Communication Skills in a Diverse Workplace

The focus of my essay will be on effective communication skills in a diverse workplace, we’re going to find out the barriers of communication between different cultures, how to improve our communication style/skills and how to become better listeners in order to avoid any lack of communication in the near future interactions.
Anybody in a work environment having a good understanding of effective communication skills in a diverse workplace entails will enhance every person’s ability to experience a successful and professional work experience. Misinterpretations in the workplace can be rooted from a variety of cultural differences among distinctive ethnic backgrounds. Lack of proper communication skills in diverse workplace can cause many discrepancies among co-workers. People live in an increasingly complex world. Effective communication between Fellow co-workers from different cultural backgrounds ensures a very successful organization.

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As we already know in today’s workplace is very important to be able to communicate we our fellows co-workers. If you ever been around and listened to a monotone person communicate, it’s hard to understand their feelings on a subject. Unless they incorporate their gestures and tone, we are not going to be able to see their point of view and understand their meanings. We live and work around different cultures which it make us more aware of the different people around us, by dealing with diversity on the daily basic this will help us communicate better in the Workplace as well as personal interactions. “We live in a diverse society and career success depends on communicating effectively with people whose customs and values are different” (Adler & Elmhorst, 2004). There are so many effective way we can use to communicate in the workplace and so many languages that it becomes hard to communicate with other people. Also a person with a strong accent can cause someone who speaks the same languages to become confused and misinterpret the meaning of the whole speech. Nevertheless how and where we are raised determine both our verbal and non-verbal language. Also when a person from a different country translate something in their head like from (Spanish to English) it more likely have a different meaning, and that’s why we have to know what type of audiences we are dealing with in the workplace and on our everyday life, to become better communicators.
“Being an effective communicator means interacting with people from various racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds” (Pearson, Nelson, Titsworth, & Harter 2003).
In today society culture seems to be biggest factor in our communication skills. With United States being as diverse as it is now, we have to learn different ways and style on how to improve our communication skills. United States is habited with so many cultures that it’s almost impossible to have a single communication without the lack of it. The impact that ethnicity has on individual behavior cannot be ignored. Every day ethnicity influences the experiences we have at work, Diversity needs to be viewed as a competitive advantage and a business opportunity to achieve an inclusive diverse workforce.
The problem that can arise from ethnicity is everybody comes from a different background. What one may think is normal can be totally different from what another person thinks. “Prejudice is a preconceived judgment about an individual or group of people. Discrimination is unfair or inequitable treatment based on prejudice” (Certo, 2008, p130). Minorities of all types of employment find themselves caught between the different lifestyles.
There are several options that companies can use to educate people concerning the issues of ethnicity in the workforce. Training about the differences each culture has and the need to obey the rules set-forth by the company and human resources. Human resources are an excellent place to review all the employment laws that affect the workplace diversity.
Communication is a solution we thought would benefit all concerning ethnicity in the workplace. Everyone should communicate just how they see, hear and do things that are not the standard. “If you’re not as caring toward others as you could be, you need to get the focus of yourself” (Maxwell, 2009, p109). Communication is the key to bridging the gaps between different lifestyles.” It is important to not make assumptions in communications with others, regarding the way one’s own words and actions are interpreted” (Certo, 2008).
It’s beneficial that we draw talent and value diversity and enable to attract and value diverse customers. Corporations will succeed when they have an environment that allows employees to work to their full potential. Furthermore your idea might be brilliant but is invaluable and worthless unless you can share it with others and get different point of view. This is the main reason why, effective communication is crucial at every level in any organization. However, to be able to communicate properly and effectively does not come easily to many people especially in diverse organization, and it is a skill that requires practice.
Before we even begin walking we start practicing our communication. As a newborn child we communicate by crying, but we slowly learns to mimic our parents’ speech. A while later, the newborn discovers that certain speech patterns elicit different responses; one of the satisfaction of parenting is trying to decipher the meaning behind certain words. As working adults and on our daily life, one of the golden rules that we should follow is:
We need to be able to organize our thoughts in our minds before sharing them with others.
This rule involves conveying and comprehending before and during a two-way conversation. One idea often prompts a torrent of others. In order to share your ideas, you must first shape them correctly and coherently. To organize your thought properly is very important, because it creates a pattern for your listener, allowing him or her to grasp the larger picture intuitively. This allows the listener to focus on the details of your message, without struggling to understand how you went from Point A to Point B.
Nevertheless, to be a very effective communicator one most speaks in a manner that is not offending to the receiver. When individuals are extremely well- educated in a particular field, they more likely have a tendency to use industry language in conversations or presentations. While this might be comfortable for the expert, it often causes confusion on the part of the listener. If, for example, you are discussing Business Credit Profile, you might be talking about Tradelines, Line Of credit and shelf Corporation. However, unless you are speaking to someone who is equally well- informed about business credit profile, that person will have no idea what you are saying. When we communicate, we need to put ourselves in our listeners’ shoes. Put yourself on the other side of the table.That way we can have a better feeling of our own words. In a company communication plays the biggest role. Everyone needs to be able to communicate at all time, also it’s very important to understand what effect the various components of communication on our success. As we already know verbal, vocal and visual components are the most important part of any communication.
There is no secret whatsoever that today’s workplace is growing tremendously, as the business environment expands to include various geographic locations and span numerous cultures. Having so many diversity can also be somewhat difficult to understand and communicate effectively with other fellow’s co-workers who speak another language or who rely in others meaning to get their point across. Workplace interaction /communication are not easy for everyone. Your workplace is a place where you meet and rely to people from different walks of life and from different cultural background. Sometime Language can be a major barrier to effective communication. However, a communication becomes successful only if the receiver comprehends to the fullest what the sender is trying to deliver in that message. When your message is not clearly comprehended you should expect a lack of communication by creating confusion within your audiences. Plenty of times in business, people forget common courtesy and tact. When you are interacting with co-workers, be prudent of their time and points of view. Always Separate emotion from intellect, and do not be condescending. As a part of the management you need to set an example and never allow anger to overrule reason. Always Conduct yourself in a professional manner in all aspects of you business dealings and treat others with the same respect that you expect yourself.
Businesses are facing many challenges today trying to ensure that diversity in their workplace is not a source of conflict, but a foundation of strength. The environment is constantly changing in the workplace. The employer’s needs change and so does the workers. In today workplace there are great deals of companies that have employees from many different cultures that speak different languages and practice different religions. Companies are responsible to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for their employees, it is also important that every employee play a role in helping to make a diverse environment a comfortable one as well.
Many situations occur in diverse workplaces that rely upon good communication. The method of communication can cause conflicts among co-workers. Understanding differences among co-workers of various cultures is a key element to success in the workplace.
The success and failures of a business rely on its management. Communication is very essential in our everyday life. We all communicate in a different sort of ways: Talking, sign language, or written words are forms of communication. We can define communication as the exchange of Ideas, opinions, and information through written or spoken words, symbol or by our actions. Communication is the most essential element system on every corporation. All corporations depends everyday on all aspects of communication from verbal to nonverbal to perform their daily business routines. Every corporation also depends on all communications being properly conveyed to ensure that all communications are understood by the respective audience. Communication is important in all levels in any corporation. For example, co-workers may communicate very well amongst themselves when they are from the same culture. Effective ways to do so obviously depend on the environment.
Let say that you work in a loud factory that require you to stay in contact with your co- workers, verbal communication would not be the right approach because it could be ineffective due to all the noises, so employees may communicate nonverbally with hand signals, gestures, or facial expressions. When employees need to communicate to management personnel this also can be done verbally in person, or in writing. If any management personnel are trying to communicate in the worker’s assigned work area, or desired production for the day, verbal communication should work just fine, if important information needs to be communicated, written communication would be the best choice, so there will be no lack of communication. Also, it’s one of the best forms of communication because it can be delivered uniformly and easily referenced back to.
All communication is complex with plenty of room for conflict and misinterpretations. For a corporation to be successful, it must have employees capable of sending and receiving information quickly, clearly, effectively, and error free. Mistakes caused by misinterpretations can cost any corporation thousands of dollars due to missed deadlines, lost time, and wasted product.
In order to have effective employee communication in the workplace, we must become better listeners and always put ourselves in their position in order to have good internal communication in the workplace. With a basic understanding of what we do wrong while communicating, one will be able to improve communication skills and recognize communication problems that arise during employee communication in the workplace.
Communication plays a big part on our lives whether, emotional, intellectual or social call for communication at some point in our lives. In order to address any issue we might in the workplace we have to communicate. An individual’s identity and persona is developed and brought out by our action and interaction with each other via communication. We are not all similarly motivated nor are we all compatible and it is only by way of association that we are able to positively identify with our suitable counterparts. Additionally, for those of us who are so cultured, our belief in the Superior Being, leads us to seek fulfillment of our spiritual needs.
As we already know by now Communication is the process of transferring information up, down, and across the network of managers and employees in a corporation and is the key to whether an corporation functions effectively or ineffectively. Some of the challenges for an organization is to make sure their managers are trained accurately on how to properly communicate the organizational needs to their employees so that they serve to improve customer relations, keep employee morale up, build knowledge-sharing throughout the organization, and most importantly, and enhance the company’s .
Effective communication is very important and a requirement for employing organizational strategies as well as managing day- to-day activities through its employees. Management personnel spend more than three-fourths of their time daily in communicating or exchanging information.
In Conclusion:
In today Business world, Companies are becoming more diverse each and every day there are people from all over the world working with all kinds of different organization. Different problems can and will always occur with communication: like moral and ethical issues. We also need to remember that everyone does not view the world the same. Employee should know understand the important of each team member background. Trust is widely accepted as a part of communication within employee, not a big part still listening and communication. Great communication always starts at the top.
For us to become great communicators we first need to be great listeners.