Workplace and Cross-Cultural Communication

Professor Hofstede Greet developed a framework for intercultural communication called the cultural dimension. Using a paradigm derived from component analysis, it discusses how culture affects the values of people of a specific society and the relationship between these values and behaviors (National Culture, 2017).
These criteria are helpful because they offer a framework for contrasting various cultural practices. It is possible to study and learn about other cultures' indulgence, orientation, or individualism by contrasting them with nations about whom less is known. The dimensions considered in the comparison between Australia and the united States are power distance, individualism, and masculinity. The power distance relates to the level of acceptance and expectations from the weaker members of the society in relation to equal distribution of power. Individualism refers to the preference for a social structure where it is expected that people will take care of their own needs and those of their family members. The masculinity is a representation of choice for heroism, achievement, material rewards and assertiveness for success. Australia has a power distance score of 36 as compared to the U.S which has 40. This is relative terms represents a belief that rejects inequality in Australia than the US. Australia has a score of 90 on individualism, whereas the US has 91. This suggests that both Australia and the U.S are individualistic nations where people are expected to be self-reliant or independent. Looking at masculinity, Australia has a score of 61 as compared to the U.S at 62. Both the two nations are considered to be masculine society. This means there is competitiveness among people and everyone one wants to succeed, with more competition in the U.S than in Australia (Compare countries, 2017).

Cross-cultural communication experience

The experience I have ever had involving cross-cultural communication is when doing rehearsals to present my project proposal while working with the defense forces. I had invited colleagues to listen and help me correct some mistakes before doing the final presentation. In the process of performance, I was aggrieved and angered by the criticism received from one of them and chose not to tell about it. This saw our relationship deteriorating. After three days, I went and opened up to him, and due to this conversation, every conflict was resolved. The principle tools I used were identifying the difference, and the similarity between my cultural practice and orientation and the person who I thought had wronged me. Again I had to accept the differences and tried to create a balance between us, and the issues were resolved amicably.

When the cross-cultural misunderstandings occurred between my colleagues, I avoided any confrontation and kept silent about the issue for some days to give it a definite thought. I was able to prevent the misunderstanding by asking supplementary questions to get clear what my colleague meant by the criticism; taking time to learn their long-term orientation, and analyzing the difference between their opinions and the facts (Cultural Communication, 2017).

Techniques and skills

In today’s global business environment, especially the working set up, one need to learn the way of navigating across the landscapes of different cultures, that is knowing how they do business and trade; an idea into how these cultures do communication and the way they manage other people. As a Military person, one needs to take a journey of understanding other people’s cultures because your colleagues come from across the country, not to mention the millions of people you have to protect and interact with on a daily basis (YouTube, 2017). This leads to the development of cultural intelligence to communicate confidently across different cultures in the world.



References

Compare countries - Hofstede Insights. (2017). Hofstede Insights. Retrieved 22 November

2017, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/

Cultural Communication Barriers in the Workplace. (2017). Smallbusiness.chron.com.

Retrieved 22 November 2017, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/cultural-communication-barriers-workplace-13888.html

National Culture - Hofstede Insights. (2017). Hofstede Insights. Retrieved 22 November

2017, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/

YouTube. (2017). Mail.google.com. Retrieved 22 November 2017, from

https://www.youtube.com/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/15fe38bd2b60fb27?projector=1