Exam’s Answers
Question 3
The first situation is when people talk about the important things, they should avoid email. For example, when I have to apologize the meeting with other companies was failed because of my mistake. If I send my statement of apology to my boss, the boss would get angry, because it is a just words even though I wrote the sentence that showed deep apology. A boss cannot receive true my mind. However, by using verbal, a boss knows how deeply I regret and apologize from my facial expressions and voice tone. Newman (2013) describes Rich media are useful to express an emotional message, especially when the message affects people negatively (P17.). People should show their sincerity. In addition, just sentence seems to be
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People grow up in different cultures and they have different knowledge. How to think, believe, speak, and communicate are different because of their parents’ education and environment around them. As I mentioned, people who are from high-context culture and people who are from low-context culture have different communication styles. According to the textbook, same sign has different meanings. For example, Newman (2013) describes OK sign means zero in France. Personal space is also different. The United States and Latin American countries have different distance when business people feel comfortable (P47-50.). In Japan, for another example, it is usual to call people by their family name, but in United States, people call by first name. Cultural diversity and communication are related each other from these reasons. Every country has different values, rules, and norms, so there are problems of misunderstanding and conflicts when people talk with others who are from different …show more content…
Understanding cultural diversity is very important. The authors say “an effective communication strategy begin with understanding that the sender of the message and the receiver of the message are from different cultures and backgrounds” (Mind Tools Editorial Team, 2016). Actually, if people know the different culture, they could accept others’ behavior and speaking style. They can easily find the information by using the Internet. This society is becoming globalized, so they can observe or ask others who are from different cultures. The article also describes demand mutual acceptance (Mind Tools Editorial Team, 2016). Saying own cultural characteristics will be a good way. For instance, Muslim people say I cannot eat pig or I cannot drink alcohol to different cultural people. Other people can more accept the characteristics than Muslim people do suddenly without saying. Beside the article claims, keep it simple is useful. “Make particular efforts to keep your communication clear, simple, and unambiguous” (Mind Tools Editorial Team, 2016). Even though I confuse when I talk with Japanese, talking to different cultural people makes me more confuse. If people simply tell their points of the conversation, others could easily understand. They also should use body languages and facial expressions. These become clues to understand the conversation. I’m experiencing the challenge of communication, but I observe other
In today 's world, we humans are expanding across the globe, allowing us to communicate with all different types of people. We need to be diverse in our thinking and communication. Let 's look at the word diversity, it has two meanings: the quality or state of having many different forms, types, idea, etc. Secondly, it is the state of having people of different races or different cultures. Now let 's
If you are a European American traveling in Italy, the cultures will seem very different. One of the biggest is the concept of time! Italians will usually be late to appointments and not think anything of it. Americans are always frantically running. They don’t want to be late to work or an event. Even if they are on time, they feel late so they need to come earlier. Neither is right or wrong, it is the culture that makes them different. Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules that its members take for granted. Few of us are aware of our own cultural biases because cultural imprinting begins at a very early age. And while some of a culture's knowledge, rules, beliefs, values, phobias, and anxieties are taught, most of the information is learned subconsciously. The challenge for communication has never been greater. Worldwide business organizations have discovered that intercultural communication is very important, not just because of increased globalization, but also because domestic workforce is growing more and more diverse, ethnically and culturally. We are all individuals. No two people belong to the same culture and they are not going to respond in exactly the same way. However, generalizations are valid to the extent that they provide clues on what you will most likely encounter when dealing with members of a particular
Doing this allows the individual to be aware of why and how culture affect their lives and the way they interact with others from differing cultures (Quappe & Cantatore, 2003). It is this awareness that enables individuals to develop cultural intelligence, which is the understanding of how individual culture may be construed by others and how to adapt behaviours in order to improve communication. An understanding of both these concepts allows individuals to develop strategies to implement to avoid miscommunication between themselves and people of differing cultures. The development of both cultural self-awareness and cultural intelligence is integral to efficient and acceptable cross-cultural communication (Brislin, Worthley & Macnab,
In recent times, it has become more generally acknowledged that cultural diversity in the backgrounds of communicators contributes to differences in the patterns of communication behavior. People in different parts of the world exhibit various cultural differences. They portray unique interaction patterns depending on the nature of their national culture. As a result, several studies have been conducted by researchers to ascertain the impact of differences in cross-border culture. These differences have a great influence on the various aspects of the social-cultural dimensions of the peoples’ lives. Cross-cultural communication symbolizes a bridge between interpersonal and cultural dimensions of communication systems. Social interaction with people from different cultural backgrounds actually expands the individuals’ perspective of the world. It challenges some of the formerly held discrimination about people from other parts of the world.
As said above, to manage a multicultural teams, learning about the cultural differences and using them for advantage is important before it causing issues in/between the teams. From literature it is found that a project manager should deal this multicultural environment in 2 ways. Firstly, it is important for himself to get ready with some cultural awareness to handle the challenges [9]. Second, then he should know the possible strategies and methods to implement in/between teams to handle the challenges due to cultural diversity [7].
Communication is key to surviving in society. Because we have such variety and diverse cultures within our communities, communication can become very complex in the human interaction. Because mutual or common significance is essential for communication to take place effectively, people from diverse cultures need to establish some universal ground and develop an open, optimistic approach towards other diverse cultures. The significance of educating a compassion and sympathy towards dissimilar regulations and prospects of people from other cultural groups cannot be overstated. The culturally aware individual will profit not just from enhanced communication but also from connections created with individuals from a broad ranges of cultures. Sincerity to the divergence that subsists within each individual is an essential element for a flourishing intercultural communication. An understanding of diverse morals, manners and viewpoints, must be cultivated. Understanding by positioning oneself in the other person´s place allows a communicator to view the world from a further perception. Act...
Communication within one culture can often be difficult, convoluted and result in many misunderstanding, this process can be significantly exacerbated however when communicators are from different cultures. With the world becoming smaller day by day due to globalization and cultures converging from all corners of the globe, communication and culture as we know it has drastically evolved and become very complex. Examples of this can be seen right here as people from all over the world immigrate to America. Throughout history as people from around the globe made America their new home they have had to address and overcome the looming issues of intercultural communication and acculturation. According to Webster.com acculturation means; cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture; also: a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact (Webster…..). Beyond having to learn a new language which is difficult enough but through the process of acculturation they have to learn social values, norms, rules that very often is entirely different that that of their native culture.
We need to be aware of the diversity in the classroom. Cultural diversity includes: bi-racial, adoptive, immigrant, gay, and step-families. It is a large majority of the students today even in my generation. Focusing on making a balanced curriculum that exposes the students to all of these different backgrounds is very important. I know that it is likely that a teacher will not be able to cater to every student, but it is important to involve each of them. There is a large percentage of students that have dropped out due to the lack of having a connection with the curriculum. It is frustrating that we are lacking progress in our schools to help these children connect when studies show that each cultural group will soon be equal in numbers. We need to form a better
...terlocutor?s, we will express ourselves differently. The fact that a common structure, for example college, is shared with someone helps to erase communication obstacles. Furthermore, criteria like manners are also defined according to classes and this shared meaning of codes often transcends cultural differences. However, words and the meaning they stand for are intrinsic to a language and this is always subjective. In spite of the arbitrary definition of a word in a given language, human feelings remain the common denominator of most exchanges. This is the basis on which messages can be exchanged and understood between people from different cultures, gender or race. In addition, tangible things or situations are easier to discuss with someone from a completely different culture. The message we convey become basic in this case, and generally express first needs.
Therefore, it is essential to study nonverbal and verbal communication Nonverbal communication is all forms of communication other than words themselves, which includes “body motions; vocal qualities; and the use of time, space, and even smell” (Neuliep, 2011, p. 269). On the other hand verbal communication or language “consists of symbols in the form of spoken or written words (Wood, 2014, p. 67). Thus cultures have different representations of symbols and what one culture interprets another may define or view differently. Communication is closely related to culture because communication expresses and alters culture. In a culture you learn behaviors and acceptable ideologies. This can be seen in verbal and nonverbal communication. For example, the tone of your voice is based on culture. Without communication you are unable to establish cultural differences. Your own culture directly shapes how one communicates, such as when it is appropriate to make eye contact. We are not born knowing when and how we should speak; this is a learned behavior that is taught by interaction with others. This is not an easy task because nonverbal signals differ from culture to culture. Charles Braithwaite stated, “One of the fundamental components of cultural and linguistic competence is knowing how and when to use silence as a communication tactic” (Neuliep, 2011, p. 64). Before one can communicate effectively one must understand the context in which the culture exchanges information. One must have a working awareness of how each society conveys meaning, hence high vs. low context cultures. According to the Central Michigan University text, organizational dynamics and human behavior (2009), to become a successful international manager one must develop “cross-cultural skills”. One part of the skill set involves the comprehension of the difference between high-context and low-context
The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Language has always been perceived as a link between people but it can also constitute a barrier. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of "yes" varies from "maybe, I'll consider it" to "definitely so," with many shades in between . Furthermore, communication between cultures which do not share the same language is considerably more difficult . Each culture, has its distinct syntax, expressions and structure which causes confusion in intercultural communication. For example , in Asian countries the word “no” is rarely used, so that “yea” can mean “no” or “perhaps”. Therefore, an American traveling to Japan might be considered impolite if he ignores this rule. Furthermore, individuals who are not comfortable with a certain language may not be taken seriously. Such is the case in the classroom, where a student who has a perfect knowledge of the subject in question may have difficulty expressing his idea due to his inability to write properly and therefore he would not receive the grade he truly deserves. Similarly intercultural communication is dominant in the workplace. In the past, many companies and organizations could operate entirely within their country of origin and conduct their activities exclusively in their own native language. But now, due...
Sometimes we forgot just how diverse we are, and there is an infinite variety of cultures in our world that we interact with everyday. There are some crucial skills we must learn to effectively communicate, which I learned about in, Communication Tools for Understanding Cultural Differences, by Michelle LeBaron. To be able to obtain these skills we must have the foundation of communication. We must have a strong self-awareness and self-knowledge about ourselves, to accomplish communicating well. This being our self-perception or self-image the way we look at ourselves and the world around us. With this, we have our perception, our lenses of the world, how we interpret information, our feelings, thoughts, and our understanding. Consciously and subconsciously, you weigh weather others’ thought, attitudes, actions, and reactions will work for you. (Hybels & Weaver, 2007, p. 35)
It is also important for anyone working with people who are from other countries to avoid misunderstandings or mistakes. Good intercultural communication skills help us communicate with individuals who have different culture. Nowadays, for most of people it is difficult to avoid communicate with foreigner. Our world is multicultural and that should have more benefits than disadvantages to us. There are so many experiences you can get when you interact with other cultures person. According to what we learned in week 4, if we want to communicate with people who came from other country, know each other’s culture is necessary. Such as we cannot invite s Islam person to have a meal with pork, and should not use cheek kissing as a basic greeting to Chinese people. I think before we communicate with the person who has different culture, we should do some preparation work. After my experiences living and studying in China, America, and Australia, in my opinion, self-understanding is the first step to achieve effective intercultural communication. Respect, open-mindedness and choose words wisely are the golden rules when we communicate with different culture person. (Troppello & Joanne 2015) Without respect from each other, our intercultural communications will not going to go well. If you want to communicate well with others who from other cultures, you need to learn about their cultures and their differences. A sincere open-mindedness is a key factor to open the doors to intercultural communication. A word may have different meaning in different countries, especially slangs, so it is better to not use slangs when you talk to a foreigner. For example, “Bangers and mash” in British and Australian culture this is used to describe sausage and potatoes. However, in the US, “bangers” can mean gang members or a
Each and every culture in the world has its own regulations for communication. One thing people should understand that there is no common form of communication between different cultures. The cross-cultural communication tries to identify how people from different cultures and countries behave, interact and understand the world that surrounds them. The results of the studies are used in the “real life” situations, for example how to find cultural balance between people from different countries within a specific business sphere. The theories found by the scientist has been used and are still used in many fields like business, management and many other spheres of communication between different cultures. As the business world has become a real international place, the use of intercultural knowledge had increased dramatically. All of the international companies need to know what is the best way to structure them, how to manage the staff and the most important how to reach its clients in the best possible way.
Abstract: Globalization has made intercultural communication inevitable. Communicating with other cultures characterizes today’s business, classroom, and community. Technology, especially the internet, has increased the probability that whatever is documented online will be read by someone from another culture. Intercultural communication is of importance in any career field, thus the art of knowing how to communicate with other cultures should be a workplace skill that is emphasized. This is a conceptual paper whose purpose is twofold.