Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 607.

Intercultural communication in the global workplace offers many challenges. Hidden cultural differences often cause a great deal of misunderstanding and controversy. These differences are a serious problem because they are mostly invisible and inaudible but they affect the true meaning of the messages sent and received.

Being aware of the cultural factors that create "interference" will help you get your message across in the way it was intended and build a clear personal "international" brand as a professional business person that can relate to colleagues around the world.

Communication is strongly affected by culture. You can improve your cross cultural international communication by recognizing cultural differences and then overcoming your own ethnocentrism -- the tendency to judge all other groups according to your own group's standards, behaviors, and customs.

The difference in cross-cultural communication is not about pronunciation or even language. The difference is in the mentality of people. Different nations have different filters, different perspectives and different shades. The greater the difference between cultures, the greater the chance for misunderstanding.

Intercultural communication in the global workplace can be improved by recognizing and accommodating four main types of cultural differences: contextual; ethical; social; nonverbal.

People assign meaning to a message according to cultural context: physical cues, environmental stimuli, and implicit understanding that convey meaning between two members of the same culture.