Thursday, October 15, 2009

Barriers to Communication and Miscommunication (Lesson 2)

There are several barriers to communication. They are:

Verbal

  1. Inadequate knowledge or vocabulary
  2. Differences in interpretation
  3. Language differences
  4. Inappropriate use of expressions
  5. Overabstraction or ambiguity
  6. Polarization

Non-verbal

  1. Inappropriate or conflicting signals
  2. Differences in perception
  3. Inappropriate emotions
  4. Physical distractions

The 3 Ps Model of Communication: The 3Ps are Problem, Process, Product. Often in any business context there is a problem faced by the executive which has to be considered carefully and a process defined to solve it. What emerges from the process is the product. Take the following case of DriveFair Auto:

Problem: You are the Dealer Relations Manager at the DriveFair Auto North America. A dealer in the midwest calls and yells continuously on the phone that he has been treated rudely by the Indian Office in Delhi. You doubt that your Indian counterparts have been rude on purpose. It is your task to ensure smooth dealer relations. What would you do?

Process: The process of examining the problem is as such- you ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What is the problem your are facing in this situation?
  2. What verbal and non-verbal barriers to communication seem to be operating here?
  3. What options do you see for resolving the problem?
  4. What are the criteria for determining the best possible solution?
  5. Using this criteria evaluate your options and identify the best one.

Product: Implementing the best option- the opening statement that you make to the dealer is it.

The problem is that the dealer is enraged with a possible rude treatment shown to him by the Indian staff. He needs to be heard and placated. This situation could have come about by verbal barriers such as language differences in the knowledge and the accent of English of the Indian operative, disturbances in the overseas call that could have resulted in misunderstanding or termination of the call itself before the conversation is completed. All this could have led to different perceptions at either end-- the dealer thinking that the Indian is mannerless and the Indian assuming that the American had been answered fully. Now the options that are before you to resolve this issue are:

  • To call the dealer and listen to his complaint without bias. Then explain to him how language and accent differences can cause misunderstanding. And assure him that his grouse will be attended to by someone who can understand and speak American English. That the Indian employee may not have been rude on purpose, only incapable of following the request made by the dealer.
  • To ignore the dealer's complaint. After all it is a waste of time trying to convince someone who cannot understand Indian English doing business with the Indian arm of the company.
  • To call the executive in Delhi who took the dealer's call and blast him for ineptness and ignorance.
  • Call the dealer and chastise him for making a big fuss over nothing.

Among the above options the best one is obviously the first and worst the last. As dealer relations manger you job is to handle the dealer's ire with diplomacy and NOT fire him in return. Hence the product would be a call such as the one described in the first option or a letter that states:

Dear Sir,

We at DriveFair believe in courtesy towards dealers above all and would not treat any violation in this regard by our staff in any of our offices with any leniance. However in your case there has been misunderstanding and not a misdemeanour by our Indian operative. Differences in accent and the knowledge of the English language seems to have brought about this situation wherein you have felt insulted by the improper use of the language by the Indian employee while the latter has assumed that he has been successful in making you perceive his message fully and appropriately. Besides disturbances in the overseas call have led to further misperception of the issue.

We sincerely apologize for the gaps in comprehension at our end and have despatched our American staff to your office for you to deal with someone who understands you American English. Again we are sorry for the inconvenience caused to you and assure you that our representative who is visiting you shortly will be able to address all your concerns.

Thanks for your understanding,

Sincerely yours,

Anne Margie Hathway,

Dealer Relations Manager

Ask your doubts by adding comments to this post......

5 comments:

  1. This was best among all sir!!!!

    It has conveyed all points through a simple example. Once reader puts himself in that situation.... quetsions,prejudice,after effets all mess things up... so handling those,needs skills backed by experience...

    Great job sir!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. KUDOS to you sir !!! This blog spot is indeed a great job...

    Please provide us some information about the 5 common ethical traps that people face in their life..

    Regards,
    Shriraghu.M.S

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks guys. And Raghu pls remind in the next class to take up Ethics of BC. I shall devote one session to it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi sir,

    How are you ? we miss you so much..

    Shriraghu

    ReplyDelete
  5. That looks very interesting to me. I am also entering the business world and would like to utilize the best approaches so that we can send our alluring offers to the customers swiftly. I am quite interested to work with texting software for business.

    ReplyDelete