Cross-cultural communication entails communication that occurs between individuals from different cultures. Cross-cultural communication affects an organization if it is made up of a diverse workforce, or plans on conducting global business in the near future. Cross-cultural communication involves an understanding of how people from different cultures speak, communicate, and perceive the world around them. From a business perspective, cross-cultural communication entails understanding business customs, beliefs, and strategies used in communication. Factors that affect cross-cultural communication include language difference, high context versus low context cultures, non-verbal differences, and power distance.
There certain principles that need to be followed to ensure cross-cultural communication is effective, and an organization reaps the greatest rewards out of it:
1. Awareness:
Awareness entails knowledge of the other culture’s norms and beliefs. Awareness reduces the risk of misunderstanding, which are bound to occur due to the differences seen between cultures. This misunderstanding is the cause of disagreements and conflicts, and might be witnessed in an organization if individuals from different cultures are brought together.
2. Cultural differences:
The differences observed in cultural norms are the cause …show more content…
Eye contact is a common behavior observed in during any communication. In the United States of America, if an individual does not make eye contact, it shows a sign of distraction or a total lack of interest in that conversation. The different meaning is observed in Asian countries, where eye contact represents challenge to authority or disrespect. Other non-verbal communications that might be barriers to cross-cultural communication include, differences in facial expressions and distance between two