Cross Cultural Communication Barriers to Overcome
- Observe but don’t interpret according to your own culture – don’t form stereotypes
- Don’t assume you understand non-verbal signals
- Don’t take behaviour personally even if it’s insulting in your culture
- Develop an awareness of your own non-verbal signals and how they might be offensive
- Understand your own stereotypes and learn about other cultures with openness.
- Don’t evaluate behaviour as good or bad
- Accept the fact that cross cultural communication causes stress
Intercultural communication is an aspect of all communicative interactions, and attention to your perspective is key to your effectiveness. Ethnocentrism is a major obstacle to intercultural communication. Ethnocentric tendencies, stereotyping, and assumptions of similarity can make it difficult to learn about cultural differences
Cultural Shock Staging
- Honeymoon Phase
- Irritation and Hostility
- Gradual Adjustment
- Adaptation or Biculturalism
Culture Matters
As a professional in the modern business community, you need to be aware that the very concept of community is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Throughout the world’s history—until recently—a community was defined by its geographic boundaries. Nowadays business focuses less on the borders that separate people and more on what that brings them together – communication.
Business values clear, concise interaction that promotes efficiency and effectiveness. You may perceive your role as a business communicator within a specific city, business, or organisation, but you need to be aware that Your role crosses cultures, languages, value and legal systems, and borders.
Gert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
Task to Prepare
Each student is to analyze one pair of countries and provide a slide/screenshot from the Gert Hofstede’s Country Comparison.
When choosing countries, it is important to consider that within one team, each student should have a different pair of countries analyzed.
Each student will have 2 minutes for showing the chart/slide with country comparisons and to describe the differences between the countries chosen.