Intercultural Communication in Workplace - Case Study Example

Morgan. He seemed to be in a jovial mood. Immediately Mrs. Morgan followed him to his office. Mrs. Morgan didn't understand why Mr. Ablerto could have called her this early to his office. Although she did not understand why she was called she remembered that there were some sales document that were supposed to be signed by the general manager and passed to the production department as the deliveries were expected to be made by that afternoon. But when she reached the office she found it in a total mess as it had not been clean and she thought she had been called to put it in order.

As she was collecting the papers on the floor she remembered about the sales documents. First when Mr. Alberto waved his hand, he did not intend to call Mrs. Morgan but it was a form of greeting. Mr. Alberto happens to be an Italian while Mrs. Morgan was an American. Apparently in the Italian culture, their form of waving is the same as telling someone to come while waving in the sense that they move their fingers up and down while waving. In the American culture this is same as calling someone.

So when Mr. Alberto waved at Mrs. Morgan he was greeting her but not calling her. But this was misinterpreted by Mrs. Morgan who followed him to the office. Not knowing why she was called, Mrs. Morgan immediately went and started collecting some papers which were scattered in the office. She apparently judged that the only reason why Mr. Ablerto would have called her was that his office had not been cleaned and perhaps wanted her to keep it in order. So she apparently set out collecting the paper that had been scattered on the floor.

She decided to ask about the status of the documents that were to be signed. According to the answer that she was given by Mr. Ablerto she interpreted it for yes though Mr. Alberto meant no in his Italian language. Apparently he appeared very busy and did not pay attention to the details of the conversation. Mrs. Morgan left the office satisfied that the documents had been signed and she relaxed in her office waiting to collect and deliver the orders. These two issues as presented in the conversation are actually some of the cultural issues that acted as a barrier to communication.

First Mrs. Morgan didn't understand that Mr. Alberto was waving at her to greet her and was not calling her. This was a misinterpretation of the meaning of the non verbal expression. The difference in the interpretation here was affected by the cultural interpretation of the meaning of the gesture between the Italian and American cultures. This created as barrier in