Effective communication is one of the key drivers of corporate success. The most successful and competitive organizations ensure there is a smooth flow of communication between critical stakeholders such as the managerial team, staff, clients, suppliers, and the members of the community who have a vested interest in the firm. Employees should master the art of communication to collaborate and pursue mutual goals, to improve the quality of their performance, heighten their efficiency, and increase the competitiveness of their organizations.
Effective Communication Norms
Several critical features characterize effective communication norms in today's business settings. One of the first core aspects of this type of communication is completeness. Employees prioritize completeness when they provide each other with the information they require to decipher the superficial and underlying meanings of the relayed messages ( Stacho et al., 2019 ). Aside from this, effective communication is also concise. People maintain succinctness when they convey critical points, as opposed to ambiguous and redundant data ( Stacho et al., 2019 ). When senders prioritize the content of their messages, they allow receivers to focus on the significant parts of the content, to interpret the messages effectively, and to gain a profound understanding of the major themes ( Stacho et al., 2019 ). Completeness and conciseness are, therefore, critical characteristics of effective communication in today's business environment.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Cultural sensitivity is another communication norm that facilitates the development of stable interpersonal and professional relationships among corporate stakeholders. Globalization has modified the cultural composition of business environments and made them more diverse ( Uono & Hietanen, 2015) . As a result, this has created a need for more culturally sensitive interactions. According to Uono and Hietanen (2015) , employees engage in this practice when they consider their colleagues' cultural differences and maintain communications that do not offend them or criticize their values and traditions. Uono and Hietanen (2015) suggest that cultural sensitivity also minimizes the risks of misunderstandings that can threaten the stability of the professional relationships existing in a firm. Additionally, employees also maintain courteous communication practices when they use non-verbal cues that are acceptable among the receivers, based on the meanings their cultures attach to these symbols ( Uono & Hietanen, 2015) . For instance, Hmong's consider certain gestures such as direct eye contacts rude and intimidating, while Americans perceive this as a sign of boldness, courage, and self-confidence. Hence, employees working in diverse settings should avoid this cue when interacting with such individuals, to maintain culturally appropriate communications ( Uono & Hietanen, 2015) . Cultural sensitivity is, therefore, one of the chief characteristics of communications in diverse corporations.
The Role of Interpersonal Communication and Techniques Used to Overcome Barriers to Communication
Interpersonal communication plays a fundamental role in improving relationships between managers and workers and boosting the levels of motivation and job satisfaction among employees. According to Stacho et al. (2019 ), it facilitates healthy communications between senior and subordinate staff that promotes critical thinking and allows teams to identify viable solutions to the existing problems facing their company. Stable interpersonal relationships also enable managers and employees to develop strong emotional connections that increase the transparency of business operations and make them more efficient ( Stacho et al., 2019 ). Equally important, these types of corporate interactions promote change management. They make managers more sensitive to the plights of their employees when changes occur and to identify the strategies, they need to increase the latter's adaptability to corporate changes. For instance, a manager who maintains interpersonal communications with his employees identifies the individual performance areas that require attention and ensures that workers receive training that is tailored to their needs ( Stacho et al., 2019 ). Interpersonal communication plays a significant role in promoting problem-solving, trust-building, change management, and the development of sustainable professional relationships.
Ineffective communication results from issues such as poor listening skills, stereotyping, and language, among others. I have strived to overcome these barriers by using some productive techniques to improve my communication skills. For instance, every time I have a critical issue to discuss with a colleague, I sermon them in a conference room or in a quiet environment to avoid any visual and audio distractions that can affect my listening skills. Secondly, I have endeavored to increase my interactions with people from distinct cultures who speak different languages. As a result, I have gained a profound understanding and appreciation of people's differences and suppressed the prejudices I have towards other ethnic groups. Aside from this, I have also identified the non-verbal cues I should use and those I should not. For instance, I have learned that I should refrain from engaging in direct eye contact when interacting with Asian/Americans because this gesture is perceived as discourteous and menacing. Conversely, I should use this non-verbal cue when interacting with other groups such as native Americans because failure to do so indicates ignorance, impoliteness, and the lack of self-confidence, among others ( Uono & Hietanen, 2015) . I believe these techniques have significantly improved my communication skills and made me more sensitive to other people's cultures.
Verbal and Non-Verbal Management Communication
Verbal communication involves the use of words to convey messages. Speeches, presentations, face-to-face discussions, telephone conversations, and written messages are some of the components of this type of communication. Verbal and written messages differ in some ways. For instance, spoken communication is considered to be less formal as compared to written communication. Additionally, speech in verbal communication occurs in real-time as there is immediate feedback, while written communication is asynchronous (De Waele, 2020). Business managers and their colleagues must learn how to effectively use both spoken and written communication when expressing themselves and marketing their brands (De Waele, 2020). When conducting interviews and during customer presentations, for instance, individuals should be clear, confident, tactful, concise, and relevant to increase the efficiency of communication.
Nonverbal communication is another mode of expression that relies on body movements and gestures instead of spoken or written words. Similarly, to how language uses symbols to convey specific meaning, the body of a speaker, either consciously or unconsciously, disseminates information, moods, the status of relationships, attitudes, and different types of feelings (De Waele, 2020). People should take some steps to manage nonverbal communication more effectively. Firstly, they should use appropriate facial expressions to convey feelings and emotions, such as anger, joy, surprise, disgust, fear, and sadness (De Waele, 2020). Additionally, they should only employ the gestures that he other parties are familiar with, to ensure they comprehend the intended meaning. The steps would increase the effectiveness of non-verbal communication.
Approaches for effective written management communication
Written communication requires a writer to understand the audience's demographics and their familiarity with the subject. The message should be comprehensive and readable to achieve the desired objective (De Waele, 2020). Additionally, it should not have too many typical clichés and buzzwords. Writers should also avoid jargon and abbreviations when communicating with audiences outside their field of study because they can hamper effective communication (De Waele, 2020). Finally, the content of the written communication should be simple and easily understood by the target audience.
Approaches for Engaging An Audience During Presentation
A presenter needs to possess good verbal and non-verbal communication skills to convince potential customers to make purchases. The speaker has to apply effective strategies to gain the attention of customers, such as combining verbal and nonverbal communication to persuade customers through presentations (Bailey, 2018). According to Bailey (2018), Mr. Steve Jobs is one of the many businesses that have succeeded in persuading customers via its outstanding speakers (Bailey, 2018). Smiling during presentation establishes and sustains business relationships with potential customers. During such events, salespeople smile to portray themselves as friendly to potential customers and to achieve higher sales (Bailey, 2018). Eye contact is another component of facial expression that business presenters can use to grasp the attention of audiences. Avoiding eye contact with the audience may indicate an element of dishonesty (Bailey, 2018). However, prolonged staring may have the same effect. It is recommended that a speaker should maintain eye contact, look away for a few seconds, and return to maintaining eye contact throughout the presentation.
Additionally, one of the haptics that business presenters can use is firm handshakes with the audience because this can allow them to make excellent first impressions. Due to globalization, presenters need to understand the culture of the audience so that they can apply appropriate proxemics (Bailey, 2018). Understanding the chronemics of the audience is also vital because it ensures business presentations are made on time (Bailey, 2018). Additionally, spokespersons should be well-groomed and refrain from dressing sloppily because potential customers can assume that an individual's work is also sloppy (Bailey, 2018). An individual should employ paralinguistic cues by maintaining an audible voice and applying varying pitches to express different emotions, such as excitement and anger.
Importance of International and intercultural Communication at the Global Workplace
Today, communication and soft skills are at the core of graduate employability. As globalization proliferates, modern workspaces are becoming increasingly disparate; thus, employers across the globe are seeking employees and graduates who are competent in international and intercultural communication to operate effectively in global working environments (Yusof et al., 2017) . International and intercultural communication does not only increase the knowledge capital of the workplace place promotes an understanding among different cultures hence enhancing employee engagement. International and intercultural communication enables person to communicate effectively to prevent organizational conflict and preserve integrity and harmony among individuals from distinct backgrounds (Yusof et al., 2017) .
Global workplaces are intricate environments as they constitute people who may be linguistically/ethnically diverse, geographically divided by time, and have different social, historical, and political viewpoints. This necessitates employees to have complex and diverse skill sets, such as the capability to negotiate meanings, interact, share information while exhibiting compassion and integrity for individuals from different cultures (Yusof et al., 2017) . Therefore, it is the responsibility of educational institutions to teach graduates the desired competencies and skills that are required to work effectively in global workspaces. Contemporary communication models advocate for components such as identity management, message skills, relationship cultivation, behavioral flexibility, and interaction management for effective communication to occur in global workspaces.
Successful communicators in global workspaces learn from the experiences, adapt, gain insight, and adjust their communication skulls accordingly based on the contexts that they encounter. Therefore, international and intercultural communication competencies can be best obtained when an individual experiences real-life interaction (Yusof et al., 2017) . In addition, for communication to occur in global workspaces, the ability to incorporate technological products and services such as video conferencing, emailing, telephoning, and teleconferencing is indispensable as well as the ability to integrate human touch. Hence, communicating with these devices requires an individual to have the ability to personalize interactions based on the needs of the listener.
Effective Methods of Conflict Resolution
Solving workplace conflict is both vitally important and challenging in dynamic global workspaces, conflict resolution has become more intricate, and often than not, conflicts are not isolated challenges that arise from the workplace alone. Getting to the root cause of disputes at times can be extremely difficult when multiple sources are involved.
To successfully manage conflicts at the workplace is to encourage open communication at all levels of the enterprise. Open communication results in the de-escalation of issues and empowers employees to work out their differences on their own (Yusof et al., 2017) . Thus, it is the responsibility of managers to create an environment where employees and other stakeholders are freely allowed to share their opinions. Once the employees feel heard, it will be easy for them to share their views civilly. In global environments, conflicts are inevitable, and ignoring them does not mean that they will go away; they will only get worse. Irrespective of its nature, conflicts should not be avoided as managers who are chronic conflict-avoiders end up losing the respect of their employees (Budd et al., 2019) .
Managers and human resource departments must be able to identify the source of the conflict so that they can know how to manage it. Both parties must be given opportunities to share their side of the story so that the dispute manager can understand the situation (Budd et al., 2019) . The dispute manager must look beyond the current incident as it may be as a result of a minor issue that occurred months before. Still, the level of strain has grown, and instead of the two parties addressing the problem, they started attacking each other (Budd et al., 2019) . After getting each party’s point of view, the dispute manager should request them to identify solutions to the problem. This step involves steering them away from pointing figures and start cooperating. The dispute manager must also identify solutions that the disputants agree with that calls for greater collaboration and cooperation to address the issue effectively. The final step is to get the two parties to agree and accept the alternatives identified—the goal of this step for the parties to reach a negotiated agreement (Budd et al., 2019) .
Techniques for Leading Teams and Group Meetings
Many teams and group meetings fail from the lack of proper leadership. A person should be designated to lead the team and group discussions, and this can be the individual who called the meeting or the senior-most person, but this is not always the case (Baran et al., 2011) Irrespective of the selected individual, the appointed person must have the ability to direct the conversation. Leading teams and group meetings do not mean dominating over other team members or the discussion but defining the steps at the beginning and end of the meeting, setting expectations, and ensuring that people are on-schedule (Baran et al., 2011) .
After a leader has been appointed, teams and group meetings should always have a clear purpose. The purpose should be stated and communicated to the team or group participants at the beginning so that they have adequate time to prepare (Baran et al., 2011) . The next step involves the preparation of an agenda so that everyone knows what will be expected of them. The agenda helps teams and group meetings to focus on and identify the priority topics of the discussion. The value of group meetings and teams is derived from people being allowed to share individual perspectives and thoughts from one another (Baran et al., 2011) . Thus, people should be allowed to contribute to the agenda by brainstorming and sharing their ideas, which could lead to increased productivity and motivation, making the sessions effective.
References
Bailey, B. (2018). The importance of nonverbal communication in business and how professors at the University of North Georgia train students on the subject. University of North Georgia.
Baran, B., Shanock, L., Rogelberg, S., & Scott, C. (2011). Leading Group Meetings. Small Group Research , 43 (3), 330-355. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496411418252
Budd, J., Colvin, A., & Pohler, D. (2019). Advancing Dispute Resolution by Understanding the Sources of Conflict: Toward an Integrated Framework. ILR Review , 73 (2), 254-280. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793919866817
De Waele, A., Claeys, A. S., &Opgenhaffen, M. (2020). Preparing to face the media in times of crisis: Training spokespersons' verbal and nonverbal cues. Public Relations Review , 46 (2), 101871.
Uono, S., & Hietanen, J. K. (2015). Eye contact perception in the West and East: A cross-cultural study. PloS one , 10 (2), e0118094.
Stacho, Z., Stachová, K., Papula, J., Papulová, Z., & Kohnová, L. (2019). Effective communication in organizations increases their competitiveness. Polish Journal of Management Studies , 19 .
Yusof, N., Kaur, A., & Cheah Lynn-Sze, J. (2017). Post graduate students’ insights into understanding intercultural communication in global workplaces. Innovations in Education and Teaching International , 56 (1), 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2017.1417148
