Cross-cultural Business Communication
Cross-cultural communication is important in facilitating the role of international management in achieving the objectives and performance in international assignments for business organizations. Cross-cultural communication skills facilitate the attainment of competitive advantage in the global business arena. Conflict resolution and management is another important aspect of cross-cultural communication skills that bring about a unified workforce that works jointly towards achievement of common business goals without little concern on cultural differences. In many respects, the current world is now a global village. This implies that many people from different parts of the world interact as though they are in the same locality. Likewise, business transactions also take place between people of different nationalities with little regard on their geographical and cultural orientations across the globe. Most organizations also have gone a notch higher because of the world being a global village (Schneider & Barsoux, 2003).
Due to globalization, most organizations draw their workforce from various parts of the world that exhibit different and varying cultural orientations. Cross-cultural workforce and teams allows organizations to enjoy the benefits of diversity. Cultural differences among employees imply a difference in beliefs that involve customs, ethics, and how people do things may differ from one culture to another (Adkins & Caldwell, 2004). The perception of a good idea or behavior in one culture may be bad in another culture. Cross-cultural communication skills among business employees implies the ability of employees from different cultural orientations to interact and work together amica...
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...n page two, the authors explain the impact of culture on business and its success. With this regard, the authors of the book assert the importance of cultural training in boosting the success of business in the international context. Because of globalization, most organizations realize the importance of cross-cultural communication and its training as a managerial strategy. This study puts more emphasis on the importance of cross-cultural training as an important factor in fostering organizational productivity. The book is important in this research in the sense that it bring out the understanding of cross-cultural communication and its factor of improving communication among organizational staff of different cultural backgrounds. The book is also important for future research in cross-cultural communication intelligence and its impact on organizational performance.
Constant technological and global changes create challenges that forces leaders to manage different cultures in different countries. People, goods, services, and ideas are moving today at greater speeds which mean our labor force is becoming more diverse and multicultural by the day. Effective leaders need to understand such global dynamics in order to successfully manage organizational cultures. The cultures of leaders and their core assumptions might be different from the values and assumptions of employees in a different country. Two managers working for the same global company might see things differently due to their backgrounds and cultural values. The different countries, in which the organization operates, will have different cultures depending on the social, economic, and political history of the country. Managing and understanding these differences need an effective cross-cultural thinking leader (Yukl, 2013). Some research questions that Yukl, 2013 suggests are: 1) how behavior differs across cultural values and for different countries? 2) How values and behaviors are influenced by personality across company and country? 3) What types of traits, skills, and experience are most useful to prepare a leader being assigned to a new country? 4) How does the fast-changing culture in developing countries affect and relate to
Intercultural communication is type of communication which people from different cultures and groups share information. The occasion where significant basically cultural differences made effective intercultural communication a challenge between me and my friend here in America was about bride price. In my culture bride price is paid by groom to the family of the girl who is going to marry. The bride price symbolizes as a promise to always love and protect. It serves as reassurance to the bride’s parents that the daughter they love with all their heart will be in good hands. The bride price does not represent the value of a women and it was never intended to. Its present a promise to love and respect a women. But my friend who is the citizen here and was born here told me that in America there is no like this culture anymore, they do not pay any bride price to groom or to the bride.
The intimacy between culture and communication exists in the fact that actors interact by way of communication which is a technique used to continue the established patterns of meaning, thinking, feeling and acting. There are common characteristics in most definitions of culture. These characteristics are that culture is shared and is a stable construct, consisting of patterns, values, symbols, meanings, beliefs, assumptions and expectations. The characteristics of culture mean that culture is socially constructed and, therefore, must be learned.
Many people who go to visit or work in another country suffer some misunderstanding from the local people, because they have a different culture. Different culture will cause disparity points of view about almost everything. In the article, Intercultural Communication Stumbling Blocks by Laray M. Barna, there are five stumbling blocks mentioned that are seen in a cross-culture communication. These blocks are: language, nonverbal signs and symbols, preconceptions and stereotypes, the tendency to evaluate and high anxiety. Barna wants to use these stumbling blocks to show the common blockades between different cultures. I agree with what she thinks about the language, nonverbal signs and symbols, preconceptions and stereotypes, and the tendency
The first aspect of language is vocabulary. Interestingly, Indonesian has some similar vocabulary like American, result...
I have learned a great deal about different cultures and the communication between those cultures. I didn’t really think I would learn as much as I did. I am from an older cohort than most of the people in my class; therefore my experience level is a little greater. This did not prevent me from learning a few things and enhancing the knowledge I already have.
In the workplace, it is common to encounter individuals of different cultures, ethnicities, and genders. This diversity can either lead to an introduction of new work methods, or it can lead to conflict between coworkers. In order to avoid conflict, and have all employees work as a cohesive team, managers must educate themselves, and their employees on the topic of cultural diversity. In order for your practices to be considered effective, you must not only respect and recognize an employee’s diversity, you must use their difference to benefit them.
Cultural intelligence assessment will enable the individual to have certain information about himself. It is posited that cultural difference has a greater impact on business effectiveness than we think. That our cultural backgrounds really influence the way we think and act and the way we interpret each others contributions. Our success or failure in communication will depend on the extent at which we understand the different cultural background of the employees and create a fruitful collaboration in situations where cultural differences play a role. To achieve this, we need to act in an appropriate way in multicultural situations coupled with the ability to have an open mind which admits new information and this is curious about difference. We need to both know who we are and be curious about “the other” so that differences can be elaborated rather than smoothed down.
A well-managed bi-cultural team is proven to be a success because when people from different backgrounds bring their own unique cultural experiences to the situations they face in their companies and this broader perspective of viewpoints tends to allow for a better ultimate resolution, however if those teams are not managed properly, and if the size of those teams are not managed, and the individuals are not catered to, the cons may outweigh the
Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have taken place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze these three notions in situations in which intercultural communication is frequent such as : the workplace, the classroom and vacation trips.
With the rapid growth in globalization there are a number of firms who have taken their businesses abroad. Their challenge, cross cultural management and communication. An effective communication strategy begins first with understanding who the sender of the message is and who the receiver of the message is. Many companies have realized this and offer training in the different cultures to help better facilitate communication between leaders (Cross-Cultural Communication, mindtools.com). Without this basic understand between sender and receiver it can be very difficult for companies of multicultural to even begin to communicate. The second important understanding is that leaders must demand a cultural tolerance of acceptable behavior between cultures to facilitate effective communication (Cross-Cultural Communication, mindtools.com).
I wasn 't quite sure what I was getting into when I first enrolled in Intercultural Communications. I had assumptions as to the goals of the course such as I would be learning about the way cultures interact with each other, learn about communication in general, or I would be learning about the ways we use communication through our culture. I think that I achieve the latter goal, but I also gained knowledge about more then just my culture. I came to realize that there is more to a culture than just language, appearances, and customs, which are aspects of culture that could be seen above the waterline, or they are more noticeable/obvious to someone outside of that culture. There are aspects of culture that are below the waterline, or more
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.
Abstract: Globalization has made intercultural communication inevitable. Communicating with other cultures characterizes today’s business, classroom, and community. Technology, especially the internet, has increased the probability that whatever is documented online will be read by someone from another culture. Intercultural communication is of importance in any career field, thus the art of knowing how to communicate with other cultures should be a workplace skill that is emphasized. This is a conceptual paper whose purpose is twofold.
Sonderberg, A-M & N Holden. (2002), Rethinking cross cultural management in a globalizing business world' International Journal of Cross Culture Management 2(1): 103-121