Cultural Identity and Its Relation to Nationality
Cultural identity is a crucial aspect to each individual. It refers to the sense of belonging to a particular culture or group (Benet-Martínez, 2015). Cultural identity is all about owning the culture through embracing traditions passed down through the family line. Cultural identity is also important in revealing an individual’s heritage. For example, when children are born into a family, they end up embracing the norms of their parents as they grow older. By owning the culture, one adds value to his cultural identity since he or she can be identified as part of a particular culture (Jensen, Arnett, & McKenzie, 2011).
Cultural identity is closely related to nationality. A country where an individual is born or lives in determines the cultural identity to be embraced in that country. Various researchers view culture as a national-level hierarchy since it acts as an umbrella to many cultures. Others, equate cultural identity to nationality since the two terms are used interchangeably (Jameson, 2007). However, equating culture with nationality can limit the comprehension of business problems or issues. For example, an intercultural conflict can occur between businesses in a single country. This means that the affiliates of an international group may share different aspects of the typical culture even if operating in various countries.
Taking into consideration the entrance of Tesco and Carrefour, which are European food retailers into the Korean market, has seen both success and failure. For example, Tesco, a British multinational groceries retailer has performed well while Carrefour, a French retailer has not been successful. Carrefour was forced to sell its Korean businesses after some time due to the disappointing results. This analysis focusses on the nationalities as the key decision makers to the success and failure of the companies and not other aspects such as business acumen or professional experience. However, when viewing the situation from the cultural identity angle, one can conclude that the contrasting outcomes are as a result of cultural aspects rather than the aspect of nationality (Jameson, 2007)
In addition, nationality in the conception of cultural identity has different effects. For example, the formation of Peace Corps which is an international movement and the growth of the global businesses has resulted in the inflated appeal in international studies. This has promoted country-based collations which have consequently led to a heightened interest in national cultures (Jameson, 2007). Secondly, nationality in the confines of cultural identity incorporates a philosophical basis. As culture has evolved over the years, researchers seek to identify areas of specialization. For example, isolation of one specific nationality to the exclusion of others. This perspective has matched with the increasing concern of the treatment of small culture groups in Europe and North America. The privileging of specific countries has led to a western bias in regards to the ideologies of nationalism.
In conclusion, the continuous privileging of nationality is all about issues on intercultural research. It’s often easier to obtain information on the nationality of individuals that information on ethnicity, religion and other cultural identity elements.
Skills Necessary for Successful Intercultural Communication in the Workplace
Intercultural communication skills are crucial in sharing information and communication with individuals of other social groups or cultures (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2005). Understanding the different cultures is a vital ingredient since various cultures incorporate distinct customs, patterns, social mores, and standards. Besides, being able to accept differences in cultural aspects ensures the development of good intercultural communication skills.
For a manager to be competent in intercultural communication, the following skills should be adopted; One, we have cultural sensitivity. This is a soft skill that augments respect for another person’s culture. By understanding another culture, a manager is able to empathize with the socio-economic status and cultural behaviors of his or her employees (Thomas & Peterson, 2017). Therefore, the manager will be able to discover a proper method of communication that will ensure he or she engages with other employees of different cultures in a better way. For example, by having employees from a lower-income family and who are of a different race, a manager can try to understand their way of life instead of judging them hence being able to promote better communication which results to more productivity.
Secondly, we have flexibility. Being able to adapt to different business practices and social environments can be advantageous for a manager. This will ensure a manager is not rigid to a particular social setting (Tjosvold, 2017). Therefore, being able to communicate with different individuals from different cultures will be more comfortable and efficient. Thirdly, we have self-knowledge. Understanding your cultural values and the effect of the cultural values on behaviors and attitudes is a vital skill for a manager. This will allow a manager to understand how another person from another culture can be easily be reached without discriminatory comments or hate. Self-knowledge helps print an image of how another individual may want to be served or communicated to (Tjosvold, 2017). Therefore, communication is made more natural, and the sharing of ideas is effective hence prompting productivity.
Fourthly, we have inclusivity. Making people from different cultures and backgrounds to feel at ease and valued for their contributions is key for a manager (Wang, Fan, Freeman & Zhu, 2017). Since a manager interacts with different individuals in an organization, being able to make the people feel part of the organization will determine the rate of productivity in the organization. Communication is a crucial tool and how the manager communicates will be the determinant of the inclusivity of other people from various cultures in the organization. Therefore, having this skill will ensure the manager can positively lead his employees hence guaranteeing the organization achieves its set goals.
Lastly, we have motivational leadership. This is also an important intercultural communication skill since it helps inspire employees to contribute to the creativity of their differences (Groves, Feyerherm & Gu, 2015). Employees are able to take responsibility and initiatives to ensure they give their best in the organization. At times, different people from other cultures may feel belittled since they are not part of the larger culture of an organization. This will be an issue that a manager will be forced to solve so as to motivate the smaller group of employees to feel accepted among the other large groups.
The concept of culture is elusive, complex and fluid. This is because people’s views in regards to cultural differences vary from person to person (Song, 2017). For example, Chinese individuals working in the Western business environments such as in the United States may not experience challenges in communication since the cultural difference does not affect them. However, for an American, establishing a business in China, the cultural difference is so huge hence posing communication challenges. Even for international managers, intercultural differences remain an elusive concept. In addition, for a British manager working in an Australian culture, there will be no difference between the two cultures. However, there is a huge cultural difference when an Australian manager works in a British culture.
Differences in language, gender, personality, originality, and age are factors that constitute an individual’s social identity (Song, 2017). A person identifies as a member of a particular group due to the sameness but separates himself from other groups due to the differences. Therefore, facilitating communication among people in the workplace may be a challenge. This is because different people in the workplace have ideologies toward different people hence hindering effective communication.
Culture, as mentioned above, is profound since it entails the daily life of people’s thoughts and practices. However, the divergence of culture is so visible such that it affects communication and management in businesses (Song, 2017). When people walk into business meetings, they come with shared purposes but if the people can’t communicate and agree on the way forward, what would be the purpose of the meeting? People have differences which are reflected in their different expectation for communication. However, aligning expectations is essential for excellent communication in business situations.
Ensuring accuracy in communication is equally important for business communication since if not adhered to, failure is inevitable. In business contexts, it is normal for people to think they are understood even if they are not. Everyone does this since it’s an expectation for people to listen and understand the message given. However, people may listen, but they may not comprehend the message of the conversation especially for people from diverse backgrounds and cultures (Song, 2017). Its only accurate information that may be relevant to a business outcome.
In conclusion, due to globalization, the complexity of intercultural business communication has gained international recognition. Various international rules and expectations are becoming progressively complex. For example, some behavioral rules are articulated explicitly while some are informal hence affecting the behavior of most individuals in a society (Washington, Okoro & Thomas, 2012). In the event a business appreciates the cultural differences of people, the business is able to develop a better comprehension of why and how people may act in some ways hence being able to know how to act during business activities. According to O’Rourke (2010), the primary reason why businesses fail in international assignments is the inability to adapt to the foreign methods of thinking hence portraying professional incompetence. Besides, Bovee and Thill (2010) emphasize the challenge of acknowledging the different behaviors of diverse teams and employees since it affects the teams from working closely.
References
Benet-Martínez, V. (2015). Cultural identity dynamics and intersubjective cultural representations: A commentary on Wan. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46(10), 1299-1303.
Bovee, C. L., & Thill, J. V. (2010). Business communication today (10th ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall.
Groves, K. S., Feyerherm, A., & Gu, M. (2015). Examining cultural intelligence and cross- cultural negotiation effectiveness. Journal of Management Education, 39(2), 209-243.
Jameson, D. A. (2007). Reconceptualizing cultural identity and its role in intercultural business communication. The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 44(3), 199-235.
Jensen, L. A., Arnett, J. J., & McKenzie, J. (2011). Globalization and cultural identity.
In Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 285-301). Springer, New York, NY.
O’Rourke, IV, J. S. (2010). Management Communication (4thth ed., pp. 280-289). Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson Prentice Hall.
Song, X. (2017). The complexity of cross-cultural business communication (Doctoral dissertation).
Thomas, D. C., & Peterson, M. F. (2017). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.
Ting-Toomey, S., & Chung, L. C. (2005). Understanding intercultural communication. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tjosvold, D. (2017). Cross-cultural management: foundations and future. Routledge.
Wang, D., Fan, D., Freeman, S., & Zhu, C. J. (2017). Exploring cross-cultural skills for expatriate managers from Chinese multinationals: Congruence and contextualization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 34(1), 123-146.
Washington, M. C., Okoro, E. A., & Thomas, O. (2012). Intercultural communication in global business: An analysis of benefits and challenges. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online), 11(2), 217.
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