Workplace Communication Challenges in Multinational Company

This report investigates workplace communication challenges faced by a multinational agricultural equipment manufacturer and distributor operating in various countries with 8,000 employees and both local and international clients. The report identifies key communication barriers, including lack of timely communication, breakdowns between management and staff, difficulties in obtaining client feedback, language barriers, cross-cultural issues, and limited digital literacy. It analyzes these challenges, drawing on strategies employed by other organizations to overcome similar obstacles. The report proposes specific solutions, such as ensuring timely communication across time zones, implementing clear and concise internal communication protocols, establishing effective feedback mechanisms, addressing language barriers through translation and interpretation, fostering cultural sensitivity, and enhancing digital literacy. The report aims to provide actionable recommendations for the company to improve its workplace communication, ultimately enhancing efficiency and achieving its objectives.

Running head: WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Challenge one: communication on time.................................................................................3
Challenge two: Communication breakdown from top management to staffs and vice-versa 4
Challenge three: getting feedbacks from clients....................................................................5
Challenge four: communication barrier due to local languages.............................................6
Challenge five: cross-cultural issues......................................................................................7
Challenge six: low accessibility of digital and social media..................................................8
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................9

2WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
Introduction
The process in which the information is exchanged in an organization is termed as
workplace communication. It could be both verbal and non-verbal. Sharing information may
take place within as well as outside of an organization for commercial benefits to serve (Bull
& Brown, 2012). An organization consisted of diverse employees from different language
group and cultural background has necessity to communicate in a way that both the sender
and the receiver are able to understand the meaning of a massage, thus able to fulfill the
company’s objective. The effective workplace communication ensures this (Ulmer, Sellnow
& Seeger, 2013).
Communication challenges may occur in a workplace when there are some barriers
for effective communication (Modaff, Butler & DeWine, 2016). In a multinational
organization of manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipments, has eight thousand
employees in total and operates in various counties of the world is facing number of
communication challenges. However, it has both local and international clients. The
communication challenges include lack of timely communication, communication breakdown
from top management to stuffs and vice-versa, ineffective communication due to local
languages and cross-cultural issues, limited development in digital literacy.
The purpose of this report is to investigate the above-mentioned challenges faced by
this multinational company in the context of workplace communication and develop
strategies to overcome such barriers, aiming on the strategies developed by other
organizations to face similar challenges and improve workplace communication. This report
will be presented to the manager of the company and helpful for developing an effective
communication system at all level within the organization.

3WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
Discussion
Challenge one: communication on time
Efficient communication on time from the managers to staffs and clients in a
workplace helps to increase the productivity of the organization. It influences directly the
behavioral patterns of the staffs and clients and in return, the overall benefits of the
organization will be increased (Williams, 2013). Efficient communication does not only
include the clear instruction or proper explanation of the massage. Rather, if the massage is
not delivered on time, the issue will directly reflect on the cooperative systems of the
organization. In fact, it could create mess and inefficient productivity rate. Any organization
works well with employees in a structure of mutual relation and cooperation. The information
not only should pass through genuinely to all its employees, but it should be sent and
received on time. The manager of any organization should take responsibility to deliver it in
the hierarchical order and observe weather it has been delivered on time (Robles, 2012).
Due to lack of on time communication to all its stuffs and clients in the organization
of agricultural equipment’s manufacturer and distributor, the organization is facing
communication challenges. This organization has local and international clients and various
offices in different parts of the world. However, the information in this case, should be
delivered when exact time has arrived as different parts of the world bears different time
zones. For example, it has offices in both India and Australia. India is four hours and thirty
minutes behind Australia. However, the information delivery time in this case automatically
will be different. The leaders or managers of the organization should consider precise timely
communication at all level in the organization. Otherwise, if the employees and clients do not
get information, where and when they need it; the decision-making procedure will be slowing
down. It will directly affect the productivity of the organization, as projects will not be
completed on time due to delay of information provided.

4WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
Successful organizations have challenged this problem by providing clear, honest and
timely communication to all its stuffs and clients, keeping in mind the time zones and
location (ARVANITIS & SAKELLARIOU, 2014). Even, the managers should ensure that if
an employee is not present in the place and time of delivery, he is getting the massage later.
In this situation, the information should always be available to all their employees and clients
through emails (Cummings & Worley, 2014).
The multinational company in the case study should take strategies like what other
successful organization have taken to overcome such problem. It is suggested to connect with
all the stuffs and clients by emails all the time and management should strict about timely
delivery of information.
Challenge two: Communication breakdown from top management to staffs and vice-
versa
Effective and clear communication with the employees from top management and
vice-versa is one of the most important things that engage employees and management to
work together for higher production. This is a part of internal workforce communication
system in an organization (Lockwood, 2015). The more the rate of internal communication is
higher, the more productivity is obtaining (Alexander, 2013). In situation when the
information is not received given by top management system to all its employees and top
management also not in a position of getting the feedback of the information given by the
employees can be described as a horrible situation of communication breakdown in an
organization. However, it is the responsibility of the management department to check
whether the information is clearly reached with accuracy (Blyton et al., 2017). Any changes
in plan or idea taken by the management should be communicated to all its employees and
provided with upward communication system where employees have opportunities to share

5WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
their thoughts to the management. The good leaders in organizations plan for both ways
communication that is effective in nature (Eunson, 2012).
High-performing multinational companies like Philips used some strategies to
overcome internal communication breakdown. The leaders in the company always use simple
languages clearly and avoid ambiguous words. The management should ensure that the
massage is understood with the same intention the speaker is indented for. It could be done
by asking questions or active listening. Another way to overcome communication breakdown
is keeping the organizational structure as simple as possible (Blyton et al., 2017). The
optimum level of number of hierarchies in an organization, the less the number of
communication breakdown occurs. The managers also should select proper medium of
communication. Simple information should be given orally otherwise, memos, notice, emails
or other written means of communication could be used. Internal communication from
management to employees and vice-versa in top ranking companies helps to both parties to
understand its business, its culture and values, progress towards the goals and the way in
which employees can improve their performances.
The multinational company in the case study is facing problems related to internal
communication breakdown. It is suggested to the leaders to use simple and clear languages in
case of communication and they have to sure about a fact that the meaning of the massage is
communicated precisely and timely.
Challenge three: getting feedbacks from clients
Feedback is the basic and spontaneous response of the receiver. It informs the sender
about how the communication is accepted. Feedback from clients about a product is taken as
valuable information as important decisions in the organization could take place based upon

6WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
feedback. Effective feedback helps the giver, receiver and the organization (Quintanilla &
Wahl 2015).
In this case study, communication challenges occur for receiving feedbacks from
clients regarding improvement in product quality and service delivery. The clients are local
and international and their feedback plays an important role to ensure improvement. Their
valuable outcomes about a product contribute in making the most important decisions and
changes within an organization. Due to diversification in clients, it is important to understand
the communication languages the clients are delivering (Blyton et al., 2017). Email could be
the best method of receiving feedback in this scenario. It is suggested to improve the
technological structure and routes of the company for getting feedback at right time.
Top-ranking multinational companies impose great importance about client’s
feedback. They maintain a kind of open communication system where the organization is
selling the product and in response, the clients are giving feedbacks about the product. It is
the responsibility of the company to provide a clear system of open communication to ensure
the clients feedback is received on time (Modaff, Butler & DeWine, 2016). The feedback
about the product quality and service delivery of an organization plays a crucial role to ensure
improvement and progression of that organization. The organization with lack of this facility
has chance to lose its important clients and clients will be offensive as they are unable to
communicate what they want.
Challenge four: communication barrier due to local languages
In an organization, employees come from different language group. Not every
employee in the organization can be comfortable about what the other person is saying in
native languages (Tenzer, Pudelko & Harzing, 2014). Language can be acted as a barrier in
effective communication in an organization. In this case, as the organization consisted of

7WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
almost eight thousand employees in five countries worldwide including India, Nigeria, Oman
the language difference exists within the organization. However, as the different countries
have different languages it is the responsibility of the management to provide instructions
according to the specific languages of a country (Rana, 2013).
The top ranking companies use different strategies to overcome language barriers
within the organization. It is not even always possible to provide trainings to overcome
language barriers to the local employees. It is the responsibility of the manager to determine
whether the language differences will be accommodated in a workplace or not rather, it is a
common problem in an multicultural organization to have employees of different languages
group (Klitmøller & Lauring, 2013).
The company could do number of things for the employees who are not interested to
pick up dominant languages in the workplace. The managers could translate all the relevant
documents into a language of the employee (Jandt, 2012). The manager could use interpreter
when he gives instruction or receives feedback. Even some of the company provides basic
language classes to their employees to fulfill their business requirement. Sometimes
companies use strategies such as providing crash course to all its employees in the primary
language of the workplace. The managers try to use simple words with less syllable and
repetition method in the communication in a diversified working culture (Barner-Rasmussen
et al., 2014).
It is suggested to the company portrayed in the case study to follow any one or two
strategies like, translation and interpretation or training method to overcome local language
barriers in the workplace. The managers of this company should be sure about the
understanding is correct what the employees have after any method of communication. The

8WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
managers could ask for the demonstration from its employees ensuring the communication
occurred effectively.
Challenge five: cross-cultural issues
In an organization, employees work from different cultural background and shares
different values and believe within the organization. The organization holds them together in
spite of diversity in culture. However, this cultural diversity could work as a barrier in
effective communication in workplace. The problem occurs in case of massage transmission
in a diversified cultural workplace (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014). When the values and
believes of a employee can be coordinated with the similar value system of another there is
absolutely no problem. When there is a difference in cultural systems, the meaning and
interpretation of the massage could be different as different cultures carry different
expectation for behavior (Kawar, 2012).
Cultural barriers could be resolved by developing cultural sensitivity in an
organization, careful encoding and decoding of massages and building relationships among
employees of different culture (Deresky, 2017). Top organization such as MacDonald adapts
co-cultural theory to erase the cultural barriers. In this theory, communication involves the
different people of diverse group with difference in color, gender, sexual orientation and
sexual abilities. Mark P. Orbe developed this theory, which is now followed by different
multinational organizations. It seems that with the help of this strategy, different cultural
groups are able to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently (Conrad, 2014).
In this multinational company, as the cultural barrier exists in different level such as
intercultural or external barrier, it is recommended to remove such barriers ensuring all the
information is transmitted thoroughly and clearly in all the members and clients of the
organization (Patrick & Kumar, 2012). The organization has clients from different parts of

9WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
the world and share different cultural views. However, if the company accepts the co-cultural
theory model, accommodating all the culturally diversified members of the organization
under a securing umbrella provided by the organization the barriers could be removed.
Challenge six: low accessibility of digital and social media
In modern technological world, digital and social media could be used as a tool to
facilitate the communication within the workplace (Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield, 2013).
Digital media includes email, blogs, quick delivery massage system and social media
incorporates different social media sites such as twitter, facebook and even instagram
(Bucher, Fieseler & Suphan, 2013). Using digital platform helps to send massage as quick as
possible but the responsibility of the company does not end in sending the massage. It is also
the part of responsibility of the company to ensure whether the data has been received and
understood properly (Williams et al., 2012).
The organization in the case study is facing challenges regarding low literacy rate in
digital media in some countries. The company is also looking for the ways in which social
media platform could be incorporated to overcome communication challenges. As the
company has different branches in different countries and the digital media literacy rate
varies from country to country, it is suggested to train the employees, which are less known
about digital media. The training program could help the employees to learn new and modern
things as well as it would contribute to the nation. The training program could be based on
basic of computer training and internet using (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012).
The social media is as important part of communication even with an organization
(Couldry, 2012). Overcoming the barriers in social media communication, employees
knowledgeable of digital media marketing could be engaged. Top-ranking companies use

10WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
social media plat form to communicate with diverse clients around the world. They have
employees who are accustomed in social media marketing (Varnelis, 2012).
Conclusion:
It can be concluded by analyzing different types of communication barriers in a
company that if communication problem occurs at any level within the organization, it will
decrease the productivity rate of that organization. In effect to that, the overall business goal
and profits will be diminished. It is suggested to improve the communication system in an
organization and remove the barriers as soon as possible.
In the above-mentioned case study, the multinational organization is facing various
types of communication challenges, which include internal, external, local language, cultural
and social media communication. The challenges should be removed bench marking the
similar challenges faced by other top-ranking companies.
It is recommended to follow those examples and way outs of the top-ranking
company, which are successful in removing communication challenges. The recommendation
also includes the removal of any types of communication challenges in this multinational
company. The managers as well as the leaders of this company should be careful and aware
about the communication barriers and the ways in which it could be removed.

11WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
References
Alexander, K. (Ed.). (2013). Facilities management: theory and practice. Routledge.
Arvanitis, E., & Sakellariou, M. (2014). Pedagogy and Curriculum.
Barner-Rasmussen, W., Ehrnrooth, M., Koveshnikov, A., & Mäkelä, K. (2014). Cultural and
language skills as resources for boundary spanning within the MNC. Journal of
International Business Studies, 45(7), 886-905.
Blyton, P., Hassard, J., Hill, S., & Starkey, K. (2017). Time, work and organization. Taylor &
Francis.
Bull, M., & Brown, T. (2012). Change communication: the impact on satisfaction with
alternative workplace strategies. Facilities, 30(3/4), 135-151.
Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Digital marketing. Pearson Higher Ed.
Conrad, D. (2014). Workplace communication problems: Inquiries by employees and
applicable solutions. Journal of business studies quarterly, 5(4), 105.
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage
learning.
Deresky, H. (2017). International management: Managing across borders and cultures.
Pearson Education India.
Eunson, B. (2012). Communication in the Workplace. John Wiley & Sons.
Jandt, F. E. (2012). An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global
community. Sage Publications.

12WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
Kawar, T. I. (2012). Cross-cultural differences in management. International Journal of
Business and Social Science, 3(6).
Klitmøller, A., & Lauring, J. (2013). When global virtual teams share knowledge: Media
richness, cultural difference and language commonality. Journal of World
Business, 48(3), 398-406.
Leonardi, P. M., Huysman, M., & Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise social media: Definition,
history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of
Computer‐Mediated Communication, 19(1), 1-19.
Lockwood, J. (2015). Virtual team management: what is causing communication
breakdown?. Language and Intercultural Communication, 15(1), 125-140.
Modaff, D. P., Butler, J. A., & DeWine, S. A. (2016). Organizational communication:
Foundations, challenges, and misunderstandings. Pearson.
Modaff, D. P., Butler, J. A., & DeWine, S. A. (2016). Organizational communication:
Foundations, challenges, and misunderstandings. Pearson.
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences.
Routledge.
Patrick, H. A., & Kumar, V. R. (2012). Managing workplace diversity: Issues and challenges.
Sage Open, 2(2), 2158244012444615.
Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2015). Business and professional communication: Keys
for workplace excellence. Sage Publications.
Rana, R. (2013). Effective Communication in a Diverse Workplace.

13WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s
workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 453-465.
Tenzer, H., Pudelko, M., & Harzing, A. W. (2014). The impact of language barriers on trust
formation in multinational teams. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(5),
508-535.
Ulmer, R. R., Sellnow, T. L., & Seeger, M. W. (2013). Effective crisis communication:
Moving from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications.
Williams, C. (2013). Principles of management. South-Western Cengage Learning.