Intercultural Communication Paper

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

Productivity in the new culture is experienced to an extremely positive extent. Business dealings and negotiations become secondary nature to the expatriate, and the expatriate’s journey becomes a great success in the perspective of their employing company.

Because communication between two people of different cultures is very challenging, there has been extensive research/studies conducted on this topic. This idea was also very interesting to me because I attended a highly diverse high school, in which we had a Global Studies program where international students were invited to come and learn at our school. The immersion of the different cultures was very difficult to adapt to at first because it was new to a lot of us students who have never attended a school where international students were amongst us in the halls, but as the days went on it became normal to me.

You know that feeling of home whether it’s with family members or even your loved ones? I don’t think that home is something that is automatically there, I believe that it is something that’s created. I learned that lesson through the eyes of one of my older friends who came from India with his brother when he was 16 in order to make a living. My friend Vikas, told me everything he had to do and the struggles he conquered in order to make his own successful business here in the U.S. Some things he told be reminded me of interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and intracultural communication. He had to have a lot of communication with his friend who also happened to be from India and some new friends and colleagues he met through his journey. Of course there was homesickness and the occasional depression, but that didn’t stop him from creating his now successful business.

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.

key to understanding a culture is to examine how the individuals communicate with one another. The culture characteristic of a county is influenced by the country 's population 's values, heritage, and perception of life all of which influence how people choose to communicate. There are many differences between American and Mexican cultures but these differences define and highlight the unique views of each individual country.  People of the Mexican culture are very proud of the country 's long history as well as it’s traditions and exhibit strong nationalistic opinions and thoughts.  Different from the Mexican culture, the American culture is more patriotic and focuses on the love and pride in the nation with specific emphasis on values

At GSW the Windows to the World Program is intended to develop the intercultural awareness in all members of the GSW community. Intercultural competency involves developing an awareness of one’s own cultural identity as well as being able to understand other’s cultural worldviews. Being as participate in the event on September 27 has open my cultural knowledge tremendously.

With so much cultural diversity in the United States, it is important to know how to properly communicate with others who don't share the same cultures as you. There are certain principles of cross-cultural communication; they can be used to successfully communicate within diverse communities. The first principle says that the bigger the cultural or linguistic difference among people, the more likely there will be communication breakdown. The textbook gives the example "Communicating with customers from Iran will likely lead to more communication difficulties for you than would be true if you were communicating with customers from England" (Cheesebro, Thomas, Linda O'Connor, and Francisco Rios (2010). Differences in an individual's value

Our company is expanding rapidly within our borders, and it is time to consider expanding globally. Mexico would be a great country to expand our business in because it is our geographic neighbor. Before venturing new business endeavors in Mexico, we must consider cultural and custom differences in order to increase our business’ success rate. Our global communication will be effective if we seek to understand Mexico’s views and values of the workplace. This memo will outline areas one needs to know about Mexico before conducting business there. The key areas include work, time, beliefs, and networks, verbal and nonverbal communication.

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).

Previous researchers have found that for a person to achieve better and more effective communication competence, it is necessary to develop skills that allow an appropriate participation in specific situations. The ability to listen, ask questions, and express concepts or ideas effectively is an important part of communication competence. Intercultural communication presents an unexplored and challenging field that needs to be understood for a better development in communication. (Dillon and McKenzie, 1998). The variables of listening depend on the different perceptions that a person obtains through their cultural background. Furthermore, culture often affects the structure of consciousness in the act of listening. When a person seeks to

Intercultural communication is commonly explained as an interaction between people of 'different cultures whether defined in terms of racial, ethnic or socioeconomic differences.' Human communication consists of verbal and nonverbal messages (language and gestures) which are shaped by gender, social class or culture. Thus, what perimeters define the intercultural exchange and what primary messages do we need or try to convey?

Intercultural communication competence refers to the ability of an individual to adapt and communicate appropriately and effectively across a wide array of cultural contexts. That is to say, for an individual to be considered an intercultural communicator they must understand other’s cultures as well as they understand their own, and apply this understanding to communication (Chen 1-2). With the increasing diversity at the workplace, school and other social settings, it has become increasingly important to learn how to communicate with people from a diverse array of cultures. More importantly, adapting to a more effective intercultural communication competence model provides us with learning opportunities occasioned by the interaction with people from other backgrounds. The intercultural communication competence model comes with some key components including tolerance for uncertainty, self-knowledge, and motivation. The greatest and most important of these aspects is motivation. An individual must be willing to foster relationships with people from a different cultural background. If an individual lacks the willingness to promote intercultural relationships, then other aspects of the intercultural communication model become moot.

“Today’s global economy can best be characterized as an international system of economic interdependence whereby many countries have come together to transact or engage in ‘business beyond borders’” (Patel, Li, & Sooknan, 2011, p. 90). In our globalizing world today, it is important to acknowledge the positive as well as negative outcomes to intercultural communication. It is evident through scholastic study that in intercultural communications, according to Ting-Toomey and Oetzel (2001), “intercultural conflict often results because of misunderstanding related to different world-views and communication styles that result from cultural difference” (p. 106).

In the immediate future, Jim O’Donnell should try to instill trust in his talented Mexican officers that are uncertain about their future in the company. Since staff reduction may be necessary, Jim O’Donnell needs to identify individuals that are asset to the company and establish close relationship with them. Being sensitive to the Mexican communication style is essential in this context. An important step in reducing the communication gap would be to pay attention to business etiquettes that are common in Mexico and adopt them as soon as possible. Encouraging informal conversations in Spanish might be a good idea to minimize the language barrier between the two communities. Jim and his Canadian counterparts need to realize that Mexicans are informal in their communication style. So forcing them to be direct and informal is not going to work. This might