Communication Barriers in the Workplace

This assignment delves into the complexities of cross-cultural communication within the workplace. Students will examine various research articles that highlight communication barriers stemming from cultural differences. The focus will be on understanding how these barriers affect workplace interactions, productivity, and overall organizational effectiveness. Additionally, the assignment encourages critical analysis of strategies for mitigating these challenges and fostering successful intercultural communication in professional settings.

Running head: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Effective Business Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Introduction
The following paper will discuss about the various communication strategies that works
within the human beings. The diagnosis has to be done on the improvement of the personal skills
of the human beings. The personal skills have to be improved in order to assess the effectiveness
of the human beings in many cases. The feedbacks will have to be assessed in many ways
indeed. The reflective section will demonstrate about the feedbacks of the various diagnostic
tools of communication. This is very much important in the proper implications of the personal
skills of the professionals in the organizations. Many people have always faced the various issues
in the organizations regarding their communication skills. These skills will help them to
communicate with the other people and society in a much better way indeed. The communication
skills will have to be improved based on the scores obtained from the various diagnostic tools.
Better knowledge and skills will have to be gained from the better communication skills across
the organizations (Biocca & Levy, 2013). If these various diagnostic tools are utilized properly,
this will probably increase the self-reflection on the communication skills of the people. This
will allow them to improve their competencies across the communication strategies and they will
also perform in a better way altogether. This will help the people to develop their communication
skills and also this will improve their skills in verbal, non-verbal, active listening and other
sections.
Diagnosis and reflection
Some important diagnostic tolls will be assessed in this section in order to develop the
cross-cultural communication across the society and in many organizations. If I have to improve
my qualities in many ways for my working environment, I will have to inculcate many
communicative ways into myself. I will have to value the ethics in the best ways I can. This will

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surely help me to communicate with the people who belong to the different backgrounds other
than mine. I will be able to build a good relationship with them. The people from different
cultures and backgrounds hold different views about me. I will have to interact with them
verbally so they can understand what I actually want to say. The improvement in the
communication strategies will also help me to become a successful listener amidst all of them. I
would become a good speaker as well. The use of the various diagnostic tools will help me to
develop the levels of my communication skills.
The social communication is also a very important thing in this aspect. The people will be
able to know the current level or the current score to judge their current condition. All those
people will be able to make developments on the level of their communication skills. In the
following portion, five diagnostic tools will have to be analyzed in order to judge my
communication skills. The individuals will be able to assess themselves by conducting the
effective communication program. The perspective of the communication skills will remain at
the main focus. The readers will feel charged up if they read this self-assessment program in the
reflective design. The readers will be able to assess their communication skills in a better way.
The very first diagnostic tool that will be addressed in this section is the Self Perceived
Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). This is a very interesting diagnostic tool in relating
to the communication in the organizations. The individuals can remain to be independent when
this scale will be applied to the individuals for assessing their communication skills. The name of
the tool itself suggests that this toll plays a major role in understanding the cross-cultural
competence among the individuals. I have felt that I possess quite an average rating in the
communication competence. My scores always prove my words in this case. My score when
presenting the talk to my friends is about 2 only. This proves that I am very weak in approaching

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the public in general. The conversation that I go through with my acquainted people can be given
a score about 4. This shows that I am more confident when I am communicating with my
acquainted people. I can improve this score around 7. This means that I will be able to converse
and communicate with my known persons and my friends. I can prominently admit that I am not
at all comfortable when I am talking to the strangers. My score in this segment is only about 3. I
lose my confidence whenever I am communicating with some unknown persons. I cannot talk to
strangers in a simple manner. I stammer and stumble many times. I can say that I am always
comfortable with all the feelings and emotions of mine when I am with my best friend. I can
point out everything. This can be given a score of 8 which is a very good one. This means that
the person with whom I have a kind of mental match, can enhance my communication skills to a
greater level.
My score in case of talking to acquainted people in the meetings is about 6. This is the
proof of the fact that I am very much easy when I am pointing out my opinions in the presence of
my acquainted people. However, this is not at all a satisfactory performance at all. When I go on
to communicate with all my friends, I score around 11, which I think is a very good score indeed.
In this aspect, when I go on to score around 16 when I am with a small group of friends. I am
always nervous whenever I am talking with the strangers. Whenever I face some group of
strangers, my score falls down to 10. This shows my nervousness. So, my total score in SPCC is
67. This is Low SPCC score indeed. I know that I have to improve upon it.
The second diagnostic tool for communication in this context is the Personal Report of
Public Speaking Anxiety. The people cannot communicate with more number of people. The
business decision must be made in haste. This process can be halted if the personas are not
comfortable with presenting their ideas. This is why the people need to communicate with

4EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
several people at a time. This might well work as a positive force in bringing the best results
indeed. This is the reason why I have felt very nervous while communicating with many people
at a time and this has affected my professional career as well. I am quite strong in my listening
and speaking skills. Yet I get confused in this because it lowers my confidence. Whenever I go
on to deliver my lecture in front of several people, I lose my confidence and I stumble. I become
very much tensed about all these things. 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 22, 29, 32 and 35. The total amounts
up to 179. This score is very high indeed. This means I have to get over my anxiety and nervous
attitude to be an established speaker in the future.
The third diagnostic tool in this context is Personal Report Intercultural communication
Apprehension (PRICA). This tool is very useful for measuring the rate of anxiety that one faces
while communicating with several persons around him. It has been seen that most people can
communicate with a small group of people very easily. This tool has a big role in assessing the
intercultural communication among the individuals. However, they cannot communicate with
more number of people. The business decision must be made in haste. This process can be halted
if the personas are not comfortable with presenting their ideas. This is why the people need to
communicate with several people at a time. This might well work as a positive force in bringing
the best results indeed. This is the reason why I have felt very nervous while communicating
with many people at a time and this has affected my professional career as well. I am quite
strong in my listening and speaking skills. Yet I get confused in this because it lowers my
confidence. Whenever I go on to deliver my lecture in front of several people, I lose my
confidence and I stumble. I become very much tensed about all these things. 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18,
22, 29, 32 and 35. The total amounts up to 179. This score is very high indeed. This means I
have to get over my anxiety and nervous attitude to be an established speaker in the future.

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The fourth diagnostic tool that will be used is the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self
Report (NISS). The behaviors of the people are measured through this tool that arises in the
minds of the people for the others. I had gone through this test to evaluate my condition when I
have to talk to other people. I have been using my hands while talking to other people that give
me a score of 5 only. When I talk with other people, my voice goes soft. I can score only 3 in this
section. Generally I do not like to make eye contact with other people. This is why I can give
myself only a score of 4. I always say what I have to say in the same vocal tone. This aspect can
give me only 1. I use to sit while I communicating with other people. I can get about 6 in the
self-scale communicative aspects. Very often I give smile while talking with other people. This
gives me only 4. I also touch people while talking to them and I can only about 4 indeed. My
total is 23 that is moderate in the self-scale communication. I can say that I need to improve my
scores in all aspects.
The fifth diagnostic tool for communication is the talkaholic scale. This is the
tool that discusses about the people who talk more than it is expected to be. It is the talkaholic
scale that demonstrates how they can communicate with different people from different cultural
backgrounds. They can talk with these people more than expected. As per the talkaholic scale,
the score can be given as 3, 6, 9, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17 is 82. The score says that I can talk very freely
and this will reflect in my communication skills. This can make unnecessary problems
sometimes indeed.
Literature Review
Cross cultural communication

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All the organizations need to have some specific organizational culture that they have to
preserve properly. All the employees of the organization are needed to be controlled properly.
They should possess an organizational culture that will reflect in the workings of the
organization in the most effective ways. Some of the important things in this context are the
cultural backgrounds of the employees (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2013). The behaviors of the
individual employees should be noticed in this case as well. The value for the ethics and other
things should be given much importance in this context as well. It is very much important for the
employees to communicate with each other in the workplace. If they are not comfortable with
each other this would put a bad impact on the minds of the higher authorities. The organizational
balance will be hampered and the profits will go through severe issues as well. There are several
cultural backgrounds that are seen in the various organizations (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2013). If
the variations are many it becomes really difficult to cope up for the employees. It is always
important for the employees to communicate with each other and maximize the chances of the
organizational development. The more information can be exchanged between the employees,
the more benefits the organization will benefit from it. If the employees cannot communicate
with them properly, this will be a huge problem for them in different aspects. They will suffer a
lot indeed. The business activities will be stopped because of the lack of proper communication
(Matsumoto & Hwang, 2013).
If the workplace communication cannot function properly, it would become very difficult
for the managers to control the system (Keyton et al. 2013). The cultures, decision making
powers and the opinions of the employees are different. This is why the communication system
has to be enhanced to a great level instead. Many relevant problems can arise from these
complications like the language barriers, cultural barriers and wrong decisions among many. As

7EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
there are several cultures, the ways for mitigating these barriers are different as well. The
universally acknowledged common language is English. The modes of communication can be
different as the people can give different reactions or answers to one common question. They can
give one word answers or in phrases. This helps the listeners to judge the characters of the
individual people (Wrench, 2013). The non-verbal communications have to be managed through
the facial gestures in most of the cases. The expressions can also be an important thing in
understanding the answers of others. The co-employees will have to understand these gestures
and comprehend what the actual thing is.
This helps to overcome the barriers of the non-verbal communication in the
organizations. The behaviors and the attitudes of the employees are different from each other as
well. Some interpersonal conflicts might arise in these situations. The employees will probably
look to solve these situations in the various ways as they do not belong to the same cultural
backgrounds (Wrench, 2013). These employees will look to address the situations in different
ways as well. The opinions and the responses will always vary from each other. In these
circumstances, the employees should set up a strong communicative system that could cater to
the betterment of the organization as a whole. The employee relationships will be strengthened
with the invention of the better communication system across the organizations. The decision
making styles are also different from each other for the employees. If the decision making issues
are different some problems can be caused in this situation. In order to eliminate these issues, the
management has to take strict decisions accordingly. As the cultural backgrounds are different,
the decisions can differ as well. Some important things like the symbols, rhythms, signs and
gestures will have to be incorporated within the organizational practice (Shockley-Zalabak,
2014).

8EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
If the cross-cultural and intercultural communication issues have to be overcome in the
organizations, the authorities will have to take some serious steps indeed (Samovar et al., 2014).
The non-verbal communication procedures have been the main issues in the organizations for a
long time now. The diversity in the workplace has been increasing. The employees can opt to
communicate with each other through the written communication processes like the letters,
emails and send important text messages to their colleagues (Shockley-Zalabak, 2014). If these
communication practices are put into its place properly, the organization will surely get the
benefits. It would be easier to take the proper business decisions.
Apprehension for communication in cross-cultural issues
One of the most important issues in the contemporary workplace communication is the
cross-cultural communication apprehension. If the employees in an organization belong to the
diverse cultural backgrounds, miscommunication and misunderstanding can arise very severely.
These issues will have to be mitigated with strict actions. The communication and transport
technologies have to be improved in many ways (Neuliep, 2012). This is why the people from
the different cultural backgrounds will have to be brought close indeed. Some important
parameters are the geographic and demographic factors, ethnicity and religious issues and many
other things. The cross-cultural issues have been lessened in the last few years and the proper
communication at the workplace has taken its place. These issues are very much sensitive so the
intercultural apprehension skills will have to be discussed with strict measures (Neuliep, 2012).
The various issues like the ethnocentrism and other issues should have to be taken care of. The
emotions and feelings of the persons belonging to other sections will have to be understood by
their counterparts. The skills and capabilities of the individuals will have to be judges. The
intercultural awareness of the employees will have to be understood along with their cognitive

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abilities. The transformation process in regard to the intercultural communication will have to be
followed.
Various communication models
The several communication models are very important for the organization. They have to
utilize these communication models for better communication within the organizations. The first
communication model includes the Berlos model. The four parameters are sender, receiver,
channel and receiver. These components reflect on the attitudes, behaviors and skills of the
employees to a large extent indeed (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). The information has to be shared
properly by the sender. It is the duty of the sender to make sure that all the things are transmitted
properly. The meaning of the messages can be understood by the attitudes of the employees. The
information and messages have to be clarified by the sender of the messages. All the religious
values, beliefs, rules and regulations will have to be kept in mind by the senders (Argenti, 2015).
The employees must go on to communicate with the people who belong to the other cultural
backgrounds. The intercultural issues will have to be taken care of with utmost care. The second
model in this context is the Laswell’s communication model. The entire communication between
the people can be analyzed due to the need of communication between the people. The different
things that are analyzed are the control analysis, effects of media, audience and the various
contents in the sent messages (Stacks & Salwen, 2014).
Communication in the workplace has some serious importance in this modern context. If
the communication is proper, all the employees would be able to make the proper
communication between them. The workflow will get smooth indeed. If all of them
communicate with each other effectively, this will increase the confidence they already have.

10EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
This will probably be helpful for the organization as well (Conrad & Poole, 2012). The
employees will become committed to their work and this effective communication will be done
by the organization proactively. The productivity of the organization will increase seriously and
this will a huge benefit for the organization as well (Lee, McCullough & Town, 2013). If they
learn to respect one another’s culture, this will indeed turn out to be very positive.
Action Plan
An action plan will be presented in this part in order to make sure the fact that the
employees will improve their communication skills. Some serious issues regarding the
interpersonal culture have been seen in this regard. If the proper communication strategies are
taken by the organizations, this will really turn out to be a positive aspect for the organization.
The language barriers, opinions and responses can be varied but these issues can be positively
mitigated indeed. If the intercultural communication is promoted in the organizations, it will
surely improve the conditions indeed. The barriers can be overcome by following this action plan
in many ways. The information exchange can gain better flow if this action plan is carried
properly. The transparency in the process will be restored through this.
Various Activities Current level of
performance
Areas of
improvement
Time required for
improvement
Undertaking a
postgraduate
communication
courses on public
speaking phobia
I think I am very
weak in this matter. I
get nervous while I
have to deliver some
lectures on some of
I will have to
understand that I have
to efficient in the
matter of
communicating with
I think it might take
five to six months for
improving it.

11EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
those topics. I have
faced some issues in
this regard. I cannot
communicate with the
people in public.
public when I am with
them. I must be
confident and
approach all of them
with much dominance
on my nerves.
Undertaking a proper
session on the talking
with people from
different cultural
backgrounds
I feel that I am not
able to communicate
with my colleagues in
real time. This
situation arises
because I am not able
to understand what
things I have to say to
them.
I think I would have
to improve my skills
in communication
with the people who
belong to different
cultural backgrounds.
This will be a huge
issue for me if I do
not control this habit
of mine.
I think this will take
three to four months
to improve properly.
Employing a proper
mentor who will help
me to understand all
my shortcomings and
rectify them.
I have felt that I have
not been able to what
my weaknesses are. I
feel short when I go
on to communicate
with my colleagues in
many areas.
I think I have to
understand all my
weaknesses and strive to
rectify them properly. I
do not like to suffer
from indecisions and
want to approach with
confidence.
I think this process
might take about two to
three months.

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Activities Jan- Mar Apr- Jun Jul- Sep Oct- Dec
Undertaking a
postgraduate
communication
courses on public
speaking phobia
Undertaking a
proper session on
the talking with
people from
different cultural
backgrounds
Employing a
proper mentor
who will help me
to understand all
my shortcomings
and rectify them.
It is the duty of the managers to conduct the action plan and apply them in the present
scenario. They would have to utilize all the resources and erase all the differences between the
employees who belong to the different cultures and ethnicities. They have to provide the best

13EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
efforts to erase these issues. They should arrange for all the necessary training for the
improvement in the communication of the employees.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed on the communication skills in the organizations. This paper has
been segmented in the three sections. The five diagnostic tools have been discussed in this paper
to address the communication issues. A short literature review has been written in this course as
well. The benefits of the proper cross-cultural communication in the organizations have been
discussed as well. The cross-cultural communication will have to be improved in order to get the
better productivity in the organizations.

14EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
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