Most interpersonal conflicts in the workplace develop as a result of poor communication. Understanding and being understood can be difficult--even among people with the same language and culture. When employers in agriculture or industry must communicate across cultural lines with their immigrant Hispanic employees, communication difficulties are easily compounded. 

Employers may not worry about whether they're communicating effectively with immigrant Hispanics when work seems to be moving along smoothly, but the fact that work is getting done does not mean that communication has occurred. Measuring the success of communication in this simplistic way ignores the true potential of productivity, safety, and employee satisfaction. Needless to say, when conflicts arise, the issue of faulty communication quickly comes to the forefront.

Communicating with Hispanic employees involves much more than speaking in a common language, although the language barrier is often the first barrier to overcome. English speaking employers too frequently assume that an employee who speaks broken or heavily accented English means that the Hispanic is not capable of understanding what is needed on the job. As a result, the employer does not take the time to carefully explain and to be sure that the message has been completely understood. Non-Hispanic supervisors must guard against this subtle bias.

If a Spanish-speaking person is needed to translate, a common error is too assume that an employee with an Hispanic surname speaks Spanish or that he or she speaks Spanish well enough to communicate effectively in that language. In a similar error, an employer may assume that a Spanish-speaking employee who speaks English, can read English well enough to clearly understand what is contained in written instructions. 

• Culture--Like Another Language
• Recognizing the Uniqueness of the Individual 
• Non-Verbal Communication 
• Differences in Communication Style 
• Communicating About Time 
• The Benefits of Cross-Cultural Awareness

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Trula Michaels LaCalle, Ph.D.
phone: (707) 874-3284
e-mail: lacalle@Bellaii.com
Sacramento and Sonoma Counties, California, USA