Egbe works for an International South African petroleum company called Excel Liquids as a productions
manager. The telephone rings and it is Sume, his mother calling him from his hometown in Cameroon. Egbe
has not spoken to his mother for the last three months. He was so excited to hear his mother's voice, but
she complained that she could not hear him clearly because of the torrential rains in Cameroon.
She asks him about his job. Egbe says that all is well at his job site, but he is getting irritated these days
because a colleague is making moves at him. Since she could not hear him clearly, Sume asked Egbe to call
her back after an hour via her cell phone. Egbe drops the phone and rushes to a meeting at the boardroom.
Two hours later Sume calls again when Egbe has just returned from his meeting. "I'm so sorry," Egbe says
apologetically. He rattles off with a long discourse on how boring it is to have a meeting with white people.
and how they keep talking through their noses. He also explained that his gay colleague is making his job.
intolerable. At this point, Sume asked him why his job should be intolerable because of his colleague. He
explained that he can't be transsexual as that is a taboo in their culture. He does not give her an opportunity
to ask questions even though she could hardly understand what he was talking about. She has never heard
of such words as "gay" and "transsexual". She therefore curtly interrupts him and terminates the call by
saying that she has to check on the food on the stove. When he puts down the phone, he shakes his head
and thinks to himself: "A typical woman! Always trying to do more than one thing at a time and never
succeeding".
Read the passage below and answer the question that
follows.
Discuss in details three challenges or barriers
demonstrated in the case study above and mention how
these barriers can interfere with effective communication.
In your discussion, suggest solutions to addressing each
of these barriers. Your discussion should be in an essay
format and not more than one and a half pages.
0)
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