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IT-520-Q1484 Technical Communication
Module 4 Assignment
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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. g
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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 of finding
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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 which can be used for
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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-instructions for various training programs, and the same
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can be forwarded to the team members in case of training schedules (Luff, 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 employees can be bridged through
embracing the company’s goals and expectations and by supportive communication. g
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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.
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.
