultural differences are seen and different age group people are working together, different
conflicts arise in the firm(Hedman and Valo, 2015).
The different challenges are as follows:-
 Inconsistency of communication:- As communication plays the most important role in
spreading the words as message and is filtered down. Due to Brexit there are chances that
lack of clarity may is there and this results in inconsistency as working staff may begin to
assume meaning and may relay incorrect information.
 Relying on technology to disseminate message:- Due to Brexit there are chances that,
staff members take use of Email and intranet in order to have faceless communication as
they are not interested to speak face to face with other members due to cultural
differences.
 Lack of respect:- As diverse background of employees is seen in Mr Fishy, it may result
in different misunderstandings if staff members do not respect each other. Employees
have to share their experience, must have respect for one another then only the
communication can be beneficial to them and Mr fishy.
 Not listening to employees:- Managers may become fixated to the goals and they do not
listen to the employees either about their ideas or problems they are facing. If working
staff feel ignored then they may not get engaged in effective communication.
The different Barriers are as follows:-
1

 Language Barriers:- As cultural difference are their in Mr fishy, there are chances that
messages are not fully understood by the staff members. Language and linguistic ability
usually act as barrier to communication(Thomson and et.al., 2015).
 Attitudinal Barriers:- As staff members of Mr Fishy are from different backgrounds,
there are chances that due to personality conflicts or resistance to change they are not
able to communicate effectively.
 Cultural Barriers:- To Brexit in Mr fishy, there are cultural differences coming in firm
and staff may or may not take these difference into account while communicating to each
other. It is challenge for the company to make the staff aware about others culture so that
they respect it(Communication Barriers, 2019).
Strategies for overcoming communication barriers
Mr fishy have to adopt the following strategies in order to overcome the communication
barriers in the organisation:-
 Remain aware of cultural differences:- Mr Fishy have to bring modern working culture
in the firm that is a workplace where people of all culture and background can work
together for a common goal. Company have to do proper research on these cultural
barriers so that communication barriers and general cultural difference does not result in
any sort of misconduct(Meuter And et.al., 2015)
 Avoid slang:- Slang have to avoided as it can become barrier to effective communication
in Mr Fishy. Slang differs from generation to cultures and region to region. Slang may
result in confusion that further results in frustration. There may be people who are facing
language barriers, for them company have to keep messages simple so that they easily
understand the things and tasks are clear to them.
 Communicate only what is needed:- Mr Fishy have to work in order to make the staff
members encourage to have communication about the important facts and not on
unnecessary topics as it will be helpful in reducing the various conflicts that may arise
due to Brexit and cultural differences of staff members(Meijer, 2015).
Awareness of cultural influences on communication and negotiation
Cultural differences are seen all over the world and its is also increasing in different
workplaces. There is huge demand to understand these cultural difference as it have a direct
influence on the communication and negotiation. If Mr Fishy is able to understand the cultural
2

differences of the working staff, it will be helping the firm to retain the members for long time
and they also can negotiate with them. People from different backgrounds absorb messages
differently, that is the fact that culture is having a great influence on the communication.
Culture is basically measured on bases of one's values, beliefs, perception and behaviour.
Different words and gestures have different meanings for different people. The choice of
communication medium in every firm have influence of culture. Words and action at different
cultural environment and different meanings. Some culture have rules about appropriate
behaviour in certain situations that include both verbal and non-verbal communication. People at
different cultures have different reactions to eye-to-eye contact and some have importance of
manners and politeness in business environment(Holliday, 2018).
Culture can influence business communication at Mr Fishy by increasing the relevance of
cultural knowledge and understanding. Lack of cultural understanding at Mr Fishy may create
stress in the firm and further results in poor communication. Poor communication may affect the
bottom line of the business. Mr Fishy have to learn about the foreign cultures and have to
develop necessary skills for have cross cultural communication.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it is been concluded that there are different challenges and Barriers
for Mr Fishy in bringing an effective communication. Challenges for Mr Fishy are inconsistency
of communication, relying on technology to disseminate message, lack of respect and not
listening to employees. The different Barriers related to language, Attitudinal and Culture effect
communication. In order to overcome them different strategies that firm can use is to remain
aware of cultural differences, avoid slang and communicate what is in need. Finally, report
concludes that Culture generally influence communication at Mr Fishy.
3

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Thomson, K. and et.al., 2015. Interprofessional experiences of recent healthcare graduates: A
social psychology perspective on the barriers to effective communication, teamwork, and
patient-centred care. Journal of interprofessional care. 29(6). pp.634-640.
Hedman, E. and Valo, M., 2015. Communication challenges facing management teams.
Leadership & Organization Development Journal. 36(8). pp.1012-1024.
Meijer, A., 2015. E-governance innovation: Barriers and strategies. Government Information
Quarterly. 32(2). pp.198-206.
Holliday, A., 2018. Understanding intercultural communication: Negotiating a grammar of
culture. Routledge.
Meuter, R.F. And et.al., 2015. Overcoming language barriers in healthcare: a protocol for
investigating safe and effective communication when patients or clinicians use a second
language. BMC health services research. 15(1). p.371.
Online:
Communication Barriers. 2019. [Online] Available Through
<https://www.managementstudyhq.com/types-and-barriers-communication.html>
4