Impact of Culture on Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace - Case Study Example

Running header: Impact of culture on interpersonal communication in the workplace Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission Introduction Today’s world has increasingly become a multicultural society. For instance, while majority of Australians are native English speakers and hence English is the predominant language, the number of non native English speakers has increasingly grown. For instance, in the organization I work for, the workers did not grow in the same locality and neither are all of them Australians. As such, we are a group of people from differing backgrounds and culture working together. Such multicultural working environments are not only common in multinational organizations but also in governmental, non governmental and academic organizations. In addition, communication in today’s workplace also entails diversity in the consumer/client base. This leads to increased contact between people from differing cultural backgrounds. The diversity is important in allowing people connect, share and work with others from new and diverse cultural backgrounds. Such interaction is beneficial since diversity leads to new ideas and new approaches to solving problems (Myers and Kayan, 2010). However, this also brings a challenge in that people from differing backgrounds come with different understandings and expectations as far as group dynamics, social customs and communication norms are concerned. This paper discusses the impact of culture on interpersonal communication in the workplace. The paper also suggests ways of overcoming the challenges that may affect interpersonal communication in a multicultural working environment. This is made clear through narrating my experience in the organization that I work for which is a multicultural one. Description of the organization I work in the finance department of The Ultimate Tours and Travel Company limited which is a medium sized company. The finance department consists of twenty workers most of whom are English speaking Australians. However, there are two Americans, two Muslims, one Japanese and a South African working in the same office. In addition, due to the nature of business our company is involved in; our clientele are of different cultural backgrounds most of whom are tourists. As such, this makes the workplace a completely multicultural working place due to the fact that we come from different cultures and hence have different norms and believes that greatly affect our behavior as well as our speaking accent. In such a multicultural working place cultural barriers to interpersonal communication abound. In addition to the obvious difficulties in understanding people whose language is different from ours, there are other multiple factors which challenge us in our endeavor to communicate effectively with workers of different cultural backgrounds. This is because each of the different cultures has different frames of reference and display emotions differently as well as different behavior in similar circumstances. How culture impacts interpersonal communication in the workplace I n my three years stay in Ultimate tours, I have observed that cultural diversity can affect interpersonal communication adversely if members do not make deliberate efforts to understand each other and gain cultural literacy that will enable them understand one another. The impact of culture on interpersonal communication in the workplace can be analyzed as follows; a) Stereotypes Hostile and inaccurate stereotypes of people from different cultures have always proved a barrier to communication in our company. This is because prejudging people leads to misconceptions which act as barriers to communication. This also limits management’s ability to efficiently using their workers’ skills or assisting them develops new skills. For instance, as a result of hostile stereotypes, our manager has always maintained that Asians are only good with numbers but not with people. As such, John who comes from Asia has never been given an opportunity to develop his interpersonal skills. On the other hand, the manager never takes any argument with the Americans lightly since he argues that Americans are impatient and arrogant. As such, such misconceptions have always led to communication breakdown in the office with those affected threatening to quit. Stereotypes are also common among workers with the majority looking down upon the African as being inferior especially considering the fact that he is just a data entry clerk (Myers and Kayan, 2010). As such, the African does not take any mistake from fellow staff lightly as he argues that they are belittling him whether it was intentional or not. It is as a result of such misconceptions that the output from the department greatly deteriorated and an inquiry revealed breakdown in communication as being caused by cultural differences. As such, the company has consulted specialists to help all department gain cultural literacy in order to improve interpersonal communication. b) Ethnocentrism Closely related to stereotyping is ethnocentrism. This is a situation whereby everyone believes in the superiority of his/her culture to other cultures. As such, his /her judgment is greatly obscured by such believes as he or she may look down upon other cultures. In my stay in the company, I have discovered that every culture represented is ethnocentric. However, this is greatly portrayed by those in positions of leadership as well as the English Australians who form majority of the group. As such, the minority groups are looked down upon while people tend to group themselves in terms of the culture they come from. It is common for one to prejudge others based on the assumption that their cultures are inferior. As such, Ethnocentrism has always resulted in reduced teamwork, and hence productivity, conflicts resulting from tension and communication breakdown as well as increased turnover. As such, the human resources management team has always played a mediation role to ensure tolerance among the different cultures represented. c) Culture and non-verbal communication In my stay in Ultimate tours, I have observed that different cultures communicate in different ways thus affecting interpersonal communication mostly in a negative manner. This is observed in how we greet each other, how we take turns while speaking, how we address each other, what we say and how we express our feelings and react to fellow employees feelings (Thomas, 2010). This is seen in non verbal communication, personal space, eye contact, use of silence, interpretation of social issues as well as cultural responses to emotions. Non verbal communication is observed through use of gestures, movement, and tone of voice, eye contact as well as facial expression which vary in meaning across the different cultures. For instance, when I first joined Ultimate tours and Travel Company, I always fell victim of misunderstanding between me and my Japanese core worker. This is because while to the Japanese shaking head from side to side meant disagreement, I understood it as disagreement. As such, many are the times I would misunderstand him for disagreeing with what I thought to be right or vice versa. However, after sometimes, we were able to resolve our cultural differences and we nowadays get along very well. Another case involved use of gesture on Halima a Muslim core-worker who did not take this rightly although I have learnt to completely avoid gestures when communicating to her to avoid misunderstandings that may arise. The use of personal space is also a cultural aspect that I have observed to affect interpersonal communication in Ultimate tours especially between the employees and the clients. This is because keeping a distance or getting closer to a client has at times been misunderstood for coldness or for being pushy or inappropriately intimate. In addition, the gender of the client and the employee is vital in determination of how personal space is to be utilized. Although most people do not find this as a great issue, it has proved an issue at times when a customer complains of inappropriate behavior or for our being too cold towards customers as this is seen as a potential loss of a customer. Another cultural aspect that could greatly affect interpersonal communication in the organization is the eye contact. As I have come to learn, different cultures have different meanings for eye contact which could lead to conflicts in communication if not properly interpreted. For instance, while we take avoidance of eye contact as implication of respect, our South African counterpart does not take it rightly as she takes this for being rude and not listening to what she is saying. This had at times led to miscommunication between us but the realization of this has also helped us serve the African clients better as establishing eye contact with them means that we are paying close attention to them which is good customer care. During my stay at Ultimate Tours Company, I have come to also realize that different cultures take silence to mean different things. While I take silence for agreement, my Asian core workers take it as an indication for respect. As such, if not correctly interpreted, there can be a misunderstanding between the two cultures. How we respond to emotions is also determined by our cultures and can negatively affect interpersonal communication (Rahul, 2011). This is because different cultures have different rules for responding to emotions. For instance, I had assumed that by just simply touching the hand of my South African counterpart when she had received some bad news was enough consolation. As per our culture. However, I came to learn that I should have offered a glass of water as an adequate sign of consolation. On the other hand, my colleague from Japan considered it as inappropriate for the worker to have shown her emotion in the workplace as inappropriate for a workplace setting. As such, according to him, he keeps his emotions hidden and can only discuss factual aspects of the situation. This implies how, different cultures impact interpersonal communication differently and hence deliberate steps must be undertaken to gain cultural literacy if interpersonal communication has to be effective in a multicultural working place. The steps that the company should/ is taking to overcome the adverse effects of culture on interpersonal communication As has been observed above, cultural differences has at times negatively impacted interpersonal communication in Ultimate tours thereby leading to uncalled for hostilities among workers from different cultures. This in turn could lead to high turnover late and even decreasing performance due to hostile working environment if not adequately addressed. It is as a result of realization of this fact that the management of Ultimate Tours and Travel Limited has come up with a policy aimed at improving cultural literacy as well as tolerance among workers in order to improve interpersonal communication despite the multicultural working environment. The following are the ways in which the company is overcoming the negative impacts; a) introduction of an induction program The induction program at the company has been altered to put immigrant workers on board. The program will clearly explain the company’s culture and make the company policies clearer as far as cultural tolerance is concerned. The program entails introduction to the basic aspects of the local culture while the local jargon which is part of our daily operations will be made clearer to new workers. This way, workers will be able to easily adapt to a multicultural working environment. b) maintenance attitude The company actively encourages the Australian workers who form the dominant culture in the workplace to identify their attitude towards other smaller cultures and how this affects interpersonal communication within the organization (Thomas, 2010). This is with an aim of eliminating the prejudices and stereotypes /ethnocentrisms aside while interacting with each other. On the other hand, employees from other cultures are advised not to take for granted the norms of the dominant culture. As such, the company encourages all employees to have a positive attitude towards one another’s culture. c) Understanding diversity In a multicultural work place like ours, employees need to educate themselves about other cultures so that they can easily accept and understand the concept of diversity in the workplace. This way, workers can effectively avoid the negative impacts that affect interpersonal communication in a multicultural working environment. This is because everyone carries their ethics, values and cultures wherever they go. Therefore, making a deliberate effort to be cultural literacy and hence accept diversity in the workplace will be a great step towards improving interpersonal communication in the workplace. d) Individual interaction should be encouraged Apart from educating oneself about other cultures, it is important that workers are encouraged to interact with employees from other cultures so as to understand their cultures nuances and also explain their own nuances to their colleagues in a bid to improve interpersonal communication (Rahul,2011). Since new workers from other cultures may not readily interact with employees from the other cultures, Ultimate tours ought to take responsibility of drawing them out of this shell and including and accepting them genuinely as part of Ultimate tours and Travel Company limited. e) Discourage discrimination and racism The organization policy now discourages racism and discrimination in a bid to promoting healthy intercultural interpersonal communication. As such, embarrassing situations which can lead to serious misunderstandings are avoided among core workers. Conclusion As has been observed above, a multicultural work place such as Ultimate Tours and Travel Company Limited can at time lead to serious issues as far as interpersonal communication is concerned. As such, the company has come up with a policy that will help overcome such prejudices, stereotypes and misunderstandings that affect interpersonal communication. Implementing the policy will in no doubt lead to effective and healthy interpersonal communication in the workplace. This will not only enhance the company’s reputation among the employees but they will embrace it willingly and give the best input to their work. As such, we will have satisfied customers, increased productivity and hence profitability. References: Myers, K&, Kayan, S2010, Millenials in the workplace: A communication perspective on Millenials organizational relationships and performance, Journal of Business and Psychology, vol.25, no.2, pp225-238. Rahul, C2011, Importance of learning cross cultural communication skills in today’s workplace, Western Journal of Speech Communication, Vol.5, no.2, pp.2-19. Thomas, B2010, Communication in the contemporary organization, The journal of social and personal relationships, vol.2, no5, Pp.25-32. Read More