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Generational Diversity

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Communication is essential for an organisation to operate effectively and efficiently. Effective communication helps to ensure that information is relayed accordingly and accurately within the organisation. If the relay of information is inaccurate, the organisation’s productivity may be affected. This essay will describe the concept of communication in relation to management and explain how effective communication is undermined by barriers such as cultural differences, generational differences and filtering of information by referring to academic literature such as journal articles. Furthermore, an example will be used to explain how managers can increase the productivity and performance of their organisation by developing an effective …show more content…

The reason for this is because, they did not understand the information passed to them by their English speaking co-workers or the English speaking co-workers did not understand their accent (Tagreed 2012). This may result in inaccurate information being relayed. Generational Diversity is also a barrier for effective communication as different generations have different ways of relaying and processing information. Tolbize (2008) states that generational diversity has made the workplace more rigid and demanding. The author further states that the four main generations in the current workforce are the Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Kyles (2005) notes that people communicate differently to others even if the difference in age is five years. The Veterans are also known as the traditional generation. The reason for this because the Veterans are strict followers of formality and authority (Tolbize 2008). The author further states that the Veterans and Baby Boomers do not question authority and use formal methods and language when communicating. Generation X and Y are more flexible in their work life (Tolbize 2008). The author notes that they prefer informal communication and do not appreciate authority. These differences may cause a problem in communication as most middle or senior managers are Veterans or Baby Boomers and they would expect their employees to respect authority and communicate formally. Generational diversity also has

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