The Importance of Intercultural Communication - Coursework Example

Intercultural Communication Name of Student: Name of Course: Name of Instructor: Date of Submission: Abstract Intercultural communication is a type of communication between people from diverse cultures. Intercultural communication is part of the larger cultural diversity management. It ensures that the sharing of information amongst people hailing from diverse cultures is done in the most appropriate method. Intercultural communication has become of utmost importance in the modern world which s characterized by increased globalization. More and more people are joining the so called global village; hence raising the need for a communication platform which supports the communication needs of the diverse population; hence bringing intercultural communication into context. Social media has risen to be a very powerful communication tool in the modern world and has a major role to play in intercultural communication. The following paper will analyze the importance of intercultural communication and the role of social media in intercultural communication. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 1.1Intercultural Communication 5 2.0 The Importance of Intercultural Communication in the Global View of the world 5 2.1 Economic 6 2.2 Political 7 2.3 Social 9 3.0 The Role of Social Media Such As, Facebook in Intercultural Communication 9 3.1 Connection 10 3.2 Sharing 10 3.3 Source of Information/ Data 10 3.4 Business 11 3.5 Counter Argument 11 4.0 Conclusion 12 References 13 Intercultural Communication 1.0 Introduction Intercultural communication is the type of communication between entities hailing from different cultural backgrounds. On this point, it is important to take note of the fact that communication varies from one culture to another. Every culture has its own set of values and beliefs which it upholds. For this reason, intercultural communication takes into consideration the diversity in the various cultures involved and comes up with communication competencies which are deemed appropriate for all the parties involved in the communication. In the wake of increased globalization which has led to the increased integration of cultures, economies and states; there has been a rise in the need to develop intercultural communication. In the modern day, it can be acknowledged that intercultural communication is one of the most important elements for any organization operating in the global market (Spinks & Wells, 1997). For this reason, the importance of intercultural communication in the global world cannot be underestimated. The design of commercials, the strategic planning of an organization’s activities among other organizational practices must be undertaken with full consideration of intercultural communication competencies. Technology has played a major role in international communication. On this point, it is worth taking note of social media such as Facebook and Twitter which have been very instrumental in effecting intercultural communication. The following essay will give an in depth discussion of the importance of intercultural communication and the role of social media in intercultural communication. 1.1 Intercultural Communication Prior to giving an in depth discussion of the two issues identified in the introduction, it is important to give an insight into what intercultural communication is. Intercultural communication is a form of communication which is focused at transferring information between entities hailing from diverse cultures and societies. As opposed to the normal communication, intercultural communication has to take note of the cultural diversity which exists between the parties involved in the communication (Allwood, 2008). At this point, it is important to point out that intercultural communication identifies the values, beliefs and practices in each culture; and finds a balance point amongst them. For this reason, international communication provides for effective communication which is acceptable within a wide cultural divide. As pointed out earlier, international communication is of utmost importance in the modern globalised world. For this reason, intercultural communication is a crucial part of cultural diversity management in the modern organizations. 2.0 The Importance of Intercultural Communication in the Global View of the world Intercultural communication is very important in the modern global world. With advances in technology such as transport and communication, the world is slowly becoming a global village. There is an increased interdependence on the social, economic and political spheres of life across all the states in the world. As a result of this it is inevitable to deal with people from diverse cultures in the daily personal and work life. Ideally, many modern organizations are made up of multicultural teams (Matveev & Milter, 2004). Cultural diversity is therefore a major challenge which the management of organizations has to deal with in the running of their organizations. On the other hand, politicians have to be able to deal with the cultural diversity which is associated with modern populations. Lastly, the society has to deal with the dilution of values and cultures which arises from globalization. From this, it can be acknowledged that there is an utmost need for intercultural communication so as to influence the harmonious coexistence of people and their management taking into consideration their cultural diversity. The following section will discuss the importance of intercultural communication with respect to the economic, social and political spheres of life. 2.1 Economic Economic integration is one of the major results of globalization. With the increased economic interdependence between various countries in the world, there is a need for organizations to manage the cultural diversity which arises thereof. On this point, it is important to note that economic gains are some of the most important objectives of any organization. For this reason, an organization has to do all that is within its reach to flourish economically. The most common practice in the modern organizational management world is to source for a competent, experienced and skilled workforce. The sourcing of such kind of workforce requires that an organization taps into the rich global labor market. This has led to the creation of organization which is comprised of people from diverse cultures. In the modern human resources management world, it is common to hear of expatriates among other terms related to international human resources management (Stephan, Helms & Haynes, 1995). In the wake of increased competition where human resources are some of the most important assets to an organization, it is necessary that organizations manage their diverse workforce efficiently; taking note of important international human resource management practices such as the observation of cultural competencies. From this, there is a need for international communication which ensures that the management of the diverse workforce is efficient. Key to this is the fact that communication is an important element in management which influences the ultimate success of the management process. On the other hand, organizations are exposed to a more diverse market. A product or services which are appropriate in one region is not appropriate in another region. A specific communication means and process used in a region may not be appropriate for another region. For this reason, it is important for organizations to embrace intercultural communication so as to be successful in their international business interests (Spinks & Wells, 1997). From the discussion above, it can be acknowledged that intercultural communication is important for the economic survival of an organization. 2.2 Political The political sphere of life is another key part of the global world where intercultural communications are required. Politics is a key determinant of life in a country and region as well. In the current world, nations are comprised of substantial numbers of foreigners. Countries such as the United States, Australia, United Kingdom and The United Arab Emirates have large populations of foreigners making up their national populations. There is a need for a strategic communication process which ensures that it upholds the rights of both the natives and the foreigners. This strategic communication process is found in effective intercultural relations. Taking an example of the United Kingdom which has in the past experience severe ethnic divisions as a result of the inability of the political leadership to address cultural diversity in the populations; it can be appreciated that intercultural communications play a great role in the political sphere of life. The United Kingdom has a substantial number of foreigners who have diverse cultures. In fact, there has been the development of settlements which have been settled by people from one ethnic region. The inability of the political leadership to use appropriate cultural diversity management strategies; intercultural communication included have resulted to sharp divisions in the general public which in turn leads to ethnic riots (Addley, Lewis & Taylor, 2011). The situation is the same in other regions around the world for instance in the labour revolts on South Africa and the war torn Sudan. On the other hand, intercultural communication is important in the formation of regional political and economic regions. On this point it is worth noting that advancements in globalization has led to the formation of regional political and trading blocs such as the Euro Zone and ECOWAS among others in the world. Other political unions include the United Nations and the African union. In the formation of these groups, effective intercultural communication is important so as to ensure that the groups take into consideration the cultural diversity of the uniting countries. Intercultural communication provides a good platform for the individual states to air their concerns. From the above discussion, it can be acknowledged that intercultural communication is important in the political sphere of life. 2.3 Social Lastly, intercultural communication is important in the social sphere of life. The social sphere of life has undergone as much integration as the other spheres of life. With globalization, cultures have become more and more inter dependent and there is a development of hybrid cultures. For this reason, individuals have no choice as to who their neighbors are or as to who their employees or customers will be. The world has turned into a global village and this has revolutionized the social life in many regions of the world. Owing to the varying values, beliefs and practices upheld by a specific society; bearing in mind that each one of the people in the world comes from one; there is a need for effective intercultural communication (Graf, 2004). This ensures that there is a smooth and successful transfer of information from one person to another. Effective intercultural communication enables the people concerned to find unity in diversity; hence leading to the peaceful coexistence of people from diverse communities. 3.0 The Role of Social Media Such As, Facebook in Intercultural Communication Advancements in information technology have continuously driven the communication over time. Social networks are some of the recent web based communication technologies which have hit the world by a storm. In a span of less than 5 years, social media sites have risen to become the most powerful communication media in the world. Social media is part of the larger electronic communication system which is associated with high high communication efficiency (Han, Epp, Lee & Hasjim, 2010). Ideally, technology based communication has been a source of much needed communication support to global organizations (Zaidman,Teeni & Scwartz, 2008). The following sections will discuss various roles of social media in intercultural communication. 3.1 Connection Social media provides the much needed platform for the connect in of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. On this point, it is important to note that social media has the ability to connect a large number of people within a short period of time (Holcomb, Gottfried & Mitchell, 2013). Taking an example of Facebook whose users are nearing the billion number mark, it can be acknowledged that users in the social network have the chance to connect to the many number of people. On the other hand, organizations have the chance to reach out to the large number of people, hence being able to market their products and services. Other major social sites included Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and MySpace. 3.2 Sharing Apart from status updates and tweets, sharing of information of social media sites is the main way of transferring information from one person to another (Holcomb, Gottfried & Mitchell, 2013). The information shared may be in various formats including audio, video, text or pictures. For this reason, social media sites influence intercultural communication by providing a platform for the sharing of information. Recently, the social media sites have incorporates translation software to enable users to translate information from one language to another. This is a milestone achievement in promoting intercultural communication bearing in mind that language barriers are a major challenge to intercultural communication. 3.3 Source of Information/ Data Social media networks are also a major source of information for its users. On the side of individual users, they have a chance to source for information of the user accounts of organization such as media houses and companies. On the other hand, organizations have a chance to get important information about the market from the social sites. Depending on the prevailing ‘climate’ in the market as depicted by the information shared in the social media sites, organizations have a chance to get critical data which they can in turn use for their marketing processes (Tsai & Men, 2012). Additionally, organizations are able to track information from the online activities of the users; hence being able to come up with personalized marketing and communication to individual social network users. From this, it can be acknowledged that social media provides its users with an opportunity to get specific information hence influencing intercultural communication positively. 3.4 Business Lastly, it is worth noting that social media has provided a convenient platform for online business (Holcomb, Gottfried & Mitchell, 2013). It is worth appreciating that a large proportion of intercultural communication is related to business. Social media sites have provided the much needed boost to e commerce. In the modern business times, organizations have the opportunity to sell their merchandise over social media sites and also provide personalized customer care services to their clients via their accounts. This has in turn made a positive impression on intercultural communication. 3.5 Counter Argument On the other hand, it can be argued that social media does not provide a platform for ideal communication (Han, Epe, Lee & Hasjim, 2010). The virtual state of the communication involved in social media makes it prone to sharp criticism with respect to its ability to support intercultural communication. Firstly, the credibility of the social media users is a subject of much debate. Owing to the virtual state of the communication, the users are due to give incredible information which in turn influences intercultural communication negatively. Secondly, virtual communication is prone to much criticism with respect to its ability to provide an ideal communication platform. 4.0 Conclusion In conclusions, it can be seen from this paper that intercultural communication is indispensable in the modern globalised world. the continued integration of economies, societies and politics have led to the need of developing strategic communication which takes into consideration crucial elements associated with cultural diversity. It was seen that cultural diversity is inevitable in the modern world hence the high importance of intercultural communication to the global world. The importance of intercultural communication was discussed from the political, economic and social spheres of life. It was seen that intercultural communication provides a good platform for the good management of cultural diversity; thus its importance to the three spheres of life. The role of the social media in international communication was also discussed in depth. It was identified that social media has the role of connecting people, providing a platform for the sharing of information, a source of information and a crucial communication tool in business. However, the virtual state of its communication and the lack of credibility in the social media users is a source of criticism on the ability of social media to support intercultural communication. From this paper, it can be concluded that intercultural communication is very important in the modern organizations hence the need for the management to establish measures to ensure that it is effectively adopted in the organizational cultures. References Allwood, J., (2008). Intercultural Communication, Retrieved on 16th Dec 2013 from http://uuee.org/Intercultural_Communication.pdf Addley, E., Lewis, P Domoks, J., & Taylor M., (2011). UK riots: 'Those Who Seek To Racialise This Problem Are Taking Us Backwards, The Guardian, Retrieved on 16th Dec 2013 from http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/10/uk-riots-racial-dimension Han,S., Epp,G., Lee, E., & Hasjim, M., (2010). Intercultural Communication In the GlobaL World, 1-20 Holcomb, J., Gottfried, J.,& Mitchell, A., (2013). News Use Across Social Media Platforms, Pew Research , Retrieved on 16th Dec 2013 from http://www.journalism.org/2013/11/14/news-use-across-social-media-platforms/ Graf, A., (2004). 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