A Brief Note On Cross Cultural Communication And Understanding Cultural Differences

From a relative perspective, effective communication proves imperative in aiding efficient business transactions. The different cultures and nations involved in the launch of the fast-food franchise should aim at understanding one another’s culture despite their differences between culture, language, and way of life. To begin with, proper channels should be put in place to communicate important factors concerning the business without necessarily having an interpreter. In equal measure, some challenges present themselves during the presentation to the various individuals involved with the firm. For instance communicating may prove difficult putting into consideration that not all persons can speak fluently in English. Additionally the fact that American culture is typically made up of low-context practices, it may appear rude and ill-mannered for persons who originate from high-context cultures. A good illustration of the above-mentioned factor is that Chinese culture dictates that individuals should engage in typical chit-chat before getting down to serious business. In this instance, if the individual from any cultural background jumps in immediately to address serious matters, he or she is viewed as rude and insensitive.

My research is focused on the problems associated with cross-cultural communication and how awareness of culture, language, tradition, and business practices can increase the advantages to globalization. This report will be field specific in

Washington, Okoro and Thomas (2012) have written an analysis of the benefits and challenges of improving intercultural communication in international business. Their article functions as an overview of some key issues, and is fairly well-researched, but ultimately treads no new ground. The article first outlines the case for improved intercultural communication, noting that business is becoming increasingly globalized. As nations come together, there is the risk that ventures and deals could fail as the result of errors in intercultural communication. The authors note, however, that "as businesses begin to appreciate and respect cultural differences, they develop a better understanding of why people act in certain ways, and give them a better understanding on how they should be act while conducting business."

In my previous professional role, it was imperative that I obtained an effective level of intercultural communication competence. I managed U.S. employee communications for unplanned system issues which often had a downstream global impact within the organization. As a result, many of my communications were tailored for a global audience which consisted of the United States, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. Prior to a sending an employee communication for a system issue, there was always a global business call with all stakeholders to discuss the details and determine which region would lead the communications. The region designated to lead the communication had a challenging task of tailoring the message

Using communication techniques appropriate to different social and cultural groups: The business environment of the 21st century is expanding to include people from cultures and

Communication – verbal and otherwise – remains an important dimension of international management, and there are different communication styles, how communication is processed and interpreted, and how culture and language influence communication and miscommunication (Luthans & Doh, 2012).

Alberts, Martin and Nakayama (2011) describe communication as “ a transactional process in which people generate meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages in in specific contexts, influenced by individual and societal forces and embedded in culture.”(p.7) They then go on to state that intercultural communication “occurs in interactions between people who are culturally different.”(p.122) Cultural differences thus affect many interactions, with the communication process being one.

Abstract The ability of managers to interact with individuals from cultures other than their own, requires a concerted effort on the part of business educators and academics to ‘train’ and ‘educate’ today’s students and tomorrow’s managers in the area cross-cultural communication. This is not necessarily an easy task. Teaching cross-cultural communication requires a multidisciplinary approach, which goes beyond what is traditionally offered by trainers and educators. It requires the educator to design a course that includes not only culture-general but also

When people think of business, rarely do we associate culture with the concept. This leads to an issue in cross-cultural communication. By analyzing cross-cultural communication, and its miscommunication in cultural differences, it is clear that employees should know more of a country’s defining culture. Only recently have we seen an emphasis in understanding other country’s cultures. In doing so, some businesses have prospered, while others have suffered after a terrible miscommunication. When dealing with culture, there are three segments that an employee should consider. What can be done before, during and after contact is made with the culture. In effectively preparing for one, a business may successfully send the message they wish to their client.

Culture influences all aspects of an individual’s life including food and dietary habits, dressing, communication with others and the relationship with other members of the community among others. One of the most critical aspects of culture in business is communication. Cross-cultural communication is one of the perspectives of cross-cultural lifestyles. It refers to communication that takes place from a person in a particular culture to another person in a different culture (). In a globalised world, cross-effective cultural communication is a growing concern among enterprises that operate in different cultures, multinational corporations and those employing staff from different cultures. Cross-cultural communication must take place within a conscious context, where the sender of the

Languages, behaviour patterns and the values cause the differences in all the existing cultures in the world. People have different ways to communicate with each other and how to react to information. Especially for the international business, multinational communication is essential. Understanding the many types of communication, is a subject of importance to act successful as a global player. Furthermore, there are great benefits through intercultural communication like:

Communication, and the difference therein, is one of the most important aspects of life to understand in both our business and personal lives. Communication styles and methods vary between different cultures. Communication is perhaps the most important cultural pattern to understand, if we are to succeed in doing business on a global scale. According to Walker (2015), “Depending on the country and the individual, this dimension of communication cab be ether more direct or more indirect” (p. 98). Because of vast cultural pattern differences, communication apprehension will often become a barrier in conducting business in the global arena.

Firstly culture communication makes a difference between east and west business, To Known and understand the different cultures is becoming more and more crucial for international trade. The Great Cultural Divide in International Business Communication is High and Low Context Communication. Many international business situations decline because of cultural misunderstandings caused by differences in high and low context styles of culture (Hinner, 2012). Cultures have different ways of communicating. The culture communication meaning is implanted in codes such as the contexts, and different cultures rely on codes and contexts differently in conducting or understanding the meaning of a communication message. Communication messages which the meanings are explicitly coded are called low-context. On the other hand, messages in which definitions are established more in contexts are considered to be high context.

"We didn 't all come over on the same ship, but we 're all in the same boat."- Bernard Baruch

In today’s international market, a business needs to stay competitive in order to succeed. To do this, businesses need to have access to as many markets as possible to sell their products and services. However, just as each nation has their own culture, so do their business markets. Cross-cultural training is important for success in the world of international business. As stated by Diemer (2010): “To act without awareness of differences among norms within a differing culture is to invite cross-cultural blunder.” This means that, if we do not take into account the differences between the two cultures and adjust yourself accordingly, it can lead to an incident that is difficult to recover from. In the business world, such an incident can kill a deal that took months or even years to cultivate.