Cross Cultural Communication  

 

Organizations consist of different people whose religion, race, education, background, gender etc. is different. Thus, they communicate in different ways. Cross-cultural communication is the process of sending and receiving messages between people whose cultural backgrounds could lead them to interpret verbal and non-verbal signs differently. Every attempt to send and receive messages is influenced by culture, so to communicate successfully, you need a basic grasp of the cultural differences you may encounter and how you should handle them. In other words, cross cultural communication refers to communication between people who have differences in any one of the following: styles of working, age, nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION BARRIERS IN WORKPLACE

Misunderstanding

Misunderstanding is the foremost barrier to communication in a multicultural environment. This is common among people of different cultural backgrounds whose values and beliefs vary. The variation in the different cultures results in high level of anxiety and uncertainty and ends up in misunderstanding.

Norms

Norms are the culturally defined rules for determining acceptable and appropriate behavior. Individuals themselves frame rules for themselves and expect others to do so.  Each culture has its owning norms and they have their own acceptable and appropriate behavior. People working in multicultural environments often fail to understand the norms of the other culture and act accordingly.

Beliefs and values

Beliefs and values are different from person to person. In a globalized working community, every person’s belief and value depend on his culture. The cross-cultural belief and value prevailing should be known to the person to communicate efficiently.

Stereotyping

Value judgments about people. Inadequate information about people leads to unintelligent choices in cross-cultural communication. Cultural stereotypes exaggerate or overgeneralize what we perceive about people and lead to increased anxiety. Every individual enacts one stereotype on other individuals or groups of people. Generally, stereotypes are born out of fear of the group we stereotype or lack of knowledge of the group. These stereotypes are the major reasons for differences of opinions about the opposite culture and lead to miscommunication.

Ethnocentrism

Thinking about our own culture, our group behavior is the standard against all the other groups. One’s own cultural experience unintentionally makes us feel that our culture is distinctive. This ethnocentrism increases the level of anxiety. In workplaces ethnocentrism is directly proportional to anxiety level. Multicultural team members face a lot of issues due to ethnocentrism.

Cross-cultural competence could be improved through the following methods:

Cross cultural knowledge training

Employees need to recognize and admit the existence of differences between cultures. The differences in values, beliefs, perceptions, interpretations. Employees should be given basic cross culture training which will make them aware of the cross culture in the workplace.

Language Training

Language barrier is the greatest problem encountered in multi-cultural team. Language training should be given for those who have more chances of coming into contact with foreigners

Enforcement of mutual benefit policy

Organizations should insist on mutual benefits for all the cultures in the workplace. Employees while getting similar benefits as employees of other cultures will face a win- win situation.

 

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