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Issues in Cross Cultural Communication

Cultural differences can lead to challenges in cross-cultural communication. Key differences that impact communication include language barriers, differing nonverbal communication norms like gestures and eye contact, and behaviors that are considered rude in some cultures but acceptable in others. Stereotypes also pose barriers, as do differing expectations around how much context is needed to understand a message between high- and low-context cultures. Being aware of potential differences can help improve cross-cultural understanding.

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Garima G
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108 views

Issues in Cross Cultural Communication

Cultural differences can lead to challenges in cross-cultural communication. Key differences that impact communication include language barriers, differing nonverbal communication norms like gestures and eye contact, and behaviors that are considered rude in some cultures but acceptable in others. Stereotypes also pose barriers, as do differing expectations around how much context is needed to understand a message between high- and low-context cultures. Being aware of potential differences can help improve cross-cultural understanding.

Uploaded by

Garima G
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Issues in Cross Cultural

Communication
1Ambiguity
Cultures provide people with ways of thinking--ways of seeing, hearing, and
interpreting the world. Thus the same words can mean different things to
people from different cultures, even when they talk the "same" language.
When the languages are different, and translation has to be used to
communicate, the potential for misunderstandings increases. Each culture
has its unique context, value system and communication style. Ambiguity
enters the communication process when we don’t fully comprehend the
context of our own culture and the culture of the listener.
An American manager was quite happy with his Chinese team’s
performance. So, he decided to give the team some reward and
motivational boost. He promoted one of the top performers to the post of
Assistant manager. To the manager’s surprise, the team’s performance
deteriorated in the next business quarter. Upon discussion and personal
research, he found that the team performs well for the sake of the team,
but the team members don’t perform so well when they work for the
benefit of one individual.
 Inflexible Attitude
 Some people when they enter a different cultural context then to avoid exposure or
experience of the host culture. This results in introvert behavior and closed mindset, leading
to an impression that the visitor is not accepting the host culture. This leads to missing out
on new experiences to learn and adapt to the new culture. Such a behavior, whether
consciously or unconsciously, dampens the team spirit and deteriorates the business
relationships.
 Let’s consider this example. An Indian boss planned to delegate a task to a Chinese intern.
Being an India, the supervisor was quite comfortable with multitasking and ambiguous
instructions and assumed that the intern would also be the same and he would immediately
start working on the assignment. But, the intern did not move a single step forward, instead
he asked his boss to provide clear instructions. Rather than understanding the cultural
context of this situation, the boss turn to flowery and opinionated arguments with the intern
and tried to change the behavior of the trainee to accommodate multitasking and “unclear”
instructions. Such scenarios, often lead to poor performance and bad team dynamics.
 Ethnocentrism
 Ethnocentrism is the assumption that the culture of one’s own group is right,
moral and rational, and that other cultures are inferior. Since ethnocentrism
is often an unconscious behavior, it is understandably difficult to prevent in
advance. When confronted with a different culture, individuals judge it with
reference to their own standards, and make no attempt to evaluate the new
culture from the host country’s point of view. Such a behavior is also
characterized by selective listening and value judgement, severely impacting
the quality of the communication.
 Challenges In Cross-cultural Communication

The most commonly found differences among cultures which might affect effective
communication include:
 1. Language differences - The biggest issue dealing with cross-cultural communication is the
difficulty created by language barriers. Language barriers are the most common communication
barriers which cause misunderstandings and misinterpretations between people. For example, an
American goes to China. The person does not understand Chinese and most people in China do
not understand English. So, when the person speaks, the communication is worthless as the other
Chinese person doesn’t understand it.

 2. Nonverbal differences -Gestures and eye contact are two areas of nonverbal
communication that are utilized differently across cultures. Companies must train employees in
the correct way to handle nonverbal communication as to not offend other cultures. For
example, American workers tend to wave their hand and use a finger to point when giving
nonverbal direction. Extreme gesturing is considered rude in some cultures. 
 3.Behavior - Cultural differences in body language and other behaviors can also cause mis communications. For
example, in the U.S. it is important to make eye contact with someone who is speaking to you or they may
think you are distracted or uninterested. 
 4. Stereotypes - Stereotypes are assumptions people make about the characteristics of members of a cultural or
social group. Many stereotypes are negative or even hostile and are a serious barrier to workplace
communication. If you make a joke about expecting your Latin American colleague to arrive late for a meeting,
you may damage your professional relationship.
 5. High and Low Context Cultures: Context is the most important cultural dimension and also very difficult to
define. low-context cultures assume that the individuals know very little about what they are being told, and
therefore must be given a lot of background information.  High-Context cultures assume the individual is
knowledgeable about the subject and has to be given very little background information.
  
3. Social differences
4. Religious beliefs
5. Monochromic vs. Polychromic
8. Power Distance
9. Quantity of Time

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