Exploring communication challenges due to language and cultural diversity on South African construction sites
Abstract
English: Communication can be traced to, among others, an individual’s language
and cultural background. These aspects play a fundamental role in ensuring
effective communication. Literature surveys show that language and culture
have contributed to ineffective communication, giving rise to a wide range
of problems in the construction industry. These problems include an increase
in rework and poor product quality, and low employee morale. Given the
multicultural environment in which construction activities occur in South Africa,
communication can potentially dictate the extent of project performance.
In order to explore the impact of this phenomenon, a survey was undertaken
among general workers and site managers employed by five general contractors
(GCs) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Salient findings include
that communication problems occur on construction sites due to language and
cultural diversity-related barriers; site managers are generally effective
at communicating; the South African workforce is diversely cultured, which
potentially leads to misunderstandings on sites, and language barriers between
site management and site workers impede performance improvement. Afrikaans: Kommunikasie kan teruggevoer word na, onder andere, ‘n individu se taal
en kulturele agtergrond. Hierdie aspekte speel ‘n belangrike rol in effektiewe
kommunikasie. Literatuuroorsigte toon dat taal en kultuur bygedra het tot
oneffektiewe kommunikasie, wat aanleiding gee tot ‘n wye verskeidenheid
probleme in die konstruksiebedryf. Hierdie probleme sluit in ‘n toename in
werkherhaling en swak produkkwaliteit asook lae werknemersmoraal. Gegewe
die multikulturele omgewing waarbinne konstruksie aktiwiteite in Suid-Afrika
voorkom, kan kommunikasie potensieel die omvang van projekprestasie
voorspel. Ten einde die impak van hierdie verskynsel te voorspel, is ‘n opname
gedoen onder algemene werkers en die bestuurders werksaam by vyf algemene
kontrakteurs in die Oos-Kaap provinsie van Suid-Afrika. Belangrike bevindinge sluit in dat kommunikasieprobleme plaasvind op konstruksieterreine as gevolg
van taal- en kulturele verskeidenheid-verwante hindernisse; terreinbestuurders
kommunikeer in die algemeen effektief; die Suid-Afrikaanse werkerskorps
kom uit verskeie kulturele agtergronde wat potensieel tot misverstande op
bouterreine mag lei, en taalgrense tussen terreinbestuurders en -werkers hinder
prestasieverbetering.