Communication and Negotiation Skill

Question: Discuss about the Communication and Negotiation Skill. Answer: 1. Challenges in communication are faced in every organization. The case study identifies Barry experiencing the same things while managing his job as the food service manager in a casual dining restaurant. The challenges that Barry is facing in the workplace are: Language barriers- As given in the case study, it is seen that most of the employees are not fluent with English as a conversational medium, which makes verbal communication difficult for Barry at some point of time (Bennett 2015). Age barrier- The age of the employees in the restaurant varies from 16 to 55, which is a challenge to Barry. The young generation can understand the texts and the messages that are written in short and their vocabulary is not related to the older employees, which affects the attitudes and the work values (Waisbord 2015). Non-verbal barriers- The appearance of Barry is very clumsy, as he does not care about the cleanliness and the personal appearance, which can be seen from the way he dresses. Cultural barriers- The employees are from different ethnic backgrounds and have difference with the practices in food safety, which needs to be solved by Barry. Emotional barriers- It interferes with communication as Barry is seen emotionally hurt when he comes to work from home. It affects the communication quality with the employees (Bennett 2015). 2. The solutions that Barry needs to consider with the barriers that have been identified are: Language barrier- The solution that Barry might use is that the inclusion of signs that are posted in the language that the employees can understand. The signs need to be put along with visuals and not words in the language of the employees will help to bring back the interest of the employees (Whyte and Sherer 2015). Age barrier- There are four generations of employees in the workplace where each of the generations prefers a method of communication. The younger generation will be attracted to the short messages, while the older employees may find this communication method to be irrelevant. Barry needs to identify the preferences of the employees and communicate with them accordingly (Yong et al. 2016). Non-verbal barrier- Barry needs to improve his appearance and be the role model to his employees. The actions and behavior of Barry needs to be consistent, as he needs to follow the hand washing procedure that he implicated in the workplace. Cultural barrier- Barry needs to identify the cultural backgrounds of the employees, which can then be related to food safety. An example of this would be that the employees might think that food can be served at room temperature to the customers as they come from a country that follows this procedure (Whyte and Sherer 2015). Emotional barrier- Barry needs to check his emotions, which will be useful for effective communication with the employees. Self-awareness and taking assistance from outside may help Barry to control his emotions at the workplace (Yong et al. 2016). 3. SOP is a document that identifies the best practices and acts as a framework for the policy of the organization. It helps in identifying the what, why, how and when of the food services in a restaurant. In this case study, 2 SOPs need to be taken in account. They are: New Employee Orientation SOP- The busy days and the high revenues has made it a challenge for Barry to orient the new employees that are hired in the workplace. The SOP that has been developed for this is that the employees need to meet the manager so that they can be trained about the health and safety procedures. The employees can ask questions about the procedures if they have any doubts. The manager in turn needs to allocate at least 30 minutes for the orientation program and thank the employees for participating in the program (Yesiltas et al. 2014). Personal Hygiene and Employee Health SOP- This is important because Barry lacks the personal hygiene standards set by him in the restaurant. He needs to act as the motivator by maintaining a clean and unwrinkled clothes and clean hands. The procedure would be that the employees need to arrive at the workplace neatly by maintaining a clean hair followed by a proper bath. They need to wash hands before entering the place to work, in the restroom and after smoking, drinking and eating. They need to wear disposable gloves before every task is performed. The hands need to be washed in the sinks and the dry them with single use towels so that it is not contaminated (Dave and Suryadevara 2016). 4. Barry needs to implement different ways to use effective communication so that the employees in the workplace can get motivated. Some of them are: The employees need to be encouraged and should be provided with sincere words in handling the safety behaviors with respect to food hygiene. The method of communication needs to be appropriate so that the employees can understand the message that the supervisor wants to convey. For the young employees a simple thank you message will suffice but the old employees may want something more than a thank you message. Barry needs to act as a role model to his employees through the verbal and non-verbal methods of communication. He can convey through his actions, some messages to the employees. An instance in this case would be to wear clean uniforms so that the other employees may follow that procedure. References Bennett, W.L., 2015. Changing societies, changing media systems: Challenges for communication theory, research and education. InCan the Media Serve Democracy?(pp. 151-163). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Dave, S. and Suryadevara, V., 2016. Implementation of lean Six Sigma in restaurant business. Waisbord, S., 2015. Three challenges for communication and global social change.Communication Theory,25(2), pp.144-165. Whyte, J. and Sherer, M., 2015. Overcoming the challenges of accurately assessing consciousness and communication in the context of pain assessment.Assessing Pain and Communication in Disorders of Consciousness, p.60. Yesiltas, M., Zorlu, O., Sop, S.A. and Beydilli, E.T., 2014. The Effects of Service Quality on Customers' Tipping Behavior.International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,4(8), p.430. Yong, R.F., Girotti, N., Hor, W.K. and Ng, C.C., Motorola Solutions, Inc., 2016.Communication device. U.S. Patent D754,089.