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Communicating in a World of Diversity

The Advantages and Challenges of a Diverse Workplace Advantages: -Offers a broader spectrum of view points and ideas -Helps companies understand and identify with diverse markets -Enables companies to Benefit from a wider range of employee talents -More diverse teams tend to be more innovative over the long term than teams of people from the same culture

Disadvantages: -People often don’t recognize the influence of culture on their beliefs and behaviors -This subconscious effect of culture can create friction because it leads people to assume that everybody thinks and feels the same way they do. However differences between cultures can be profound.

Key Aspects of Cultural Diversity One of the most important parts of dealing with cultural diversity is being aware of cultural differences. By doing so, you improve your cultural sensitivity. In order to have successful communication in a workplace, you want to have a basic level of cultural competence. Being aware of the possibility of unique cultural circumstances should always be in the back of your mind when deciding on an appropriate way to communicate with people of different cultures.

Cultural Context Cultural context means the mixture of traditions, expectations, and unwritten social rules that help convey meaning between members of the same culture. Every attempt at communication, whether that be within a workplace or not occurs within a cultural context. There are two types of context cultures, high- and low-context cultures. Communication in high-context cultures relies less on the explicit content of a message than on the context of the message. People of these cultures rely more on the context of nonverbal actions and environmental setting to convey meaning. Japan, China and Middle Eastern and South European countries have high-context cultures. In high-context cultures, the rules of everyday life are rarely stated explicitly. As these individuals grow up, they learn how to recognize situational cues. These include gestures and tone of voice. Also how to respond as expected. Low-context cultures on the other hand communication relies more on the explicit content of a message than on the context of the message. The actual message will have an encoded meaning. Canada, U.S.A and many Northern European countries are considered low-context cultures. When people try to communicate across cultural boundaries, there are different expectations of low- and high-context cultures. Most often this leads to friction and misunderstanding when people cannot tell the difference. High-context cultures tend to emphasize on building relationship which people of low-context cultures might find a waste of time. Whereas, people from high-context cultures might view the low-context emphasis on information and exchange and task completion as being insensitive to group harmony.

Legal and Ethical Differences Keeping on the track of low- and high- context cultures, members of each culture might have different opinions of what is legal and what is ethical. Low-context cultures tend to adhere to the law strictly. However, high-context cultures are more flexible regarding adherence to the law. Ethical principles are based on cultural values, so trying to make ethical choices across cultures can be complicated. Apply these four basic principles when communicating with people in other cultures: first, actively seek mutual ground, send and receive messages without judgment, send messages that are honest and finally show respect for cultural differences.

Social Customs

The rules governing social customs differ from culture to culture whether that is a formal or informal approach. An example of formal would be table manners. An example of informal would be the comfortable standing distance between two speakers in an office. By asking about someone’s social customs you will show your curiosity and also it will be received as a sign of respect. Plus, most business people are happy to explain the habits and expectations of their cultures. This speeds up the process of understanding of the nuances of social customs, which is time consuming.

Nonverbal Communication

The meaning of gestures and other nonverbal signals can vary from culture to culture. Facial expressions to style of dress can influence the way receivers decode messages. The interpretation of nonverbal signals can vary from culture to culture. Your gestures or clothing choices might seem inappropriate or even offensive to someone from another culture. More information about nonverbal communication is in Chapter two of “Business Communication Essentials”.

Age Differences Some cultures, youth is strength, energy, possibilities and freedom, while age is declining powers of loss of respect and authority. In other cultures, Age and seniority, longevity earns respect and increasing power and freedom.

Each generation brings particular strengths to the workplace. One example, the older generation offers broader experience, the benefits of important business relationships nurtured over many years, and high degrees of "practical intelligence", the ability to solve complex and poorly defined problems.

However, the benefits of having multiple generations in a workplace can require accommodation on everyone's part because of differing habits and perspectives. There are three generations most represented in the workplace. Baby boomers (mid 1940's to mid 1960's), Generation X (1960's and 1970's), and Generations y or known as Millennial's (mid 1970's to early 1990's) Each generation have been shaped by defining events in their developmental years. For example, Millenial's are the first group born into a digital society and are comfortable using communication technology. Earlier generations, prefer face-to-face conversation, telephone messages or email instead of social media channels of communication.

Gender Different cultures have different perception of men and woman in business, these differences can affect communication efforts. In some cultures, men hold most of all positions of authority, and woman are expected by many to play a more subservient role. Men and woman have slightly different styles of communication. Men, emphasize content in their communication efforts, where woman have a higher premium on relationship maintenance. These generalizations do not apply to every person or situation.

Religious Differences Religion brings potential for controversy in a work setting. Some employees feel they should be able to express their belief in the workplace, but companies try to avoid situations in which openly expressed religious differences cause friction between employees and distract employees.

Ability Differences Individuals with hearing, vision, cognitive ability, or physical ability is impaired can be at a significant disadvantage in today's workplace. With all types of diversity, it is important to show respect for individuals and be sensitive to differences. Employers can invest in assistive technologies to help employees with disabilities. Recognition software, touch screens, or ergonomic equipment give employees opportunities to purse a greater range of career paths and also gives employers access to a broader base of talent.

Advice for Improving Intercultural Communication

In any cross0cultural situation, you can communicate more efficiently if you remember the following tips:

1. Avoid ethnocentrism, the tendency to judge all other groups according to the standards, behaviors, and customs and one’s own group. When making such comparisons, people too often decide that their own group is superior. 2. Similarly, avoid stereotyping, or assigning a wide range of generalized – often inaccurate – attributes to an individual on the basis of membership in a particular group without considering the individual’s unique characteristics. 3. Don’t automatically assume the others think, believe, or behave as you do. 4. Accept differences in others without judging them. 5. Learn how to communicate respect in various cultures. 6. Tolerate ambiguity and control your frustration. 7. Don’t be distracted by superficial factors such as personal appearance. 8. Recognize your own cultural biases. 9. Be flexible and be prepared to change your habits and attitudes. 10. Observe and learn, the more you learn, the more effective you’ll be.

Travel guidebooks are a great source of information about norms and customs in other countries. Also, check to see whether your library has online access to the Culture-Gram database or review the country profiles at www.kwinesstential.co.uk