Communicating in a World of Diversity

The Opportunities in a Global Marketplace
Thanks to communication and Transportation technologies, natural boundaries and national borders are no longer the impassable barriers they once were. Local Markets are opening to worldwide competition as businesses of all sizes look for new growth opportunities outside their own countries. Thousands of U.S. businesses depend on exports for significant portions of their revenues. 


Advantage of a Diverse workforce 
 Even if you never visit another country or transact business on global scale, you will interact with colleagues from a variety of cultures, with a wide range of characteristics and life experiences. Over the past few decades, many companies have changed the way they approach diversity, from seeing it as legal requirement to seeing it as strategic opportunity to connect with customers take advantage of the broadest possible pool of talent. Smart business leaders recognize the competitive advantages of a diverse workforce that offers a broader spectrum of view points and ideas, helps companies understand and identify with diverse markets. 


The Diversity of today's workforce brings distinct advantages to business: 

1.  A broader range of views and ideas
2. A better understanding of diverse, fragmented markets
3.  A broader pool of talent from which to recruit 

The challenges of Intercultural Communication

The  workforce today is made up of skills, traditions backgrounds, experiences, outlooks, and attitudes toward work- all which can affect communication in the workplace. Supervisors face the challenge of connecting with these diverse employees, motivating them, and fostering cooperation among them. Teams face the challenge of working together closely, and companies are challenged to coexsist peacefully with business partners and with the community as a whole. 

The way you communicate is deeply influenced by the culture in which you were raised.  The meaning of words, gestures, the importance of time and space, the rules of the human relationships- these and many others are defined by culture.  Your culture also influences the way you think, which naturally affects the way you communicate as both a sender and receiver.

Culture Influences everything about Communication:  
Understand these 5 examples in order to understand a culture's practices. 

1.  Language
2.  Nonverbal signals
3. Word meaning
4.  Time and Space issues
5.  Rules of human relationships

Simple gestures can mean different things for people of different cultures, and can affect business communication.

Developing Cultural Competency 

Cultural Competency includes an appreciation for cultural differences that affect communication and the ability to adjust one's communication style to ensure that efforts to send and receive messages across cultural boundaries are successful. It requires a combination of attitude, knowledge, and skills. 

Understanding The Concept of Culture

Culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and behavior norms. You belong to several cultures, each of which affects the way you communicate. You learn culture both directly (be being instructed) and indirectly (by observing others. Cultures tend to offer views of life that are both coherent (internally logical) and complete (able to answer all of life's big questions). 

The next step is to Overcome Ethnocentrism & Stereotype

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge all other groups according to the standards, behaviors, and customs of one;s own group. Stereotyping is assigning generalized attributes to an individual on the basis of membership in a particular group. Culture pluralism is the acceptance of multiple creatures of their own terms. You can avoid ethnocentrism and stereotyping by avoiding assumptions and judgments and by accepting differences.  

Here are Some Helpful Tips:

• Avoid assumptions- Don't assume that others will act the same way you do, or operate the from the same values and beliefs. 
• Avoid judgments- When people act differently, don't conclude that they are in error or that their way is invalid
• Acknowledge distinctions- Don't ignore the differnces  between anther person's culture and your own. 

Recognize Culture Differences

There are eight main types of culture differences. 

1. Legal and Ethical Differences
2. Social Differences
3. Nonverbal Differences
4. Age Differences
5. Religious Differences
6. Ability Differences
7. Gender Differences

Adapting to Other Business Cultures

Whether you're trying to work productively with members of another generation in a office or with a business partner on the other side of the world, adapting your approach is important to successful communication.  This section of the blog will give advice on how to adapt to any business culture. 

• Become aware of your own biases-Successful intercultural communication requires more than just an understanding of the party's culture; you need to understand your own culture and the way it shapes your communication habits.
• Ignore the "Golden Rule"- "Treat people the way you want to be treated." The problem with that is  that other people don't always want to be treated the same way you want to be treated. Just treat people the way they want to be treated. 
• Exercise tolerance, flexibility, and respect- " Try to manage our people and our practices in ways that are respectful of the core principals of any given country or organization culture." Ron Glover
• Practice patience and maintain a sense of humor- Professionals make mistakes. It is important to be patient with one another. As a business becomes more global, even people in the most tradition cultures are learning to deal with outsiders more patiently and overlook occasional cultural boundaries. 

An important step in understanding and adapting to other cultures is to recognize the influences that your own culture has on your communication habits.