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What language barrier? Summary
The impact of globalization on international business
The impact of globalization on international business
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Case Scenario
A Fortune Global 50 company with presence in countries around the globe, the corporate headquarters is in the United States but only about 20% of the workforce is based in the United States. The practice in place is to use best-shore resources where appropriate for call centers as well as internal financial transactions. Communication takes place across many time zones and many different languages. Employees are expected to conduct all business in English.
State the Problem
Language and cultural barriers can impede business. Not every employee has a good grasp of the English language. Sometimes because of local laws English can’t be used on agreements or contracts. Cultural differences can create problems as well, some of the employment practices are considered unacceptable in many countries. Frequently requests are received with attachments that take hours to translate with the tools available at employee’s disposal. Meetings can be difficult when all participants don’t have a common language. Three examples that of the lack of communication and knowledge about specific countries have created a problem follow.
Early 2009, the company made the decision that all employees will take a cut in pay. It varied by level but the vast majority was to be reduced by 5%. The communication came on a Friday evening about 7 pm EST via email. The reason given for the pay cut was to salvage jobs. The announcement made it to the media over the weekend, and because of timing many employees learned this information from a third party. It was later discovered this pay cut couldn’t be legally enforced in many countries. A follow-up email a week later indicated the expectation would be that employees in these c...
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...on been found?
Answer
Yes, the solution did come in under budget $361,000 in total cost. The results from the survey indicated that the Wikis helped avoid revenue recognition issues of $400,000 within the first three months.
Question
Has there been an evaluation of the results? Has the project been deemed successful?
Answer:
Yes the counts and comments indicate that the Wiki’s were well received and used. The survey also indicated that the costs for implementation were recovered in three months. The translation tool is not being utilized to full capacity, so the number of concurrent users should be evaluated prior to annual renewal.
References
Change, E. (2006). New frontiers in employee communication. Third Annual examination of internal communication channels, Retrieved from http://change.edelman.com/newfrontiers/Edelman_newfrontierscomms.pdf
Gibson, J.W., and R.M. Hodgetts. 1991. Organizational Communication – A Managerial Perspective. 2nd Edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Wheeler, S., Yeomans, P., & Wheeler, D. (2008). The good, the bad and the wiki: Evaluatingstudent-generated content for collaborative learning. British Journal for Educational Technology, 39(6), 987-995.
A healthy flow of upward and downward communication ensures that the communications between managers and employees is complete. For example, in 2010, Kroger surveyed over 200 thousand employees in its “Associate First Tracker survey” and found the feedback both invaluable and “humbling.” Kroger then communicates the findings with their employees who participated which will then generate a new dialog in regard to what the next steps should be (Orgel, 2010). The final channel of communication is the use of horizontal communications between coworkers. This can...
Lundin, Rebecca W. "Teaching with Wikis: Toward a Networked Pedagogy." Computers and Composition 25.4 (2008): 432-48. Science Direct. Elsevier Inc., 2008. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. .
In order to overcome the language barrier and communication problem, the company should hire an interpreter who can smoothen the business run by aiding the negotiation process and provide understanding to the contract agreement for the
Internal communication is a key to succeed and every company’s internal communication is different some way or the other. Informing employees about salaries, benefits and end of the year bonuses is not consid...
Gibson, J.W. & Hodgetts, R. (1991). Organization communication: A Managerial Perspective. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
Wikis – a collective site where all participants are given the freedom to create or modify any page with the aim of gathering information (Désilets and Paquet).
The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Language has always been perceived as a link between people but it can also constitute a barrier. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of "yes" varies from "maybe, I'll consider it" to "definitely so," with many shades in between . Furthermore, communication between cultures which do not share the same language is considerably more difficult . Each culture, has its distinct syntax, expressions and structure which causes confusion in intercultural communication. For example , in Asian countries the word “no” is rarely used, so that “yea” can mean “no” or “perhaps”. Therefore, an American traveling to Japan might be considered impolite if he ignores this rule. Furthermore, individuals who are not comfortable with a certain language may not be taken seriously. Such is the case in the classroom, where a student who has a perfect knowledge of the subject in question may have difficulty expressing his idea due to his inability to write properly and therefore he would not receive the grade he truly deserves. Similarly intercultural communication is dominant in the workplace. In the past, many companies and organizations could operate entirely within their country of origin and conduct their activities exclusively in their own native language. But now, due...
The diffusion of online tools in education is increasing exponentially. Sener (2010) cites an increase of online class enrollees from 1.6 million in 2002 to 5.6 million in 2009. Moloney and Oakley (2010) predict an annual increase of 20% over the next few years of participants in online education. In order to meet the needs of a changing student population, educators must be aware of the myriad of tools available to enhance learning. This paper presents the use of wikis in education and evaluates the wiki’s effectiveness according to Chickering and Gamson’s Seven Principles of Good Practice (as cited in Hoskins, 2010).
Communication is the key to organization for these companies and leaders depend largely on its effectiveness. In one study of cross cultural communication, managers were asked to think of seven problems before the meeting to make the communication effective (Barriers of Cross Cultural Communication in Multinational Firms). But, how do people understand each other when they do not share the same culture? To answer this question we must first understand cross cultural management. This type of management focuses on the behavior of people working together as a group ...
First off, wikis could provide many uses for the educational environment. Not only is it easy to access and doesn't require fancy hardware or programs, it also encourages participation to take place. Wiki pages can be edited by either students or professors with each page relating to a topic or subtopic to the class unit; these pages can either be a collaborative or individual effort depending on the professor's choice. Each page can consist of an image or video gallery to support the text or have links provided for students to learn more information. Also, there could be forums to discuss the information further with fellow peers. David L. Neumann conducted a research project to analyze the effects of using wikis against individual (traditional) lectures. At the end of the researc...
Communication helps the organizational members to make both personal and organizational goals. And also help them to co-ordinate on the internal activities of the organization. To the extent the less effective communication of any organization is the less e...
While working at Borders, I experienced quite a bit of upward communication. Employees liked taking their messages to me, I was seen as one of the managers that listened. I would also try to meet their needs by communicating these messages to my ge...
Language barriers fall into various categories, writing speaking, and even product that company sell. “Other tools to break down language barriers include conducting job site and new hire safety orientations in the predominant foreign language, as well as in English” (Kalarao, 2004, pg. 65). Organizations have to make sure their management teams are skilled when it comes to articulating information, whether it’s by email, reports or verbal. When it comes to conflict often times language barriers can become a breeding ground for strife between workers versus workers, or workers versus management. Sometimes an overload of information being put out could cause barriers and confusion within the workplace. “By sifting through what you want to say and selecting only the most relevant, timely comments, you avoid overloading your employees with too many details” (Stettner, 2014, chap 5, pg. 7). When there is an information discrepancy between employees and employers, it’s up to management to find the root of the issue and fix it, not to have the issue arise again or become a larger conflict. This will include training for managers, not always firing the employee but trying to figure out how did the issue come up, and how to avoid it in the future. When management don’t fully recognize the impact overloading have on fostering a hostile