Discuss about the Management of effective cross cultural communication at the workplace.
The assessment is done for managing the reflective practices by utilizing the various diagnostic tools and feedbacks for identifying the personal skills and abilities to improve the efficiency of the communication process in an effective way. By assessing the various diagnostic tools, it will be easy to review the cores obtained, based on which, more knowledge and skills will be gained for evaluating the best practices of managing communication at the workplace of business organisation. The utilization of various diagnostic tools will also help in improving the self-reflection, further can allow improving the communication competencies and performing exceptionally. This will not only improve the process of communication within the workplace but will also allow for analysis of various areas of verbal communication, non-verbal, assertiveness perception and active listening too.
The diagnostic tools are assessed here to improve the cross-cultural communication and ensure maintaining proper values and ethics within the working environment. This could not only improve my own ability to interact with others from different backgrounds and cultures, but would also allow me to present myself as a successful listener and speaker in front of many people. Diagnostic tools help the individuals to assess the level of their communication skills. The ratings make them aware of the current level in which they are venturing in terms of societal communication (Neuliep, 2017). The following section undertakes five diagnostic tools, which acts assistance for the individuals in terms of conducting self-assessment from the perspective of communication skills. Reflective tone of the segment enlivens the diagnosis for the readers in terms of polishing their present communication skills.
The first diagnostic communication tool is Self Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). This scale makes the individuals independent in terms of assessing the competency level regarding their communication skills (McCroskey, 2015). From the name, it can be inferred that the tool is a reflection for the individuals regarding their competence about cross- cultural communication. My competency level towards communication is moderate. Typical evidence of this lies in the scores. My score for presenting talk to my friends is 3. This indicates my weak approach towards public communication. I can rate my conversation with acquaintance as 5, which reflect a better performance regarding talking with an acquaintance. For conversation with friends, I can score my performance as 6, which supports the fact that I am very comfortable in the presence of my friends. I have no hesitations to say that I am incompetent in terms of talking with strangers, the score for which is 4, This is because I stumble in the presence of strangers and lose confidence. However, I can frankly point out that when I am with my best friend, I am competent towards sharing my thoughts, feelings and emotions. This competency can be scored as 7, which is an evidence for the fact that same mentality companionship enhances my communication skills.
My score for talking in large meetings of acquaintances is 8 , which projects my capability towards voicing out my opinions even when I am among the acquaintances. However, this is not up to the standards of benchmark level of performance. When I am talking with a stranger, I become nervous. I lose track of the words. For this, I can rate myself as 1, as I cannot disagree the fact that I do not have good command over my communication skills amidst strangers. In terms of communicating with a group of friends, my score is 12, which represents better performance in terms of communication with a group of friends. In contrast to this, my score for communicating with a small group of friends is 15, as I can freely voice out my feelings to them. Score for communication in a large group of strangers is 20. Strangers aggravate my nervousness in terms of communication skills. 20 is a high score however, it contrasts my confidence towards talking with a large number of strangers. Therefore, the total score for Self Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) is 81, which indicates my high SPCC. This means I have high self- perceived competence with communication in the public meetings, which contradicts my actual confidence level.
The second diagnostic communication tool is Personal Report Intercultural communication Apprehension (PRICA). This tool is of utmost importance in terms of addressing the apprehensions, which play a major role in the intercultural communication (Lindlof & Taylor,2017). I also conducted this test. My score for communication with the people of different cultures is 5, which indicates my strong agreement regarding my low comfort level while communicating with the people belonging to the different cultures. I can rank myself as 3, which represents my neutrality regarding indulgence in cross cultural communication. In terms of my approach towards dealing with people from different culture, my score is 2. This is because I would not disagree that I hesitate to take the concept of communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds. I have no doubts in pointing that my thoughts get mixed up upon the mention of cross cultural communication. On this basis, I can score myself as 5, as I strongly agree that my thought process goes weak while facing people from other cultures. Therefore, the total score for my Intercultural communication Apprehension is 15. This score represents my low apprehension for cultural communication. Along with this, the score represents my incapability to deal with the aspect of intercultural communication. This incapability hampers the development of communication skills. Low score in terms of intercultural apprehension acts as an obstacle for me in terms of enriching my preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge. Moreover, low score compels me to suffer taunts and mocking regarding the possession of poor communication skills.
Third diagnostic communication tool is Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-S). Non-verbal immediacy measures the behaviors, which generate positive feelings in the minds of the persons for others (Sterling et al., 2016). I feel proud that I underwent this test to assess my approach when talking with others. I often use my hands for talking with people, which indicates my score of 4. When I am talking with people, rarely voice becomes dull. This ranks me as 2. Sometimes, when I do not want my weakness to be publicized, I avoid eye contact with others. This habit of mine can be scored as 3, which indicates my occasional activity of not looking into the eyes of others while talking. I never use various vocal variations while talking to others. For this, the score of 1 is appropriate. Very often, I sit while talking to others, which depicts my score as five in terms of self-scale communication report. I occasionally smile at people while communicating with them, which ranks me as 3. My score for touching people while talking is 3. This is because, I occasionally touch people while talking to them. Therefore, the total score is 13, which indicates very low nonverbal immediacy regarding self-scaling. This indication attaches a negative connotation towards my self-assessment, which is an evidence for the fact that I am fully aware of myself. Based on my sores, I can say that my communication competencies need to be upgraded. This needs consideration of my approach towards communicating with people of other cultures.
The diagnostic tool used for promoting effective intercultural communication could be the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety or PRPSA. As the name suggests, this tool used for communication focuses on the anxieties and issues faced while speaking in front of many people. Often individuals within the workplace, though can interact with one or two people easily, finds it difficult to communicate or speak in front of people. This hinders his ability to express his feelings and present his ideas and opinions that may be helpful for making business decisions and bring out positive outcomes. Due to this, I have been left less connected with multiple people at the same time and sometimes I even get nervous to deliver a speech in front of others. Though my listening and speaking skills are good enough, still it sometimes become difficult for me to talk in front of many people and it lower my level of morale too. I even felt increased heartbeat while standing in front of others during the delivery of a speech. This even made me more tensed because of thinking that very little time might be left to speak out in front of so many people. The scores for items 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 20, 21, 30, 32, 33 is 140, which is quite high and it shows that I need to overcome the nervousness and anxiousness to deliver the speech properly and present myself as a successful speaker in the future.
Based on the talkaholic scale, this kind of tool assesses the behaviors of the individuals who talk more than the actual expectations. They are responsible for talking with single individual and even talk more in the presence of multiple people at a particular place. The talkaholic scale also demonstrates the abilities to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds and at the same time, understand whenever and wherever required. According to the components present in the talkaholic scale, the score for 2, 3,5,7,8,10,11,14 is 26 and it falls between 10 50. My score is below 30, so it shows that I am a compulsive talker and have talked in situations where it may have been important to keep quiet. This could often create complexities for me and so, it would be essential for me to maintain certain things and not talk unnecessarily whenever not needed.
Cross cultural communication perspective
According to Taylor, Nicolle & Maguire (2013), every business organisation holds a specific culture through which values and ethics are maintained for managing communication among the workers and at the same time, facilitate the psychological backgrounds and behaviors of the individuals to communicate with each other within the organisation. Every organisation consists of different kinds of cultures, because of which, it becomes difficult for communicating with individuals from different backgrounds and cultures sometimes (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). It is important that every employee communicate with each other and make sure that share and exchange information and knowledge among themselves properly for discussing about various tasks and maintain ethnicity within the workplace. Due to lack of communication within the workplace, it might become difficult for managing the systems and business activities properly and it could even result in poor skills and abilities to maintain communication between employees belonging from different backgrounds and cultures (Taylor, Nicolle & Maguire, 2013). Due to lack of communication between people from different cultures, opinions and responses are not shared among each other, which results in more complexities like language barriers, cultural barriers and ineffective decisions made as well.
Based on Merkin, Taras & Steel (2014), Due to differences in the cultures, the ways of managing communication among each also differ, which can result in language barriers. It is often seen that places where English language are common, the style of communicating also differs and people can respond as “yes”, “I can consider that” or even replying “definitely”. To overcome the language barriers in cross cultural communication, it is important to manage non-verbal communication through facial gestures and expressions and maintain communication among each other properly (Shebzukhova & Bondarenko, 2014). The attitudes and behaviors also differ for people belonging from different backgrounds and cultures, because of which, it may be difficult to deal with the conflicts that may arise. The ways of accomplishing the tasks by the employees are different, because of which, the judgments and decisions made are different, as a result of which, varied opinions and responses emerge, which has created inconsistency in relationship too. Sometimes, the people from different backgrounds are less committed to the accomplishment of tasks, which results in not valuing the relationships enabling (Han, 2013).
The decision-making styles are also different, which is another issue, because for proper business functioning, opinions and responses are needed to be considered while making decisions. Hurn & Tomalin (2013) stated that with proper coordination between the individuals, sharing and exchange of information would be possible, thus could resolve the conflicts and accomplish the organizational goals and objectives with ease and effectiveness. In terms of epistemologies, there are differences between cultural groups of different organizations and so the ways by which people gather necessary knowledge and information differ (Merkin, Taras & Steel, 2014). The preference of cultures assist in better knowledge and information gaining along with use of symbols, signs and rhythms to strive towards transcendence and ensures better communication at the workplace (Djerasimovic, 2014).
To overcome the cross cultural or inter-cultural communication issues, the non-verbal communication has been helpful for promoting transparency and diversity at the workplace to focus on establishing proper communication channels. Based on the responses provided by Kinloch& Metge (2014), People could also communicate with each other through written communication techniques like by writing letters, emails and even sending messages to other employees. This would help in managing transmission of messages and information properly and furthermore consider the opinions and responses of people working within the organization, thereby ensuring accurate flow of information and messages within the organisation (Hurn & Tomalin, 2013). This would also promote better communication and allow the workers to work with each, consider each other’s opinions and responses and make effective business decisions too.
Cross cultural communication apprehension
The concept of inter cultural communication apprehension is important for managing proper communication between people from diverse backgrounds and cultures within the organisation. With the advancement in both communication and transportation technologies, it is important to consider the inter cultural communication apprehension for bringing together people from different cultures and backgrounds by considering various aspects of contemporary human life including the geographical factors, ethnicity and religions. Remaining sensitive to the cultural differences has helped in reducing the level of ethnocentrism and remain consistent while managing cross cultural or intercultural communications within the workplace (Kim & McKay-Semmler, 2013). By using this diagnostic tool of communication, i.e., the intercultural communication apprehension, relationships among the various components of intercultural communication, ethnocentrism and diversified backgrounds and cultures could be maintained all throughout. The intercultural sensitivity achieved through intercultural communication apprehension could be assumed as the skills and capabilities of the individuals to show or present their emotions and feelings to understand the differences across the cultures within the organisation and promote positive behaviors and attitudes too (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). This concept is one of the major aspects of the intercultural communication competence and so it revolves around the various factors like the cognitive, affective and behavioral skills and capabilities. From these various aspects, it could be understood that the cognitive ability of individuals could be understood by intercultural awareness whereas the sensitivity across different cultures present the affective ability of individuals working within the organization. To promote good intercultural communication among the people, it would be important as well for maintaining the various stages starting from the ethnocentric stage to the ethno relative stage, facilitated by the process of transformation (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014).
Models of communication
The Berlos’ communication model consists of various components including the sender, receiver, channel and receiver. All these components are impacted by various factors including the communication skills, attitudes and behaviors, knowledge and information shared and exchanged along with consideration of various cultural perspectives. From the source, the sender transmits the messages or information through proper communication skills to make sure that those can be read, written and interpreted properly (Schullery, 2013). According to Shebzukhova & Bondarenko (2014), the attitudes and behaviors of the individuals could represent the meaning of the messages and become familiar with the knowledge on the subject matter and messages that are transmitted. The messages dent by the sender are affected by the social systems too including the values, beliefs, laws, rules and regulations while considering the culture. Understanding the culture could help in evaluating the languages that would be appropriate to communicate with other belonging from different backgrounds. A specific person might find it offensive while talking to another person from different background where it has been accepted. So, various things must be considered while interacting with people from different background (Shebzukhova & Bondarenko, 2014).
The messages must have a proper content and non-verbal components should be presented with gestures, signs, languages, etc. The messages or information transmitted must be informed to the receiver for obtaining their feedbacks after the messages are transmitted. The structure of the messages demonstrates the content and efficiency of the messages whereas codes are used in the form of text, audio or video clips that will be transferred to the receiver. The channel of communication is very important, because it is a kind of non-verbal communication where messages are transmitted by sending emails or by managing telephonic or video conversations. The receiver must be able to understand the language in which the messages are presented and make sure that the language barriers do not arise while managing intercultural communication at the workplace (Merkin, Taras & Steel, 2014). The receiver should possess good listening skills for understanding the messages transmitted by the sender and even respect the culture and background from which the sender belonged.
Another model used for managing effective intercultural communication are Laswell’s model of communication. This kind of model is useful for the analysis of mass communication among people and understands the effects of communication between people. The different elements of the model are control analysis, analysis of media, effects, audiences and content of the messages that are shared or exchanged too (Djerasimovic, 2014).
Importance of communication within the workplace
Workplace communication is directly related to the enhancement in production and for making the business properly. Through proper communication, employees would be able to communicate with eac other from different cultures and backgrounds and improve their level of morale, further contribute to the better productivity and commitment to the business outcomes. Djerasimovic (2014) stated that management of intercultural communication could also enhance the language proficiency, skills and abilities of the individuals to obtain information and knowledge about work conditions and get themselves fully engaged with the activities in the workplace. Intercultural communication is promoted within the workplace by utilizing various methods of communication including the visual and written aspects to manage successful flow of information. Respecting each and everyone’s culture is important to speak in a straightforward manner and remain precise according to the context. An ethical working environment is created as well by promoting intercultural communication within the workplace through prevention of discrimination and this maintained positive behaviors too (Hurn & Tomalin, 2013). Conflicts are also resolved quite easily and interacting with different people from different backgrounds and cultures foster the development and consideration of new ideas, opinions required for enhancing the business operations’ effectiveness. By considering the responses, views and opinions of others, it would facilitate the decision making process and promote two way communication process. This would lessen up the hurdles faced while communicating with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures and furthermore create good relationship between the employers and employees. Therefore, the management of intercultural communication within the workplace could enhance the production level, utilize the resources properly and ensure proper flow and exchange of information to draw positive business outcomes and strive for excellence in the future (Kim & McKay-Semmler, 2013).
Action plan is presented to undertake certain approaches for resolving the communication gaps and ensure management of proper communication at the workplace with ease and effectiveness. There were communication related issues resulting because of the differences in cultures, which further created problems like language differences and even varied opinions and responses. The changes in opinions hindered the making of successful business decisions too. The cross cultural communication at the workplace can go through various cultural differences due to certain factors including the difference in communication styles, the approaches undertaken for accomplishing the tasks , the behaviors and attitudes differ, different decision making styles and differences in approaches to obtain knowledge, information and skills too (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). By promoting intercultural communication at workplace, it has become easier to understand the diversity and made people belonging from the dominant cultures to obtain relevant knowledge about the individuals who belong to some other culture. The action is prepared to analyse the different approaches that can be undertaken for overcoming the cross-cultural communication obstacles and maintain transparency and openness within the working environment. Action plan consists of the various methods and techniques that assist in the development of proper cross cultural communication and ensures smooth flow and exchange of information and messages between the sender and receiver at the workplace (Schullery, 2013).
|
Approaches undertaken |
Date of start |
Finishing date |
Time duration |
|
Demonstrating the issues arising because of cross cultural differences in communication |
1.4.18 |
5.4.18 |
5 days |
|
Understanding the training needs for the HR manager responsible for the management of human resources and cross cultural communication at the workplace |
6.4.18 |
9.4.18 |
4 days |
|
Identification of objectives to enhance the communication process efficiency |
10.4.18 |
11.4.18 |
2 days |
|
Collecting feedbacks and responses from the individuals about the intercultural communication in the form of data |
12.4.18 |
21.4.18 |
10 days |
|
Analysis of data |
22.4.18 |
27.4.18 |
6 days |
|
Evaluation of the training program |
28.4.18 |
29.4.18 |
2 days |
|
Maintaining proper values and ethics to maintain good working conditions and proper cross cultural communication |
30.4.18 |
1.5.18 |
2 days |
The action plan would not only identify the issues faced while managing cross cultural communication at workplace but would also allow for identifying the training needs for the human resources manager. The HR manager is solely responsible for managing the human resources and communication within the workplace, it is essential to look into the communication gaps and provide necessary training to make them skilled enough and facilitate the cross-cultural communication between the employees working there. From the topic, I have obtained relevant knowledge and skills about how to communicate with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. As a responsible HR manager, it would be important for me to pursue the training opportunities, advance towards my goals and objectives for facilitating the communication process (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). This would enhance the business performance through better productivity and better profit generation and allow me to succeed my personal and professional career as well.
Conclusion
The topic illustrated about the management of effective cross cultural communication at the workplace. The five diagnostic tools were used to assess the verbal, non-verbal, active listening and assertiveness perception skills and ensured that people could communicate with each other belonging from diverse backgrounds and cultures with ease and efficiency. A literature review was presented to focus on the benefits of cross-cultural communication within the workplace, which further facilitated the development of an action plan and justified the planning for training needs of the HR manager. This further helped in managing the cross-cultural communication and maintained transparency and openness without any sort of discrimination within the workplace
References
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Djerasimovic, S. (2014). Examining the discourses of cross-cultural communication in transnational higher education: from imposition to transformation. Journal of Education for Teaching, 40(3), 204-216.
Han, Y. (2013). Research on fostering intercultural communication competence of foreign language learners. Cross-Cultural Communication, 9(1), 5.
Hurn, B. J., & Tomalin, B. (2013). What is Cross-Cultural Communication?. In Cross-Cultural Communication (pp. 1-19). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Kim, Y. Y., & McKay-Semmler, K. (2013). Social engagement and cross-cultural adaptation: An examination of direct-and mediated interpersonal communication activities of educated non-natives in the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(1), 99-112.
Kinloch, P., & Metge, J. (2014). Talking past each other: problems of cross cultural communication. Victoria University Press.
Kinloch, P., & Metge, J. (2014). Talking past each other: problems of cross cultural communication. Victoria University Press.
Kinloch, P., & Metge, J. (2014). Talking past each other: problems of cross cultural communication. Victoria University Press.
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Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B. C. (2017). Qualitative communication research methods. Sage publications.
McCroskey, J. C. (2015). Introduction to rhetorical communication. Routledge.
Merkin, R., Taras, V., & Steel, P. (2014). State of the art themes in cross-cultural communication research: A systematic and meta-analytic review. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 38, 1-23.
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences.
Neuliep, J. W. (2017). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach. Sage Publications.
Prilla, M., & Blunk, O. (2015). Reflective TEL: augmenting learning tools with reflection support. In Design for Teaching and Learning in a Networked World (pp. 626-629). Springer, Cham.
Schullery, N. M. (2013). Workplace engagement and generational differences in values. Business Communication Quarterly, 76(2), 252-265.
Shebzukhova, T. A., & Bondarenko, N. G. (2014). Language and values as basic elements of cross-cultural communication in tourism. In Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe: Achievements and Perspectives, 3rd International symposium(pp. 310-314).
Sterling, E., Bravo, A., Porzecanski, A. L., Burks, R. L., Linder, J., Langen, T., … & Bynum, N. (2016). Think Before (and After) You Speak: Practice and Self-Reflection Bolster Oral Communication Skills. Journal of College Science Teaching, 45(6), 87.
Taylor, S. P., Nicolle, C., & Maguire, M. (2013). Cross-cultural communication barriers in health care. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 27(31), 35.
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