Uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance indicates how threatened a society will be by ambiguous contexts and the degree to which it will attempt to avoid these situations by not tolerating deviant ideas or behaviours, and a belief in absolute truths[4]. This ambiguity leads to anxiety. Different cultures manage this anxiety in different manners. A High Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country has a low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. This creates a rule-oriented society that implements laws, rules, regulations, and controls in order avoid uncertainty. A Low Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country is less worried about doubt and is more comfortable taking into account a wide variety of views and opinions. This is mirrored in a society that is

The harmony of the existing cultures is crucial for the survival and success of any communication and ignoring these aspects may challenge the communication. For example, speaking to employees in Middle East is quite different from Switzerland; talking about personal things is acceptable by Swiss. Individuals who move to other countries unprepared for cultural differences may face unpleasant frustration when communicating. However, those who try to learn other cultures are likely to avoid individual tragedies. For example, Americans doing business in Mexico need to learn the local language to enhance interactions with the locals.

In the article “The Optimism of Uncertainty”, the author, Howard Zinn, has shown his idea that overwhelming powers are not invincible as they look like. He reinforced his opinion by showing that throughout our history those unbeatable forces still have been beaten one-by-one by human beings. A key to victory was that people did not give up, remained their optimistic attitude toward to the future. The article was first come from his book “A Power Governments Cannot Suppress”. However, his idea “hope”, which is an indispensable element of optimism, still answers the question “If our world is facing an imminent environmental catastrophe, how do I live my life right now?” Howard believed “small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” Therefore, in

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.

When learning about communications , we learn that many people (or subjects) are part of similar or different social community. Even family and friends could be in a different social community than you. However, the real question is how does this affect communication between both parties. In studying and understanding the communication process, I have learned that when we differ in information or knowledge of others cultural values or beliefs we gain a sense of uncertainty. In the uncertainty reduction theory, increased knowledge of what kind of person another is that provides an improved forecast of how a future interaction will turn out. We learn more about the world through other cultures and their beliefs .

Globalization and technological advancement have dictated the need for managers to deal with multiple ethnic groups with different culture in their day to day interactions. According to Kulkarni (2012), cultures play critical roles in individuals, including values, beliefs, humor, worries, fears, hopes, opinions, attachments, and anxieties.

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).

In multinational workplaces understanding how important the significance of cultural differences is larger than we might think. Organizations that are diverse have to work together because their functionality impacts the productivity of the workplace. It is vital to have an understanding the different cultures to develop a strong organization. Certain principles will help you acknowledge that different cultures exist within the organization. As a manager, you have to analyze the reasons for the development of the differences and

In the psychology field, availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind. The replicated study was conducted by Tversky and Kahneman in 1973 “Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristic and Biased”, the study was biased in judgments to reveal some heuristic of thinking under certainty. This study was significant because it helps us understand the brain more. In order to investigate availability the experiment presented four lists to the participants. Two of the lists had 19 famous male and 20 non-famous female names. They were asked to recall as many names as possible in a matter of time. The results came in with a realization that people can easily recall famous names, it is harder

Cross Cultural management explains the behaviour of people in organizations worldwide, helping managers and firms to understand how to act in business matters dealing with the different cultures. (Adler, 2008)

For instance: “Thus, U.S. managers often have relatively little difficulty doing business in England, because managers in both countries speak the same language, and a common framework exists for understanding both commercial and personal relationships”( DeNisi & Griffin, 2014, p. 56). However, this can open a can of worms if both the in house management and the business country are having issues with the foreign country such as Canada or India; to name a few. These differences can alter the direct business practices to stray from its original format, causing misunderstandings, personal norms, and certain customs to play a major role in the misfortune of the situation being evaluated. “As a result of these and myriad other cultural differences, then, managers may encounter unexpected complexities when doing business in countries where these sort of cultural differences exists” (DeNisi & Griffin, 2014, p. 56).

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

Uncertainty avoidance refers to the level of anxiety about the future (Hofstede 1980, 2001). Societies that are high in uncertainty avoidance continuously feel the inherent uncertainty in life as a threat that must be

Managers were concerned about knowing and understanding each and every perspective of their employee’s cultures. As they know that without studying or knowing the culture, coordination cannot be built between the employees. It is the existing perspective of managers dealing with cross-cultural management (Sultana, 2013).

When dealing with intercultural business a person should be well aware of the characteristics of the culture he is to be in contact with. He should be well prepared to face attitudes not common in his home country.