English 105 Business English Instructor: Ms.

Sayeeda Sharmin Chowdhury

Class Work Barriers/Communication Dated: Summer’2020
NAME: ___________________________ ID:_____________SEC:__________

Q.1 Read the following letter written to the Boss, (The Editor In Chief) by a senior staff member (Mr. Kamrul
Hashem Siddiq). The letter is talking about a junior colleague (Ms. Sameera Rahman). These two colleagues are both
facing barriers to communication and communication problems at the work place. Analyze the situation and answer
the questions below.
________________________________________________________________________

Dear Mr. Editor-In-Chief:

I am writing to complain about my colleague Ms. Sameera Rahman. You have assigned both of us on the “Proctor Fields”
project, and unfortunately, I am having a very hard time working with Ms. Rahman, and am requesting her transfer.

As you know, Mr. Editor, the “Proctor Fields” project is located in Mymensingh, and Ms. Rahman and I have to do field
study at the location to get raw data for your report. For some reason, she is very reluctant to go to the site with me, saying
that she is facing family pressure about going out of Dhaka with a male colleague. I tried to call her several times to discuss
this matter, but since she does not have a cell phone, her land line is the only number I have. Due to her lack of a cell phone,
surely a very important item for a young professional to have, it is difficult to coordinate with her as she is not easily
reachable all day.

In addition to her problems with the data collection at the “Proctor Fields” site, Ms. Rahman is very unpunctual. There have
been several instances of her not arriving at the office on time or forgetting or delaying project reports because of this. I
should also mention, when she is available for meetings, it is very difficult to get any contribution from her. She will usually
just agree with anything I say, without giving her own opinion, and going along with the decisions made by everyone
without giving her viewpoint. She just says “yes” to ideas if everyone does. This is hugely frustrating for me as a colleague.
I should also mention, Mr. Editor that recently she missed an important meeting with our main clients The Mahfuz Group
because she did not get the email, nor did she get the notice I had left on her door about the meeting. She told me that her
computer was not working, and that the notice had probably fallen off her door. She assumed that I would personally come
and get her to go to the meeting, but naturally, that is not possible, as I am myself very busy. In any case, it led to a bad
impression of her by our clients.

Mr. Mahfuz, our main client, has personally complained to me that when he tries to address any changes or gives any
criticism about her work on his project, he is very uncomfortable, because she easily breaks down into tears, or gets very
defensive and rude. As you can imagine, this makes it very awkward for him to give feedback.

Finally, I would like you to note that Ms. Rahman is very difficult to interact with at the office. She never seems to listen to
anything I am saying to her, her attention is always on other things or other people. During meetings, she will not make eye
contact with me, or raise her hands for questions. Instead she sits with her arms crossed with a bored and irritated expression
that makes it hard to talk to her. On the office floor, she also has taken an office that is far away from the rest of her
colleagues on the Proctor Fields Projects. This is a very strange thing, since by staying so far from her colleagues; she
misses out on team meetings or discussions which are very useful for us in our work. She sits close to the printing press
room, and often, when we call her or try to speak on the office intercom, she won’t respond. Later she says she couldn’t hear
our calls! Finally, though this is a small thing, it makes everyone very upset that Ms. Rahman won’t even come and join us
on any office party or meeting outside of work.

Because of these reasons, I request that you reassign Ms. Sameera Rahman to a different project. Her presence
is not helpful in this particular project and her unprofessional and rude attitude has cost us the client’s positive good will as
well.

Thank you.
Mr. Kamrul Hashem Siddiq
Senior Project Manager
 English 105 Business English Instructor: Ms. Sayeeda Sharmin Chowdhury
Class Work Barriers/Communication Dated: Summer’2020

(1) Identify TWO examples of Non-Verbal Communication in Case Study.

(2) Identify SIX Barriers to Communication from the Case Study. Give Examples from the case study of
each barrier to support your analysis.

(3) Imagine you are the Editor In Chief who has gotten this letter. Discuss two things you might do to help
the two colleagues overcome their problems and get along with each other. How would you help these two
solve their issues?