TMA 1
LLS203/05
CROSS CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE
Name : HOR CHEE HORNG
Student ID : 031140049
Class Code : 3CUL1 Contact No : 012-7665755
Email : cheehorng85@hotmail.com
Submission Date: 5th March 2015
Tutor : PERINPARAJAH AL CHINNIAH
Course Coordinator: JASMINE SELVARANI
No. of Pages : 12
QUESTION 1
COMMUNICATION IS ESSENTIAL IN TODAY GLOBAL BUSINESS WORLD
Communication is the basis of business therefore it is essential for us to learn a culture or cultures to help overcome miscommunication and misrepresentation. Smriti Chand points out that effective communication is a basic prerequisite for the attainment of organizational goals, no organization, no group can exist without communication (CHAND n.d.).
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If the distance through which a message has to travel is great, there is every possibility that it may be changed, modified, shortened, amended or interpreted during transit in such a manner that even the original sender may not be able to recognize the contents of the communication. This usually happens in government department where usually messages are not successfully reach to the correct person.
Socio-cultural barriers usually happen when a group of different culture people are being group together. People coming from different countries may not find comfort in communicating or coordinating easily with one another. Stephen quoted when people from different countries come together, their way of thinking varies, some might be shy to communicate, while others open for communication owing to the difference in their cultural backgrounds, there is a difference in their upbringing, due to which there 's a difference in their views and beliefs (Rampur 2011). Even the communication etiquette differs across the different countries, thus making it difficult for communication to even start.
Socio-cultural elements that could be barriers are:
a) Beliefs and values which are conflicting
Every culture, every people have different beliefs and values. For example, right now many western countries people opt for vegetarian because they feel it is cruel to kill the animal and to be on them on the meal
In any organization effective communication forms an essential part of the organization’s growth and progress. However, it has been seen that this is not always the case. This istrue in today’s globalized world when one has employees coming from different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds working together. If the reasons for communication failure are examined it has been found that they fall in four distinct categories. These are:
Most people have a preference when it comes to food and very few people like every food that if offered to them. Some people believe that eating animals is wrong and prefer become vegetarians. Some people go even further and become vegans who don’t eat any products that come from animals.
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).
All businesses understand that they must use effective communication in order to do well as a business, without communication the business will be a mess and would not run successfully. Using communication allows the employees and offices to stay up to date with the businesses progress and what is currently happening. To use effective means of communication all employees would be in a way trained in order to understand communication and use the most effective means for it. This is done in advance to checking that communication is understood by the recipient.
Vegetarianism is a custom practiced in six out of the seven continents and has become more popular over the years. Vegetarianism can be defined as the exclusion of animal products such as meat and fish from one’s diet. Dairy products and eggs are often times excluded as well. Although there are many reasons one may decide to become a Vegetarian or follow such a code of ethics, the most common include: moral, religious or health reasons.
As mentioned by Marty Blalock in the Wisconsin Business Alumni website, “communication in a business organization provides the critical link between core functions” and that makes ineffective communication very expensive for any business”.
Some people choose a vegetarian diet for ethical and environmental reasons and some choose to be vegetarian because of food safety issues.
There are vegetarians all over the world. They just want what most people want: good food and a choice. And some people become vegetarians because of their religion, their culture, and the place they live.
Vegetarianism has been around since as early as the seventh century B.C.E.. The civilization was the Indus Valley Civilization, they practiced tolerance towards all living things. Several Indian cultures and various religions (such as a ahimsā) also practice non-violence towards animals (“Vegetarianism”, Wikipedia.com). This used to be the sole purpose for being vegetarian, but nowadays people are becoming vegetarian for several more reasons. The ethical aspect is still a big reason in the decision. Health benefits and environmental aspects have now also become big reasons for the controversy over vegetarianism. People say that killing animals for food is not morally wrong and, is in fact, a crucial part of our lives. Another aspect is that, while in some ways vegetarianism is beneficial to the environment, it can also hurts the environment. Also, despite all of the health benefits involved with vegetarianism, there are also several health concerns connected with it.
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).
In any culture, communication can be difficult. However, when it comes to two different cultures communicating, that communication gap can be much greater. Communication barriers including ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, play major roles in understanding another culture. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own cultural way of thinking is superior to all other cultures. It becomes a barrier in intercultural communication when and individual refuses to believe that another culture's beliefs have any value. Ethnocentrism prevents one from seeing another individual's point of view and greatly hampers empathy (Hybels & Weaver, 2007).
Business communication can be defined as the process of sharing information among business professionals, prospective customers, and affiliates who are associated with an organization. The essential skills of business communications are currently in demand and highly required for the workforce for the modern workforce. To be an effective communicator is to have the ability to respond with skill, confidence, and assertiveness and is pertinent to the quality and expertise business professionals considered for employment. Hence, knowing how to communicate properly in an organizational structure requires the skill of communication necessary to interact with different levels of management. In a world
Communication is the conveyance and flow of ideas from one person to another. The exchange of information takes place through letters, words, symbols and nonverbal behaviors. It involves the transmission of ideas from the sender to the receiver. Communication is effective only if the receiver fully understands the transmitted information. Many problems and failures occur in organizations due to poor communication. Objective and goals fail due to misunderstandings in the organization. Effective communication provides a chain of understanding to all participants in the organizational framework. It promotes the flow of information both vertically and horizontally.
Communication is such an important part of everyone’s daily life, not only in one’s personal life but also in organizations. Also now a day, we are becoming every year more and more global and working with different countries and cultures around the world. Henceforward, globalization is increasing, which makes communication a very important part of doing business internationally.
The ability to communicate is one of the key factors to have a successful business. You could offer an excellent product or service, but if you’re unable to promote your services and communicate effectively with clients and co-workers the potential for growth is limited. The principle areas of communication are: Purpose, Style and listening.