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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. zz
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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
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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
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.
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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 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
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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.
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
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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,
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
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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
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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.
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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.
