Download Intercultural Communication Issues in the Workplace

RUNNING HEAD: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Intercultural Communication Issues in the Workplace
Rachel Troop
University of Kentucky
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Abstract
The growth of the global market has inevitably caused issues with intercultural
communication. People today are unwillingly to learn about other cultures besides for
their own and therefore have trouble with communicating with other backgrounds.
International companies are suffering because they are facing the issue of being unable to
communicate with one another and not being able to work through barriers. Researchers
are suggesting universities to update their curriculum and prepare students better by
exposing them to intercultural communication situations more to provide them the
needed skills to do this. Another study shows the belief that people have intercultural
communication apprehension (ICA) which gives them anxiety when talking to other
cultures and creates more issues of communication. No matter the issues, people need to
gain more knowledge of cultures in order for the global market to grow even more.
Keywords: Intercultural Communication, Global Market, Barriers, Companies,
Curriculum
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As technology is rapidly improving around the world, globalization is becoming a
predominant factor in the workplace. The global market is getting larger and larger
resulting in different nations and cultures mixing with business affiliations. International
corporations have to make partnerships with businesses in other countries in order for
them to expand and have their business be successful. The key to becoming successful in
another country is not only having a selling component, but to also have an understanding
of their culture, language, and social norms which most businesses are lacking today.
There are many barriers to get through for intercultural communication and they can be
negative when dealing with them in business situations. In figure 1 below, one can see
people of different cultures working through these barriers to make a business deal.
Issues arise because most people do not study other cultures therefore they are not
familiar with them and do not know how to interact with people in other cultures.
Stereotypes, racism, and language can all come into play with altering intercultural
communication. Issues are present within intercultural communication in the workplace
that creates barriers between cultures but they can be solved with education and
knowledge of other nations’ norms.
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Figure 1. Business Meeting. Two cultures coming together to make a business
deal and passing through barriers (Global English, 2014).
Many studies taking place around the world examining intercultural
communication and trying to find solutions to improve it in order for businesses to
succeed better and have a larger global market. Judith Ainsworth (2013), University of
Montreal, wrote about a study that was done at smaller private schools in Canada that
surveyed students about how they felt if they were prepared to conduct business
internationally or not. In American universities, business degrees are requiring students to
take language classes and various history classes that are exposing them to other cultures
and allowing them to understand their background. Canadian schools are beginning to go
about this method as well (Ainsworth, 2013). If business graduates want to be successful
today, they need to be familiar with different languages, cultures, and nations because of
the changing market and trade with other nations. Thus, higher education methods need
to be improved to help students with today’s globalized world. This case study reports on
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efforts to improve educational approaches and to see if the curriculum is met at a
Canadian University to prepare graduates for the international workplace. Researchers
surveyed Business French students/graduates and Business Administration students
looking to see their attitudes toward the value of foreign language and intercultural
communication skills for business careers. They also followed up with an interview with
the International Business (IB) coordinator of the university to see if these courses/skills
were being taught. Ainsworth (2013) pointed out that the researchers were conducting
this study because of their knowledge of the growing global network and how future
business leaders need to have these skills. They want to make sure universities are
preparing the students efficiently and effectively.
The results showed that 80% of the respondents agree studying language develops
awareness of cultural diversity and is therefore important for today’s multi-cultural
workplace (Ainsworth, 2013). The researchers are bringing attention to the issue that
international businessmen do not have the necessary communication skills to interact
with people of other cultures and, consequently, are not becoming successful in the
global workplace. They are trying to help better upcoming students by researching if
universities are teaching the needed skills and if not, are providing ways to help better the
program.
Intercultural communication skills are important in any career field in today’s
world. Priscilla Gitimu (2010) wrote about the importance of intercultural
communication and how it can apply to various fields and in everyday life. She believes
that globalization has made intercultural communication and that people are not prepared
to conduct business with the rapid increase, especially Americans. She emphasized
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educators teaching students of different ethnic backgrounds and there being problems
with getting valuable information across. If a teacher is not familiar with her student’s
cultures, then stereotypes could be a problem or an accidental racial slur or language
barriers. If this is the case, the teacher needs to change his or her teaching method to
accommodate their students or conflict, frustration, and misinterpretation could happen.
Gitimu (2010) wrote how people should research other people’s cultures if they know
they are going to be working with someone from a different culture in order to be
successful; this principle also applies to other careers beside education. Her other points
included multi-national companies cannot do business without communicating crossculturally so they need to be familiar with different cultures and how in the career of
medicine needs to be familiar cultures because of different beliefs in prescription.
Gitimu’s points all involve possible and current issues in various fields of the
workforce. She recognizes that people have problems communicating between cultures
and believes that they need further education and research if they are in a career that
involves interacting with different cultures. This will allow them to be successful and
have the skills necessary for their career.
Another study looks at intercultural communication from a different standpoint,
one that believes a person needs some sort of emotional intelligence (EI) to be able to
communicate with different cultures. This study examines ones emotional intelligence as
a predictor of intercultural communication apprehension (ICA), which is anxiety that is
caused by interacting with people in other cultures than yours (Kelly, 2013). Kelly (2013)
believes that with the increasing internationalization of universities in America today that
this can help expose students to different cultures and give them opportunities to interact
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and learn more, though business students need more. Business educator’s goals are to
prepare students for the work force and provide them with useful tools for success in
business and as well as in international relations. With the global economy continuing to
grow, intercultural communication needs to be incorporated in business curriculum. This
study focused on students in medium-sized universities in Southeastern United Sates
majoring in public speaking and business; researchers ended up sampling 425
undergraduate students. Researchers purpose was to identify whether emotional
intelligence is an inverse predictor of intercultural communication apprehension and
wanted to help business educators prepare students better engage in a globalized work
force based off of what the results were going to be. Kelly (2013) says that intercultural
communication can go beyond verbal communication, that nonverbal gestures can play a
role as well like hand gestures and behaviors. Researchers need to go further than
identifying cultures based on geography because that leads to misrepresentation of
cultures since they are based on beliefs and lifestyles.
This study brings up the point that problems with intercultural communication
can be derived from one’s internal problems with communicating and unfamiliarity with
the other culture causing anxiety. The students who were involved with the study were
given an online questionnaire and they had to be at least 18 years old, never studied
abroad, and have never lived in another country in order to get their view on
communicating with other cultures. The intercultural communication apprehension was
measured using Neuliep and McCroskey’s Personal Report levels and the emotional
intelligence was measured by the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire- Short
Form. The results showed that three out of the four levels of EI were statistically
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predictors of ICA: self-control, emotionality, and sociability. This confirmed the negative
relationship between emotional intelligence and intercultural communication
apprehension. People with a higher EI may be able to lower apprehension with more
intercultural communication practice, which Kelly says can be achieved by improved
curriculum at universities and study abroad.
Intercultural communication is not just an issue with the American culture, but
other nations are struggling to communicate with other cultures as well. A nation with a
growing economy and immigration flow is New Zealand. Much like the U.S. and
Canada, New Zealand was set up by European immigrants and their government is still
running much like the same. Cruickshank (2007) reports on studies showing how the past
two decades New Zealand has seen an economic boost and how their immigration policy
has opened up. They are welcoming skilled immigrants from nations other than
British/English speaking nations in order to meet the country’s skills quota of workers.
Issues are starting to arise because companies are hiring people who do not speak English
and they do not know how to communicate with each other which is slowing down
companies. For example, seen in the image below, people who are not familiar with the
greeting of rubbing noses in New Zealand would think this act is strange or weird and
would not know what to do. These businesses are operating from a mono-cultural point
of view when they need to change to fit their country’s new demographics. Immigrants
and companies are coming across the barriers previously stated because of lack of
English speaking skills, low interpersonal skills, and cultural differences which shows
intercultural communication skills are needed in the workplace.
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Figure 2. Rubbing noses. Prince William is welcomed by the New Zealand
greeting of rubbing noses (BBC News, 2010).
Intercultural communication is the process of communicating with someone from
a different culture as your own. Issues arise with this communication because in today’s
world, people are not as familiar with different cultures which creates barriers such as
stereotypes, different languages, and different cultural norms. The growing global market
is experiencing these issues because of the unfamiliarity people have with cultures and
companies are struggling to get along and work through business deals. Based off of the
studies looked at, intercultural communication can be improved by companies gaining
more knowledge of a variety of cultures and hiring people who have the skills of
communicating effectively with other cultures. This can be traced back to the person’s
education at their university. Some of the studies suggest that university’s need to
improve their curriculum to fit today’s world and growing market and expose their
students to different cultures. If people start learning more about other people and their
background, they will be able to more effectively communicate with them and get past
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the barriers. Intercultural communication issues in the workplace might not totally
dissolve, but there are certainly routes to improve them and have the global market grow
even more.
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References
Ainsworth, J. (2013). Business Languages for intercultural and international business
communication: A Canadian case study. Business Communication Quarterly.
Retrieved from eds.b.ebscohost.com
Cruickshank, P. (2007). Immigration Diversity and Communication practices in the New
Zealand business factor. Business Communication Quarterly, (3). Retrieved from
eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uky.edu
Gitimu, P. (2010). Intercultural Communication: Its importance to various career fields
and perspective by various authors. Thesis. Retrieved from opensiuc.lib.siu.edu
Kelly, S. (2013). Intercultural Communication Apprehension and Emotional Intelligence
in Higher Education: Preparing business students for career success. Business
Communication Quarterly. Retrieved from eds.b.ebsocohost.com
In pictures: Prince William's New Zealand welcome. (2010, January 18). Retrieved
November 16, 2014, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8464891.stm
Verderber, K., Verderber, R., & Sellnow, D. (2014). Communicate! (14th ed.). Boston:
Wadsworth.