Communication Essay - Importance, Barriers, Self-awareness and Cross-cultural Communication

This essay discusses the importance of effective communication, barriers to communication, ethical decision making, self-awareness and cross-cultural communication in the business environment.

Running head: COMMUNICATION ESSAY
COMMUNICATION ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1COMMUNICATION ESSAY
Communication is often taken to be an important aspect of any business process.
Communication is the key to success in any kind of a formal as well as an informal
relationship. With respect to this, it is important to undertake a study which is concerned with
effective communication so that the knowledge gained in the subject might be used
effectively and applied in the future corporate endeavours (Beebe and Mottet 2013).
Therefore, the primary aim of the reflective essay is to highlight my reflections on the various
themes as discussed in the coursework based on the guidelines to effective communication,
barriers to communication, ethical decision making along with self-awareness and cross
cultural communication.
According to Greenaway et al. (2015), effective communication can be rightfully
defined as the communication which takes place between two or more individuals whereby
the message which had to be passed from one individual to the other is understood and the
feedback is received. I believe that communication is considered to be an effective aspect of
corporate life but it has been only after understanding its true meaning in the Unit coursework
that I have been successfully been able to develop my thoughts into it and understand the
extent to which good communication can foster good business environment. I have learnt that
it is only when the communication is at the same level for all the employees. The company
can achieve commercial success (Chaturvedi 2013). According to me, I now understand that
effective communication also comprises of skills of nonverbal communication, emotional
clarity and an analysis of the other person’s mindset. Having attained this knowledge, in the
future I aim to apply the principles of effective communication in my workplace, using which
I will be successfully able to ensure that I am successful in progressing in my career.
Additionally, with respect to Barriers to communication, I learnt in this unit that there
are several barriers to communication whether in an organization or outside an organization.

2COMMUNICATION ESSAY
These barriers can be rightfully categorized into different domains like the Semantic barriers,
Personal barriers, Organizational barriers and emotional barriers. According to…, the
semantic barriers can be described as those barriers, whereby there tends to exist a
misunderstanding between the sender and receiver due to misinterpretation of the words used
in the communication. In an organization, the most common types of barriers which take
place are organizational barriers which exist due to the restriction in the flow of
communication (Bishop et al. 2013). Moreover the personal and the emotional barriers can be
rightfully described as the barriers whereby the opinions and attitudes of an individual tend to
hinder the individual from communicating effectively and ensuring success in the long run of
the business enterprise. I have learnt that although there are various barriers in these
communication domains, a right approach to these barriers can assist the firm from gaining
success. From this theme in the unit, I have gained the knowledge, that no communication is
simple and that although there might take various barriers to communication, any manager
should overcome them to gain success in the long run.
According to Steidle and Werth (2014), self-awareness is the capability and
cornerstone to intelligence which is emotional in nature. It can be described as the capability
which is rightfully possessed by an individual and assists the person in recognizing
themselves as a separate entity from the environment and other related individuals. If an
individual is good at self-awareness then that person will be successfully able to monitor ones
emption and understand oneself better. This in turn will help the individual to be at peace
with one self and to manage the thoughts, behaviors and emotions successfully. In this unit, I
learnt that self-awareness in an individual is considered to be an important property or
characteristic which can assist the person in adapting to the different situations which take
place in the business. Hence, with the help of the theoretical knowledge which I have gained
in this unit, I will try to improve myself and get control over my emotions.

3COMMUNICATION ESSAY
With the advent of technology, the business environment has become highly complex
and with respect to this, there have been scenarios of a diverse workforce in different
organizations. Hence, diversity in the different organizations has fostered an environment of
cross cultured communication (Martin and Nakayama 2013). According to me, cross cultural
communication can be described as a field of learning which assists in understanding the
manner in which the different people belonging to different cultures communicate with one
another and the impact this has on the overall wellbeing of the company. I believe this issue
can often come up as a challenge to the overall wellbeing of the firm and also foster the belief
that there exists miscommunication in a firm. However, this aspect of the business cannot be
neglected and the organization needs to ensure that it provides cross cultural training to the
employees which shall enable the different firms to succeed (Oetzel 2017). Hence, an
understanding of the impact of cross cultural communication in an organization and the
carious ways to improve it I could understand that it is relevant in today`s diverse workforce
and aim to apply the concepts practically in my future workplace as a manager.
Ethical decision making can be stated to be to be a procedure in decision making
using which a decision maker tends to evaluate and use the different alternates adhering to
the business decision with respect to the ethical principles. Hence, from the perception of an
organization, ethical decision making needs to be applied and the unethical aspects should not
be considered (Erol 2015). However, in this unit, through the examples of various
organizations, I learnt that various organizations fail to do so and instead choose the option
which is the best with respect to the profit motive of the firm. Hence, according to me an
organization should be following the righteous path to success and after understanding the
discussions in the unit I aim to apply ethical decision making concepts in future in the
organization I will be working in to ensure that the business does not harm the members in
the society.

4COMMUNICATION ESSAY
Therefore, it can be stated from the analysis that I found the unit very informative and
practical. Although the various themes in the unit, were backed by theoretical models and
concepts, unlike some subjects it had a practical implication as well. Understanding of these
themes, will assist me in becoming a better manager and an idea about these themes through
the unit study has contributed to my cognitive development towards the aspect of
communication and its importance in the long run.

5COMMUNICATION ESSAY
References
Beebe, S.A. and Mottet, T.P., 2013. Business and professional communication: Principles
and skills for leadership. Pearson.
Bishop, T.F., Press, M.J., Mendelsohn, J.L. and Casalino, L.P., 2013. Electronic
communication improves access, but barriers to its widespread adoption remain. Health
Affairs, 32(8), pp.1361-1367.
Chaturvedi, P.D., 2013. Business Communication, 3/e. Pearson Education India.
Erol, F., 2015. An Investigation of the Relationship between Organizational Commitment
Levels of Academic Staff and Ethical Conducts in Behavioral and Decision Making Process
of University Management. Electronic International Journal of Education, Arts, and Science
(EIJEAS), 1(2).
Greenaway, K.H., Wright, R.G., Willingham, J., Reynolds, K.J. and Haslam, S.A., 2015.
Shared identity is key to effective communication. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 41(2), pp.171-182.
Martin, J. and Nakayama, T., 2013. Experiencing intercultural communication: An
introduction. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Oetzel, J.G., 2017. Effective intercultural workgroup communication theory. The
International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, pp.1-5.
Steidle, A. and Werth, L., 2014. In the spotlight: Brightness increases self-awareness and
reflective self-regulation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 39, pp.40-50.