The Importance of Effective Cross-Cultural Communication in Business Today - Coursework Example

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Its Importance to Business [Type the author name] The importance of cross-cultural communication has been given importance by various sources and understands its need in today’s competitive business world. In the current sphere of business, the ability of different companies to be effectively able to communicate multi-culturally cannot be undermined or understated. With the businesses looking opportunities in the global markets makes them meet customers and employees from diverse cultures. For gaining interdependent global growth, good internal communication capacity and control and monitoring over external threats makes adaptability to different cultures very important. In the article ‘Cross-cultural competence in international business: toward a definition and a model’ by Johnson, Lenartowicz and Apud they have focused on how lack of cross-cultural competence has led to the failure of international business. They have proposed a proper definition for cross-cultural competence and its application towards international business (Johnson, Lenartowicz and Apud, 2006). The article pays major attention on the effective application of requisite skills, knowledge and attributes that are required in identifying the gap between knowledge and doing and how the failure to do so shall result in failure of the business enterprise. Failure in the development of cultural synergy between people from different cultures working together in a business has led to the unsuccessful carrying of the business in international trade. Huang in his article ‘Cross-cultural communication in business negotiations has laid emphasis on how the Chinese companies are more and more inclined towards giving importance to cross cultural communication as an important element during the implementation of economic reforms and at times of opening policies (Huang, 2010). The importance of negotiation styles, attitude to time, greetings, meaning of numbers, gift-giving customs, significance of such gestures, etc. Understanding the problems that arise out of the ineffective cross-cultural communication strategies and making conscious efforts to overcome the same and understanding the importance to negotiate and respect others culture are essential elements in the Chinese business forum. For example, cultural differences require being patient and forging and not being hostile and aggressive. Avoidance of heated conflicts and gaining the importance of workforce diversity and business growth is the main part. Guang and Trotter have tried to highlight the cultural factors that have influenced the communication and success potential of competition. Culture has a direct impact on the cross-cultural communication of a business enterprise and so the ability of the marketers and consumers to be able to communicate cross-culturally becomes very critical for success. For example in the 1980s and 1990s the Japanese TV companies studied the Chinese culture better, their savings being handed down generation after generation, unlike the European TV marketers who denied business in Chinese markets, gained great deal of success by understanding of the cultural impact (Guang and Trotter, 2012). There are numerous issues that business students and businesses must be aware of in relation to the importance of cross-cultural communication in business productivity and goal achievement. Some of the issues are discussed further. Culture has been an important factor in affecting the consumer and business behaviour. For example like in Japan where giving of business gifts is generally expected, a host who is present without a gift shall be insulted. Culture has a long impact on the effectiveness of advertising. As advertising is strongly influenced by language and it being an important element of culture has a strong influence over advertising. The buying behaviour and consumption style of the buyers is affected which directly affects the business and the profits. Cultural borrowing and changes have influenced the business communication. With the globalisation of business world and the standardization of the marketing mix this rate of cultural changes shall increase. For example the gender identity is more likely to affect the consumption behavioural pattern (Guang and Trotter 2012). Businesses can apply a range of strategies or approaches to overcome the problems of cross-cultural communication. Three of these skills involve training, events and team building. With the growing internationalization in the economic, political and social arena has increased the interpersonal cross-culture contact. The article ‘West Meets East?’ by Nam, Cho and Lee has given importance to cross-cultural training for greater effectiveness. With this the process of imparting practical tools shall assist in diagnosing the problems, identification of gaps impacting their work and deciding regarding their differences. It adds to the skills of the people, attaining sense of satisfaction, increasing commitment towards their job and reduction in incidents like creation of misunderstandings, delay and dissatisfaction at the time of decision making (Nam, Cho and Lee, 2014). Events also serve as an important approach in improving knowledge of both the employees and the customers. It helps the organisation in involving people of different cultures and races in the form of games, dance and food during events. Johnson, Lenartowicz and Apud have laid importance to workplace diversity in their article which directly relates to team building. Team building aims towards improvement of productivity, effectiveness and relationship through the exploration of cultural dynamics of business relationship. It boosts the interpersonal relationship, mutual understandings and respect and provides an understanding of the situation where cross cultural differences lie and gives solutions for the same through guidelines and techniques (Johnson, Lenartowicz and Apud, 2006). Many businesses have been very successful in implementing proper process for dealing with cross-cultural communication problems and many others have failed to do the same. One such successful is the support that the international students have achieved while undertaking Australian University studies. With the emphasis increasing on the fact of internationalisation of education and it becoming an export commodity, the Australian Universities have laid great importance to the same. This has been possible only through successful implementation of cross-cultural communication by the university to help all international students be comfortable while pursuing the overseas course and support in offshore programmes. Brydon and Liddell have presented a very clear understanding of how the university authorities have followed the correct channel for adaptation of cross-cultural communication and very rapidly learnt from their gaps and mistakes to overcome the same. With the universities being aware of the importance of international student engagement, focus in laid on the on-campus engagement rather than off-campus engagement within the community (Brydon and Liddell, 2012). The intention of the discussion is to show how the success of the university with the international student experience and providing them with the necessary support required for achieving success throughout their studies. An example of failure of the international mergers due to lack of proper implementation of cross-cultural communication is the merger and acquisition of Taiwan’s BenQ and Germany’s Siemens. When the Taiwan based company BenQ moved towards acquiring loss making company of Germany named Siemens. This proved a very big strategic mistake as both the companies failed to integrate successfully. The cross-cultural communication issues served as a basic issue in the failure of the acquisition. Both the national and organisational cultures were a part of it and the incompatibility between the two cultures could not add value and create synergy. With the countries having cultures that are evident of individualism and collectivism as Taiwan has the culture of collectivism rooted in their seeds and keep their employees united as a family which was opposite in the case of Germany. So this makes the companies with different cultures to prepare a strategic plan for cross-cultural communication for the successful acquisition and merger within two companies that have different corporate culture and power distance (Cheng and Seeger, 2012). In conclusion, cross-cultural communication has become very important in business today as business enterprises are looking for expansion beyond their geographical boundaries and entering into business and contracts with other companies of different countries. Globalisation of business is the most suitable term for this process and adapting to the changing environment and overcoming the issues relating to the same are the foremost needs of the businesses pursuing international trade. It has been found that many businesses have failed in the past and one of the reasons behind their failure was the lack of cross-cultural communication. It is clearly understood that the needs to overcome the issues that arise due to cross-cultural communication is needed to be countered with appropriate methods for making a business successful. In the writer’s opinion, the importance of effective cross-cultural communication in business today is very integral part of the entrepreneurship process and cannot be overlooked. Culture is among one of the numerous variables that has a potential impact on the process of business communication. Weather operating in global marketplace or communicating with culturally diverse employees, suppliers and customers requires companies to follow and understand the importance of cross-cultural communication. References Brydon, K and Liddell, M. 2012. ‘Supporting international students undertaking Australian university studies’, Social Work Education, December, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 995 – 1011, retrieved on 30/04/2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2011.610786 Cheng, SS and Seeger, MW. 2012. ‘Cultural differences and communication issues in international mergers and acquisitions: a case study of BenQ,’ International Journal of Business and Social Science, February, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 116 – 127, retrieved on 30/04/2015 http://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_3_February_2012/12.pdf Guang, T & Trotter, D 2012. ‘Key issues in cross-cultural business communication: anthropological approaches to international business,’ African Journal of Business Management, June 6th, vol. 6, no. 22, pp. 6456 – 6464. Retrieved on 30/04/2015 https://www.samk.fi/download/25854_Tian-Trotter_Eng.pdf Huang, L. 2010. Cross-Cultural Communication in Business Negotiations. International Journal of Economics and Finance, Vol, 2. Retrieved on 02/05/2015 http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijef/article/view/5907/4687 Johnson, J. P., Lenartowicz ,T and Apud, S. 2006. Cross-cultural competence in international business: toward a definition and a model. Journal of International Business Studies ,37, 525–543. Retrieved on 02/05/2015 http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v37/n4/abs/8400205a.html Nam, K., Cho, Y. and Lee, M. 2014. West Meets East? Identifying the Gap in Current Cross-Cultural Training Research. Human Resource Development Review, March, Vol.13. Retrieved on 02/05/2015 http://hrd.sagepub.com/content/13/1/36.abstract Read More