Intercultural Communication in a Team - Cultural Differences between Employees - Essay Example

INTERCULTURAL COMUNICATION IN A TEAM Introduction In any organization where communication has to take place the inter personal communication is a must and in this case the face to face verbal as well as non verbal communication occurs (Schmidt, 2007, p. 10). The world today is a global village and it can be said that the interpersonal communications are affected by one too many factors. These are the factors that affect the communications that take place between the employees in any organization and the people working in teams. The world today is a global village and that has caused the integration of the people of different cultures. Interpersonal communications in this case is also affected by the technologies that the world today has incorporated in the daily lives. The communication with each other is also affected by the cultural backgrounds that the people have. The assignment here will be discussing the interpersonal communication that occurs when the people within the team are belonging to different cultures, especially those of Chinese and United States of America. (Sharifian, 2007, p. 22). Cultures Culture is a word that encloses in itself a deep history and beliefs in which the people belief. The culture encompasses moral values and the beliefs according to which the people of a culture pass their lives. The culture defines the ways in which people behave within a particular group for interactions to take place. Cultures are defined by the customs they enclose and the life styles and so on (Obeng, 2008, p. 12). Culture and the communication By many of the theories, it has been said that the culture cannot be separated from the communication. The communication whether it is being completed at any level is the need of every person at any level. The culture thereby has strong influences on the interpersonal communication. The meanings and the sense making that is the integral part of interpersonal communication is defined by the cultures. In this case the theory has been given and the theory has been referred to as the stand point theory. The basic fact that has been presented in the stand by theory is that culture is the main point from where we derive the ways in which we perceive the world. The people within the team if belonging to the same culture can see the world in approximately the same way as they are the ones from the same culture and sharing the same experiences (Novinger, 2001, p. 12). Learning of culture It has been seen that the discussions take place when the inter personal communications take place. Through the discussion and the friendly arguments one learns a lot. This is the point that needs to be emphasized in this case that interpersonal communication is the way that makes people learn different cultures (Nakane, 2007, p. 12). Enculturation This is the term that is dealt under the heading of learning of culture through interpersonal skills and here we discuss the ways in which the people pass on their cultural values through socialization. It even encompasses passing on of the religious matters that are dealt within the cultural perspectives. Designing and shaping the culture It has been added to the many ideas about the cultures and the interpersonal communications that the communication as been responsible for shaping up the culture and giving the diversity to the cultures. This is the step that occurs when the people start to accept the values and the beliefs from the other cultures when it is considered to be necessary to make changes to the existing culture. This is the fact and the ideology that is encompassed in the term known as acculturation (Mindess, 2006, p. 22). The inter cultural differences occur at the workplace or within the team when the teammates belong to different cultures that creates beliefs differences within the work environment. The most intercultural differences are said to be very high when the differences is the beliefs and the values that are offered by the particular culture is very high. The least intercultural end is the part when the set of beliefs and the values that the teammates hold do not make any significant differences within the work environment (Aykin, 2007, p. 33). Within the teams and the intercultural communication a term has been used known as the third culture and this is the point where people in the teams belonging to different cultures are trying to develop understanding between themselves so that the higher differences can be sorted out in a well amicable manner (Luzio, 2001, p. 33). Dimensions of cultures and affects in interpersonal communications There are many cultural dimensions which come with a set of values and beliefs and these are the sets of values and beliefs that affect the professional attitudes of the people at the workplace and the teams. The first dimension that needs to be considered. This is known as the achievement culture where task in hand of the team member is given more priority in any case than the other tasks and this shows the material nature of these people. The second dimension is usually opposite of the one just described and it is known as the nurturing culture as the support of the relationships is the main point in this case. As it has been generally that the people who work at one task at one time are usually veer organized at their workplaces as compared to the people who deal with multiple tasks at one time (Jandt, 2007, p.33). The power distances are an important part of the cultures and it includes the way the people belonging to a certain culture see the distribution of power within the culture. The culture in which the differences between the social classes are kept to a minimum is the low power distance and the other case is the high power difference in which the differences between the social classes are kept to a higher level. This is the dimension that has a strong influence on the behaviors of the people at the professional workplace as people with lesser social standing will be looked down upon by the team mates who stand higher in the community and thereby this is the factor that will create more unpleasant differences (Jandt, 2000, p. 33). According to Grete Hofstede, China is a society with a high power distance score of 40 which therefore indicates they prefer to work with the organizations which are more central in there management having a large proportion of decision-making employees. As compared to china, USA employees prefer to work with the organizations that have a decentralized management and organizational structures. The people in team if they belong to these kinds of the cultures have very high achieving attitudes especially in the case of individualist culture. In this case As the United States of America is the highest ranker cultural for individualist according to Hofstedes and therefore the teammate will be focusing on the self achievements thereby this can lead to greater changes in the work done by the team in the overall manner. The team mates from the collectivist cultures such as the Chinese tend to perform based on the opinions that they gain from the other teammates. Thus can also help in the performance shown by the team in an overall manner (Gudykunst, 2004, p. 33). If the collectivistic cultures are taken into context than they emphasize on the group work. In this case being loyal to the organization is the most counted ethic. In accordance to this in this kind of culture it is seen that any kind of altercation between the employees and the employers is avoided. Comparatively china has a high power distance in the organization therefore freedom of opinion is absent in the organizations. It has been noticed that the personal opinions are usually expressed in a personal atmosphere so as to avoid any problems. Comparatively, in collectivistic cultures, although freedom of speech is there as in USA based organizations however the expression of harsh opinions is avoided. For the opinions, the phrases are used which describe a disagreement or negative statement instead of showing the gesture of denying to the management. Communication between high and low context people is often “fraught with impatience and irritation because low context communicators possibly will provide additional information than necessary while high context communication may not provide enough information or background. Figure 1: The dialogue showing cultural differences between colleagues An example of context between colleagues of different cultures is exposed within the transcript of conversation between the captain, copilot and controller of the Aciance flight that crashed on Long Island in 1991. In this case the controller who was of American decent (low context) and the copilot who was Chinese results in a crucial error if misunderstanding. These kinds of problems arise when the workers are from a high context and the low context. Chinese culture is representative of the low individualism. As the individualism characters shows that the individuals matters himself over the others however in the case of low individualism, loyalty with the family, work, friends and team is expressed in a better manner. This also relates to the high long-term orientation in the work. Chinese organizatiosn also reflect the collectivist approach which dates back to the Communist rule as compared to the individualism. Chinese firms and the business organizations tend to do the businesses with the same suppliers for years to make strong business relationships. Chine thereby look at the strong business partnership that lasts longer. Within the chine culture for the business sake it is not considered to be a good sign if the business partners are changed very frequently (Harris, Moran, and Moran, 2007, p. 32). The way in which the messages are delivered between the team mates that belong to different cultures has been defined by Edward hall in year of 1959 and he has included the terms as high context cultures and the low context cultures (Braithwaite, 2000, p. 32). In the case of the high context cultures, people deliver the messages but not just understanding the meanings of the messages but in fact the non verbal behaviors that are hidden in the messages. The team mates who belong to the low context cultures are the ones who communicate with the other team mates in languages so as to express their views and ideas in an open manner (Gudykunst, 2003, p. 33). In a team there may be some members who deal with one object at a single time and they are used to complete one task at a time. They are unable to handle many works in one time and these are the people who represent monochromic culture. Such people are the ones who think of being organized as very important and all the tasks are needed to be completed in time and in an orderly manner is there firm ideology (Greene, 2003, p. 30). An example of monographic is defined by Cary Silverstein within the article ‘Negotiating with the Chinese’. During Chinese negotiations, Cary explains they have an act of preserving ones prestige or dignity and therefore discussions can be a failure if one party is cause to lose. In China preserving ones prestige or dignity is more significant than most business dealings. As western cultures are monochromic, they are supposed to follow the time schuedules more honestly than Chinese.In China, personal relationships are much more important than the work.(Gudykunst 2003, p. 33). Therefore when western cultures are dealing with Chinese it is best to offer them minimal favors so they can respond in the prospect. While doing business with the chine the information exchange seems to be the difficult task as the Chinese tend to withhold information and therefore they try that the other business party is at a disadvantage. The main strategy observed by the Chinese is that the other party is balanced and protective (Braithwaite & Thompson, 2000, p. 33). Teammates from the polychromic culture are the ones who like to do multiple things at one time and they are the ones who are usually seen in the managerial posts. Thereby as compared to the monochromic culture people these are the people who are a bit less organized and they feel that they need to make the changes at the place by firs being organized (Gibson, 2002, p. 22). These are the main behavioral differences that are obvious when the team mates within the organization belong to the different cultures. This may be good at some point however it has been seen that the cultural differences that in the end create the differences in the behaviors can create some clashes within the work environment which may lead to the possibility of having an uncomfortable work environment (Bührig, 2006, p. 22). Figure 2: Hofstedes cultural dimensions The diagram itself explanatory showing that the power distance is much higher in china as compared to USA where the employees are on ease to express their own ideas for the benefit of an organization. USA is ranked number 1 among the individualists cultures. Here the employees are their own judges trying to achieve the best possible success. The cultural context of masculinity is equal in both USA and china that shows the gender equality exists in both the countries. Risk taking behavior is much more reflected in the US organizations as compared to China. The Chinese work environment tends to wait for the outcomes as compared to the US based organizations as is reflected by the long term orientation trend in the Chinese culture. Conclusion At the profession level, the intercultural differences play a very important role as the behaviors that the employees or the team mates bring is had an overall effect on the outcomes of the project handed pout to these people. Some people are the ones that behave in an individual manner while the others like to behave by listening to all the opinions that they gather from the other teammates which seems to increase the performance of the work. This the factor that creates the differences along the people within the team and in organization in some cases where the comfortable dealing can take place between the people while in some cases serious clashes can occur as the behaviors do not meet according to the standards. The interpersonal communication thereby we se that depends largely on the cultural differences that the people have in a work environment. The cultures thus influence the behaviors that the people show within an organization. Thereby the cultural differences do need a serious thought to be given so that the serious clashes that might occur in the team mates in the future can be handled in a well manner. As within an organization the smooth working is the main aim. References Aykin, N. (2007). Usability and Internationalization: Second International Conference on Usability and Internationalization, UI-HCII 2007, Held as Part of HCI International 2007, Beijing, China, July 22-27, 2007: Proceedings. US: Springer. 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