IV. Breakdowns in communication

Breakdown is the failure of a system or relationship

A. Read the text about “ breakdown“ in communication and answer the

questions:

1) What is meant by “a breakdown”?

2) What are the reasons for a breakdown in communication?

3) What does selective perception mean?

4) Why do people perceive things in different ways?

There are some reasons for a breakdown in communication.

A breakdown in communication is likely to happen if there is some kind of ‘ social distance’ b etween people. People may have difficulty if they are different in status, or if one person has a much higher position than the other. It is risky to tell the truth to someone higher up in the hierarchy – they may not like what they hear and hold it against you.

The second reason is physical surroundings and physical distance. Studies show that the further away a person is, the less he/she communicates. The physical layout of an office must be carefully planned. Open-plan offices are design to make communication easier and quicker.

Another important barrier to communication is selective perception. Put simply, this means that people perceive things in different ways. The world of the sender is not the same as the world of the receiver. Because their knowledge and experience is different, a sender and a receiver are always on slightly different wavelengths.

Therefore, a manager will say something, but the employee will interpret his meaning incorrectly. The message becomes distorted.

B. Read the story and answer the question put in the tittle of the story:

Empty Shelves in America?

Several years ago, at a reception which followed a long day of negotiations, a vice-president of an American company and his Russian counterpart were having

An informal conversation through an interpreter. The Russian said: “My wife spends so much time shopping, but she comes home empty-handed just about every time”. The American nodded and said: “My wife is exactly the same way. She spends hours going to all kinds of stores without buying a single thing”. They smiled, for here were two men who really “understood” one another

C. Many managers agree that an understanding of cultural differences is essential when doing business abroad. The following story illustrates what can happen if businesspeople do not take into account the culture of the countries they are dealing with

Read the story and answer the following questions:

a) What was the reason for the breakdown (misunderstanding)?

b) Why didn’t they understand each other?

Mr. Byrd was an ex-State Department employee hired by a well-known multinational corporation to be its ‘man in Riyadh’, Saudi Arabia. This retired American diplomat went to the home of a Saudi, Mr. Fouad, to try to interest him in participating in a local joint venture with his company. A middle man who knew them both had introduced them. As this was a first meeting, the men’s conversation began with small talk that made Mr. Byrd a little impatient.

Questions such as “How are you doing?, ‘How was your flight? ’, ‘How is your family? ’ and ‘How is your father? ’ were common. Mr. Byrd, familiar with all these obligatory formalities of greeting, answered ‘fine’. ‘Oh, my father, yes, well, he is fine, but he is getting a little deaf. I saw him a few months ago during Christmas when we took him out of the nursing home for a few days. From that point everything froze up. Mr. Byrd’s mission was completely derailed. Mr.Fouad remained gracious enough, but obviously was uninterested in doing any business with Mr. Byrd.