Communication And Negotiation Skills – Challenges And Solutions

Communication Challenges Faced by Barry

Discuss about the Communication and Negotiation Skills.

Based on the story on the case study, it can genuinely be asserted that Barry faces numerous communication challenges which need to be fully addressed and some of them include:

Language barriers-It is quite apparent that based on the case study, not all employees actually speak English as being their first language (Markowitz & Rubin, 2016). It is quite apparent that the failure by employees to follow the laid down rules, regulations and instructions given can be attributed to the language barrier. As a result, this makes verbal communication between Barry and the employees to become a problem at times. Language problems make communication within and outside the company to become complicated thus causing various operational problems.   

Age/Generational Barriers-Based on the fact that employees in the business are aged between 16 to55 years; this presents numerous challenges to Barry as the Supervisor/Manager. For instance, most of the young people are fond of texting and using the short message service (sms), and therefore the older generation or employees in the business may not be conversant with the vocabulary and language that the young people use (Gardner, 2016). In addition to that, it is also prudent to note that attitudes and work values may significantly affect communication between older employees and the younger employees. It can also genuinely be asserted that age or generational differences can significantly affect communication in an organization because the interests and preferences of young people are totally different from those of the older generation.  

Ethnic and Cultural Barriers-It is quite apparent that the cultural differences that exist in most of the food safety practices may pose significant challenges that will have to be overcome by Barry (Holland & Taylor, 2016). Owing to the fact that the employees in the company come from different countries and talk different languages, it is quite apparent that they have different ethnic and cultural differences which may have significant negative impacts on the operation of the company. This is attributed to the fact that people from across various parts of the world not only have different ethnic affiliations, but they also have different cultural backgrounds.

Non-Verbal Challenges- The body language and appearance of Barry informs others in the organization that he cares less regarding cleanliness and personal appearance and cleanliness. Such non-verbal challenges affect the way that other employees work since they can also decide to emulate the characters of their supervisor or Manager who in this case is Barry. Research has it that in most of the circumstances, employees usually emulate what is done or performed by their superiors and thus in this case, employees of this organization can easily emulate the characters of their manager or supervisor. This will make almost all employees to be dirty and affect the level of trust that clients will have in them.

The Solutions that Should be Considered by Barry to Address the Challenges and Barriers

Emotional Barriers-It is quite obvious that emotional barriers are capable of greatly interfering with effective communication in the organization (Ward, Leuty& Corie, 2016). This can be proved when Barry reports to work in bad mood because of having a rough time at home. As a result, the negative emotions will have a destructive relationship when communicating with employees in the organization. On the other hand, the emotions of other employees in the organization will also have a significant impact on the success and profitability of the organization. When people in an organization have positive emotions, this will imply that their productivity will greatly be enhanced thus leading to productivity of the organization or business entity.

In order to achieve success and profitability of the company, it will important for Barry to look for solutions to resolve the problems or challenges that are facing the business entity. There are various solutions that Barry can apply in resolving the barriers and challenges that have been identified in the case study and these may include among others:

Age/Generational Barriers –based on the case study, it can be asserted that there are four major generations in the company’s workforce. This implies that each of the generation had a totally different way of communication (Mihoreanu, 2016). For instance, while the young generation may prefer getting text messages as being the best way of communication, the older employees in the organization may not regard this method of communication as being appropriate. Barry should therefore effectively consider the preferred communication methods that should be used for different generations. In addition to that, to ensure effectiveness in the organization, Barry as the manager or Supervisor should also ensure that employees in the organization are assigned duties based on their ages. Old people should never be assigned duties which they are unable to perform. Communication by the supervisor or manager to employees should always be designed based on their age so as to avoid the problems that were experienced in the company as a result of improper use of communication channels in the organization.  

Language Barriers-numerous potential solutions can be addressed such as posting signs in the primary languages understood by employees (Sims & Carter, 2016). In addition to that, signatures in form of visuals instead of just words should be put in appropriate places in the organization. In order to depict interest in the organization’s employees, Barry can also try learning some few simple words in the primary language of the employees. In order to avoid generational or age barriers in the organization, the management or supervisor in the organization should ensure that the communication style and method that is used effectively matches or suits the age of the recipients. . It will be important for Barry to ensure that the instructions given to the junior employees or staff are in a language which they easily comprehend. Language plays a significant role in organizational communication and thus as a manager or supervisor, Barry should give it the utmost concentration it deserves.

General Solutions

Ethnic and cultural barriers-There may be need for Barry to not only identify the cultural beliefs of employees, but also comprehend various ethnic barriers associated with food safety (MASH Research Team et al, 2016). For example, some of the two employees in the organization may be coming from the same country and may have made comments that the task of controlling temperatures in their country of origin may not be a significant priority for them (Morrison-Beedy, 2016). They may thus hold the view that keeping food at room temperatures for a long time may have no significant effect on it.

• Non-verbal challenges-It can truly be asserted that the appearance of Barry is indeed a “non-verbal cue” to other employees in the organization (Tarrant & Thiele, 2016). Since Barry is a manager/supervisor, his general appearance is quite important because he is a role model to the rest of the employees (Albardiaz, 2016). As a result, his general appearance, behaviors, and actions should be quite consistent with what he expects people working under him to be. For instance, owing to the fact that he expects employees under him to observe proper hand washing procedures, Barry should also ensure he exercises good hand washing procedures. Enhancing communication is quite important because it has been asserted that organizations having communication strategies which were highly effective had 47 per cent higher total returns towards shareholders as opposed to organizations which had less “effective communication strategies”. It is also true to assert that having higher levels of responsibilities in the organization results in more accountability.
• “Emotional barriers”- It can genuinely be asserted that “emotional barriers” heavily interfere with the effective organizational communications (Idrus, 2016). It will therefore important for Barry to control his personal emotions before starting work. This can be achieved through both having self-awareness and seeking outside assistance such as from the Employee Assistance Programs at the appropriate places. In order to avoid unproductively that may arise in the company as a result of emotional barriers; guiding and counseling sessions should be developed and implemented in the organization. It will be important for all and sundry in the organization to undergo guiding and counseling sessions that will help in the reduction of negative emotions and stress in the organizations. Companies having employees with positive emotions will quite definitely make organizations to be profitable. It is also important for Barry as a manager and supervisor should also become aware that employees have their own personal preferences for organizing, gathering, and disseminating information which require to become accommodated.

• To effectively communicate, it will be important for Barry to fully comprehend the various critical demographics that are associated to the audience. For instance, some of the vital demographics that should be considered by Barry when communicating with the employees in the organization include among others age, education, personal beliefs, occupation, income, ethnic origin, and socio-economic status. Knowledge of the subject, gender, and knowledge of the specific areas of work should also be ultimately considered. Successful communication will also be only achieved when Barry as a manager or leader ensures that all the obstacles towards effective communication in the organization are effectively dealt with. For instance, prejudice should be avoided at all costs and ensure that pre-conceived opinions which are not based on actual experience or reason do not prevail in the company.
• As a manager, Barry should also ensure that emotions are kept in check, especially when he is the public or at the work place. Stereotyping of employees, which implies having an oversimplified attitude, image, or opinion that individuals or employees from a specific group are similar should never happen in the organization. As a manager, Barry should also try as much as possible to depict respect for the diverse listeners who in this case happen to be his employees and avoid metaphors, idioms, or slang when communicating with employees in the organization. Language barriers in the company will greatly be minimized through the use of visual aids.
• When using the visual aids to communicate, Barry should ensure that relationships are well explained and they are simple in nature. In addition to that, the visuals should also be easy to transport, display, and set up. The effectiveness of the visual aids will also be easily achieved by Barry through not only making them colorful but also through reinforcing of the spoken messages. It will be important for Barry to organize refresher courses that will be aimed at helping employees to embrace effective listening skills. Listening refers to the ability to not only receive, but also interpret messages effectively in any given communication process. This is because listening is actually key for effective communication and without it; messages can easily get misunderstood as a result of communication breakdown between the concerned parties. 

“Standard operating procedures” “SOPS “usually serve as “written documentation” of the “best practices”, and thus significantly serve as being a framework that can be adopted for organizational policy as well as structure. SOPs normally identifies the “who, when, how” and why” of the food “service practices” for all workers (Chen & Tseng, 2016). As a supervisor, part and parcel of Barry’s responsibility is ensuring that the Standard Operating Procedures are not only in place, but they are also effectively communicated to workers or employees, and followed (Wall, 2016). Some of the two helpful Standard Operating Procedures that can be applied in this case are:

• New Employee Orientation Standard Operating Procedure-because of the time constraints that arise as a result of high turnover, the supervisor, Barry in this case currently notes that the orientation of new employees is a challenging task (Osomanski et al, 2016). Though it may consume a good amount of time at the beginning, the pay off that emanates from this exercise might be great and beneficial thus saving a lot of time and efforts in the long run.
• “Employee Health and Personal Hygiene” Standard Operating Procedure-Even though most of the Standard Operating Procedures are aimed for workers, it is vital to observe that managers or supervisors as “role models” should generally strictly follow SOPs which are operational (Epstein, 2016). The fact that Barry as a manager fails to adhere to the set personal hygiene standards in the organization indirectly informs employees that hygiene and appearance are not all that important (Roter et al, 2016). In addition to that, Barry’s appearance and personal hygiene should always serve as a good example to other employees-having unwrinkled and clean clothing, clean hands which are free from dirt and grease, and neatly trimmed hair should always be a must for the supervisor or manager, who in this case is Barry (Melzer & Schoop, 2016). To be a good motivator, Barry should therefore be hygienic and have a good appearance. Currently, Barry’s non-verbal communication informs employees or workers that personal appearance as well as hygiene has no importance”.

Supervisors such as Barry must always have numerous ways to use to effectively motivate employees. Some of the potential suggestions are:

• Serve as a good role model through both verbal as well as non-verbal communication-Owing to the fact that it is always asserted that actions usually speak louder than words, the Manager, Barry in this case, can effectively convey messages to employees through his actions (Arnold, 2016). For instance, Barry can achieve this through ensuring that he always wears a clean uniform when at work.
• Provision of sincere, encouraging and motivational words to employees-This should be done whenever employees follow safe food handling procedures (DiClemente et al, 2016). Barry should thus ensure the using of the appropriate communication methods for each employee and being a supervisor, he should also know some bits of information regarding the employees under him. For the young, Barry can send a text message saying thank you while for the older employees, a hand-written thank you note can be appropriate. 

Conclusion

Based on the above case study, it can genuinely be asserted that people in organization can only agree on the meaning of a specific message when communication has occurred. People in this organization should understand that communication should be a two way process in which all parties should effectively share feelings, ideas, news, and information and develop and share meanings. Communication should not only be a two way management function, but it should also enable communication to effectively occur among employees and in different departments and levels. Based on this scenario, it is important for all and sundry to note that messages which are transmitted as well as received by individuals from different experiences, beliefs, and cultures are interpreted differently. Effective communication in the organization should not only help in the building of morale in the organization, but also ensure that it helps employees in comprehending employment expectations but also create loyalty and commitment among various organizational stakeholders. In addition to that, good communication should be geared at allowing for the feedback of employees, minimize grievances, and increase efficiencies

How Barry “Might Use Effective Communication as a Motivator for Employees to Follow Safe Food Handling Practices”

 

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