Cross Culture Communication in Organization - Research Paper Example

Cross Culture Communication in Organization Contents Introduction 1 Literature 1 Organization 3 Methodology 4 Aim 5 Conclusion 7 Appendices 9 Appendix A- Employee Questionnaire 9 Appendix B-Client Questionnaire 10 Appendix C- Employee Results 11 Appendix D- Client Results 13 References 15 Introduction The phenomenon of Globalization has impacted everyone and has made it very important for people hailing from different backgrounds and cultures to work together. Culture is what makes us different, it provides us with an identity and a sense of belonging it teaches us the acceptable behavior and regulates our actions. Managers these days must use their intercultural communication skills to embed unity in a diversified workforce as culture impacts employee productivity and motivation. Effectiveness in cross cultural communication is necessary for enterprises that work with people belonging to different cultures of the world or their services are extended to a multicultural population. The research aims to assess the effectiveness of cross cultural communication strategies in the subject organization. The selected organization is AMES, an organization that helps refugees and migrants to settle in Australia while working with business sector, government and community for development of better settlement solutions. AMES Broad Meadows office has 50 professional employees and 20 volunteers; they deal with a huge number of people every day from different cultures and encourage them to adopt a multi-cultural approach while settling down. Literature A team’s ability to communicate effectively with clarity is an important factor for achieving desired results (Shonk, 1982). The effectiveness of intercultural communication becomes mandatory when the team or the customers belong to different cultures. Research shows that each member coming from different culture exhibits a different response when subjected to psychological stress and when establishing interpersonal relationships (Hammer et al. 1978). The characteristics identified in a workforce that has the ability to interact with culturally different team members were identified in intercultural communication competence model, these characteristics are; Interpersonal communication skills, the ability to adjust one’s self according to the communication needs of the others, adjustment ability to different social systems and norms (Abe & Wiseman, 1983). For continued sustainability it is important that the organization develops strategies to involve all the team members no matter how diversify the team is. This multicultural team can be very beneficial for the work environment and encouraging innovation at workplace for example, a multi cultural team has a variety of beliefs and perspectives along with competencies, skills and attributes that compliment the whole team. Ethnic diverse groups come up with more ideas and contribute more to brainstorming process. This ability is due to their difference of culture and the way and environment they were brought up in as research shown that multicultural teams produce more ideas than a homogenous team (Townsend, DeMarie, & Hendrickson, 1998). In managing a multicultural clientele or workforce Marquardt (2001) identified five challenges faced by most organizations and service providers, these are; handling cultural diversity, geographical spread of the team, coordination and control issues, communication standards, maintaining team cohesiveness and formal informal relationships within the team. Organization AMES is an abbreviation for Adult Migrant English Services, contrary to what the name suggests AMES is not only providing English learning classes to migrants and refugees but playing a more important role by bringing together government agencies, communities and businesses for helping them settle in Victoria – Australia with a sense of belongingness to a collective community. AMES is Australia’s largest provider of humanitarian settlement, education, training and employment services for refugees and newly arrived migrants. The mission of Ames is “Full participation for all in a cohesive and diverse society.” It works with community groups for establishing reliable community support networks and utilizes its partnerships with universities, resource centers, health centers, real estate and other community organizations to support the client needs. It creates a liaison between those migrants and refugees looking for work with local businesses, to make their life self sustainable while providing skilled workforce to the employers in the local community. AMES also works with government by conducting various studies that help the government compile a better policy for refugees and migrants. Besides these partnerships AMES has five core services, Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS), Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), Language Literacy and Numeracy Program (LLNP), Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG) and Job Services Australia (JSA). The nature of work AMES undertakes requires their employees and volunteers to be well trained in cross cultural communication, not only verbal but also non verbal communication techniques. It is more than often that one witnesses an effective communication resulting in mistrust and misguidance. The organization requires its staff to be friendly and compassionate towards the needs of the client, it believes in bring together its multicultural staff to communicate with its client and fulfill their training and other social needs. By creating effective partnerships the organization is playing an important role in bridging the gap between its clients and the Australian society. Every employee and volunteer at AMES is provided with a training program before the work begins, the training is related to literature on Australian policies and procedures regarding immigrants and refugees with cross cultural communication course and professionalism. Its strength lies in consultation practices and new employees immensely benefit from it (AMES, 2012). Methodology The research methodology adopted for this project is based on two questionnaires presented to the staff deployed at Broad Meadow’s office of AMES and immigrants enrolled for taking English learning course. The questionnaires are composed of 5 close ended questions each and relate to cross cultural communication policies and procedures, client experience, work environment and employment. Hence the research is quantitative in nature which has its own apparent advantages and disadvantages. The close ended nature of questions included in the questionnaires keep the research on the track and focused towards concluding if AMES has effective procedures in place with a trusting and reliable workforce and a well supported client based. The apparent disadvantage related to this type of research methodology is the lack of a qualitative approach and consideration of factors that are obtained by taking comments of the workforce or clients through an open ended questionnaire. The data was gathered during a visit to AMES and by interacting with AMES employees although most employees asked if their responses can be kept anonymous. Furthermore clients were made part of the survey by taking permission of the trainer during an English learning class. Aim Determine the effectiveness of measure adopted by AMES in order to respond to its diverse workforce along with its client base that also belongs to different cultures and hailing from different countries. Key Findings The AMES website plays an important role in guiding its clients, its employees, volunteers and potential employees for understanding how it can help them towards a better future. The research showed an overwhelming positive response from employees of AMES as well as its clients. In the question that covered the employee motivation and self realization for work an unprecedented 90 percent said yes while remaining 10 percent were not sure. When asked if they were satisfied with the cross communication practices and policies of AMES, 80 percent said yes with 10 percent saying NO and other 10 percent were not sure. On the question related to training opportunities before and start of actual work, 60 percent employees were satisfied and remaining 40 percent were not satisfied. On the subject of cross cultural communication amongst the team, both questions had a whopping 100 percent satisfactory rate. These findings clearly indicate that the employees at AMES are highly satisfied with their work and agree to the practices and policies followed by AMES in relation to cross cultural communication and promotion of multi cultural practices. The only area of concern is the number and quality of training sessions provided to them in their orientation period and later on. It is noteworthy that many employees do not respond to company literature or literature related to policies in hard copies to take and read at home, neither do they actively go on the internet to search for policies and read their lengthy versions. In order to avoid these lengthy readings most workers tend to ask their learned colleagues about the policies of AMES or immigrant or refugee policies prevalent in Australia. It is recommended that AMES should organize separate training sessions for acquainting its workforce with the policies and procedures of itself and that of Australia in a simplified manner with user friendly language. This would result in better spread of information and same simple knowledge would be used to answer queries of the clients making them understand the rules and regulations properly. The overall responses from the clients were satisfactory and most clients appeared happy and enjoying their learning process, the feel around that audience was very positive and all of them were eager to learn and become a vital part of Australian society. On the question that whether they are happy with their progress or not, 100 percent gave a positive response which is a very encouraging sign for employees, trainers, volunteers at AMES and the credit should also be given to the leadership team for creating a friendly and helping culture in the AMES office. Besides collective learning and corporation it is evident that AMES gives effective individual attention to its clients as 80 percent of the participants agreed that their individual concerns and learning needs were looked after by the professional employees of AMES. It was not a surprise that only 50 percent of the participants responded positively when asked if they faced or still face problem in communicating and making their view points clear. This area refers to a communication problem and could be countered by assignment of a mentor or volunteer to a newbie group who understands both the verbal non-verbal techniques used in a particular culture. Other indicators related to comfortableness when speaking to people coming from different cultures or maintaining relationships was positively answered. This study and the survey shows that AMES is playing a highly effective role in giving a comfort level to its clients while following effective cross cultural communication practices within its team of professionals and volunteers. Conclusion The policies and practices adopted by AMES are effective and the importance and challenges of cross cultural communication are well catered by the organization. After much development and advancements in numerous fields the evil of racism and accepting others as who they are still remains a question mark with many people trying to hide their identities or adopting passiveness in society which paves the way to violence and other crimes. With the increasing number of immigrants and refugees coming to Australia during the past decade it is essential that there needs are catered to and by adopting friendly and supportive approach they are made an active and contributing part of the society. In my view and as the study shows AMES is doing wonders for non-natives in not only teaching them English language but also supporting them in having better more productive lives. Cross cultural communication is vital to sustaining peace in our society and it is important for all elements of the society or an organization to partake their role in encouraging healthy cross culture relationship, a feat that cannot be achieved without effectiveness in cross cultural communication and dialogue. Appendices Appendix A- Employee Questionnaire Q1. Are you satisfied with your work at AMES and more importantly your role? YES  NO  Maybe Q2. Do you feel that AMES has effective policies and procedures related to client handling and cross cultural communications? YES  NO  Maybe Q3. Are you satisfied with the cross cultural training sessions provided to you by AMES before and after your actual work started? YES  NO  Maybe Q4. Do you feel comfortable when communicating with your colleagues or clients who belong to a different culture? YES  NO  Maybe Q5. Do you have healthy cross cultural relationships with your colleagues at work? YES  NO  Maybe Appendix B-Client Questionnaire Q1. Are you satisfied with your progress at AMES? YES  NO  Maybe Q2. Do you think your individual needs were looked after by a friendly AMES representative? YES  NO  Maybe Q3. Do you feel that now or initially you had any problems in making people understand your needs or point of view? YES  NO  Maybe Q4. Do you feel comfortable when speaking to people who belong to a different culture than yours? YES  NO  Maybe Q5. Do you feel that you would be able to make friendships with your batch mates at AMES and would you like to meet them after your training is over? YES  NO  Maybe Appendix C- Employee Results Q1. Are you satisfied with your work at AMES and more importantly your role? Q2. Do you feel that AMES has effective policies and procedures related to client handling and cross cultural communications? Q3. Are you satisfied with the cross cultural training sessions provided to you by AMES before and after your actual work started? Q4. Do you feel comfortable when communicating with your colleagues or clients who belong to a different culture? Q5. Do you have healthy cross cultural relationships with your colleagues at work? Appendix D- Client Results Q1. Are you satisfied with your progress at AMES? Q2. Do you think your individual needs were looked after by a friendly AMES representative? Q3. Do you feel that now or initially you had any problems in making people understand your needs or point of view? Q4. Do you feel comfortable when speaking to people who belong to a different culture than yours? Q5. Do you feel that you would be able to make friendships with your batch mates at AMES and would you like to meet them after your training is over? References AMES. 2012. About AMES. Viewed 5 November 2012 < http://ames.net.au/about-ames.html> Abe, H., & Wiseman, R. 1983. A crosscultural confirmation of the dimensions of intercultural effectiveness. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 7:53-67. Hammer, M., Gudykunst, W., and Wiseman, R.. 1978. Dimensions of interculturaleffectiveness: An exploratory study. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 2: 282-393. Marquardt, M.J., and Horvath, L. 2001. Global Teams: How Top Multinational SpanBoundaries and Cultures with High-speed Teamwork, Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black. Shonk, J.H. 1982. Working in teams: A practical manual for improving work groups.New York: Amacom. Townsend, A.M., DeMarie, S. and Hendrickson, A.R. 1998. Virtual teams: technologyand the workplace of the future, The Academy of Management Executive, 12(3): 17-29. Read More