One of the most frequently encountered diversity challenges today’s organizations face is communication barriers that arise sooner or later in any business. Communication can be a problem for people of different cultures, languages, ages, looks and abilities, which in general may decelerate the company’s work and lead to low production efficiency (Yusof & Rahmat, 2020). In this paper, the problem of communication is considered from a global perspective on the example of the communication process of two generations and possible options for overcoming potential obstacles are proposed.
Misunderstanding between representatives of groups of different ages from a historical point of view is embedded in the social context of human development as an individual. This means that any person, due to age, is psychologically attached to certain behavioural tendencies. For example, if an older generation resorts to telephone conversations as the main method of communication, young people prefer instant messengers and text messages in general. Thus, the inability of the older generation to adapt to new technologies and the unwillingness of the younger one to sacrifice convenience for the sake of the comfort of colleagues leads to the emergence of a communication barrier.
This phenomenon becomes an issue for a commercial organization when the team ceases to find a common language. Ineffective communication leads to more confusion, lack of interest, and low morale (Goel, 2018). Together, this gradually reduces work efficiency and, consequently, the company’s productivity. The way to solve such a problem is a constant search for compromises. In the considered example, leaders can suggest using messengers for urgent and short news and telephone conversations for a detailed discussion of the problem. In this case, each party feels that their interests are considered, and the required efforts are not feasible in the workflow context.
References
Goel, S. (2018). The Impact of Workplace Diversity – Benefits and Challenges. International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 5(2), 2207.
Yusof, A. N. A. M., & Rahmat, N. H. (2020). Communication barriers at the workplace: A case study. European Journal of Education Studies, 7(10).