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CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Laws and Business Communication · Barriers to Business Communication

A Mumbai company sends the same email to staff in its Indian and Japanese offices, but the Japanese team misreads its direct tone. Which action best overcomes this barrier?

The best action is to adapt the message after learning the cultural norms of the receivers. Intercultural barriers arise from differing expectations about tone and directness, so the sender should encode the message with the audience in mind. Translation alone or avoiding email does not fix this.

  1. AAdapt the message after learning the cultural norms of the receiversCorrect
  2. BTranslate the email into more languages without changing tone
  3. CStop communicating with overseas offices by email
  4. DAsk the Japanese team to adjust to the Indian style

Explanation

Cultural barriers are overcome by understanding the receiver's norms and adapting style and tone. Plain translation keeps the tone problem, avoiding email removes a useful channel, and expecting one side to adapt is not effective communication.

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