Communication Challenges in Multicultural Organizations

Arupuda Mary Rajan

Communication is the process by which the transference of information happens from one place
to another.An efficient and able communicator needs to understand his audience , chooses the
right communication channel , hones his message according to the channel and encodes the
message to reduce any misunderstanding the receiver would experience.Feedback also will be
sort from the receiver with regards to any discrepancy in understanding the message.

“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and
other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society” – Sir E.B. Tylor

Multicultural can be defined as the amalgamation of many ethnic groups within the society. In an
organization which is diverse in nature, experiences many hurdles such as fluency and accent ,
language barriers. The global village has broken any kind of physical limitation that would cease
any human interaction.It is a common sight to see people of varied cultures working in the same
organization.The number of organizations that operate on an international market is fast growing
and has become normative in nature.This has ensured in the growth of consumer base and
diverse clientele. This interaction has proven beneficial as it fosters newer ideas and approaches
which leads to the inception of novelty in decision making , problem solving and new
undertakings.The result though a positive one can give rise to many perspectives in
understanding the management , teams , social customs and norms of communication.Effective
communication among people of the same cultural origin can be complex and challenging in the
best of times. Culture barriers play an important and an invisible barrier in any
organization.Communication issues can crop up in any organizational setting; people can
misinterpret and misunderstand each other for a variety of reasons.This is not limited to people
of different cultures but also of those belonging to the same culture.When the prevalence of
ineffective communication affects the key objectives of an organization it results in chaos ,
confusion , anxiety , no team spirit and low morale. The birthing place for obstacles in
communication is mistrust , lack of knowledge and trepidation which is common in people from
diverse cultures.These can escalate into greater problems that can negatively affect the
production and cohesion in an organization. An organization needs to identify problematic areas
of communication and work on cross cultural communication in order to overcome barriers.
Communication in an organization can be compared to the nervous system in the human body.If
anything goes awry in the process of communication , the organism or the body becomes
dysfunctional. In the same way , lack or improper communication can cause ineffectiveness and
inefficiency in an organization.

Theoretical Background
The theoretical background of this based on the ‘Cross Cultural Communication Competence
Model’. This model is given by Matveev & Nelson , 2004 includes four dimensions:
Interpersonal Skills , Team Effectiveness , Cultural Uncertainty and Cultural Empathy.

In the interpersonal skills dimension , a team member recognises the differences in the
communication and interaction styles of people belonging from different cultures showcases
flexibility in solving misunderstandings and feels comfortable when talking with foreign
nationals. The team effectiveness dimension includes vital skills as an ability of the team player
to understand and define team roles and goals to members of the multicultural team. The cultural
uncertainty dimension includes the ability to deal patiently with any kind of ambiguous
situations due to cultural differences.In the last dimension , cultural empathy dimension , a
culturally empathetic team member tries to understand the crisis regarding to culture issues and
behaves empathetically to other cultures. The team member exercises discretion while
understanding the communicative styles of various cultures.

Effects of Cross - Cultural Communication Barriers

When people are recruited by the organization or when the organization has international clients
there can be differences due to culture. These differences can lead to communication barriers due
to misinterpretations in values , customs and traditions that apply only to one culture and not the
others. The outcome of the same can cause distortion leading to a breakdown of the
communication in the two participants of communication.The management is to be precautious
of such conflicts and should incorporate strategies for deal with these cross cultural barriers.
Our culture dominates the way we think , believe and feel about everything that surrounds us. In
the same manner our communication is strongly determined by the culture we grow in. There are
many facets of communication that vary from one culture to the other. Our mannerisms , our
gestures , tone , intonation and emotions that we use according to situations is not uniform. Non
verbal cues and aspects such as posture , eye contact , touching , proximity that dominates us
unconsciously.People with different cultures have different communication and working styles.It
is easy to misinterpret verbal and non verbal cues based on language and culture.Communication
patterns used by the Western society is less discrete and more obvious than the other
cultures.The by product of communication of between Westerner and non- westerner can spew
confusion in the workplace. Such issues can come up even during Face to Face interaction and
virtual interaction. A very common ideology among the East Asians is that western people treat
friends like strangers and strangers as friends.The type of society we live in also impacts our
communication pattern , individualistic or collectivistic. The norms of the culture and rigidity in
accepting the roles , apt behavior and any change in these can cause conflicts. The interaction
between diverse employees respond to one another can decide the cohesiveness of an
organization.For example , in the western workplace , when someone nods during a meeting its
taken as an agreement but in other cultures it can be a sign of acknowledgement.
Stereotyping is another factor can mislead people in terms of communication. For eg,.we label
Americans as haughty or impatient and often judge them and more often not realizing that they
are friendly as well. We carry these misconceptions based on previous experiences or under the
influence of media or any representation of the western world.Stereotyping discounts an
individual of their ability and thus limiting their options at the workplace. We arrive at
conclusions and choose the easy path of deciding about people and their capabilities on the basis
of their culture or origin. This leads to role or job ambiguity in the workplace. Ethnocentric
factors inhibit the spirit of oneness in team thus leading to low employee morale and
performance.
Competency in terms of language and skills is another hurdle that organizations experience.
Employees come with different backgrounds of education and language quality. English has
become the primary language of business. The semantics of language is fast changing with the
world. Poor knowledge or little or wrong syntaxes in English can create communication gaps.
Communication is the core of every organization as information is shared, received, relations are
built on and maintained as well.Any variance in giving and understanding of instructions can
affect productivity and performance. Effective communication is a challenge in a homogenous
milieu with a diverse environment. It is likely that individuals misjudge someone who is trying to
convey something in a language known to us and unknown to him.It is not only frustrating but
also difficult in trying to help the person understand and communicate when the language is
unknown.
Accent and Fluency of language among employees can also be considered another obstacle in
communication.As mentioned earlier that English has become the primary business language ,
not all non- English speakers feel that they are unnoticed and not fully recognized because of
their inability to express themselves openly or correctly.Sometimes , Subject Matter Experts take
back stage as they aren’t not able to convey or help their team employees. This can cause able
and efficient members to go into a shell and not work to their fullest potential.Errors in
communication can hinder the performance of an effective team if its not managed properly.
The methods and communication skills used by one team maybe normal for one group of people
and different for the others. For eg. People from Japan and India often have a professional and
formal demeanor when interacting with the clients; as opposed to this Americans and Greeks
have an informal approach and have a friendly approach towards their clients. It is important for
employees to be aware of work ethics and the environment of their respective clients and adapt
accordingly. The hierarchy of an organization also plays an important role in easy and efficient
communication.When the organization has no decentralized communication , then transmission
of messages is lost. Organizations with flat organizational structures have easy communication
pathways and the team is unified. Gender can also be an hindrance in achieving smooth
communication.In certain cultures , Women are considered as subordinate workers as opposed to
men.When men from such society have to report to women , they feel disconnected and lose
interest. Lack of cultural awareness can cause the employees to underperform.

The tools or software used in the organizations sometimes do not help all the employees. If
there is an updation of an app or restriction in the channel of communication , then employees
will not be able to send messages effectively.When employees are not trained with the latest
softwares then its usage becomes redundant.With the advent of new apps everyday , it can
cumbersome for employees to choose the right channel of communication. Noise is another
contributor to difficulty in communication.It is not just sound but anything that interferes with
communication.It can be from not understanding the sound to psychological issues such as
anger, stress or overload of information.Linguistic barriers can also be considered as a noise
factor in communication. Networking of Communication is another major problem in
communication. Not all employees receive the right information or are not in the loop of
communication.When the mails lack clarity or are too many in number then the employees can
get confused as to which message to prioritize. Critical information can be lost in the process of
overload of information.

Resolutions
Organizations can organize culture diversity training for employees and sensitize them on the
plausible issues that can affect communication due to the diversity of the organization. When
there are more open and comfortable forums of communication then managers and the team
members with be able to communicate effectively. Language improvement and development
programs can be conducted by the organization and collaborative learning can be reinforced
among the employees.The senior employees should develop their interpersonal relations and
skills and should have an open mindset to learn.The organization should be patient and tolerant
in helping the employees and prevent them from feeling inadequate.

Conclusion
Multicultural organizations will become more common due to globalization. This means that
employees, the organization will have to work on incorporation of norms that apply for
employees of different cultures.Communication can be made easy when the organization and the
employees work hand in hand. It is vital for the organization to identify cultural differences in
the organization and work towards elimination or containing the same.

References:
1. R.Delecta Jenifer , DR.G.P Raman, “Cross Cultural Communication Barriers in
Workplace”.
2. Journal of Comparative Management
3. William B.Gudykunst , “Cross- Cultural and Intercultural Communication”.
4. Chad Lewis, “Successful Communication in Multicultural Environments” 6. Deblina
Saha Vashishta and Dr. B Balaji, Cross Cultural Study of Cutomer Satisfication with Self
Service Technology in retail settlings of India and Indonesia.