A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Communication Apprehension?

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.

Humans have several ways of communicating with one another, whether that is written, spoken, facial expressions, or through body language. We use all of these forms all the time, it would be impossible to live a day without speaking, writing or reading, making facial expressions, or using any body language to communicate with others. While all these forms of communication are commonly known, another form, not as intuitively obvious, is silence. Like all forms of communication, silence will change with reference to different cultures. Just as different cultures speak differently or have different languages, and have different body languages, cultures also have different meanings behind silence. Native American cultures have been described as reluctant to speak or lacking in personal warmth simply because their culture views silence differently than most Americans. Apaches use silence for situations of uncertainty and unpredictability, Americans prefer that silence does not happen at all but will accept it for situations of comfort or in some cases when they want to avoid small talk with strangers. These difference in the use of silences are simply due to the cultural differences between Apaches and Americans. As Apaches’ use of silence reflects their cultural values of recognition and respect, Americans use, or lack of use, of silence reflects their cultural values of directness and urgency.

Communication involves more than exchanging words between people. Gestures, postures, facial expressions and even eye contacts are important during communication. Both verbal and nonverbal cues are important during communication and can help a person understand the speaker or listener’s emotions, attitudes or status. Understanding the existence of various cultures is necessary since different cultures have varying ways of communication (Lustig & Koester, 2012). Therefore, a communication style that is perceived as bad by a culture may be good in another culture. Besides, characteristics that may be essential for a particular culture may be quite irrelevant for another. In line with this dissimilarity, individuals need to adapt carefully and understand communication preferences and desires among cultures.

To function effectively in today’s society people must communicate with one another. Yet for some individuals communication experiences are so unrewarding that they either consciously or unconsciously avoid situations where communication is required. (McCroskey & Richmond, 1979) The term ‘communication apprehension’ was coined by James McCroskey (1976a) and is defined as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons” (McCroskey, 1984). In the last two decades communication apprehension and related constructs, such as reticence and unwillingness to communicate, have received extensive research and theoretical attention by scholars in communication and

     In business, successful communication is the key to success, and being able to relate to a customer is the best form of communication. This is why cross-cultural communication is so important as the business world continues to globalize itself. Unfortunately, “A lack of awareness about the culturally prescribed rules and norms of communication behaviors can cause public relations projects to fail, or worse, backfire.” (Zaharna, 2001, p.135).

Today, we live in a culturally diverse society due to globalization. As our world grows, expands and become increasingly more interconnected, the need for effective interpersonal communication among differing cultures has become apparent. When people from different cultures interact with one another there is intercultural communication because different cultures create different interpretation and expectations about what is seen as competent behaviors that will enable the construction of shared meanings.

Based on both my PRICA self-assessment and GENE scale scores, it appears that I have high intercultural communication apprehension, regardless of ones culture and I would have to say that I am definitely not surprised by this result. I have been lucky enough to be raised in a diverse community in Northern California where various different cultures interact on a regular basis. Not only is this the norm, but because of the diversity, people in my community embrace the melting pot of cultures. I believe that understanding cultures other than my own is a big advantage especially when we fathom different ideas that we are not necessarily familiar with. Another asset that having a wider understanding for intercultural communication brings is when

These core values are at the hart of what defines a population’s expectation with regard to all aspects of business and personal life. Although there are several aspects to core values that are required to be questioned one question must be the first from a marketing standpoint. This question is weather the culture is high-content communicators or high-context communicators. Western life business is generally high-content or very precise written and documented communication. This is due to the fact that usually in western life there is a high degree of diversity amongst the population. With high-context communication the people communicating must have a high degree of commonality in experiences and expectations. Research indicates that Middle Eastern and Asian countries have a high level of high-context communication which depends heavily on unspoken, implied communications through other means such as facial expressions and body language (Scarborough, Jack, 1998).

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).

The topic of communication apprehension is extremely broad, and the topic of social change is just as broad, if not more so. When the two topics are combined, it is a chance to twist the elements and take a deeper look into how they coincide. It is evident through research, as well as a commonly shared idea, that communication apprehension has decreased and decreases authentic self-expression in most cases. Communication researchers, as well as psychology researchers, have put in long, hard hours to get to the bottom of communication apprehension. This study will take one step further to identify how this phenomenon affects the cue of partaking in social change. Several studies conclude there is a clear correlation to social phobia when it comes to communication apprehension (Amsbary & McCroskey, 2009; Sunwolf & Leets, 2003). On the contrary, researchers do not have to provide the level of importance of social change in order to know that it is important, but they do touch base on the components of the master narrative of social change (May, 2011), and the attitudes and beliefs that are associated in order to properly communicate and undergo the shared reality of social change (Haslam, Reicher & Reynolds 2012; Servaes, Polk, Shi, Reilly, & Yahupitijage, 2012).

In the scholarly journal article Paradigms of Knowing in Communication Research by Baxter & Babbie hypothesis is ways to solve the problem people have as public speaker looking into all age groups by looking at it through the lens of a communication scientist. The speaker looks into many experiments tested by others to specify different areas that help find what the problem for public speaker levels of anxiety came from or how it began. Even though the article information is narrow, it provides insight on ways to improve anxiety as a public speaker. The article achieves this by using organization skills throughout the paper, the interpretation of the results was well read and the article helped create significance study on the topic to

‘ we need to become more aware of the cultural basis of our own behaviours, perceptions, beliefs, and values. This enables us to see an interaction from a cultural perspective. It is not just the other person who is displaying culture-specific attitudes and behaviours; we are also doing just that’ (Peter Putnis & Roslyn Petelin, ‘Professional Communication principles and applications’, Prentice Hall, Sydney, 1996, p.76).

Daly (1991) defines communication apprehension (CA) as “the fear or anxiety an individual feels about orally communicating” (p.

Cross-cultural communication is the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimizes antagonism, that is, it looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavour to communicate. The study of cross-cultural communication was originally found within businesses and the government both seeking to expand globally. Communication is interactive, so an important influence on its effectiveness is our relationship with others. All communication is cultural -- it draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. We do not always

I.     It is important to reflect one’s own national and cultural identity to understand what is different among people of different nations. History teaches us that culture always changes because of internal or external influences, even our own cultures and values change over time. Our world today is a world in which people from different nations and cultures are getting closer and closer because of economical and political reasons. Because cultures are becoming closer, communication is the most important quality for anyone to work on if they want to work in the international society. The history of communication and the relationships that were formed in the early part of worldwide communication still