Effective Communication Skills against Multinational Background – Term Paper

Abstract

 The modern technology plays a significant role in international business. Electronic communication has eased world business. Multinational companies enjoy new collaborative methods through electronic communication. More to this, foreign trade partners have devised sound strategies of communication that take into account such factors as language barriers as well as face-to-face communication. As organizations continue to do business both locally and internationally, they should be mindful of the above diversities. Business partners across the globe can effectively communicate using modern digital tools. The use of such tools like Tango, Google Hangouts, as well as Skype plays a significant role towards making communication effective. The digital tools offer instant communication regardless of the geographical location or cultural diversity. For an organization to succeed in international business, various parameters are necessary. For example, some people think opportunity, preparation, and luck are the key factors. Others argue that with education and ability to prepare adequately guarantees success. All these factors are important, but they do not make the whole story complete. Effective communication skills are critical if an international business has to succeed. There are core competencies that no company can ignore their adoption. Communication with foreign partners requires diverse skills. For example, it is imperative to learn the etiquette of one’s region so that you can strengthen the business relationships. Strong international business relationships demand honesty. Additionally, tolerance and respect are vital. The type of information to share with global partners should be adaptive to one’s culture. Effective communication skills enhance management of business education. More so, they enable companies to cultivate and maintain significant connections. It is important to understand that effective communication should involve all stakeholders both internally and externally.

Content

Skills Needed for an Effective Communication

Listeners Wants

Listeners mostly have what they intend to hear. As a good businessperson, one should learn how to speak to audiences. One should organize his/her communication and make sure the most relevant information is clarified to the audience first. Hence, it is imperative to prioritize information from the most important to the least important. The least relevant here may be the support information. Thus, one should ensure his/her communication emphasizes mostly what the audience intended to hear (Agarwal, 2010).

Immediate Strategies to Solve Problems

In business the world, problem solving is indispensable. A good manager should identify a problem as soon as it occurs. Once one identifies the problem, he/she should do his/her best to understand what has caused the problem. By understanding the cause of the problem, one will be able to monitor the progress of the problem. A monitored problem can re-occur. Once it reoccurs, the manager then can better address the problem since he/she will have come up with a system to deal with it from the previous experience when it was monitored. Lastly, the manager should figure out the solutions that have been made from the problem. Hence, it will give a manager better and quick way to solve problems. Even in situations where the problem is unfamiliar, the manager can use the already set systems to deal with problems with speed. Thus, the organization will stay active and lessen downtimes even when faced with tricky problems. Thus, it means that one will not delay information and communication will be faster since no setbacks brought about by the ever-arising problems (Athukorala, 2007).

Manners

 The fact that people are brought up in various backgrounds should not be ignored in communication. Thus, regardless of our differences, good manners should be employed in connection. Good manners, especially to customers and employees, give an organization a functional structure to deal with all stakeholders. The Polite response to customers complaints and concerns are very crucial for organizations. With polite responses, organizations across the globe will make businesses interactive and smoother (Athukorala, 2007).

Dealing with Assumptions

 Multinational businesses should avoid making assumptions about issues. Stakeholders should not rush to conclude arguments based on assumptions. Instead, they should seek answers to avoid making wrong conclusions, which also affect decision-making. More so, if one has to make any assumption he/she must live room to challenge it. One can test the hypothesis or leave others to challenge it. For example, if someone fails to reply an email one should not just make an assumption. One should be willing to ask more about the failure for a response. This way will make organizations learn a lot about various stakeholders and partners. More so, information that is more decisive is learned, and this leads to improvement of business productivity (Dignen & McMaster, 2013).

Being a Real Listener

Effective communication involves two parties. One party speaks while the other listens. An organization that better listens for grievances from either employees or customers has vast business openings for it. It is a good practice to listen since this enables the other party to be put at ease (Dignen & McMaster, 2013).

Management of Expectations

A real entrepreneur is one who can manage people’s expectations. Organizations must devise strategies to deliver the exact quantities within agreed timeframes. It is wrong to either over deliver or under promise. Once an organization makes a promise to the customers or even employee, it should comply. However, issues may arise and in such situations now, the organization must communicate in advance. If there are any changes, clear and frequent communication must be made. Sometimes it is wise to commit lesser other than just raising peoples expectations for nothing (Dignen ; McMaster,;2013).

Productive Conflict Resolution

;In an organization, it is possible to differ. Customers can change with employees. More so, employees can vary with the management. On such situations, the administration of the organization should devise effective conflict resolution strategies that do not affect productivity. A good manager is one who can communicate under pressure. Sound management skills call for polite, non-personal, and productive communication in such times (Dignen ; McMaster,;2013). Conciseness

;Business people are very busy people. People usually have hundreds of content to read within a short period. When one wants to communicate therefore should develop techniques to use brief statements to communicate more information. For example, screens are continually reducing in size and thus any message sent through the today’s screens should be brief and sufficiently informative.

Difference and Value

Any international business should consider its reputation in the global market. Management can communicate to the customers and other stakeholders about the value of their organization through various ways. For example, a highly valued company that hires helpful staff connects with valuable partners as well as marketing valuable products. Thus, through them, it sends a clear message to the world about its uniqueness and value (Barb, 2015).

Professional Communication

An effective business manager should professionally communicate. One should communicate with all stakeholders professionally. This is beneficial in various ways. For example, it is one of the sure ways to winning tenders and contracts. When replying to emails, as an effective businessperson ensure they are all proofread before sending. More so, it is professional to use business email as opposed to using personal emails. Business emails should have the right signature. Calls, on the other hand, should be answered professionally. This means they should be competitively answered throughout, and one should speak articulately (Barb, 2015).

Thorough Preparation and Scheduling

A good business manager is one who recognizes the importance of other peoples needs. Therefore, a good manager it is important to schedule for business meetings in advance. It is wrong to call for a meeting that had not been communicated to others in advance. After scheduling a meeting, a good company manager should take his/her time to prepare the agenda. Preparing agenda is very useful since it sets the structures and outlines the points to focus on. It is again paramount to share the agenda with other stakeholders to facilitate full preparation for the meeting. Lastly, reminding the members about the meeting and the agenda before the exact date enables them to prepare for it (Kotler & Kotler, 2014).

Feedback

 Feedback is a useful skill that organizations should learn. They should seek feedback from clients especially over the services and products they offer. This is an effective communication skill especially with the massive use of the internet. An organization can inquire about itself from clients after either completion of a project or even through the use of formal surveys.

Face-to-Face Networking

Networked events and conferences enable organizations to get connections from within and outside the business enterprise. Hence, it leads to enhanced output and competitiveness of an organization both locally and internationally. Thus, it enhances services delivery, which in turn increases the profit margin (Kotler & Kotler, 2014).

Marketing

 Goods and services move from concept to a consumer through a management process called marketing. It is a very significant aspect of business especially in creating brand awareness. Various approaches should be adopted. Some organizations prefer doing online marketing while others use traditional marketing. Good marketing strategies enhance communication, which later improves productivity in an organization (Kotler & Kotler, 2014).

 A skilled, effective communicator is a great and good performer in the business. Effective communication skills put the business in a competitive edge. However, to become a good communicator requires one to put a lot of effort. More so, one ought to invest a lot of time to learn and understand these skills against a universal background. Once, the skills are put into place organizations should expect to realize more benefits as well as high professional interactions. Finally, multinational businesses should consider the impacts of these effective skills when carrying out their transactions. They should enhance their communication skills and strategies with their partners to yield better results (Kotler & Kotler, 2014).

Enthusiasm

Business managers should understand the role they play to the employees and business partners any time they communicate. When a manager is communicating he /she should show the impression that, he/she is excited. An international business manager should make those that one is communicating to feel like no one else should communicate to them. An enthusiastic communicator makes the audience feel they are cared for and they enables them to open up. This creates enthusiastic workers who eventually enhance productivity (Athukorala, 2007). .

Good Questioning Techniques

An effective communicator creates room for audience to ask questions. More so, he/she involves the listeners in discussions by asking the questions as well. Good questioning techniques enhance connections between the management and employees. This is true because the questioning technique that one uses makes one understand the interests of the employees. More so, it enables one get an insight of the employees needs and wants (Agarwal, 2010).

Body Language

It is advisable for one to learn the non-verbal communication of his/her listeners. An effective communicator learns the body language of the audience when communicating to them. More so, effective communicators in business will learn the body posture, the dressing style among other things of the audience. This is particularly on a face-to-face communication with the audience. The choice of words of respondents or rather the audience is also very important. Learning all this as a manager enables you to tailor your body language as well. Additionally, it enables you to match your tone and words with the audiences body language. Thus, one will win the confidence of his/her audience as well as make them feel a deep connection with you subconsciously (Athukorala, 2007).

Eye Contact

Maintaining eye contact with your audience wins their confidence and trust. It also communicates to the audience that you are interested in them. More so, maintaining eye contact with audience is a sign that you are ready to listen to them. Facing the audience directly boosts ones confidence and makes one major with relevant issues. This eventually makes people become more attentive and willing to listen you (Athukorala, 2007). .

Team Player

 As a manager of a business, one should learn to address people as if they all are one. Good communicating manager puts himself/herself in one level with his/her employees. In meetings, the managers for example should use words like we, us, our among others. This bonds all people together and gives everybody a sense of belonging. It demonstrates that the entire organization is like a family and that everybody is working for a common organizational goal (Kotler & Kotler, 2014).  

Helpful Suggestions 

Suggestions cannot be avoided in any communication. International businesses communicate as well and they cannot avoid suggestions. An effective communication is one whose suggestions are helpful. The communicators should always ensure they offer well conversant suggestions to their audience. They should tell how great a suggestion is. More so, they should ensure the suggestions are applicable to the context on discussion. This makes the audience gain confidence with the communicator as they find him/her as an enterprising person especially in times when they need to consult (Agarwal, 2010). 

Encouragement 

Effective communication should not leave the parties in the same situation they were in before they communicated. If for example sales were down, employees have boycotted duties, or even personal matters like family matters, the communication should be helpful. Thus, as a manager the people one communicates to must feel encouraged from the communication you hold. It is the responsibility of the communicators to understand the mood of the audience and purpose to encourage them during communication period. Convincing the audience, whether employees or all other stakeholders that they still can surpass all they are undergoing strengthens the bonding (Agarwal, 2010).

Conclusion

No organization is an island. Organizations communicate with other organizations. Moreover, organizations communicate within themselves as well as government agencies. Managers of organizations find themselves delegating responsibilities to their juniors. They also to communicate with other stakeholders like retailers, wholesalers, shareholders, consumers on daily basis. Government agencies like security forces, standardization bureaus as well as other nations governments keep on contacting multinational corporations. The services and products offered requires marketing and promotions. To do this other companies like media organizations must come in both locally and internationally. Therefore, devising better communication skills is vital for organizations productivity and smooth running.  

Focusing on skills that can improve communication in the business world is a powerful tool that enhances success. It takes time to learn the relevant skills but it is worth. Business organizations both globally and regionally should identify gaps in communication and implement the appropriate skills to advance. A great business is different from a real because of the techniques employed in communication. When one communicates with others in the organization, one can tell the potential problems. Once potential problems are identified, mechanisms to resolve them are devised. The skills discussed above enhance communication in organizations’ workplaces. Communication skills more so enable international organizations and regional organizations at large understand the concerns of all stakeholders. When the interests of various stakeholders are understood, organizations can fill the pitfalls together with other issues in time.

References

Agarwal,;O.;P. (2010). Effective communication: I. Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub. House.

Athukorala,;P. (2007). Multinational enterprises in Asian development. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Barb. (2015, June). Effective Communication in International Business Relationships. Retrieved;December;24, 2015, from http://whrelocations.com/effective-communication-international-business-relationships/

Dignen,;B., ; McMaster,;I. (2013). Effective international business communication: Build your interpersonal skills in English. London: HarperCollins.

Kotler,;P., ; Kotler,;M. (2014). Winning hlobal markets: How businesses invest and prosper in the world’s high-growth cities.