Effective communication skills increase adjustability between employees
1.What is the advantage of cross cultural communication (CCC) for business?
2.According to the author, what are some of the measures to overcome the barriers to cross cultural communication?
3.What does the author mean by ‘low context’ and ‘high context’ cultures? Is Australia low or high context?
4.What does the author mean by ‘Stereotyping is an extension of ethnocentrism’? (p23)
5.The author argues that ‘Focus should be placed on using individual differences’. Why do you think this approach might be more effective than ‘promoting cultural adaptation’?
6.How does the author define ‘culture’ and explain why is it difficult to separate from his/her professional career (p20)
7.Compare and contrast the communication styles of your home country and Australia. How do they differ? Are there similarities
8.Explain what is means by “..no individual member of a group embodies all of his or her group’s characteristics”?
9.Give examples of how Australians stereotype people from your country, and how people from your country stereotype Australians. Do you think these stereotypes are accurate?
10.Give an example of how cultural difference might lead to misunderstanding. How could this have a negative effect on business?
Rationale.
Communication possesses flexibility towards solving the problems of the people. This is because communication results in the achievement of effective solutions, which can mitigate the intensity of the problems. Communication is an important determinant of one’s culture. The kind of language used by the people reflects his socio-cultural background (Padhi, 2016). Cross-cultural communication conglomerates different cultures, enhancing the cultural diversity. All these aspects seem true even for the workplace conditions. As a matter of specification, cross-cultural communication increases the adjustability between the employees.
Eagerness and willingness in this adjustability gives rise to teamwork, which helps in completion of the tasks within the stipulated time. Teamwork results in transfer of knowledge, skills and expertise from the senior employees to the junior employees. In this process, the perspectives of the employees are broadened, which inculcates innovative ideas for executing the allocated duties and responsibilities. This expansion of the scope and arena of knowledge helps in undertaken prospective decisions for the betterment of the business (Cascio, 2018).
One of important advantages of the cross-cultural communication is the provision of platform for continuous improvement. This is in terms of the conservations, which helps the people to evaluate their communication skills, abilities and competencies. Communication helps the employees in gaining effective suggestions for improvements.
Transfer of knowledge and perspectives promote innovation
Along with this, cross-cultural communication is advantageous for the clients. This is in terms of interacting with the clients from diverse backgrounds for fulfilling their needs, demands and requirements.
Multiculturalism gives rise to conflicts, discrimination and harassments, which contradicts the true essence of communication. This is due to the difference of opinions; the major drive behind this is the different socio-cultural background of the employees. Competence is one of the essential factors for overcoming the barriers within the cultural communication (Padhi, 2016). This competence is crucial in terms of dealing with the conflicting issues. One of the ways in solving the barriers of cross-cultural communication is counselling, which enhances the awareness of the managers towards the issues encountered by the employees. Here, rationality helps in protecting the culture of the employees.
Organizing discussions and open forums prove effective in terms of enhancing the communication skills of the employees. These discussions can be organized under the supervision of the statutory bodies. This is needed in terms of preventing the issues of conflicts and differentiation in opinions. Absence of the regulatory bodies can aggravate the complexities. Herein, lays the appropriateness of competence in terms of tackling the issues in tactfully.
Prior experience is vital in terms of catering to the culture of the clients. Here lays the ethics, which determines the personality of the personnel. Complying with the standards and codes of Data Protection Act (1998) proves helpful in terms of safeguarding the culture (Adekola & Sergi, 2016).
Culture is an important parameter within the societal aspects. Culture has different contexts, which helps in gaining an understanding towards its importance within communication. “high” and “low” context of the cultures can be considered as the fluctuations in the process of communicating with the people from other socio-cultural backgrounds. High context cultures the conditions, where conversations are highly dependent on the contexts. Here, body language of the people attaches deeper meaning into the communication style. On the contrary, low context cultures are those, which align with usual verbal communication. Here, the aim is to preserve the stability and close knit unity between the relationships. Preference in communication acts as a common point for differentiating between the cultures (Triandis, 2018).
Australia is considered as a country with low context culture. This is because of the decentralization of the social structure. The people are conscious towards fulfilling the targeted goals and enhancing the productivity. This aspect acts as a compromise with the maintenance of close-knit unity and coordination in the relationships. The interactions are explicit, which reflects the exchange of thoughts, ideas and feelings.
Counseling and open forums can solve cross-cultural conflicts
Within a society, stereotypes are common in terms of perceiving individuals and groups. These stereotypes results from the customs, believes and traditions. Observation of the surroundings brings transformations in the conceptions related to cultural values. These transformations take place with the changes in the culture and civilization (Jenifer & Raman, 2015). The word “extension” adds an extra shade to the act of evaluation of pre-conceived and gathered information about the individuals and groups existing within the society. Positive stereotype enhances the personality of the individuals. On the other hand, negative stereotype degrades the sanctity of the culture. Author’s view on stereotypes can be considered as an assessment towards determining whether he is capable of preserving the cultural values of the society to which he belongs.
Every individual is different from others in terms of characteristics and the differences. This aspect places the individuals and groups in the class of foolish people searching trying to assess their position within the culture. Society consists of people from different cultures. Outsiders need to adjust within that culture. Promotion of cultural adaptation can be considered as violation of the culture (Padhi, 2016). This promotion stains the reputation of the individuals adding vulnerability into the societal position.
Focusing on the individual differences is an effective means for bringing innovation into the process of preserving culture. On the contrary, if cultural adaptation is promoted, then the needs, demands and requirements of the individuals is compromised. The action of “focusing” relates to the initiatives taken for preserving the cultural sentiments of the people. If motivation and encouragement is provided to the people regarding adjusting within a particular cultural environment, they gain support and assistance. Trainings related to intercultural communication helps the people in adjusting within the cultural environment (Adekola & Sergi, 2016). Hiring experts from different socio-cultural backgrounds is a typical example of promotion for the cultural adaptation.
An individual possesses the right to live his life according to their expectations. Peer pressures and influences deviates the individuals from the identified and specified goals. Specifically, the culture, customs and traditions acts as an obstacle in the independent life. The suggestions provided by the peers and the well-wishers confuse the individuals. It is this stage, where the individuals experience dilemma in terms of protecting the culture or pursuing their planned careers. Preservation of the values secures the position of the individuals within the society. This results in the achievement of different and wide-ranging suggestions for achieving success (Jenifer & Raman, 2015). On the contrary, if the focus is laid on maintaining the culture, then career of the individuals is compromised, as some circumstances demand mingling with the people from other socio-cultural backgrounds. The harsh orthodox members of the society consider these interactions unethical. Unethical approach contradicts the cultural values, which reduces the chances of getting recruited in the prestigious workplaces. This adds a negative shade to the career of the individuals. All these aspects affirm the fact that career cannot be separated from culture.
Preservation of cultural values is essential
Indians are very polite in their conversation. In conversing with the people of the other cultures, people lay stress on avoiding conflicts. Herein lays the approach towards enhancing the cultural diversity. People from the other cultures are given a warm welcome through cultural shows (Triandis, 2018). Eye contact is maintained in the communication. For affirming something, the people nod their head. Sign language and gestures are used for the people suffering from speech impairment. On the other hand, in Australia, amiability prevails within the communications, which adds value to the multiculturalism. Unpretentious approach strengthens the bondage between the people. When they meet people from other cultures, they execute warm greetings by maintaining eye contact.
There is close unity between the people of India and Australia. Transparency in the communication makes the countries suitable for foreign investments. Humour, sarcasm and irony reflect the approach of the people towards the issues, happening in their surroundings. Slangs is also common in the communication styles of both the countries (Cascio, 2018). This is sometimes used for fun and in other times, slangs create fissures in the relationship between the people.
Likeness and difference are the two factors, which helps in gaining an insight into the classification of the individuals. Humans imitate the action of the others in terms of enhancing their preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge. Herein lays the appropriateness of the classical conditioning theory, which relates with cognitive learning. This learning possesses flexibility in reducing the individual differences. Countering this, each of the individuals differs from others in terms of characteristics, appearance, likes and dislikes. Based on this, humans can be placed in separate group from the group members (Padhi, 2016). However, the retaining capacity of the humans is low; this is in terms of the responsibilities, which they have to fulfil for the execution of the basic activities. When the individuals are placed a group, they encounter difficulties in adjusting with the other members. However, with training, the individuals learn from the team members. Even if, they get the cooperation of the team members, the individuals fail to inculcate all of the group characteristics.
Australians think that Indians are very religious people, concerned mainly about their culture. This is mainly due to the customs and traditions, which reflects cultural diversity. The warm welcome, which the Indians give to the Australian people, is an indication of transparency in the communication styles (Jenifer & Raman, 2015). This strengthens the bondage between people of both the countries. Some Indians do not like the intervention of people from other countries, which results in implementing slangs in communication. Usage of slangs is an example of negative stereotyping the people, contradicting the true essence of cross-cultural communication. In terms of the slangs, stereotyping is inappropriate, as it adds a negative connotation to the perceptions related to the neighbours. Some other Indians are very eager to mix with people from other cultures. This mentality makes stereotyping appropriate, as it forms certain conceptions about the culture, customs and traditions (Adekola & Sergi, 2016).
Misunderstanding is the immediate outcome of cultural differences. These misunderstandings results in communication gap, adversely affecting the workplace performance. Within this, the aspect of language barrier can be attached. People of one culture encounter difficulties in understanding the language of the other cultures. This difficulty aggravates the complexities in terms of fulfilling the needs, demands and requirements of the clients.
The employees belong to different socio-cultural background, which is reflected in their working styles and patterns. These differing styles generate conflicts between the employees in terms of executing the allocated duties and responsibilities (Cascio, 2018). These conflicts, in turn, affect the productivity of the workplace. Negligence in this direction is problematic in terms of preserving the cultural values. Along with this, the negligence is also a challenge in terms of respecting the individual sentiments of the people.
If the people do not understand the cultural diversity, they would not be able to act towards its preservation. Therefore, the people need to be trained about the cultural dimensions. Hiring experts from different cultures acts as a live example of how cultural diversity can be enhanced. On the other hand, if trainers do not possess the basic skills, then the employees would get improper information about culture. This strains the relationship between the trainers and the employees, compromising with the workplace performance (Jenifer & Raman, 2015).
Misunderstandings can result due to the difference in opinions, which affects the personal sentiments of the people. Sometimes, the issue reaches to the extent of using slangs, which affects the psyche of the individuals. The slangs add a negative parameter to the verbal communication. In case of the people with speech and hearing impairment, cultural differences influence their existence. Most of the cases lack quality in the training of the specially abled employees. This absence is a challenge in terms of securing the market position in the competitive ambience (Adekola & Sergi, 2016).
References
Adekola, A., & Sergi, B. S. (2016). Global business management: A cross-cultural perspective. Routledge.
Cascio, W. (2018). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Jenifer, R. D., & Raman, G. P. (2015). Cross-cultural communication barriers in the workplace. Internafional Journal of Management, 6(1), 348-351.
Padhi, P. K. (2016) The Rising Importance of Cross Cultural Communication in Global Business Scenario. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science 4(1) pp:20-26
Triandis, H. C. (2018). Individualism and collectivism. Routledge.
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