ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN A MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE

The most pressing issue facing multinational companies is the successful integration of multiple cultural communication styles represented in their organization. There is clear path to improved communication, employee morale, and job satisfaction. Organizations should: (1) Measuring and recognizing the culture climate. (2) Deploy employee educational programs to understand the differences in cultural communication styles. (3) Create and promote a clear strategy of inclusiveness. (4) Provide interactional training sessions. (5) Promote and encourage proactive leadership. This paper looks at published sources that report on research results, gathered using various methods, that both define the cultural differences or values attributed to specific cultures, along with methods to improve this communication . Blanton and Barbuto (2005) propose how that multinational groups show significant improvements in their knowledge of how to handle multiple cultures within their own group by utilizing what drives each of the groups. Bird and Osland (2005) similarly propose educational strategies to motivate and improve employee relations specifically in a manager role. Evans and Sulun (2017) conducted and documented interviews with English speaking about their interactions with non-native English speakers in their place of employment. The results show how the lack of understanding of the cultural differences complicate the communication process. Fine (1991) also goes into depth with case studies demonstrating the challenges faced in these organizations. Lastly look at Kim and Mclean’s (2014) study of the impact of informal learning and how it becomes the real factor in determining how successful an employee may be in a new multinational place of employment