Cross Culture Communication in Working Conditions - Essay Example

Cross culture communication Personal experience With reference to Schwartz, working in a cross-cultural environment can be challenging mainly because of aspects related to culture, communication, values, and dimensions people ailing from different backgrounds. His theory holds that it is possible for an individual to combat and conflict the seven dimensions into other models especially when you assume that when applied with other theories, the theory might not comply with every situation. Additionally, this theory holds that researchers may get variable results in case they carry out a research on cross-cultural working experience especially when they conduct the research with a large group (Gross, Jan, and Paula, 2009:54). Emphasis on universal national values of culture suggests that individuals are able to shape their values from experiences gained within a society (Kim, 2008:44). When studying values as noted by Schwartz it comes out that, a bipolar relationship can only exist between and among a number of cultural values. This paper will present a personal reflection on the experience of working in the cross-cultural team and managing the cross-cultural team. During the research when holding the managing post for various sessions, it is worth noting that the task of organization and management in a firm relies heavily on communication between and among all employees present in that firm. The organization should exhibit a great knowledge and application of bipolar relationship whereby conservatism and autonomy dominated the task. Since conservatism and autonomy highlight that the nature of a relationship exists between individuals and a group, it is upon the managing team to ensure communication flows effectively. This means that as a manager, one must break down all barriers to effective communication (Fabbi, 2011:79). As such, there are platform that highlight and note presence of effective communication tools. As a result, the task will definitely proceed as planned because, by use of harmony and mastery, I will be able to ensure efficient relations between humans and the natural as well as social world. In addition, cross-cultural factors such as hierarchy and egalitarianism provide value and concern for maintaining social fabric (Andrasink, 2005:60). Apart from that, from the experience of managing it is worth noting that for employees to perform efficiently, they need motivation. Motivation is a key factor towards realizing the best out of the available employees in an organization (Reisinger, 2009:57). When a manager recognizes efforts of employees and subsequently awards him or her, their output increases automatically. This shows that elements that boost the morale of employees are important as have the capability of taking the organization to the next desired level (Norales, 2006:152). During the management session, a number of issues related to cross culture arise. For instance, since culture is a broad subject, it becomes clear that some employees might not understand particular values and attitudes of the organization (Gross, Jan, and Paula, 2009:67). Furthermore, there are barrier in terms of technology and material culture within and among different employees all in the same organization. Aesthetics and education are also part of the issues related to cross culture that have chances of arising during the learning sessions (William, 2003:302). Nevertheless, given the point that there are means in which managers can deal with issues arising from cross-cultural dimensions, my learning experience points out that organizational training and practice can be part of the solutions to a large number of cross-cultural issues (Wu, 2008:77). Through performance orientation, it will be easy to deal with the erupting issues. Besides, presence of more orientations based on humane, collectivism, and future prospects makes the procedure of handling any issues arising from cross culture more efficient (Wu, 2008:100). As a result, experience based on management of an organization will go on effectively since I will be able to learn as many managerial facts as possible. My experience as a team member is good, but excellent as a manager. This is because, as a team member, I can turn around and ask for explanations in areas where I do not understand (Kim, 2008:56). As a team member, I experience the power of teamwork and corporation. In this spectrum, I can understand the gravity of carrying out organizational duties as a group and the advantages that come along with such collaboration. Cognitively, teamwork means more energy, different knowledge and experiences brought together, and the will exercise the power of the mind. My experience as a team member highlight that tasks that should be performed in an organization can work well when there is individual relational satisfaction. With reference to input of an employee, an origination can benefit most upon realizing the perceived output that will be gained (Reisinger, 2009:90). This output relies heavily on employee in put towards work. The theory of Equity sets forth that personal efforts require rewards. Based on this theory, my experience as a team member will undoubtedly progress because, the organization recognize and rewarde efforts of all employees whose performance is outstanding (Samovar, 2011:200). In my role as a manager, much will be learned. For instance, I will learn that managing a team requires confidence, boldness, and leadership skills are an added advantage. However, one must bear in mind that in a cross cultural organization, the most important aspect of management is flexibility (Gross, Jan, and Paula, 2009:99). Differences in styles of communication Styles of communication are of paramount importance mainly due to its power to transform obstacles into opportunities. A flexible leader is always able to express knowledge of ways necessary for harmonizing an organization full of employees all with different backgrounds. There might be those lagging behind technological wise while others may have difficulties in implementing the set objectives of the organization due to language barrier (Andrasink, 2005:89). From a point of view of a team member, students learnt that in management a manager or a team leader must be figurative otherwise; followers might find the leadership skills of the leader ineffective. As a result, they might find it difficult to apprehend to his commands. In addition to that, students understood that a team leader in a cross-cultural model must not predict behavior of an individual since it is as much to personality as to culture. Issues that cropped up during the research associated with cross culture. For instance, some members expressed concern for their religion while others considered their culture. The manager dealt with these issues by emphasizing and enacting organizational educational sessions on how to deal with cross culture related issues (Kim, 2008:71). Cultures exist is various models. This shows that the ways in which these people pass information from one person to the other are also different. Reliable sources put across that there are differences that exist between people coming from different cultures. Models of cross-cultural communication can only cat as guidelines for ways in which culture differs from one another (Reisinger and Turner, 2012:66). In such a spectrum you should note that, cultures when cultures differ they end up challenging the idea of “one right way” of people’s thinking, a factor commonly referred to as ethnocentricity. Different analysts do not agree with some models but they prefer to term others as being incompletely right probably when compared to other few dimensions. People who work across cultures come across other people of different cultures. Consequently, they end up facing hardships while in the process of learning cultures used in their new area. This section of the paper will focus on differences of communication styles. In my country, Britain, it is not hard for one person to interpret a sent email from a different culture given the fact that people of diverse backgrounds understand things, phrases, and actions differently. International employees mainly from China asserted that they found British communication styles as offensively blunt (Mooij, 2009:52). This shows that employees from Chinese background see the British descendants as blunt since according to their culture that is how a blunt communication styles appear. On the other end, as a student from Britain, I found Chinese culture to be bafflingly unforthcoming when it came to matters of passing on information from one to another (Gross, Jan, and Paula, 2009:124). Moreover, students from the UK find the Chinese culture to be devious and secretive. Lessons learnt from this encounter maintain that some things that people do in their culture may be very different from other people’s culture. Additionally, some actions or sayings have specific meanings that imply specific things. Another difference found between my culture and that of others present in the study is that in Chinese culture communication styles portray words, expressions, and implications as well as sensitivity (Kitayama and Cohen, 2010:48). There is a huge difference in style of communicating between my cultural background and that of Chinese descendants since when one speaks in a Chinese organization; he or she strives to achieve harmony since their culture recognizes harmony as very significant factor in all aspects of life. You should be in a position to note that this does not mean Britons do not value harmony in their culture (Fabbi, 2011:111). The fact is that the degree of value differs within cultural margins between Chinese and Britons. As sorted out in this arena, communication styles between my cultural background and that of others shows a great deal of differences between the two cultures. Understandably, a international can seek to overcome these challenges by employing sessions all aimed at training employees on a common culture which is appealing to all. With that respect, an international manager should try to overcome potential communication barriers through setting up strategies that aid towards harmonizing differences between employees brought about by communication. Based on this angle, an international manager can overcome communication problems by bringing a nationally recognized language that is understandable to all people (Kim, 2008:91). This is because, a business deals with clients who are publics hence availability of a common tool for communication can facilitate overcoming communication problems in an organization. Fact-findings reveal that in addressing communication problems instruments set in place must tackle issues regarding ability to understand the language, length of the appeal, and will for people to subjugate their cultural languages and incorporate or learn the set language (Reisinger and Turner, 2012:91). In most cases, English acts as the main medium of communication used by almost every organization worldwide in ensuring a common ground with no communication problems. With reference to the culture of British where I belong, there are many communication problems noticeable when placed together with Chinese cultures. In this culture, non-verbal communication is able to speak volumes of information despite lack of communication instruments. Chinese communication styles depend on groups (Wu, 2008:135). Ideally, people of Chinese background rely heavily on facial expressions when passing on a message to another person. Moreover, they find tone of voice as more considerable and appealing in different corners of communication. On the other hand, Britons emphasize most on posture when communicating. This enables them to tell what one is feeling according to the message conveyed. If you compare the two styles of communication, you will find that there are barriers to communication in this spectrum (Reisinger and Turner, 2012:120). In my culture, people consider posture as a great factor of concern when communicating to someone else while in the other culture they find tonal voice and facial expression as cognitive aspects of communication. This indicates that for an international manager to overcome these communication problems, he or she must try to integrate that are important to the growth of the organization into the new structured culture. When it comes to written information, the differences are wide open. It is very easy for a Briton to misinterpret a message sent via electronic mail by a person of Chinese cultural background. This is due to the point that these two cultures share unique writing styles (Wu, 2008:148). Ways of putting down information is very different when compared to one another. In British culture, people use English with recognizable seeable words while on the other side Chinese people use a language called Mandarin in which they use symbols to write emails. Since cases of misinterpretation are part of communication style problems, it is advisable for an international manager to put into consideration other forces at work in an Anglo cultural organization while in process of dealing with these problems of communication styles (Donald and Cohen, 2004:76). He or she can realize this optimum by realizing the importance of relationships in an organization. Under the same arena, it would be considerable for the international manager to use the internet or telephone instead of mutual understanding since these factors pass instant messages (Fabbi, 2011:151). In these two cultures, the way people communicate is different. These differences present the concerned individuals very many problems. Within these two cases, styles of communication bring about implications that have different meanings. In a Chinese culture, when someone is frowning while speaking means that he or she is disagreeing with what the other is saying (Patricia and Donna, 2009:252). This implies that frowning in Chinese is a sign of disagreement. As a result, most people of Chinese decency prefer to maintain an impassive communication style when expressing their feelings while speaking. In such a case, an international manager should deal with such problems of communication style by ensuring that mediums used to pass information within the organization do not give the wrong impression arising from facial expressions (Kim, 2008:112). In this instance, use of a written message will be more convenient. In conclusion, in my culture, communicating while maintaining eye contact is a potent means of maintaining trustworthiness in British culture. It is also a way of showing that you are sure of what you are saying thus what you are saying is right or correct. When it comes to Chinese communication styles, things are different (Gross, Jan, and Paula, 2009:145). It is a sign of disrespect to stare at the other person when talking. Chinese find it disrespectful to stare at the other person when communicating especially in public places. In crowded situations, a Chinese must avoid eye contact as they consider it a sign of privacy. Bibliography Andrasink, F. (2005) Comprehensive Handbook of Personality and Psychopathology , Adult Psychopathology. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Donald, M. and Cohen, S. (2004) Business Without Boundaries: An Action Framework For Collaborating Across Time, Distance, Organization, And Culture. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Fabbi, M. (2011) Managing cultural differences between UK and China: International Business Research for a company considering acquisition of a Chinese competitor. 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