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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. f
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
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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
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
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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
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
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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 understanding the relationship between two team members and identifying
the areas that can foster collaboration.
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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 can be forwarded to the team
members in case of training schedules (Luff, f 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
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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. f
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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.
