Communication Issues (From the Least to Most Important Ones)
- Cultural diversity and environmental sensitivity within an organization;
- Ensuring employees’ adherence to ethical codes of conduct;
- Development of strategies for people to adjust to a new ethical environment;
Possible solutions
- Presence of external assessors;
The presence of independent experts during the ethical conduct evaluation is vital to make employees become more attached to the accomplishment of the proposed tasks. - Raising awareness among the employees through communication teams;
The communication teams should work on improvement interaction between employees with regard to new ethical principles. Their task it to make them understand that business environment is also premised on morally predetermined behavior. The performance assessment procedure should also include employees’ behavior analysis. - Developing response-and-feedback system for employers and employees;
Encouraging employees to estimate the workforce environment will provide new perspectives for solving ethical dilemmas. Transparent reporting and constant information exchange will allow managers to take greater control of the situation.
Communication skills
- Understanding cultural diversity and gaining ability in facing various cultural backgrounds;
Globalization process creates new conditions for communication and cooperation among the employees in terms of interaction of new cultures and visions and, therefore, understanding each other’s needs fosters interaction within an organization. - Developing speech patterns that comply with internal and external requirements to business interaction;
Understanding politically correct language is indispensible for sustaining successful communication and establishing fruitful international relations. Therefore, the employees should realize the cultural aspect is vital in promoting their careers and brining in welfare to the organization. - Learning the basics of e-communication as a powerful collaborative tool;
In the times of technological expansion, e-communication is a common thing and, therefore, specific training programs should be adopted to upgrade employees’ technical skills that will improve their communication. - Ability to respond to changes in ethically diverse environments;
Change management is an integral part of business communication. Therefore, employees should develop efficient communicative patterns that would allow them to adjust to changes. - Ability to minimize cultural noise and extract the pertinent information;
It is highly vital to focus on the concerns and the needs of the speaker to define what information is the most important in a specific context.
Case Study Analysis
Core Values
Core values of an each organization are associated with strong corporate culture that allows both employees and employers to face risks and changes of an external environment. With regard to the case, employers are working on enhancing communication and technical skills to meet such aspects as cultural diversity, competition, and globalization (Lanaud & Gateau, 2005). The presence of ethical standards is important as well. The employees, therefore, should adjust their behavior to organization’s mission and objectives to advance business activities.
Communication Is Invention
Just like other business strategies, communication can also be regarded as a powerful tool for carrying out business in the light of emerging globalization trends. In this respect, the case study proves how recent innovation influence communication and behavioral pattern within in an organization. The focus is made on the internationalization of ethical standard that relate to employees’ behavior and interaction both insider and outside the company.
Leader’s Job
Efficient leadership also depends on the manager’s ability to compete with the constantly changing patterns of communication and feedback in an organizational environment. Because Total S. A. faces geographically and culturally varied contexts, leader’s strategies should be oriented on the analysis of the outcomes of the code of conduct, as well as how these outcomes affect the overall organizational culture (Lanaud & Gateau, 2005). In addition, constant information exchange and transparent reporting should also be among the basic functions that a leader should perform in the company.
Psychological and Physical Barriers to Communication
Before implementing efficient ethical standards, managers should carry out screening procedures to estimate the employees’ readiness to accept new norms and change their previous patterns. The main psychological barrier to communication is employees’ fear of miscommunication. In this respect, the Total S. A.’s strategy of introducing supporting communication team is beneficial (Lanaud & Gateau, 2005).
Importance of Feedback
Feedback from employees allows company’s leaders to estimate the extent to which the staff is satisfied with the organizational climate. Constant response to the change will allow managers to quickly react to these challenges and provide possible solutions. Therefore, it is important for employers to create an ethics community that would encourage employees to response to any problem they encounter on the way to comprehending new ethical rules. The task of the manager lies in filling in the generation gap between experienced workers and the newcomers, which also reduce the risk of misunderstanding.
Conclusion
With regard to the above-presented communication problems, objectives, and solutions, the case under consideration illustrate a bright example of how communication patterns can be successfully shaped through a four-stage action plan. To eliminate the cultural diversity challenge, the managers should implement a system of transparent reporting and information exchange that would motivate workers to exchange experience and sharing ideas.
Reference
Lanaud, R. & Gateau, P. (2005). Turning business principles into ethical behavior at Total S.A. The Business Communicator. 6(4), 10-12.