Organization
Introduction
Over the past two decades, globalization and the boom in the online technology has made the world a very small place to live in. People from different cultures and different parts of the world have come together to work in the same environment and under the same roof. Work place diversity has grown leaps and bounds and all multi-national organizations have become a melting pot of different languages, beliefs and traditions (Ting-Toomey, 1994). In this essay, the ways how cultural differences impact the efficacy of communication in an organization would be discussed in detail.
Cultural or ethnic diversity basically refers to the situation where people belonging to varied religious and cultural background collaborate to conduct business operations. The scope of culture includes basic phenomenon like customs, traditions, values, ideas and beliefs. When doing business dealings with foreign affiliates, cultural differences become a hindrance because people expect the other party to behave in a certain way (Ting-Toomey, 1994). Thus, many important and precious business dealings get busted because people take offense in their cultural disparity.
The culture is not the property of a business, but is is the property of the people. The people who belong to low-context cultures tend to be action-oriented, linear and logical, while the people who belong to high-context culture tend to be intuitive, collectivist and contemplative. The examples of low-context cultures include Germany while the example of high-context culture include China and Japan (Bowe, & Martin, 2007). The people who belong to low-context culture are more inclined towards openness, and directness while communicating. They are also informal, literal and impatient. On the other hand, people belonging to high-context cultures tend to rely upon the non-verbal cues and embedded meanings and ambiguous messages for communicating. Thus, it is evident that the if two people belonging to high-context and low-context cultural background communicate for the purpose of business, they might not understand each other and reduce the efficacy of the organization or the entire business deal.
Another major factor which impacts communications in an organization is the language barrier. For example, in countries like the US, it is common for business colleagues to speak aggressively and assertively to each other. However, in countries like Japan, people strictly prohibit loud and aggressive conversations in work space, and believe in speaking softly and sharing ideas passively (Ting-Toomey, 1994). Thus, when a person from the US and Japan work in the same organization, they might face serious troubles while communicating because of their own understanding of language. This may lead to loss of efficiency in business deals and daily operations of the business operations.
Politics is another major factor which becomes a hindrance in the effective business dealings, when working with people belonging to different working countries. The present and past political influences affects the way a company or person does business. In some cultures, the sense of nationalism is very strong in the people and especially if the socio-economic status of the countries they belong to is different (Bowe & Martin, 2007). If for example a developed nation like the United States is conducting business with a developing nation like India, the difference in the political and socio-economic backgrounds lead to different objectives for the companies.
Conclusion.
Communication is the most detrimental factor behind the success and failure of any organization. In fact, for the successful and smooth execution of all the daily operations, effective channels for communication has become an imperative. Thus, one of the most important things that the business organizations should do is to understand the cultures of their clients, their target audience and also encourage their employees to learn about the cultures of their colleagues. Tolerance and patience is the key to handling cultural diversity in the work place with efficiency.
Works Cited
Bowe, H., & Martin, K. Communication across Cultures: Mutual Understanding in a Global World. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. (2007).
Ting-Toomey, S. (Ed). The challenge of facework: Cross cultural and interpersonal issues. Albany: State University of New York Press. (1994).
