Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace - Research Paper Example

Analysis of the movie with reference to interpersonal communication Introduction: Communication in general can be defined as the sharing of ideas, knowledge, views, reviews, information, feelings or news amongst the persons or groups. This sharing can be done using speeches, or by writing, using figures, signals, signs, colors (metaphorically) or through behavior. However there are different types of communication but effective communicator is one that is equipped with all the necessary tools and gadgets required to achieve the goals and to create a win-win situation. Albeit at times a win-win situation is not possible to achieve, during those times an effective communicator uses his or her aptitude in terms of communicating skills to minimize or confine catastrophic situations or to resolve conflict, ameliorating their stance and trying to impose his/her point of view in order to resolve the conflict. Moreover, the role of effective communication is garnering more importance as nowadays the world is going through globalization and therefore it’s utterly important that communicators should know what they are saying, at times communicators should muzzle themselves in order to avoid appalling circumstances. Whereas at times these communicators should express their views in order to create favorable conditions in perpetuity. In day to day communication encounters, people usually face a variety of circumstances which reflect different communication terminologies and types for the viewer or observer of these communications. As communication in the office setting goes through formal procedures and patterns whereas communicating with friends and family requires total different aptitude and style as it is less formal or at times there is no formality. On the other hand dealing with conflict between husband and wife requires a different set of rules and strategies in the perspective of communication. Hence on the daily basis people fight, love, cry, inspire, hate, and all these elements are reflected in their communications styles. “The Pursuit of happiness” (2006) is the movie chosen for the analysis of this report, in order to apply different communication terminologies and to demonstrate understanding of these terminologies to the readers of this paper. Meanwhile the main purpose of this research paper is to analyze scenes of the film with special focus on interpersonal communications carried out by different actors of the film, and later sketching or explaining different scenes with reference to the communication terminologies presented in the course book. In simple words placing film scenes (interpersonal communication scenes) or categorizing scenes in order to illustrate understanding of the different types of communications carried out in the film with succinct referencing from the course book (assignment outlines). The core purpose of this paper is to show overall understanding of the different terminologies of communication and to create understanding for readers by exhibiting examples from the film and relating them with text books and research journals as prescribed in the assignment outline. In this paper, a variety of communication terminologies will be considered for instance Stereotype, persuasive skills with special focus on Ethos, self disclosure, impression management, conflict communication ( with reference to marital dissatisfaction from the movie), rhetorical strategies or type of communication and the concept of ethnocentrism. Keeping in view that practical application of these terminologies on the movie will be done, and scenes will be extracted from the movie in order to demonstrate understanding of these terminologies. Brief Summary of the movie: the movie “The pursuit of happiness” by Gabrielle Muccino tells a story of struggling salesman; father (Chris Gardner) who is struggling to cope up with the obscurities of life. As Gardner has made investments in the bone density scanner device but due to some reasons this device is not getting sales, however as Gardner tries to come up with the way to sell his products, he is left with having financial crisis, due to which his wife (Linda) leaves him. Moreover because of his heavy investment in the bone density scanner, he loses his house and is left with few dollars in his bank account. Consequences left to live on the roads, meanwhile struggling to find job until he manages to sneak a job which has probation of six months (without salary for six months). Body: “The pursuit of Happiness”, interpersonal communication in the life of a struggling father, and the use of persuasive skills along with fighting spirit (in terms of portraying himself hero in front of his son) throughout the entire journey of his life. The movie “Pursuit of happiness” is a story about struggle and courage of a man, who is a father and a salesman, as this movie gives insights of the lifestyle of a struggling individual who at times is miss treated in terms of harsh communication, deception, racism but he never loses hope and inspires his son using different persuasive skills like impression management. However in this paper analysis of Chris Gardner’s character will be done considering the types of communication he faces over different circumstances, on the other hand he has always been showing decency and logical, well mannered and cultured communication styles in return. Gardner always showed clear vision when he had ethnocentric encounters, with understanding throughout the movie while communicating with others which also reflects his understanding towards adapting cultural diversity as a process in accordance with the findings of Varner, & Beamer (2005). Stereotyping as one of the characters (Ferrari owner) in the film falls in convicting it, is defined by different communication experts using variety of examples, however Victor, (1992) in his book defines stereotyping as an effort to sort or categorize persons, individuals or groups in terms of forecasting their attributes, behaviors, characteristics on the foundation of their association with the specific group, organization, or culture. Likewise in this movie Chris Gardner encountered stereotype behavior while talking to the Ferrari owner in a scene where he shares his dream to the owner of the car and metaphorically express his intentions to buy it (Ferrari). As a result the Ferrari owner turns his back, starts climbing the stairs, ignoring him while Gardner was still talking to him, when the owner reached to the top he smiles back to Gardner and said something which if elaborated means keep dreaming or in other words showed distrust of the owner on Gardner. This act is likely to reflect incompetence of the Ferrari owner in the context of person-centered communication which according to Tajfel (1978) is the ability of an individual to deal with other individuals giving proper respect in terms of its uniqueness and treating each individual as unique. In simple words it has been defined as the ability of an individual to adopt different communication styles for different individuals or treating peoples in terms of their uniqueness (Bargiela-Chiappini, & Nickerson, 2003) Moreover, persuasive skills were also part and parcel of the film as in many scenes Gardner tries to persuade his son using a variety of persuasive techniques out of which in one scene where he applied “Ethos” method or technique. Ethos according to Betancourt & López, (1993) is the ability of an individual or group to ensure credibility and create trust amongst the individual’s communication settings, whose sole purpose is to persuade them to do some work or to ask for favors from them is known as ethos. However, Gardner in a scene while talking to his boy in order to convince him has said that he can achieve anything if he believes in himself and does not think of quitting things halfway. He further elaborates marvelous display of his persuasion skills by saying to his son that there is nobody who can tell you that you cannot do this, not even me, the people who say you can’t do it, is because they are not able to do it themselves. These deliveries of dialogues were the source of inspiration for the baby boy as a result he changed his mind and opted not to quit. Besides persuasive skills with reference to use of Ethos, the film also reflects various other important terminologies of communication. The first perspective is self disclosure of Gardner, as self disclosure is defined by Gudykunst & Kim (1992) as the ability of an individual to express or share his characteristics insights, good or bad qualities and habits to others (This self disclosure is practiced in psychological evaluation of the patients at time). This self disclosure is reflected in a scene when Gardner without wearing proper clothes shows up for an interview and was questioned regarding his dress code. He confidentially manages and answered all his queries without showing signs of fear and depression. Similarly another perspective of the same scene can be classified within the terminology of impression management. As impression management is defined by Chaney & Martin (2007) as a deliberate (intentional) or unintentional process in which individuals tries to influence or manipulate views, beliefs or perceptions of others regarding a specific person, event, object or products. Usually these attributes of manipulating others are carried out in social interactions where flow of information is controlled or regulated. Likewise if the same above mentioned scene is critically analyzed, at that moment when Gardner is not wearing a proper suit and is giving an interview explaining or using self disclosure, one can even come up with the view that he tries to manipulate the decisions of the group by sharing his sad story or in other words tries to create sense of sympathy in the hearts of board of directors. And lastly one final perception regarding the same scene can be extracted as prototype of extreme unprofessional behavior shown by Gardner. As Trompenaars (1994) believes that prototype is an ideal example of the category. However considering this scenario one can clearly come up with the view that Gardner showed serious unprofessional prototype behavior. This unprofessional behavior according to Fritz (2002) is a behavior of a person or individual who tends to follow an unprofessional attitude, and at times brings his social problems to work; moreover, he abuses others and performs various other ill acts in an office environment. Gardner falls under this prototype because of not showing up in formal dress, furthermore the communication he carried at times is obnoxious. Meanwhile the movie also illustrates different conflict management communication styles that Gardner opted when he faced different situations. Out of those situations, one notable conflict management style came through while he was arguing with his wife Linda. As Linda at times used contempt behavior which according to Tajfel, (1978) is an attribute of married couples when going through some tense situations, they adopt behaviors like name calling, insulting, hostile humor and mockery. These attributes were all practiced by Linda and Gardner being the victim showed retaliation in a scene. Besides the above mentioned terminologies, rhetorical element and ethnocentrism elements were also seen in glimpses in the whole movie. As rhetoric communication is adopted by Gardner in order to impress his son. Rhetorical element as defined by Chaney & Martin, (2007) is the ability of an individual to influence or persuade someone in terms of carrying out some work. This element can widely be seen in a number of scenes as the whole theme of the movie rotates around this factor. Finally ethnocentric behavior as defined by Chaney & Martin, (2007) is the behavior of individuals that is ultimately responsible for spreading division amongst different ethnicities, races, classes. Or in simple words ethnocentric individuals are those who have this perception of superiority over other individuals. This perception of superiority of individuals over others results in creating racism and prejudice in the society. He controlled and bearded all these abuses without showing any anger. Conclusion: This paper attempts to demonstrate understanding of different terminologies of communication with special reference and focus on the movie “The pursuit of Happiness”. As all terminologies are explained taking examples from the movie so that better understanding of the subject can be developed for the readers. Meanwhile the character Gardner displayed marvelous skills in terms of dealing with different people and different circumstances. He displayed a variety of different communication techniques like persuading techniques using ETHOS element, conflict handling techniques when confronting his wife and impression management skills when dealing with the group of interviewers. Similarly self disclosure is effectively used in order to get job. This shows that effective communication can make or break relations, moreover it can help gaining your goals and achieving targets with ease. By using effective communication one can easily resolve or avoid conflicts situations or crisis. Nowadays the role of communication is further garnering its importance as the world has now become a global village. Communicators around the world are devising strategies in order to deliver their messages without getting trapped in jargons. Expert communicators in most situations are likely to create a win-win situation for him or for the company or group he is representing. References Bargiela-Chiappini, F., & Nickerson, C. (2003). Intercultural business communication: A rich field of studies. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 24 (1), 3-15. Betancourt, H., & López, S. R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48(6), 629-637 Chaney, L. H., & Martin, J. S. (2007). Intercultural business communication (4th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall Gudykunst, W. B., & Kim, Y. Y. (1992). Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. London: Academic Press. Trompenaars, F. (1994). Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin. Varner, I., & Beamer, L. (2005). Intercultural communication in the global workplace (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill/Irwin. Victor, D. A. (1992). International business communication. New York: HarperCollins. Read More