ACCA · Question 51 · Syllabus E: Personal effectiveness and communication in business
Section B (Syllabus E)
Scenario: 'DevSync' is a software development team spread across India, the UK, and the US. They are experiencing severe communication breakdowns. The US manager frequently sends urgent emails at 5 PM EST (which is 10 PM in the UK and 3:30 AM in India) demanding immediate responses. The Indian developers feel overwhelmed and stressed but avoid confronting the US manager due to a cultural respect for hierarchy. Consequently, deadlines are missed, and the UK team is frustrated by the lack of coordination.
Based on the scenario and your knowledge of personal effectiveness and communication (Syllabus E), select the FOUR correct statements.
Answer options:
The time zone differences represent a physical barrier to effective communication.
The Indian developers' reluctance to confront the manager due to hierarchy is an example of a status/cultural barrier.
The US manager is failing at effective time management by not considering the working hours of the global team, leading to unrealistic urgency.
The conflict between the UK team and the rest of the group could be addressed using the Thomas-Kilmann 'Collaborating' style to find a mutually beneficial communication schedule.
The communication breakdown is primarily due to semantic noise in the emails.
The Indian developers are exhibiting Kolb's 'Active Experimentation' by ignoring the emails.
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