One of the factors that lead the company to the success is the effective communication. It is important to note that the business in the globalised economy is based on the strong networks between employees and partners; on the understanding of the goal and strategy; on sharing the mutual vision of the course; on the effective cooperation; and on the employees’ motivation and commitment (Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick 2007, p. 21).
According to Darling and Beebe, successful organisations depend on creating “shared meanings and mutual interpretations of reality, which facilitate coordinated action” (Darling & Beebe 2007, p. 82). In addition, “humans are able to make sense out of the world and collectively share that sense with others if they have a common symbol system in which to share meaning” (Darling & Beebe 2007, p. 82).
In this context, the ability to communicate the ideas effectively becomes the priority for the leader. Thus, in the modern world business, an effective communicator can be discussed as more powerful than a strategic leader because the effective communication is a fundament for developing and communicating a working strategy and goals; for the efficient organisation of employees’ actions; and for developing partnerships and attracting stakeholders.
Developed skills in communication are important for the leader because of the necessity to share the vision of the strategy with the employees. In this situation, the qualities of an effective communicator are more important than the qualities of a good leader because of the main barrier to the organisation’s progress is the inability of the leader to communicate the goal, vision, and strategy (Mehta, Mehta & Mishra 2011, p. 3).
The development of the globalised economy led to focusing on the multicultural workforce. As a result, communication barriers become more significant, and the possession of the formal power in the organisation cannot guarantee that employees with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds can understand the strategy and share the goals in a manner advantageous for the company.
Robbins and Judge state that “no individual, group, or organisation can exist without sharing meaning among its members” (Robbins & Judge 2013, p. 336). Thus, communicating the strategy, a leader as a sender of a message should focus on the effective coding in order to avoid the poor decoding of the message by a receiver (Robbins & Judge 2013, p. 338).
In this context, an effective communicator should minimise the language barrier, create the comfortable atmosphere, choose words that can be understood clearly and motivate employees without depending on their backgrounds and experiences. The result of such an approach is the clear picture of the strategy necessary to achieve with the focus on cooperation (Neeley & Leonardi 2011, p. 38).
This point is important because all the processes in the organisation are realised through communication, and it is necessary for a leader to become sure that his or her communication strategy is effective. When the strategy, goal, and expected outcomes are clearly and effectively communicated, the next stage is the organisation, coordination, and control of the employees’ actions.
Modern organisations choose team-working and projects in order to achieve high results. Communication is extremely important for teams because it influences the result of the process. It is a difficult task to organise the work of the multinational team, but this task is characteristic for the modern business world (Robbins & Judge 2013, p. 356).
As a result, a good communicator should choose such an approach to the diverse workforce that could guarantee the improvement of cooperation and the increases in productivity. The leaders of the multinational companies working in India state that the problem of differences in cultures and languages is overcome only through the focus on the effective communication, when leaders concentrate on cultural peculiarities, choose correct channels, listen to the employees, value their opinions, and provide the grounded feedbacks (Mehta, Mehta & Mishra 2011, p. 7-8).
The problem is in the fact that diverse environments and cultures determine the employees’ ability to understand or decode the information communicated by the leader, and a good communicator should pay attention to this fact while carefully choosing words and intonations (Robbins & Judge 2013, p. 357). Thus, the effective communication leads to increasing the individual and team’s motivation when the ineffective communication is a first step to developing conflicts at the professional or cultural grounds.
The effective communication is also important for building relationships with the stakeholders and community. An effective leader while being an effective communicator works to create the image of the company and shares the information with the community focusing on the principles of transparency and dignity.
For instance, managers of Marico state that communicating widely and deeply, while using open channels of communication, a leader can build relationships with the community and attract persons interested in the company’s progress because of the focus on honesty in communication (Mehta, Mehta & Mishra 2011, p. 7).
One of the main communication barriers for organisations is the spread of rumours about the company’s activities, and the focus on Marico’s experience in sharing the information openly as the reaction to rumours can be discussed as an effective communication strategy in the highly competitive business world (Mehta, Mehta & Mishra 2011, p. 7; Robbins & Judge 2013, p. 344).
The similar position is shared by the leaders of Samsung and Nokia who are inclined to state that the effective communication strategy to work with stakeholders is important in order to achieve high results in promoting products and services and in attracting new investors (Mehta, Mehta & Mishra 2011, p. 7).
This approach is also important in diverse environments, where it is necessary to work with the different public and partners. In this context, multinational companies operating in the global market choose to focus on the role of an effective communicator who will be able to build channels for strong contacts and relationships (Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick 2007, p. 21). The choice of such different types of channels as of vertical, lateral, formal and informal channels is important because it is essential to choose the channel depending on the goal, audience, and expected results.
However, the opponents of the idea that a good communicator is more effective for the organisation than a good leader can state that leadership is the main aspect to be taken into account while discussing the ways to motivate employees and to control the work of the multinational company.
The reason is that charismatic leaders, strategic leaders, and transformational leaders are focused on the needs of their employees, and they pay much attention to choosing the approaches to share the ideas and motivate the employees, even when they belong to different cultures (Dewhurst & Fitzpatrick 2007, p. 22).
Nevertheless, while supposing that leadership is the more significant factor than effective communication, it is important to state that communication strategies, tools, and techniques are used by the leader in order to persuade the employees and communicate the goal (Neeley & Leonardi 2011, p. 38). Only an effective communicator can focus on contexts and cultures while working with the diverse workforce.
From this point, a good leader should be a good communicator in order to achieve the set aim (Darling & Beebe 2007, p. 78). Furthermore, good communication is vital in diverse environments where leadership is based on the level of development of skills in communication.
Organisations need leaders who are effective communicators because communication is the basis for organising and coordinating all the processes in the company. Communication is important at all the stages of the organisation’s development, and barriers in communication can prevent the leader from completing the corporate goals effectively.
Therefore, a good communicator who listens to employees’ ideas, shares the strategies appropriately, and motivates the employees to achieve the higher results is very powerful. In spite of the fact that perfect communication skills are the result of the prolonged experience and practice, the main aspect to pay attention to while communicating is avoidance of communication barriers.
An effective communicator should clarify what he expects from employees, he should focus on gender and cultural differences; he should listen to the employees’ ideas and problems; he should balance while choosing different channels in order to achieve the most effective results; and he should be persuasive and honest. Thus, communication is the most effective tool for the leader in the multinational organisation that employs the multicultural workforce.
Reference List
Darling, J & Beebe, S 2007, ‘Effective entrepreneurial communication in organization development’, Organization Development Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 76-90.
Dewhurst, S & Fitzpatrick, L 2007, ‘Bringing out the excellent communicator in managers’, Strategic Communication Management, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 20-28.
Mehta, D, Mehta, N & Mishra, R 2011, ‘Overcoming recession through effective business communication approaches: a study in Indian scenario’, Oeconomics of Knowledge, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 2-10.
Neeley, T & Leonardi, P 2011, ‘Effective managers say the same thing twice (or more)’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 89, no. 5, pp. 38-39.
Robbins, S & Judge, T 2013, Organizational behavior, Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River.