Cross Cultural Communication and its Importance in Business

This article discusses the importance of cross cultural communication in the modern day business environment. It covers the definition of cross cultural communication, its importance in business, the role of ethics, cultural differences between UK and Australia, and strategies to overcome cross cultural barriers.

MANAGEMENT

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Cross Cultural Communication
Cross cultural communication is very much essential in the modern day business
environment. Since CCC has a long term effect on the collaborative working. In the big
multinational firms this challenge even gets bigger. It is a field of study which deals in the
way in which people from different cultures interact with each other, in similar and dissimilar
ways among themselves. CCC also deals in the way people from different community
endeavour to communicate with each (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). This has become very
important in the time when the globalisation is at its peak and technology has made world a
global village. This can be understood by the example of the people from Australia and
United Kingdom coming from different sections of the society. CCC allows people to
understand each other culture and work according with each other so that nobody gets
offended or felt left alone. CCC management always makes a guideline for the things that
needs to done and things that are not to be done by the people while interacting with the
people from a particular community or cultural background. CCC requires an
interdisciplinary approach which involves understanding in the fields like cultural studies,
communication, anthropology, and psychology (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2011).
Cross cultural communication is of higher importance in the business. Since companies are
working on the global platforms having people from different sections of the society. In such
an environment CCC plays a very important role in proper flow of information. In the
expansion process also CCC has a vital role (Carbaugh, 2013). In the management of
international networks of suppliers and distributors cross cultural communication is very
much crucial. Respecting each other cultures is very much crucial in the modern day
business. This cannot be possible without having a good CC infrastructure. In business it has
moved towards the treatment of interethnic relation and also in the direction of study of
communicational strategies utilised by co-cultural populations i.e. communication strategies
utilised for dealing with main stream population.
Ethics is very much important in the modern day business as it helps the company to improve
its way of doing business. The purpose of ethics is to define acceptable behaviour of human
by knowing the action type, its consequences. It is used for limiting both human and their
actions. In business ethics helps in improving the business conduct which has effect on all the

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associated stakeholders of the firm. By implementing business ethics, company can improve
its moral code of conduct. It prevents people from adopting immoral, unfair, unlawful or
irresponsible business practices (Bochner, 2013). The companies that adopt ethical standards
lower towards any legal claims against the company.
Cross cultural communication are helpful in managing business units by implementing best
of communication models. Communicational gap between the employees may be created due
to lack of cross cultural communication framework present inside the firm. In the
international business development also CCC helps to a great extent while ensuring that no
ethical issues arise against any company (Martin & Nakayama, 2013). CCC is important to
ethics as there is large amount people from different parts of the world and their
understanding may different in terms of they interact. For example any act can mean a very
different thing in two different cultures. This is also true with the use of words as they have
very different types of meaning in the two languages. This if gets offensive then can create an
ethical situation. Inter-cultural communication helps the team mates to understand the
cultures of each other and hence reduces the chances of any ethical problems. It is the
communication that helps each other in creating cultural bond which plays a very essential
role in the managing ethics (Kumar, Anjum & Sinha, 2011). In Britain ethics is known as the
reflection of trust and nobility while Ethics in Australia is associated with the development of
the moral values inside the senses of individual.
Culture is defined by the characteristics and knowledge of the particular group of individuals,
encompassing religion, habits, music, art, languages, cuisine, arts and social habits. Some
researchers also define culture as a shared pattern of interactions and behaviours, cognitive
constructs and understanding that is gained by socialisation. The uniqueness of the people is
maintained but the growth of the group identity is fostered by the help of social patterns
which is unique to that group only (Tayler, 2011). Shared values, behaviour, cumulative
deposit of knowledge, notion of time, spatial relations and material object are some of the
other ways in which culture gets defined. Culture is also defined in terms of food, clothing
(what they wear and how they wear), music, language and the things in which they believe to
be right or wrong. To some extent culture is defined in terms of behaviour.
Culture of United Kingdom is very different from that of Australia. It has been a developed
state from centuries and mostly has a Christian religious life. Cinema, art, theatre, philosophy
and education are an essential part of their culture. They have been a cultural super power

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from century and were the cultural capital of the world (Esty, 2009). They are known for their
innovations and hence facilitated the growth of Industrial Revolution. Their cultural has
effect on law, culture and education. There is large cultural diversity exist in the UK as large
numbers of people from different parts of the world constitute their population. This has also
effected the social environment of the country. Food and drinking habits have also changed
due to these changing demographics. The culture is mostly formed from three major elements
religion, class system and human interaction. Their culture has a glimpse of royal presence in
each and every part of their functions.
On the other hand Australia is majorly a western culture and is extended from the culture of
Britain. Australia also derives its cultural inputs from Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander.
There is significant Anglo-Celtic heritage that involves predominance of the English as a
language. There is democratic system in the country (Altman & Hinkson, 2010). Christianity
dominates in terms of religious practices. Aboriginal people came to this island around 60000
years ago. They have a unique English ascent and around 80% of the people in the country
speak the same language. Humour is an essential part of their culture. Australian culture
tradition is highly reflected in their arts. It architecture also has a glimpse of European
architecture. Drinking habits is increasing in Australian society which can be seen from the
increasing wine consumption in the country.
There is huge similarity that lies between the UK and Australian Culture. Australia has been
the colony of Britain for over the years. This is the major reason why in most of the aspects
of the Australian culture there is a glimpse of UK culture. Australian language is dominated
by English which originated from UK (Biddle & Swee, 2012). The work cultures in both the
countries are also similar. In both the cultures self-image has a greater role when compared
with other nations of the west. Both the countries follows same types of religious believes
which also gets reflected back in their celebrations and festivals. Dressing sense in both the
countries is similar this is also followed in the business attires. Their heritages are also similar
and have a similar kind of design. Both the countries have cricket as their national sport as it
was the most popular game in earlier times. Both the nations are giving their time in
improving the fitness and products centres which looks attractive and in particular shape.
Australian people love more playing games, going at outdoor locations and engaging in
adventures life style while Britishers love to engage more in art, design, education,
innovation etc. Australians are more open in terms of communication while people of UK are

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understood to be a more diplomatic (Kramsch, 2014). Australians are understood for having
polite and open to all type of communication while people of UK are understood to be having
restricted type of mentality. The food habits of the people also differ in both the nations.
Australians have greater affinity towards spices while Britishers use less spices in their food
(Stout, 2011). In Australia the meetings tends to be short while in Britain people do not open
up too quickly (Maude, 2011). Australian cultures also are not very much towards innovation
and similar practices while the people of UK are always in search of some new kind of
innovative products. This is the major reason that they are forerunners of Australians in terms
of fashion, culture, technology, transportation, lifestyle and many things. Australian loves to
live in present while the people from UK are more towards living in the past.
Due to the cultural differences in both the countries, people from both the countries will have
to look at certain things that have created cultural barriers. It is seen that people from the
nations have prejudices about each other. This changes the narrative in the minds of people
and the way they interact with each other. Pre-judies permits communicational gap that do
not allow people to judge each other and their behaviours (Gerver, 2013). This also starts
people to think in a different way about the things that was told by the people. This is
understood to be as one of the biggest barriers in the Cross cultural communication.
Misinterpretation of language also occurs due to the tone of people in both the nations. Facial
expressions and the way they talk to each other without understanding each other behaviour
also act as a barrier. This is because language is also understood as imitation of culture and
dissimilar cultures and hence has very different kinds of ways of transmitting senses to
words. The body language and other actions can also create barrier in the CCC. For instance
making proper eye connections is important in the UK culture while in Australia to much eye
contact is understood as a sign of being over proud (Dockery, 2010). Cultural dissimilarities
between the two nations create a difference in the body language which creates a cross
cultural barrier. Apart from this Stereotyping is another big barrier in this regards where the
members of the group make assumptions about the other group or cultural identity. Large
numbers of stereotyping in the communication can ruin the conversation as well as restricts
people from gaining understanding about each other. In Australia friendly nature is
appreciated and any decisions are taken with consent of everyone. This is not so much in the
case of Britain environment where people speak when they are asked to. Too much
involvement is understood to be unprofessional and this might create a problem for the
people working in Britain and coming from Australian origin.

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In order to reduce the effect of these barriers organisations and individuals will have to make
effective plans for their development. People need to adopt strategies for avoiding the barriers
that restricted their development and growth. The first thing that needs to be done is to
remove the prejudices. This will help in learning new things about the culture of the other
person. It also important to remove stereotypes as well which will help in removing
disagreement to their culture. In order to remove barriers it is advised that company do some
kind of research on the pattern of language of other person from other community (Williams,
2011). This will remove the barriers such as difference in pitch and understanding the
variation in patterns. Apart from this doing behaviour study can also benefit people. This will
also help in adopting that behavioural pattern and communicate accordingly. This help in
understanding the variations in the tone.
Apart from this in order to remove cross cultural barriers company must do research and
should learn from different training coarse so as to improve the understanding about that
culture. Cross cultural training in the organisation should help in building the better
understanding about every individual within the firm (Hooker, 2012). There must be
understanding about the basics of the CC communication so that people can interact with all
the people irrespective of their cultural identity or differences.

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