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IT-520-Q1484 Technical Communication
Module 4 Assignment
SNHU
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Training Plan: Communication
The need to have effective interaction and communication among the team members
is on demand as the relation between the employees and the employer is dependent on the
communication. Interaction between people of different culture is often difficult due to the
factor that both have different language and cultural differences. In order to improve the
communications, it is essential to first establish the adequate and automated strategies for
effective communication. Several studies have shown how the negotiation or deals among
the companies of different culture or two countries can affect the whole negotiation. The
small misunderstandings caused due to cultural differences and miscommunication can have
a bad impact for both the parties involved (Coughlan, Lycett, & Macredie, 2003). Hofstede,
in one of his studies examined why is it important to first understand the cultural
differences and similarities before partnering with a company or different culture. The
Communication strategies I will incorporate in the area of focus is based on the Mapping,
Bridging, Integrating (MPI) model of effective communication and interaction with the tea
Mapping, Bridging, Integrating (MPI) model of effective communication:
The MPI model which was brought forward by DisStefano and Maznevski is one of
the most popular and widely accepted models of effective communication. This model has
gained wide acceptance in management fields, communication, and also the business sector
because of its adaptability and simplicity to various contexts. The main strength of this
model is its capability of leveraging the differences as a medium for better communication
and decision making.
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Mapping
Mapping in this context refers to understanding the differences that occur due to
differences in an organization (Stewart, Cooper, & Friedley, 2002). This is the first
component of this model and it is mainly used to identify the existing differences in a
team. “The principles of mapping require a commitment to understand the underlying
characteristics affecting each member’s approach to the team,” (Coughlan, Lycett, &
Macredie, 2003). This component of MPI model studies the impact of such differences and
how it affects the company’s objectives or goals in the measurable ways. Under this
component, following three aspects are involved:
1. Selecting the issues that need to be mapped.
2. Describing each communication issues.
3. Identifying the effect of each issue.
Bridging
Bridging is the second and most crucial components of the MBI model which is
associated with communicating and interacting effectively about the differences to bring
ideas together. The primary objective of this component is to avoid any miscommunication
that occurs due to cultural differences (Whittaker, Frohlich & Daly-Jones, 2014). This
model introduced three unique aspects for establishing a strong bridge:
1. Preparing- This step involves preparing the people working in an organization to
interact, communicate and develop confidence within themselves to overcome
obstacles arising due to cultural or linguistically differences. Confidence and
Motivation is extremely crucial for bridging as it improved the performance. e
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2. Decentring- This process demands the team members to analyze their
understanding of the differences or the differences witnessed in during the
interaction. This can be effectively done by changing their own thinking, adapting to
the ideas of people with whom they are working, and changing their habits.
3. Re-entering- This third step of Bridging is the final stage where all team members
establish a new medium for interaction. The progress to this stage depends on
having a great understanding of the cultural differences and agreeing upon such
norms for effective interaction (Whittaker, Frohlich & Daly-Jones, 2014).
Integrating
Integrating is the third and last component of the Mapping, Bridging, and Integrating
Models that aid the team members to leverage their differences and finally come out with
right decisions. It is “where understanding (from mapping) and communicating (from
bridging) get converted into productive results. The three major aspects of this step are as
follows:
Managing participation
This stage is where the team leader ensures that all members participate equally by
adapting to the various norms resulting due to the differences and communication gap
(Greer, Mccalla & Collins, 2009). This process demands the team members to show equal
participation and analyses their understanding of the communication barrier or the
differences witnessed in during the interaction.
Resolving the conflicts
By the term resolving conflicts, we mean addressing the issues arising due to
cultural differences before these issues become dysfunctional. Mapping is a great medium
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of finding such issues and help early detection and bridging makes those conflicts
manageable. Integrating aids in resolving of such conflicts with better quality decisions
(Greer, Mccalla & Collins, 2009).
Building on ideas
This is the last and final aspect of integrating. After mapping and bridging, this step
can be used to develop breakthrough ideas that can aid the communications among multi-
cultural people to be highly effective.
Training Plan: Collaboration
For effective collaboration, I will work on removing the existing group differences.
The Group Differences are attributed to the impact of group membership on people’s
behavior. People in various businesses form social identities based on their participation in
a certain group, which can be dependent on their demographic profile, gender, ethnicity, the
roles they play, and their nationality. The groups of people to which they are related with
are called as in-groups, and out-groups are group to which they are not related. Several
studies have shown how the negotiation or deals among two out-groups can affect the
whole negotiation. The small misunderstandings caused due to cultural differences and
miscommunication among out-groups can have a bad impact for both the parties involved.
Henceforth, to improve the collaboration, I will first eliminate the existing differences. This
will be done by planning get-together, teaming the people of different groups together,
engaging them in activities of same interest, and driving them towards the same goal of
achieving success.
To ensure a thorough collaboration, the bridging strategies will be adopted. The term
“Bridging” has got more to do than just identifying or understand the differences that exist
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between two groups. Bridging is more about overcoming these differences that provide to
be an obstacle between the people while crossing over to the different side. So, the word
bridging signifies connecting the two parties through foundational strength, flexibility,
support, and thorough understanding. Over the years, several researchers and studies have
proposed models of Bridging Differences. All these models have the primary aim of
overcoming the cultural and language differences that become an obstacle in effective
communication between two parties. The Bridging Model Theories can act as an aid for
effectively understanding the cultural differences across various groups and their
management (Brown, 2008). One of the models I will be using as a collaborative strategy
has been described below:
Hofstede Model of Bridging Collaboration Gap
This Bridging Difference model proposed by Hofstede suggests a unique system that
can be employed for assessing various cultural backgrounds. It is processed through
identifying five value dimensions of the behavior of people who are working in the
organization. The five value dimensions included the communication of company
expectations, communication of company’s goals, building a strong cohesion with the team
members, getting to know each other, and performance key performance indicators to
leverage the strength of the employees. This Project further expands the framework
suggested by Hofstede, and it takes a step ahead of understanding the people working in a
multinational organization (Brown, 2008). But, it identifies the many dimensions which
collaboration can be improved by setting team goals, building cohesion, leveraging team
member’s strengths and fostering an innovative atmosphere at work. This model further
incorporated the use of personality frameworks for elaborating the individual behaviors
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which can be used for understanding the relationship between two team members and
identifying the areas that can foster collaboration.
Training Plan: Method(s)
At first, the training videos will be utilized as a guiding tool to guide the audience
for introducing the plan and giving instructions because the video tutorials provide the
customer expertise of an outside consultant at ease. This can be a daunting task at once,
but training videos are the best medium of delivering the message to a broad range of
audience at any given time. Secondly, manuals will also be employed for communication
with the employees to share the plan, the briefs related to their roles and responsibilities,
dos and don’ts and a lot more information in a concise manner. Manual with graphics
explaining step-by-step procedures are a great way of delivering a message. Thirdly, the
follow-Up emails will be sent with step-to-step instructions. A step-by-step written blog or
instruction through the email can be of great help for the user who requires non-technical
help, and this can made further simpler by adding graphics with it. All three of the steps
will be utilized for training programs for the long-distance members, and for sharing the
common ideas and plans with the majority of the members. The three mentioned steps will
mainly be used for large-scale audience and for delivering maximum of the information in
shortest of the time span. The training expert or the executive can prepare many pre-
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instructions for various training programs, and the same can be forwarded to the team
members in case of training schedules (Luff, e Hindmarsh, & Heath, 2000).
Specific Guidelines
For effective communication and collaboration, the clarity of purpose, the
completeness of the objective, the conciseness of the goal and planned strategies, and
thorough feedback are essential. The keys steps of my framework for creating successful
communications in the work field will be the effective use of channels for communications,
the clarity of expectations of the company, the clarity of the goal set for the respective
teams, and conciseness of the message that has to be delivered (Ting-Toomey & Chung,
2005).
Conclusion
Even the smallest of the misunderstandings caused due to miscommunication among
the employees can have a bad impact on all the parties involved. Making an accurate
interaction or collaboration with a person of different culture is still difficult because it
involves strategic planning which has been mentioned above. In order to effectively deal
with the miscommunication and the unintentional result it yields, the MBI model can be
applied.
The MBI model can be applied for breaking the obstacles that arise due to differences in
the work culture. The MBI model can thus be used as a medium for bridging
communication and collaboration arising due to cultural variations. This paper has
recognized the importance of all three stages of MBI model in its approach of dealing with
communication hindrances. This study has examined how the collaboration amongst the
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employees can be bridged through embracing the company’s goals and expectations and by
supportive communication. e
References
Coughlan, J., Lycett, M., & Macredie, R. D. (2003). Communication issues in requirements
elicitation: a content analysis of stakeholder experiences. Information and Software
Technology, 45(8), 525-537.
Gordon Brown, M. (2008). Proximity and collaboration: measuring workplace configuration.
Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 10(1), 5-26.
Greer, J. E., Mccalla, G., Collins, J. A., Kumar, V. S., Meagher, P., & Vassileva, J. (2009).
Supporting peer help and collaboration in distributed workplace environments.
International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (IJAIED), 9, 159-177.
Stewart, L., Cooper, P., Stewart, A. D., & Friedley, S. A. (2002). Communication and
gender. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Luff, P., Hindmarsh, J., & Heath, C. (Eds.). (2000). Workplace studies: Recovering work
practice and informing system design. Cambridge university press.
Ting-Toomey, S., & Chung, L. C. (2005). Understanding intercultural communication. New
York: Oxford University Press.
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Whittaker, S., Frohlich, D., & Daly-Jones, O. (2014, April). Informal workplace
communication: What is it like and how might we support it?. In Proceedings of the
SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 131-137). ACM.
