Reflection on Intercultural Communication- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theReflection on Intercultural Communication for Social Groups. Answer: Intercultural communication can be defined as the procedure of sharing these details and information across a large number of cultures and social groups. This may include individuals who belong to different religions or social, ethnic as well as other educational background. While performing in the team I came across a Chinese lady who was unable to communicate in English. So it was becoming very difficult for me as the leader of the team to communicate with her. At a point of time she was also getting frustrated because she was not being able to make her feelings and suggestions clear to the team. I saw at one point of time she was completely withdrawing herself as she have lost the hope of working effectively in the team. Therefore with the help of Internet resources as well as evidence based paper written by eminent researchers over the time I tried to provide her with solutions. I suggested her to go for ongoing workplace language classes so that he can get accustomed with the la nguage that we use in the workplace. I also helped her with multilingual translators and other Technological Solutions such as translation software so that she can easily and quickly gain an idea about what is said in the team. From this she was gradually being able to understand what others said and the language barrier gradually started to decline. From this I gained an experience that diversity of languages should always be seen as an opportunity to learn something new rather than taking it as an insurmountable issue. This will ultimately benefit the entire team work in the end. 26th August: Individuals who are skilled in intercultural communication can understand the differences about how different people from different cultures act, communicate as well as perceive the world around them. These are very much important to maintain an effective teamwork in the Global organisations so that the production of the company can be made and each and every worker aligns with the organisational goals. Another issue that I have noticed is the differences in communication styles which are followed by different cultures in different parts of the world. There was an American as well as an Indian team member who were assigned with a task of performing the budget sheet for a client. I was also assisting them in the same task. I noticed that the American member used to talk with direct eye contact with the Indian which the Indian team member was not comfortable with. Moreover the American member although was junior in rank talked with the Indian members directly with his first name which was found to be disrespectable by the Indian. The Indian member later complained to me that the American members are disrespecting him while communicating with him. To this I understood that the American member really did not had the intention to disrespect him. It was a difference in the communication style followed by different countries in their business organisations which have been inculcated in the persons who were working in the team. Therefore from this experience I have learnt that it is extremely important for the team members to be aware of the culture of business followed by different nations all over the world so that they can maintain a proper relationship with each other and the feeling of distrust and disrespect does not arrived. I also noticed that when the feeling of the disrespect arises due to an issue in communication style the company's productivity gets affected. Moreover an environment of stress and conflict also arise. So I provided them with important inter nal resources and magazines of business which discuss about the different communication styles followed by different people all over the world. They stated that this help them to know about the others culture and day decided to walk accordingly. 30th August: Another issue was also noticed by me regarding the hierarchy and authority experienced by different members in different ways according to their own cultures. There was one of my colleagues who were of an Asian origin. Under him there were about 5 people working out of whom two were Americans and three were Australians. I noticed that the colleague followed a completely different perspective about experiencing his power. He was not comfortable with his juniors giving him feedback as well as suggestions as he thought that he is not given the authority and the power which should be experienced by a senior. The attitudes of the juniors were not liked by him as he thought them to be over friendly which affected his Ego and self respect. The Americans and Australians usually follow an informal way of approach towards the seniors where they get total freedom of providing effective feedback. The Australian and American seniors also accept the suggestions and feedback from the juniors making them feel respected. However the Asians believe in authority based accomplishments as the they mainly follow authority based leadership styles where they believe in maintaining a certain distance between the juniors and the seniors. They maintain proper balance between formal and informal communication. Proper presence of cultural awareness is therefore very important for every team members working in a multicultural team so that their goals are achieved by the team without the arrival of conflicts. Therefore I decided to call on meetings where my colleague and his five members of the team were invited. I discussed with them the differences of their cultures of business communication and hence they were able to understand that they need to be culturally aware of each other's feelings, expectations and wishes so that they can work together as a team and bring out effective results. This assignment thereby helped me to understand three important aspects which need to be followed in intercultural communication. The first one is overcoming the language barrier. Secondly it is very important to develop an idea about the communication styles followed by the different team members of different backgrounds. Thirdly, it is very important to understand how the concept of power and hierarchy is expected by different people in different parts of the world and to act accordingly so that smooth workflow can be maintained and organisations mission as well as vision can be adhered to.