Business Communication Essay: Culture Of Australian Workplace
Question
Task: You are a country manager for an international agricultural products supplier. The main office is in Australia. You have recently hired 10 new employees from overseas (you may choose the home country of the new employees). They will be arriving in Australia within the next six weeks, and in preparation for their arrival you will write a document about communicating competently and incompetently within the Australian workplace. This document has two parts:
1. An overview of academic literature relating to communication practices/styles/recent research about business communication in Australia.
2. Recommendations for these new employees about competent and incompetent business communication practices (you may focus upon verbal, nonverbal, written, and CMC). There will be four recommendations—two competency behaviours and two incompetency behaviours. That is to say, how should the new employees communicate and how they should not communicate within the Australia workplace. You will need to explain why each of the communicative behaviours are competent or incompetent. The recommendations should be supported by existing academic articles.
Answer
As per Khan & Khan (2012), it is discussed in this business communication essay that one of the skills every professional needs to possess is the ability to effectively communicate. Communication is the process of transferring the knowledge, skills, information or views from one person to another. Business communication means the sharing of information to promote products or services, to deal with the employees, suppliers, customers or with the legal matters. Communication has an essential role to play in the organisation in ensuring good employer employee relationship. This essay will highlight the importance of communication at the workplace. As a country manager for international agricultural products supplier in Australia, communication document is to be prepared for communicating with the newly hired employees from different countries. Different competent and incompetent communication techniques will be discussed.
Communication is of vital importance in the business and it helps in achieving the objectives and necessities of the business. As per Khan &Khan (2012), it is illustrated in this business communication essay that an effective communication has 7 C’s which include Completeness, Conciseness, Consideration, Correctness, Courtesy, Clarity and Concreteness. It is further added by Verghese (2017) that there are many styles of communication which depends on the communication parties and the nature of communication. There are 4 effective components of successful Business communications which include Clarity, Commitment, documentation and Interaction. In the business world, reaching agreement doesn’t always mean there’s clarity. Specificity is about clarity. Clarity should be there in every communication which can be established while asking questions and giving response. All healthy relationships including working relationships are based on commitments. It makes sense. We commit to be a part of a team, doing our fair share, delivering a result to a customer, etc. Also, documentation plays a big role in effective communication. Good communication mentioned in this business communication essay is a balance between expectations and results. So, documentation helps in keeping balance between these. Also, without regular interactions, people make assumptions. Interaction is important for regular healthy communication (Coffelt, Baker & Corey, 2016).
According to Kerns (2016), it is illustrated in this business communication essay that in a multicultural society like Australia it is very important to take care of the sensitivity of the lifestyle, beliefs and culture of diverse group of people. To communicate two types of communication strategies can be followed which can be verbal or nonverbal. People are more direct in Australia. They believe in communicating directly through spoken words, thus oral communication or verbal communication takes place. Also, this has become a part of their communication practice. They use a common language English to communicate and try to be sensitive while expressing their views.
Organisations around the globe are becoming more and more culturally diverse as a result of increasing globalisation. Hence, focus is shifting towards communication patterns followed in workplaces between the experts and new joiners. Communication is the key to everything and there are certain points that an individual must keep in check at all points in time. Know your colleagues' culture, to grasp their interactions correctly and to change their actions to the atmosphere in Australia. It is discussed in this business communication essay that Feedback is a major aspect to good comprehension and effective communication. Feedback on the work is also important in order to know what is required to be changed and what is achieved. This is an important part of motivation of a person. Feedback is helpful in another way, too: it helps to build a better relationship by supplying the boss with positive feedback and respecting the work they do (Verghese, 2017).
According to Sabanci, Sahin & Özdemir (2016), in verbal communication, the choice of words and the tone can easily be used to predict the intention of the speaker. Australians also used much slang in their language which has become a part of their culture at workplaces. People who come from different nations to work in Australia might find it difficult to understand the accent and the slangs used. They might take time to grab the culture of communication takes place in the Australian workplaces as discussed in this business communication essay. People in Australia are calm and try to be calm at workplaces by cracking jokes or by communicating to each other at intervals which maintains the light aura in the offices. It is very important to use the words properly so that it becomes a successful communication attempt. There are some points which needs to eb considered while adopting verbal communication. It includes using positive words and language, using right tone, pitch and accent while talking to a business professional and asking the questions which let the other person know that you were actively listening.
Nonverbal communication mentioned in this business communication essay is the one which does not take place with the spoken words but takes place either through written words or through body language and gestures (Kei & Yazdanifard, 2015). In Australia, nonverbal communication is used at workplaces and it can either take place through handshake or eye contact. Every facial expression or gesture has its meaning inside it like a firm handshake and eye contact shows confidence and sincerity. However, Aboriginal Australians take direct eye contact for a longer time as disrespect and believe that an arm’s length is essential for having any business meeting. In Australia, People are straightforward and express their views straightforwardly. They use written communication too in case of need like for passing on the information, the use emails and reports to the employees. Also, to give a notice to all the employees in the organisation, a notice board is used to put notices and so on. Written communication discussed in this business communication essay is mostly used in the businesses. It provides solid proof and documentation of the communication taking place between business professionals (Khan & Khan, 2012).
The employees, who come from different countries to work in Australia, might face issues in the country (Du-Babcock, 2018). It is because the culture of Australia at workplaces is very much different than some of the other countries. It is because Australia has low hierarchy levels and power distance factor which creates more of informal communication and lesser formal communication. The non-familiarity with such culture creates an issue for employees. Australians promote two-way communication and they generally involve their employees in decision making which is a positive point. The employees are asked for their feedbacks and are given chance to put up their questions as well. The employees are even explained to take competent business practices in Australia. No unethical practices are followed, and it is taken care that their knowledge is enhanced while working in the organisation (Demetrian, 2015). However, people are also taught to stay away from the incompetent communication which could lead them to failure. Here are some recommendations provided in this business communication essay which will help employees to have competent and incompetent business communication identification and how to deal with them (Adamczyk, 2017).
Verbal communication Practice: as per Competency behaviour it is recommended in this business communication essay to be open and provide feedback whenever asked. The employees are recommended to have open communication with the management. They shall ask if anything is not understood. Common language should be used which is understandable by all. While Australia is a polyglot country with over 100 languages spoken by the people emigrating from all over the world, English is the official language and by far the most commonly spoken. In Australia, directness is highly valued and what you say, and mean cannot be mistaken for evasiveness or even for hypocrisy. When explaining it to Australians, it is crucial not to be too self-promoting. The managers should understand that most of the people might not understand the accent or language at once, so the message should be conveyed both through written and oral ways of communication. It helps in better flow of ideas and understanding. Incompetency behaviour: It is signified in this business communication essay that people try to speak words which make sense. Exaggerating the sentences without any meaning does not make you a competent communicator and lead to incompetency behaviour in verbal communication. Though slangs are very much used in the Australian culture, but it should be avoided at the first place as it is incompetent behaviour a=while communicating with someone at workplace.
Nonverbal communication Practice: Competency behaviour: As mentioned in this business communication essay, the employees should adopt active listening and have to be dynamically present in order to understand the work and strategies taught by the trainer in the orientation period. Also establish a good and positive first impression because it creates a difference. The person is more likely to be remembered by a person with whom handshake is done. In traditional Australian culture there are 4 main opportunities for handshaking i.e. when introduced to someone and when saying goodbye, when a person run into someone in a very long time, while introducing to someone and while committing to some deal. Also, one has to remember that there are rules of addressing the seniors in the organisation. There are rules of, making communication as well while making formal or informal communication at workplace (Sabanci, Sahin & Özdemir, 2016). Incompetency behaviour: It is discussed in this business communication essay that does not glare at anyone for a very long time. It creates a negative impact and makes a person uncomfortable. Also, one should know to maintain proper eye contact to show confidence. Do not shake your leg while sitting in front of anyone. It is very distracting and also shows that the person is not confident enough. This shows negative body language which impacts the beauty of the conversation and creates wrong impression. This also includes folded arms and rolling eyes.
Written communication: Competency behaviour: Use of relevant written method to communicate through written communication methods. For e.g. if large number of people are to be communicated, use emails, reports, memos or fax and if a single person is to eb communicated, then email to the single person is to be written. State your ideas clearly in written words and not jumbling up the words to confuse. Incompetency behaviour: Not addressing properly through a written communication can be incompetency behaviour. It is mentioned in this business communication essay that lack of writing skills and poor grammar shows incompetency in written communication (Sabanci, Sahin & Özdemir, 2016).
CMC Communication: Competency behaviour: Use of emails and other CMC techniques wisely and for appropriate purpose shows competent behaviour. The employees should be competent enough to reply on instant basis to the messages or texts they receive from management. This shows that they are multi-tasking too. Incompetency behaviour: Use of excessive mobile phones at the workplace by the new employees can create a negative impression and suffer the jobs of the employees (Lu & Fan, 2015). Emails or comments can sometimes be viewed in various ways. Be mindful that work is work; it's not always a personal attack. These points have to be kept in mind while communicating at the new workplace.
It can be concluded in this business communication essay that effective business communication is the key to a successful communication and workplace. It helps in building good relationships and also improves the efficiency of the companies. The essay involves the discussion about f=different communication practices which takes place in Australia and how do they take place as per the culture of Australia. In the second section of the essay, the competent and incompetent communication behaviour is explained and the examples of the competent and incompetent behaviour of each communication practices are involved. This business communication essay focuses on the important of competent behaviour in communication and how does it help in critical analysis and problem solving. Competent communication is the knowledge of the effective communication which helps in understanding the context of the communication message. This helps in developing an understanding of both the incompetent and competent behaviour and how deal with them.
References
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Coffelt, T. A., Baker, M. J., & Corey, R. C. (2016). Business communication practices from employers’ perspectives. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 79(3), 300-316.
Demetrian, A. M. (2015). Key issues in international business communication. Redefining Community in Intercultural Context, 4(1), 239-248.
Du-Babcock, B. (2018). Business communication research and theory development in Asia: Past, present, and future prospects. Business Communication Research and Practice, 1(1), 4-17.
Kei, S. S., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). The significance of intercultural communication for businesses and the obstacles that managers should overcome in achieving effective intercultural communication. Global Journal of Management and Business Research.
Kerns, C. D. (2016). High impact communicating: A key leadership practice. Business communication essay Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 18(5).
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Lu, C., & Fan, W. (2015). Cross-cultural Issues and International Business Communication Practice: From an Anthropological Perspective. The Anthropologist, 22(1), 15-24.
Sabanci, A., Sahin, A., & Özdemir, ?. (2016). Business communication essay Interpersonal Communication Skills of the Leaders of Inspection Groups in Turkey. Online Submission, 5(4), 148-159.
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