A person's culture is the way of living and thinking whereby the individual picks up a particular set of norms, attitudes, values, and beliefs that gets reinforced and taught by other people in the group. Culture involves both written and unwritten set of laws and principles that guide the person to interact with the outside world. A people of similar culture shares some similarities like ethnicity, race, geography and religion. A person's culture influences their communication style as people use their cultural ideologies as they learn to communicate. Culture affects the words a person speaks and their behavior.
Cross-cultural communication is, therefore, the communication between individuals with differences in any of the following: nationality, working, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender, among others ( Brett et al., 2006 ). It can also indicate the attempts made to mediate, negotiate and exchange cultural differences through body language, gestures, and languages. It is how individuals of distinct cultures communicate with one another, including at workplaces. A cross-cultural clash happens when a person believes that their culture is better than that of others. Excellent cross-cultural communication is therefore essential to avoid misunderstandings that can cause conflicts between teams. In addition, cross-cultural communication develops a feeling of trust and induces cooperation in the workplace and solving situations.
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Broadly, distinct cultural contexts bring about new communication obstacles in the workplace. Although workers in different offices or locations speak a similar language at times, there are some differences in culture that must be considered to optimize communication between people. In these scenarios, an effective communication method starts with mostly understanding that the receiver and the sender of information are from different backgrounds and cultures. Moreover, this yields a particular level of uncertainty, thus, making communication even harder. Individuals need to know that cultural diversity is the central ideology to efficient cross-cultural communications.
Primarily, the inability to adapt or change is a significant drawback to establishing excellent cross-cultural communication. Individuals must be flexible in accepting new things without fear that doing so will alter their belief system. In addition, organizations must focus on frequent improvement, which needs a particular degree of willingness and flexibility to try distinct methods of doing things. The best way to encompass this in the workplaces starts on an individual level by first stepping out of the comfort zone and trying new working area ideologies. This will incorporate trying new ways of undertaking things which will aid in understanding other people perspectives. Developing good cross-cultural communication requires a person to be open-minded ( Cotton, 2013 ). This allows individuals to learn new ideologies. Getting exposed to other people viewpoints and making efforts in understanding them can aid the way people make decisions to move forward. Always asking questions allows a person to grasp a wide range of thoughts by providing valid and reliable information. It is always essential to provide information carefully to successfully encourage workmates to approach their ideologies open-mindedly.
In the current modern business, people from different cultures and backgrounds get employed in the same roof workplace. It becomes challenging these individuals to get along due to different cultural norms and attributes. It is well known that individuals conduct businesses differently worldwide, and therefore, good cross-cultural communication training is essential in the workplace ( Caputo et al., 2019 ). This type of training is significant because it brings together the world of business. Learning different models of communicating with diverse people needs awareness of other’s beliefs, behaviors and assumptions. Nonetheless, the reward of good cross-cultural communication is improved performance, strong relationships and high employee satisfaction; thus, it is worth the effort.
In conclusion, encouraging interaction in the workplace has an essential influence on the working environment through developing a comfortable space that team members can fully share ideas and thoughts. Cross-cultural communication is a critical aspect of the whole organization communication method, and developing this section can increase the organization employees’ performance. Through cross-cultural communication, workers can learn all skills needed in understanding factors that influence workplace communication.
References
Brett, J., Behfar, K., & Kern, M. (2006). Managing multicultural teams. Harvard Business Review . 84 (11), 84-91.
Cotton, G. (2013). Say anything to anyone, anywhere: 5 keys to successful cross-cultural communication . Trident Online Library.
Caputo, A., Ayoko, O., Amoo, N., & Menke, C. (2019). The relationship between cultural values, cultural intelligence and negotiation styles. Journal of Business Research , 99 , 23-36.
