Why is cultural differences a communication barrier

In Japan, quality customer service is characterized as unobtrusive. Cultural differences should in no way prevent you from hiring or collaborating with different kinds of people. On the contrary, diversity has been shown to boost your bottom line! Start by getting to know what those cultural differences are on your team.

Some may be immediately apparent, while others will require you to seek feedback. Ask your team how they like to work and how they like to be managed. As you demonstrate a willingness to learn about and accommodate cultural differences, most of your employees will respond positively.

Determine how these differences are relevant to the job. Identify whether or not you can reasonably accommodate the cultural difference. Sometimes there is a simple solution, like changing how you praise someone for a job well done or providing additional positive feedback. Other times, the accommodations a person requires may be incompatible with the job itself.

If there was no reasonable accommodation available, determine what steps need to be taken to ensure this person receives the training and support they need to adapt their working style. Educate yourself about common cultural differences.

Is your team made up of all different age groups? Look up management techniques relevant to each age group and see how you can combine styles to suit different people. Obviously, not all Americans are impatient and arrogant, nor are they all friendly and tolerant. Prejudging an individual can lead to misconceptions and barriers to communication.

Behavioral differences between employees of different cultures can cause misunderstandings. Every culture has guidelines about what is considered appropriate behavior. In some cultures, looking someone in the eye when they are talking to you is considered rude, while in other cultures refraining from doing so is considered disrespectful.

Getting right to the point at a business meeting may be considered impolite by some, who expect to have "small talk" before the business discussion. Likewise, in some cultures, people talking to each other give each other space, while in other cultures, they stand close. These differences can be barriers to effective communication if they are not recognized. What is considered an appropriate display of emotion can differ from culture to culture.

In some countries, displaying anger, fear or frustration in the workplace is considered inappropriate in a business setting. People from these cultures keep their emotions hidden and only discuss the factual aspects of the situation. In order to understand them, we have to understand their way of life and approach. If we wish to convince them, we have to use their language as far as we can, not language in the narrow sense of the word, but the language of the mind.

That is one necessity. Importance of cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural and Intercultural communication is very important in the contemporary world.

The increase in multinational companies and firms, globalization, improved international relations, and the internet culture are the seeding agents for this demand.

In a heterogeneous cultural workforce and the community, it is vital to bring a homogeneous work culture and result. To achieve these communication managers or advocators of every business and nation has to understand various cultural barriers of their team and find a solution to sustain and develop.

Language Semantic : Language is considered as the most crucial barrier in cross-cultural communication. Since verbal communication is important in every context, the understandings of the meaning of words are also important. The language barrier occurs not only because of differences in language but also in the forms of a variety of dialects.

The examples are of Chinese and Russian language where different dialects are used in several parts of the country. If one communicator is not aware of the exact meaning, it will create misunderstanding and lead to a conflict of ideas. Cultural norms and values: Each culture hold its own values, meaning and norms different from another. This difference is caused because of truth, belief and judgment through which they acquired knowledge about society and culture. For example, in eastern countries like India, Pakistan, Srilanka the meaning of physical proximity is different from that in western countries.

In western culture, people share physical proximity or closeness only with the persons whom they know. This is the reason we can find a calm and quiet environment in public transportation in western countries. On contradictory, we can find a huge, crowded environment in Indian suburban and metro rail transports.

Stereotypes: Stereotypes are any negative image or preconceived notions on a particular community and identity. These are created through mass media and their content agenda. For example,the status of transgender is considered in the different level of standard in various cultures. Same like the role and respect for women also varies from culture to culture. In social psychological viewpoint, positive stereotypes are also considered as the cultural barrier. It is representation of a particular group of people or culture in a positive way.

This may be different from reality. The positive stereotypes create frames of reference in the mind of people in cultural context. For example, it is considered as people in Italy are having a great interest in art.