Intercultural Communication in the Workplace Paper. This assignment asks you to describe, explain, and rectify a situation that illustrates an intercultural communication issue within a work environment. The paper should include the following:
a. A full description of the communication issue. Describe the context, the principle players, and the outcome of the situation. Be attentive to verbal and nonverbal components in the experience you describe.
b. A diagnosis of the communication issue. Using two outside sources, research the cultural norms of the principles players involved in the given situation. Explain how these cultural norms may have impacted the communication transaction. Bb
Intercultural communication, also known as cross-cultural communication, is a description applied to a wide range of communication problems witch naturally occur in an organization made up of individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. It is also a study of how people from different countries and cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them.
Fast travel, international media, and the Internet have made it easy for us to communicate with people all over the world. The process of economic globalization means that we cannot function in isolation but must interact with the rest of the world for survival. The global nature of many widely diverse modern problems and issues such as the environment, governance of the Internet, poverty and international terrorism call for cooperation between nations. Intercultural communication is no longer an option, but a necessity. (Intercultural Communication)
Conflicts are usually the result of communication problems both in cause and effect. Misunderstandings resulting from poor or lack of communication can easily lead to conflict or make an existing one worse. Conflicts usually deteriorate once it has begun because people who are involved in the conflict do not communicate with each other as frequently, openly and as accurately as they do when relationships are not strained. Communication therefore is imperative to most conflict situations.
There are at least two parties involved in a communication. One is the speaker, and the other is the listener. At times there are third parties involved, usually acting as an intermediary. For example it could be the media whose primary duty is the transmission of information to the public. Problems can arise at all three of these sources. To understand more on how intercultural communication works in an organization, we will create a fictitious scenario but one which may exist in any organization.
Alpha, an African female, just began working for an international NGO. Beta, a male, American Jew, is a colleague who has been working at the NGO for several years but has been overlooked for a promotion several times over. Alpha, after several months of working at the NGO, was asked to lead a special committee which Beta was made a part of. Alpha assigns everyone on the team to special assignments. Everyone on the team is relatively a new hire, with Beta being senior if the amount of time at the company is taken into consideration. Beta receives an assignment which he feels strongly about and does not want to do it. Beta goes about her assignment half-heartedly and Alpha realizes this and approaches Beta. They discuss the problem and Alpha discovers that Beta feels resentment because of several issues including the lack of promotion. Alpha brings this up to their superiors and a meeting to discuss this was set. The managers inform Beta of the reasons why he has been passed over for promotions. HR was informed to review Beta’s track record. The end result was that Beta was transferred to another division where he quickly ascended the ranks and was thoroughly happy with his job.
Given the scenario above, Alpha takes a positive approach to the issue on hand by confronting Beta. By discussing the problem, Alpha shows good listening skills and good managerial skills to notice that there was a problem which had to be confronted. The management’s decision to hold a discussion with the parties involved and suggests a review by HR and eventually transferring Beta shows a company which realized that their employee was in the wrong department and needed to be moved to have them work more productively.
Cultural norms may have impacted the communication transaction through many ways. One must understand the cultural background of both employees. First there is a gender issue where an African female is superior to a male, American-Jew. Secondly, traditionally in the African culture females are subordinate to males. Third, being an American-Jew, Beta would react negatively to the feeling of being put down. However, in the example scenario above, both fictitious characters supersede the cultural differences and tackle the problem head-on.
That in itself is difficult to do because so many people stay closed within their own boxes, shielding them to solutions that would be easy to find. Intercultural communication involves a lot of understanding of all the different cultures and keeping an open mind and realizing that one has to leave their prejudices behind to find solutions which are beneficial to them and to their organization.
References:
General Information about Communication Problems. International Online Training Program on Intractable Conflict. (n.b.) University of Colorado. Retrieved 19 May, 2011 from http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/commprob.htm
Gillet, Andrew. Intercultural Communication. Retrieved 19 May, 2011 from http://www.uefap.com/articles/arena.htm
Intercultural Communication. (n.d) Retrieved 19 May, 2011 from http://www.diplomacy.edu/language/Communication/default.htm
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