The Intercultural Communication in Franciscans Kitchen Business - Case Study Example

THE RUNNING HEAD: The intercultural communication in Franciscan’s Kitchen Business. (YOUR NAME) (UNIVERSITY) Introduction Intercultural communication is the communication that exists between two or more parties that hold different social, religious or ethnic background. In this kind of communication the parties involved brings with them their experiences and values acquired from the culture they grew up with. Therefore for a business to excel well in the international market, it needs to establish an efficient intercultural communication among the parties involved. Language is the main source of conflict in intercultural communication. Hence business firms should train their workers to uphold people from all ethnicity with respect. They should not undermine people who might have difficulties in expressing themselves in their languages but instead they should assist them. (John 2003) Francesca’s Kitchen Business In Netherlands And China The expansion of Francesca’s kitchen business from Australia to Netherlands and China is a positive move for the business to enter into a global market. This expansion will boost the performance of the business in its production and marketability of its products due to the high population in china and Netherlands. This process will also be accompanied by a big challenge on how to overcome the intercultural communication among these states. This is because of the different languages and cultural orientations present in these countries. There is a need for the company to recruit more staff to work on the new branches that will be opened in China and Netherlands. The workforce that will be recruited will mostly be comprised of the Netherlands locals, the Chinese locals and the Australians that will be deployed to work in these countries. This would bring a conflict in the intercultural communication in this business. This will result due to the differences of the cultures and languages of Australian people and people from china and Netherlands. (Daniel land Walker2002) The Chinese uses the Chinese language as the means of communication while the Australian use English as their language of communication. This difference of the languages of the two groups of workforce in the same organization can lower the business performance, as the two groups might not coordinate effectively. Therefore the company needs to establish an efficient communication in the business. This can only be achieved if the company recruits Chinese who are able to express themselves in English. This may not be possible as those Chinese that are conversant with the English language may not be willing to work for the company due to various reasons. On the other hand efficient communication can be established in the company by teaching the Australian workforce the Chinese language. This will help to facilitate communication within the business, which will result to high quality and quantity production. (Daniel land Walker2002) Communication between the two groups of people from these different countries will also be hindered by other cultural differences. This may arise because different cultures communicate differently through the use of nonverbal communication such as their body movements, thus there is a likelihood that there will arise a misunderstanding among the two groups when one group misinterprets the body movement from the other group which can cause a big problem to the business. The Chinese ethnocentricity and their nuisance use of non-verbal communication can be a great problem for the company to achieve a good communication in its business. This can be overcome by teaching the Australian workforce on various non-verbal techniques used by the Chinese people. There is also a need for the company to recruit people who will act as translators to facilitate communication in the business. Another thing that can result to poor communication in the business is if one group underrates the performance of the other group due to their failure to express themselves well in their languages. This can be avoided if the company teaches its workforce on the importance of respect for one another and the value of working as a team. They should be taught that there is no language that is superior to any other language and everybody should treat and support each other well irrespective of their color or language. (Camille1999) There can also be a problem of communication between the Chinese and the Australians as a result of the Chinese way of greeting which leaves a lot to be desired. This is because their greeting method seems to be rude to those people who are not conversant with the Chinese culture. When the Chinese are greeting some one they do it like this ‘what are you doing? Have you eaten? What are you eating?’ This way of expression can raise a lot of conflict to those people who are not used to such ways of communication as they might take it for rudeness while it is the normal way for the Chinese to express their concern for their colleagues. (John 2003) The Chinese have a strong respect for their elderly people. Thus when one is addressing the elderly, one should demonstrate a lot of respect for them. This is not common with the Australians who have been alienated by the western lifestyle that does not value age so much as the Chinese do. Hence there is likelihood that there will arise a conflict in their day-to-day business activities. This can occur when some of the employees from Australia mistakes and responds to the a Chinese elders in a manner to show lack of respect which can affect this business negatively as the Chinese may decide not to buy their products. Similarly the same problems will be reflected in the communication between Australians and the Netherlanders. This is because the Netherlanders have a culture that is totally different to that of Australians. So there will exist a conflict due to their languages, on verbal communication and conflict that will arise because other varying cultures. (John 2003) Conclusion For the Francesca’s kitchen business be successful in its operations in China and Netherlands, it is necessary for it to establish very efficient human resource department that will ensure there exists an effective communication in the various groups that will be interacting in the business process. This will guarantee that the workers will work in harmony in the production and marketability of the business’s products that will enable it to realize high profits. It will ensure that any communication that will take place either by email, phone, video conferencing or face-to-face in the business organization will promote an effective intercultural communication within the Francesca’s kitchen business in China and in Netherlands. Since the aim of the Francesca’s kitchen business is to sell its products and make profit, it should also set up a very effective advertising, sales and public relations to enable it achieve its objective and compete well with other firms producing similar products in Netherlands and China.This will be possible through its understanding and its break through in solving the cross-cultural communication within and outside the company. (Camille1999) References 1.Camille. (1999) New Insight into Marketing Cross Cultural and cross-national Perspectives, London, Haworth Press. 2.Daniel, M.and Walker. (2002) Doing business Internationally The Guide to cross Cultural Success, New York McGraw-Hill 3.John, M. (2003) Cross-cultural communication The Essential Guide to International Business London, Kogan Page. Read More