Intercultural Communication Reflection

The first important concept that allowed me to understand intercultural communication efficiently was the idea of mindfulness, a quality that came up numerous times in the texts we read, especially in Thich Hanh’s Peace is Every Step. In the text, Hanh mentions how we need to be mindful with our daily actions, such as eating, discussed in his exercise Eating a Tangerine. We also need to handle conflict with others mindfully, by using practices such as meditation to heal. To Hanh, mindfulness equates to an exercise where we “return to ourselves, breathe, smile, and live fully in the present moment” (Hanh 20). Ultimately, mindfulness is vital to have proper interpersonal relationships with others, since it requires full-attention to what each

As a psychology and communications major, it will be important for me in any career, to be able to effectively be open with others to allow them to feel comfortable speaking to me. Furthermore, our main text, Intercultural Communication: A Peacebuilding Perspective, in chapter 11 highlights how important it is to have cultural competency in the workplace. I have never realized that there are significant differences between cultures in the workplace, for example some are individualistic, like America, or collectivistic, like Japan. I am now aware that I need to research a culture beforehand as to not offend others by being unaware of particular practices such as the Japanese business card exchange. Another skill I have found of importance to the class would be listening. Genuine listening is necessary in order for us to understand and relate to each other. When it comes to conflict, wounds can only heal if there is effort put in place to diminish the misunderstanding. Thich Hanh talks about this practice in Living Together, where he discusses how often knots of anger can manifest between people when they refrain from discussing growing conflict. I think this passage from the text is important in showing how keen communication is with others, and how we need to recognize conflict rather than leave our anger unchecked. I feel as though

Crain and Kenneth A. Heischmidt, “Implementing Business Ethics: Sexual Harassment,” highlights how prevalent sexual harassment happens in the workplace to women. It distinguishes that there exists two types of sexual harassment, quid pro quo, or sexual blackmail, and hostile environment sexual harassment. However, these are still hard to define, and the definition of sexual harassment is often unclear, but despite this “there is a large number of women who do understand what sexual harassment is and what it feels like to be harassed” (Crain 301). The article cites that an estimated 42 to 90 percent of women in the workforce have encountered sexual harassment, and it is important to note that men also do face sexual harassment, with around 23 percent reporting it in a survey by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. In addition to this, there are a number of ethical issues revolving around sexual harassment, notably discrimination, hostile working environments, and poor working relationships. Unfortunately, women who tried reporting their sexual harassment often resulted in nothing happened to the perpetrator, and generally many women decide not to report their harassment for fear of negative consequences. The article discusses that the reason sexual harassment often occurs is because it is perceived differently be men and women, where “for men, it is usually strictly an issue of sexuality” as opposed to women, where “it is an issue of power”