Diverse Contexts and Intercultural Communication at Work

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Table of Contents

Diverse Contexts and Interpersonal Communication
Reasons to Consider Intercultural Communication
Examples of Intercultural Communication
Diverse Context Issues and Intercultural Communication
Intercultural Guidelines for Diverse Context Issues
References

Diverse Contexts and Interpersonal Communication

As the world moves to the global environment, the modern workplace becomes more and more diverse. With increased diversity levels, employees face more different cultures.

All international communication is influenced by cultural differences. If the employees lack the motivation to adapt and learn about one another, this creates an “Us vs. Them” problem (Ng & Lillevik, 2017). With such a mentality, communication deteriorates, and it is not easy to recover from that.

With a diverse workforce, it is necessary to promote the willingness to adapt, listen and learn new cultures. Thus the communication can flow as seamlessly as possible.

Reasons to Consider Intercultural Communication

Misunderstanding can frequently occur when individuals are from different cultural backgrounds. When individuals are educated about intercultural differences are more likely to alter their communication styles to suit the needs of culturally diverse audiences (Ng & Lillevik, 2017).

Effective and fast action – when managers and employees are educated about intercultural differences, communication will be easier, and thus the messages will be sent and understood correctly.

Global mindset – managers who acquire intercultural competence are better able to contribute to a firm’s economic success through international orientation, marketing, and innovative mindsets (Ng & Lillevik, 2017).

Examples of Intercultural Communication

A study examining why Nordic expatriates perform poorly in Japan concluded that poor appreciation of cultural barriers such as collectivism, status, and power distance hindered cooperation between the Nordics and Japanese.

As a result of communication challenges arising out of cultural differences, there was information filtering, in-group/out-group categorizations, and incongruent expectations between the Nordics and the Japanese.

The communication challenge was also compounded by the fact that there was no common working language, as the Nordic expatriates lacked the motivation to learn Japanese while operating in Japan (Ng & Lillevik, 2017).

The first cultural difference pointed out by the Japanese in various occupations, except for IT industries, concerned two items combined, which are individualism vs. collectivism and uncertainty avoidance. More specifically, they were related to priority between their work, their private life, and the degree of observance of rules. Japanese people who give priority to their work regarded American behavior as problematic.

The second cultural difference was the American tendency to overrate their ability and promote themselves. Self-promotion is regarded as essential in American culture. However, this was considered an over-estimation of oneself by the Japanese (Kobayashi, 2019).

Diverse Context Issues and Intercultural Communication

Despite the benefits of communication technology in facilitating global collaboration, these applications also bring several communication challenges, particularly in diverse, multicultural environments.

They include miscommunication arising out of physical and cross-cultural distance, difficulties in establishing trust, and longer time needed to establish group norms.

Although intercultural competence has been identified as critical for the 21st century, managers and leaders continue to lack these competencies. Managers also lack motivation (and open-mindedness) to acquire intercultural skills and often cite the lack of opportunities to utilize these skills. Even if they possess those skills, they are not motivated to use them. Moreover, they continuously lack the opportunities to demonstrate their skills. Therefore, competence is deteriorating.

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is considered to be a vital intercultural competency, as it represents an individual’s ability to successfully adapt to unfamiliar cultural settings. CQ necessitates an individual’s ability to switch between cultural environments with relative ease. Organizations can also cultivate an environment that promotes increased CQ among its members.

Intercultural Guidelines for Diverse Context Issues

When a person suspends from any judgment and tries to view the situation with perspective, they can avoid miscommunication arising out of physical and cross-cultural distance. It also can help to develop intercultural competence. It can also help develop a genuine interest and cooperation among employees of different cultural backgrounds. It can also assist in developing and cultivating cultural intelligence.

People are shaped by many, many factors: ethnic background, family upbringing, education, and personalities that cannot be defined solely by any cultural norm. One needs to understand interpretations of the situation if they are uncertain of the meaning of what is being said. If that is the case, then work will not be disturbed by stereotypes and miscommunication. As well as that, managers will be encouraged to use their intercultural competence in the workplace. Moreover, this will develop cultural intelligence, and there be beneficial for the company in general.

References

Ng, E. S. & Lillevik, W., (2017). Intercultural communication in the world of business. EBSCO Publishing.

Kobayashi, J. (2019). Transition in Intercultural Communication Competence: Business Communication between Japanese and Americans. International Journal of Business and Social Science 10 (4).

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