Aspects of intercultural communication in international business - Essay Example

At the same time it is not easy to engage in effective international communication because of the cultural, social, political, environmental, legal and communal differences between the countries. Verbal and nonverbal communication aspects are different between countries and the organization planning for internationalization must give proper training to their employees for effectively communicating with the people of the target country. In order to analyse the importance of intercultural communication in international business this paper evaluates probable intercultural communication strategies an American company needs to adopt in China, with the help of cultural dimensions of international communications formulated by Hall, Hofstede, Trompenaars and David A Victor It is possible to communicate using the mother tongue.

But, even using mother tongue, it is difficult to communicate effectively. Communication is a complex process which is associated with so many parameters. Communication occur both in verbal and nonverbal forms. In fact most of the communication occurs in nonverbal format compared to the verbal format. Body language, gestures, facial expressions etc can communicate lot of things. Fox (2004), has pointed out that even the dresses can communicate so many things about a person or culture (Fox, 2004, p.275) Cross cultural communication is an existential necessity (Wierzbicka, 1997, p.21). Especially in the current globalized era intercultural communication is necessary for international business and cultural integration.

Intercultural communication is the most difficult one because such communication can lead towards misunderstanding if not controlled properly. Berger (1996) has mentioned that intercultural communication continually involves misunderstanding, misperception and misevaluation (Berger, 1996, p.72). Desire to understand and connect with the host population, self knowledge, self assurance and control,