Cross Cultural Communication - Term Paper Example

? Introduction The world is fast becoming a worldwide village and hence it is bringing together people from several dissimilar cultural backgrounds. Cross-cultural management involves handling and coping with these variations and synchronizing them to ensure success in the diverse environment. Some people favor the convergence of the world and the fact that things are becoming similar. Others are strong proponents of the divergence of the worldwide nations, and want this diversity maintained. My nation is China and relevant comparisons are made to Mexican and American nations. Part 1 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management (IJCCM) In managing of the global conflict resolution, attention should be given to cross cultural factors. Whereas the value of culture in managerial behavior has long been acknowledged, intellects of political science are still coming to terms with the perception and its repercussions. Conventional approaches to disagreement stress the dominance of the state while overlooking several the distinctive internal features, which vary between nations. Foulkes & Bercovitch view culture indeed has a weighty outcome on how nations view the world, conduct themselves in it, and handle their conflicts. Culture has become crucial in the existing environment, where largely conflict occurs frequently between factions, alienated along cultural lines, within a nation. Evaluation of the relevance of ideas, and cultural differences does undeniably have a substantial impact on arbitration and conflict resolution. The journal also elaborates the effects of effective communication and motivation in a cross-cultural environment. European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management (EJCCM) This journal explains the extensive field of cross-cultural examination with an allusion to an organization in practice. The chief purpose is the establishment of a podium for the debate on cultural matters in current industry across several disciplines and cultures. In the spirit of its founding organization, EJCCM influences contributions from dissimilar fields of science involved in the interrelations and relations amid culture. The journal encourages papers about the dynamics of cross-cultural interactions in Europe. Key challenges Building of trust between employees and management of an organization is very important. Group members should be capable to rely on each other’s words and work as a team. Trust is a considerable challenge in cross-cultural groups, as people only tend to trust those from their nations and the same culture (Thomas, & Thomas, 2008, 134). Trust building is beneficial if the team leader and team members working together at a similar location for a long time, despite diverse nationalities (Steers, Sa?nchez-R, & Nardon, 2010, 213). Managing of people from different nationalities has different convictions and perceptions. This diversity makes it a challenge to manage them especially when a conflict occurs. Bosses need to apply different leadership styles in dealing with conflict (Velo, 2012, 40). Managing of language and cultural issues is another challenge. In any conflict resolution, communication is inevitable. In managing of a cross-cultural conflict, where different people speak various languages, it is essential for individuals to appreciate one another (Velo, 2012, 40). Synchronizing the languages and cultural aspects to enable people have a common ground remains a challenge (Thomas, & Thomas, 2008, 134). As a team leader, working with members from different cultures has been a vast experience. Every step in the team was a learning experience. The group taught us that diversity is strength. The tasks assigned to us went well as we were able to respect each other’s opinions to find a common ground. We remained objective during the entire session focusing on the group’s mandate and not personal mandate. From a management point of view, we learnt tolerance, empathy and respect. Since we are from different backgrounds, there was a need for compromise and understanding, and choosing leaders with a joint leadership style and tremendous communication skills (Luthans, Doh & Hodgetts, 2012, 79). Despite the group success, we had various challenges especially in communication. Getting members to accept that we were all equal, and no culture was superior to another also was a problem. We managed to work on the communication by understanding what various aspects meant to us as a team. In China, diversity is promoted, mainly recruitment from other nations. The Chinese administration believes that the cross-cultural engagement stimulates invention. The Thousand People strategy initiates and withstands the importance of a cross-cultural work force. It is significant for management today to recognize that variations among personnel should be appreciated instead of being negatively viewed. Conflict resolution structure is vital to the workplace (Steers, Sanchez-R, & Nardon, 2010, 213). Desired approaches of conflict management differ. The American culture emphasizes on liberation, an individualistic approach.A culture with emphasis on privacy, whereas Chinese regard a win-win outcome that conserves group accord but often entails mediation. Americans often have a difficult time collaborating with other nations as they value independence and individual success. Nevertheless, other nations hold diverse beliefs on resolving conflict; Chinese customs of concern for communal welfares and concern for authority seem more strongly amid Hong Kong Chinese managers than amongst the American managers (Dong & Liu, 2010, 234). Persons from cross ethnic backgrounds often conflict. For instance, Americans are usually considering their next great accomplishment. Mexicans are professed as lazy from an American opinion. American directors put work ahead of individual necessities, unlike the Mexican work style. In case of conflict, Americans are fast to stand their ground, spurting impassive, straightforward realities, which can be very rude to an employee from a different culture. A Mexican worker's preference includes eluding conflict in order to save the image. The Mexican employee in the courtesy of abiding to the wishes of the person in control or sustaining a colleague’s individual needs at times ignores rules, strategies and techniques (Singh, 2012, 74). The individualistic verses collective nation shows various social variances among employees. As Americans detached themselves with improved personal space (Dong & Liu, 2010, 223), collectivist states such as China stress the need for the relationships. For instance, Americans (an individualistic society) favored harmonious styles of resolving conflict, although Chinese (a collectivistic society) had an equal preference for both harmonious and competitive styles. The Chinese characterize a collective culture by resolving conflict through evasion or accommodation; they use collaboration occasionally because it often requires the expression of different views. Appreciating cultural variances in the workplace will bring achievement and employee satisfaction. Therefore, it is vital that a manager respect the rights of employees to have different opinions (Jassawalla, Truglia, & Garvey, 2004, 837). There are several resolution techniques; compromise, evasion, competition and collaboration. Bosses should learn which approach is the most normal to them. There are three approaches to conflict management, lose-lose, win-lose, and win-win. Emphasis is on finding a resolution, rather than on outlining values or motive. Win-win resolutions are always the ideal choice of handling conflict. Lose-lose techniques result in both parties feeling disappointed and frustrated. A win-lose resolution only favors one person, usually the boss and leaves the employee feeling discontented. Expatriate Training Study on the requirements of expatriate training has fascinated substantial consideration in the global literature of the failure of expatriate. In addition, training may imply changing what staffs know, how they work, their outlook toward work, or their communication with their teammates or manager (Jassawalla, Truglia, & Garvey, 2004, 605). An emphasis is on the value of training reduces culture shock and increase the manager's effectiveness while working in a different culture. Part 2 Motivation The Mexicans and Chinese value family and relationships so much. Most Mexicans even take up jobs in order to fulfill their duties as head of the family. A family motivates these employees. Unlike them, Americans are egocentric and individualistic and thus are self-driven. These cultural differences lead to different ways of motivating employees (French, 2010, 57). For Mexicans, allowing them to take their families on vacations thrills them. For the Americans, the will to reach self-actualization motivates them, and aspects that enable them attain personal goals like training (Thomas, & Thomas, 2008, 134). Not only family but also society motivates Chinese employees. Employees are motivated by corporate duty and benevolent to community. In order to motivate employees, the management should be aware of the different cultures and note what each employees culture regard (French, 2010, 57). For the three nations in question, there are different motivation models. In America, self-determination theory is employed where employees are driven by personal goals. The individualistic nature makes Americans ambitious and result oriented. They are motivated by job enrichment and expansion. They rather work around the clock without resting just to meet objectives. They are time conscious and hence a time saving task motivates them. The Mexican prefer the Maslow motivation needs, where needs are categorized into low and high levels. These needs are mostly family related. Mexicans are motivated to provide for their family the various basic needs. After the needs are satisfied, they no longer become a motivation. If a job is time consuming and hinders an employee to spend time with his family, the often resign (Sorrentino, & Yamaguchi, 2008, 109). Collective motivation theory works for Chinese who support any decision that affects the society positively. The Chinese are societal driven and believe that by making the society better, collectively makes individuals better. The three nations exhibit variations in the ways employees are motivated. To motivate teams in a global setting, team leaders need training in international management skills. It is essential to appreciate the types of skills expatriate leaders and employees will require for global assignments. For Chinese assignments for instance, much emphasis is placed on the value of religion in the culture. Visits to the host nation can help in comforting expatriate staff and their families about their home, hospitals, dentists, and schools. Thus, successful cultural adjustment is viewed as an individual's overall fulfillment with one's individual needs in the host nation. Communication The foundation of effective multicultural communication is knowledge. It is essential that individuals understand the impending challenges of multicultural communication, and create an effort to overcome these challenges. It is essential to presume that one’s efforts will not constantly be successful, and amend one’s behavior suitably. Multicultural teams have their reasonable share of challenges once the thrill of networking with new individuals weakens. From simple aspects like understanding language expressions to more composite work culture issues, there are many problems. International organizations are reassigning employees increasingly to other nations, which forms cultural assortment in the teams. Although teams are now a conventional way of planning, organizing and operation, team based supervision, methods are still developing over the world. The capacity to converse and successfully resolve the disagreement among members of different nations is a challenge the management faces at present. Cross-cultural groups represent an extensive range of culturally varied persons; a team leader must learn to resolve conflict successfully associated to cultural differences (Stringer, & Cassiday, 2009, 112). With the globalization of the labor force, companies are operating with more ethnically diverse workforce than before, which are an enormous practice and a challenge. Ethnically diverse teams have benefits over demographic identical teams by bringing in new perspectives and inputs. This assortment can also source conflict in the team; nevertheless, this is not a setback if it is properly handled (Dong & Liu, 2010, 223). Employees facing frustration from misunderstanding or feeling unacknowledged for their contribution cost the business much in idle time. Cross-cultural communication has been a main concern in various disciplines globally. This phenomenon has come because of development and internationalization of businesses. Consequently, it has increased the necessity and practicality of business. Managers often fail to acknowledge that the potential financial prosperity may turn into disastrous situation due to impacts of cultural disparity. It is evident that individuals brought up in different cultures think and behave inversely, even in a business context (Stringer, & Cassiday, 2009, 112). Chinese and American Communication Practices Globalization has led to the deviation of perceptions between individuals of different cultures such as Chinese and Americans. For instance, in the American workplace, Chinese colleagues are perceived as a reserved for a lack of assertiveness. Differences in cultural perspective are canalled through communication, and this is required to encourage Chinese and American relations to progress (Norales, 2006, 92). Chinese view American eminence in the commodities trade to be eroding, especially in comparison with China. While there are other upcoming sections of services and investment, in which the US role is growing, the United States could develop its relations with China to help build increasingly outstanding new businesses.  High verses Low-Context Cultures Cultures are categorized into high-context cultures and low-context. In comparison, in low-context cultures, communication is express and explicit. Consequently, in low-context society, detailed information is desired (Norales, 2006, 92).High-context societies include Eastern cultures such as Chinese, where individuals have extensive systems with family and friends. Low-context cultures comprise the US and other individualistic cultures. Previous research shows that Chinese create vague messages to hide their meaning. Additionally, indirect communication appeals to Chinese citizens as they value Confucianism, which stresses harmony and social equality. Not taking a stand on an issue helps others save image, therefore; it is a chosen communication approach for Chinese. Disparities in journalists’ appeal and negation strategies in press conferences between China and US vary in that journalists from the US use more express appeals and negations to provide information. Conversely, the journalists from China use more evasion strategies or offer inadequate responses to inquiry the find uncomfortable. In order to understand Chinese and American communication more, there are two deviating communication orientations. Face and Communication Apprehension Chinese employ a high context communication mirrored in their values and ideology, which permits all contributors in communication to save image if probable. Chinese show a higher degree of focus on others’ face than Americans; while Americans had a higher degree of self-face than Chinese (Stringer, & Cassiday, 2009, 78). Chinese students have a higher communication apprehension than American students. Chinese students in intercultural conflict situations are considerably more communicatively apprehensive than American students. On the other hand, conflicting results exist. Americans have a higher incidence of apprehension than Chinese does. Self-Construal and Communication Apprehension Recently, findings on independent and interdependent self-construal showed support in a different direction. Researchers report that individuals’ self-construal is shaped by cultural influences. Independent self-construal is representative of individualistic cultures, while interdependent self-construal is representative of collectivistic cultures (Stringer, & Cassiday, 2009, 78). Hence, US Americans have independent self-construal and Chinese have interdependent self-construal. Culture, Touch Avoidance, and Nonverbal Immediacy Nonverbal contact is the emotional distance communicated nonverbally between individuals. A close emotional distance is communicated by touching and fondness shows. Communication apprehension is positively correlated to touch avoidance. The degree of touch avoidance people varies by culture. Designated societies based on how much they avoid touching. In addition to touching behavior, all public displays of emotion are embarrassing to Chinese. Chinese couples avoid any outward displays of affection. US Americans will be more nonverbally immediate than Chinese (Norales, 2006, 92).. Thus, this negative-approach communication is considered as the last distinctive trait between Chinese and American cultures. Verbal assertiveness is an individual trait that prompts persons to assault the self-concepts of others instead of, their stands on issues of communication. Self-Construal, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Verbal Aggression Hostility strategies are associated with cultures possessing a high degree of uncertainty avoidance like Chinese, as opposed to cultures possessing a low degree of uncertainty avoidance like Americans (Warren, 2006, 124). People from high-uncertainty-avoidant society show their emotions more than those from low- uncertainty-avoidant cultures additionally, though Americans have been found to be more argumentative and assertive than Chinese; nevertheless, Chinese are more aggressive than Americans while communicating(Warren, 2006, 124).. Thus, individuals of the high-uncertainty-avoidant interdependent Chinese culture mostly opt for verbal aggression unlike the American low-uncertainty-avoidant independent culture. Chinese are more likely to communicate with verbal aggression than the Americans are. Cross-cultural communication is a sub domain of intercultural communication and involves the comparison of the various ways people communicate across cultures. Specifically, focus is on the relation between economic and cultural enhancers and hindrances in the market for businesses (Norales, 2006, 92). A framework for Chinese-American cross-cultural communication is evaluated. This also includes both central as well as local governmental ranks and the priorities of policies. Changes in market situations that comprises of level of income, consumer preference and market contributors. Based on cultural viewpoint, key features in the Chinese perspective are Chinese mentality, business style differences, and task orientation (Sorrentino, & Yamaguchi, 2008, 109). Effectiveness in cross-cultural communication enhances smooth running of businesses. Acknowledging the potential issues and embracing proactive measures to minimize differences, workers would perform together better (Norales, 2006, 92). Adjusting character takes time, so giving a chance for workers to learn every culture is vital. Foster involvement in reflective consideration would be enhanced reducing volatile, destructive conflicts. Managers would run meetings to make known the cultures of various workers. This encourages a non-threatening working environment and dependable, long-term relationship. Constant variation in preconceptions would lead to a bearable working relationship. Activities would be carried out to indicate how different cultures depend on language. This would be done by dedicating a day to total silence. Managers should ensure that every worker come up with a contract, helps in determining their desire to learn. They would also indicate how they planned to bear with the silence. This limited communication would help the workers to relate typically to being in a foreign environment with ease (Warren, 2006, 124). Managers would also involve the worker through workshops and techniques for effective communication. Individuals tend to act in accordance to their culture, as well as their beliefs. Other from a different culture might make wrong interpretations of their actions. Strategies such as active listening would enhance workers involvement in ensuring that there are no conflicts arising (Warren, 2006, 124). Managers would also train their workers on mediating conflicts regarding cultural misunderstandings. This assist workers in responding to situations form varied perspective away from their own. This would be carried out through role playing activities that acknowledge the existence of cultural differences. Each worker would be asked to reflect on recent experience based on varied cultures. They would then determine what they found to be offensive and make suggestions on solutions (Stringer, & Cassiday, 2009, 112). These solutions would be based on how they handle such issues in their culture. Jointly, workers would come up with a solution to the conflicts and report their findings to all groups. Conclusion Cross-cultural management is an emerging issue in every institution, in every nation, as the world becomes increasingly diversified. Different people from different background with various values are spread all over the world. Diversity is viewed as strength and not weakness. It should provide a learning opportunity in the multicultural institutions like schools and workplace. No culture is to be considered superior to the others. The national cohesion is very crucial in the development of any nation. The administration of various states needs to come up with strategies that enhance harmonious living and shun negative ethnicity and racism. The only way diversity can work is through tolerance and respect by each citizen. Conflicts are bound to occur because of these differences, hence need for effective resolution through communication and motivation. If the conflicts are resolved effectively and on time, the world is beyond doubt going to be an improved place. Bibliography Browaeys, M.-J., & Price, R. (2008), Understanding cross-cultural management, Harlow, England, Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Dong,K. & Liu,Y., (2010) "Cross-cultural management in China", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 17 Issue: 3, pp.223 – 243. French, R. (2010), Cross-cultural management in work organizations, London, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Holden, N. (2002), Cross-cultural management: a knowledge management perspective, Harlow [u.a.], Financial Times/Prentice Hall. 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