Intercultural Communication Research

This assignment focuses on the field of intercultural communication. It requires analysis of various scholarly sources exploring topics like fostering intercultural competence in language learners, understanding cross-cultural communication barriers, and examining the role of social engagement in adapting to new cultures. The provided texts delve into research methods, theoretical frameworks, and practical implications within intercultural communication.

Running head: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS
Effective Business Communications
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Diagnosis and reflection..................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................8
Action plan.....................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
The assessment is done for managing the reflective practices by utilizing the various
diagnostic tools and feedbacks for identifying the personal skills and abilities to improve the
efficiency of the communication process in an effective way. By assessing the various diagnostic
tools, it will be easy to review the cores obtained, based on which, more knowledge and skills
will be gained for evaluating the best practices of managing communication at the workplace of
business organisation. The utilization of various diagnostic tools will also help in improving the
self-reflection, further can allow improving the communication competencies and performing
exceptionally. This will not only improve the process of communication within the workplace
but will also allow for analysis of various areas of verbal communication, non-verbal,
assertiveness perception and active listening too.
Diagnosis and reflection
The diagnostic tools are assessed here to improve the cross-cultural communication and
ensure maintaining proper values and ethics within the working environment. This could not
only improve my own ability to interact with others from different backgrounds and cultures, but
would also allow me to present myself as a successful listener and speaker in front of many
people. Diagnostic tools help the individuals to assess the level of their communication skills.
The ratings make them aware of the current level in which they are venturing in terms of societal
communication (Neuliep, 2017). The following section undertakes five diagnostic tools, which
acts assistance for the individuals in terms of conducting self-assessment from the perspective of
communication skills. Reflective tone of the segment enlivens the diagnosis for the readers in
terms of polishing their present communication skills.

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The first diagnostic communication tool is Self Perceived Communication Competence
Scale (SPCC). This scale makes the individuals independent in terms of assessing the
competency level regarding their communication skills (McCroskey, 2015). From the name, it
can be inferred that the tool is a reflection for the individuals regarding their competence about
cross- cultural communication. My competency level towards communication is moderate.
Typical evidence of this lies in the scores. My score for presenting talk to my friends is 3. This
indicates my weak approach towards public communication. I can rate my conversation with
acquaintance as 5, which reflect a better performance regarding talking with an acquaintance.
For conversation with friends, I can score my performance as 6, which supports the fact that I am
very comfortable in the presence of my friends. I have no hesitations to say that I am
incompetent in terms of talking with strangers, the score for which is 4, This is because I stumble
in the presence of strangers and lose confidence. However, I can frankly point out that when I am
with my best friend, I am competent towards sharing my thoughts, feelings and emotions. This
competency can be scored as 7, which is an evidence for the fact that same mentality
companionship enhances my communication skills.
My score for talking in large meetings of acquaintances is 8 , which projects my
capability towards voicing out my opinions even when I am among the acquaintances. However,
this is not up to the standards of benchmark level of performance. When I am talking with a
stranger, I become nervous. I lose track of the words. For this, I can rate myself as 1, as I cannot
disagree the fact that I do not have good command over my communication skills amidst
strangers. In terms of communicating with a group of friends, my score is 12, which represents
better performance in terms of communication with a group of friends. In contrast to this, my
score for communicating with a small group of friends is 15, as I can freely voice out my

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feelings to them. Score for communication in a large group of strangers is 20. Strangers
aggravate my nervousness in terms of communication skills. 20 is a high score however, it
contrasts my confidence towards talking with a large number of strangers. Therefore, the total
score for Self Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) is 81, which indicates my
high SPCC. This means I have high self- perceived competence with communication in the
public meetings, which contradicts my actual confidence level.
The second diagnostic communication tool is Personal Report Intercultural
communication Apprehension (PRICA). This tool is of utmost importance in terms of
addressing the apprehensions, which play a major role in the intercultural communication
(Lindlof & Taylor,2017). I also conducted this test. My score for communication with the people
of different cultures is 5, which indicates my strong agreement regarding my low comfort level
while communicating with the people belonging to the different cultures. I can rank myself as 3,
which represents my neutrality regarding indulgence in cross cultural communication. In terms
of my approach towards dealing with people from different culture, my score is 2. This is
because I would not disagree that I hesitate to take the concept of communicating with people
from different cultural backgrounds. I have no doubts in pointing that my thoughts get mixed up
upon the mention of cross cultural communication. On this basis, I can score myself as 5, as I
strongly agree that my thought process goes weak while facing people from other cultures.
Therefore, the total score for my Intercultural communication Apprehension is 15. This score
represents my low apprehension for cultural communication. Along with this, the score
represents my incapability to deal with the aspect of intercultural communication. This
incapability hampers the development of communication skills. Low score in terms of
intercultural apprehension acts as an obstacle for me in terms of enriching my preconceived

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skills, expertise and knowledge. Moreover, low score compels me to suffer taunts and mocking
regarding the possession of poor communication skills.
Third diagnostic communication tool is Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-
S). Non-verbal immediacy measures the behaviors, which generate positive feelings in the minds
of the persons for others (Sterling et al., 2016). I feel proud that I underwent this test to assess
my approach when talking with others. I often use my hands for talking with people, which
indicates my score of 4. When I am talking with people, rarely voice becomes dull. This ranks
me as 2. Sometimes, when I do not want my weakness to be publicized, I avoid eye contact with
others. This habit of mine can be scored as 3, which indicates my occasional activity of not
looking into the eyes of others while talking. I never use various vocal variations while talking to
others. For this, the score of 1 is appropriate. Very often, I sit while talking to others, which
depicts my score as five in terms of self-scale communication report. I occasionally smile at
people while communicating with them, which ranks me as 3. My score for touching people
while talking is 3. This is because, I occasionally touch people while talking to them. Therefore,
the total score is 13, which indicates very low nonverbal immediacy regarding self-scaling. This
indication attaches a negative connotation towards my self-assessment, which is an evidence for
the fact that I am fully aware of myself. Based on my sores, I can say that my communication
competencies need to be upgraded. This needs consideration of my approach towards
communicating with people of other cultures.
The diagnostic tool used for promoting effective intercultural communication could be
the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety or PRPSA. As the name suggests, this tool
used for communication focuses on the anxieties and issues faced while speaking in front of
many people. Often individuals within the workplace, though can interact with one or two people

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easily, finds it difficult to communicate or speak in front of people. This hinders his ability to
express his feelings and present his ideas and opinions that may be helpful for making business
decisions and bring out positive outcomes. Due to this, I have been left less connected with
multiple people at the same time and sometimes I even get nervous to deliver a speech in front of
others. Though my listening and speaking skills are good enough, still it sometimes become
difficult for me to talk in front of many people and it lower my level of morale too. I even felt
increased heartbeat while standing in front of others during the delivery of a speech. This even
made me more tensed because of thinking that very little time might be left to speak out in front
of so many people. The scores for items 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 20, 21, 30, 32, 33 is 140, which is quite
high and it shows that I need to overcome the nervousness and anxiousness to deliver the speech
properly and present myself as a successful speaker in the future.
Based on the talkaholic scale, this kind of tool assesses the behaviors of the individuals
who talk more than the actual expectations. They are responsible for talking with single
individual and even talk more in the presence of multiple people at a particular place. The
talkaholic scale also demonstrates the abilities to communicate with people from diverse
backgrounds and at the same time, understand whenever and wherever required. According to
the components present in the talkaholic scale, the score for 2, 3,5,7,8,10,11,14 is 26 and it falls
between 10 50. My score is below 30, so it shows that I am a compulsive talker and have talked
in situations where it may have been important to keep quiet. This could often create
complexities for me and so, it would be essential for me to maintain certain things and not talk
unnecessarily whenever not needed.

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Literature review
Cross cultural communication perspective
According to Taylor, Nicolle & Maguire (2013), every business organisation holds a
specific culture through which values and ethics are maintained for managing communication
among the workers and at the same time, facilitate the psychological backgrounds and behaviors
of the individuals to communicate with each other within the organisation. Every organisation
consists of different kinds of cultures, because of which, it becomes difficult for communicating
with individuals from different backgrounds and cultures sometimes (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). It
is important that every employee communicate with each other and make sure that share and
exchange information and knowledge among themselves properly for discussing about various
tasks and maintain ethnicity within the workplace. Due to lack of communication within the
workplace, it might become difficult for managing the systems and business activities properly
and it could even result in poor skills and abilities to maintain communication between
employees belonging from different backgrounds and cultures (Taylor, Nicolle & Maguire,
2013). Due to lack of communication between people from different cultures, opinions and
responses are not shared among each other, which results in more complexities like language
barriers, cultural barriers and ineffective decisions made as well.
Based on Merkin, Taras & Steel (2014), Due to differences in the cultures, the ways of
managing communication among each also differ, which can result in language barriers. It is
often seen that places where English language are common, the style of communicating also
differs and people can respond as “yes”, “I can consider that” or even replying “definitely”. To
overcome the language barriers in cross cultural communication, it is important to manage non-
verbal communication through facial gestures and expressions and maintain communication

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among each other properly (Shebzukhova & Bondarenko, 2014). The attitudes and behaviors
also differ for people belonging from different backgrounds and cultures, because of which, it
may be difficult to deal with the conflicts that may arise. The ways of accomplishing the tasks by
the employees are different, because of which, the judgments and decisions made are different,
as a result of which, varied opinions and responses emerge, which has created inconsistency in
relationship too. Sometimes, the people from different backgrounds are less committed to the
accomplishment of tasks, which results in not valuing the relationships enabling (Han, 2013).
The decision-making styles are also different, which is another issue, because for proper
business functioning, opinions and responses are needed to be considered while making
decisions. Hurn & Tomalin (2013) stated that with proper coordination between the individuals,
sharing and exchange of information would be possible, thus could resolve the conflicts and
accomplish the organizational goals and objectives with ease and effectiveness. In terms of
epistemologies, there are differences between cultural groups of different organizations and so
the ways by which people gather necessary knowledge and information differ (Merkin, Taras &
Steel, 2014). The preference of cultures assist in better knowledge and information gaining along
with use of symbols, signs and rhythms to strive towards transcendence and ensures better
communication at the workplace (Djerasimovic, 2014).
To overcome the cross cultural or inter-cultural communication issues, the non-verbal
communication has been helpful for promoting transparency and diversity at the workplace to
focus on establishing proper communication channels. Based on the responses provided by
Kinloch& Metge (2014), People could also communicate with each other through written
communication techniques like by writing letters, emails and even sending messages to other
employees. This would help in managing transmission of messages and information properly and

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furthermore consider the opinions and responses of people working within the organization,
thereby ensuring accurate flow of information and messages within the organisation (Hurn &
Tomalin, 2013). This would also promote better communication and allow the workers to work
with each, consider each other’s opinions and responses and make effective business decisions
too.
Cross cultural communication apprehension
The concept of inter cultural communication apprehension is important for managing
proper communication between people from diverse backgrounds and cultures within the
organisation. With the advancement in both communication and transportation technologies, it is
important to consider the inter cultural communication apprehension for bringing together people
from different cultures and backgrounds by considering various aspects of contemporary human
life including the geographical factors, ethnicity and religions. Remaining sensitive to the
cultural differences has helped in reducing the level of ethnocentrism and remain consistent
while managing cross cultural or intercultural communications within the workplace (Kim &
McKay-Semmler, 2013). By using this diagnostic tool of communication, i.e., the intercultural
communication apprehension, relationships among the various components of intercultural
communication, ethnocentrism and diversified backgrounds and cultures could be maintained all
throughout. The intercultural sensitivity achieved through intercultural communication
apprehension could be assumed as the skills and capabilities of the individuals to show or present
their emotions and feelings to understand the differences across the cultures within the
organisation and promote positive behaviors and attitudes too (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). This
concept is one of the major aspects of the intercultural communication competence and so it
revolves around the various factors like the cognitive, affective and behavioral skills and

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capabilities. From these various aspects, it could be understood that the cognitive ability of
individuals could be understood by intercultural awareness whereas the sensitivity across
different cultures present the affective ability of individuals working within the organization. To
promote good intercultural communication among the people, it would be important as well for
maintaining the various stages starting from the ethnocentric stage to the ethno relative stage,
facilitated by the process of transformation (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014).
Models of communication
The Berlos’ communication model consists of various components including the sender,
receiver, channel and receiver. All these components are impacted by various factors including
the communication skills, attitudes and behaviors, knowledge and information shared and
exchanged along with consideration of various cultural perspectives. From the source, the sender
transmits the messages or information through proper communication skills to make sure that
those can be read, written and interpreted properly (Schullery, 2013). According to Shebzukhova
& Bondarenko (2014), the attitudes and behaviors of the individuals could represent the meaning
of the messages and become familiar with the knowledge on the subject matter and messages
that are transmitted. The messages dent by the sender are affected by the social systems too
including the values, beliefs, laws, rules and regulations while considering the culture.
Understanding the culture could help in evaluating the languages that would be appropriate to
communicate with other belonging from different backgrounds. A specific person might find it
offensive while talking to another person from different background where it has been accepted.
So, various things must be considered while interacting with people from different background
(Shebzukhova & Bondarenko, 2014).

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The messages must have a proper content and non-verbal components should be
presented with gestures, signs, languages, etc. The messages or information transmitted must be
informed to the receiver for obtaining their feedbacks after the messages are transmitted. The
structure of the messages demonstrates the content and efficiency of the messages whereas codes
are used in the form of text, audio or video clips that will be transferred to the receiver. The
channel of communication is very important, because it is a kind of non-verbal communication
where messages are transmitted by sending emails or by managing telephonic or video
conversations. The receiver must be able to understand the language in which the messages are
presented and make sure that the language barriers do not arise while managing intercultural
communication at the workplace (Merkin, Taras & Steel, 2014). The receiver should possess
good listening skills for understanding the messages transmitted by the sender and even respect
the culture and background from which the sender belonged.
Another model used for managing effective intercultural communication are Laswell’s
model of communication. This kind of model is useful for the analysis of mass communication
among people and understands the effects of communication between people. The different
elements of the model are control analysis, analysis of media, effects, audiences and content of
the messages that are shared or exchanged too (Djerasimovic, 2014).
Importance of communication within the workplace
Workplace communication is directly related to the enhancement in production and for
making the business properly. Through proper communication, employees would be able to
communicate with eac other from different cultures and backgrounds and improve their level of
morale, further contribute to the better productivity and commitment to the business outcomes.

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Djerasimovic (2014) stated that management of intercultural communication could also enhance
the language proficiency, skills and abilities of the individuals to obtain information and
knowledge about work conditions and get themselves fully engaged with the activities in the
workplace. Intercultural communication is promoted within the workplace by utilizing various
methods of communication including the visual and written aspects to manage successful flow of
information. Respecting each and everyone’s culture is important to speak in a straightforward
manner and remain precise according to the context. An ethical working environment is created
as well by promoting intercultural communication within the workplace through prevention of
discrimination and this maintained positive behaviors too (Hurn & Tomalin, 2013). Conflicts are
also resolved quite easily and interacting with different people from different backgrounds and
cultures foster the development and consideration of new ideas, opinions required for enhancing
the business operations’ effectiveness. By considering the responses, views and opinions of
others, it would facilitate the decision making process and promote two way communication
process. This would lessen up the hurdles faced while communicating with people from diverse
backgrounds and cultures and furthermore create good relationship between the employers and
employees. Therefore, the management of intercultural communication within the workplace
could enhance the production level, utilize the resources properly and ensure proper flow and
exchange of information to draw positive business outcomes and strive for excellence in the
future (Kim & McKay-Semmler, 2013).
Action plan
Action plan is presented to undertake certain approaches for resolving the communication
gaps and ensure management of proper communication at the workplace with ease and
effectiveness. There were communication related issues resulting because of the differences in

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cultures, which further created problems like language differences and even varied opinions and
responses. The changes in opinions hindered the making of successful business decisions too.
The cross cultural communication at the workplace can go through various cultural differences
due to certain factors including the difference in communication styles, the approaches
undertaken for accomplishing the tasks , the behaviors and attitudes differ, different decision
making styles and differences in approaches to obtain knowledge, information and skills too
(Kinloch & Metge, 2014). By promoting intercultural communication at workplace, it has
become easier to understand the diversity and made people belonging from the dominant cultures
to obtain relevant knowledge about the individuals who belong to some other culture. The action
is prepared to analyse the different approaches that can be undertaken for overcoming the cross-
cultural communication obstacles and maintain transparency and openness within the working
environment. Action plan consists of the various methods and techniques that assist in the
development of proper cross cultural communication and ensures smooth flow and exchange of
information and messages between the sender and receiver at the workplace (Schullery, 2013).
Action plan
Approaches
undertaken
Date of start Finishing date Time duration
Demonstrating the
issues arising because
of cross cultural
differences in
communication
1.4.18 5.4.18 5 days
Understanding the 6.4.18 9.4.18 4 days

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training needs for the
HR manager
responsible for the
management of
human resources and
cross cultural
communication at the
workplace
Identification of
objectives to enhance
the communication
process efficiency
10.4.18 11.4.18 2 days
Collecting feedbacks
and responses from
the individuals about
the intercultural
communication in the
form of data
12.4.18 21.4.18 10 days
Analysis of data 22.4.18 27.4.18 6 days
Evaluation of the
training program
28.4.18 29.4.18 2 days
Maintaining proper
values and ethics to
maintain good
30.4.18 1.5.18 2 days

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working conditions
and proper cross
cultural
communication
Gantt chart
Topic selection
Evalating the issues
Aims and objectives
Literature review
Data collection
Data analysis
Evaluation of outcomes
Final research submission
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Series 1
The action plan would not only identify the issues faced while managing cross cultural
communication at workplace but would also allow for identifying the training needs for the
human resources manager. The HR manager is solely responsible for managing the human
resources and communication within the workplace, it is essential to look into the
communication gaps and provide necessary training to make them skilled enough and facilitate
the cross-cultural communication between the employees working there. From the topic, I have
obtained relevant knowledge and skills about how to communicate with people from diverse
cultures and backgrounds. As a responsible HR manager, it would be important for me to pursue

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the training opportunities, advance towards my goals and objectives for facilitating the
communication process (Kinloch & Metge, 2014). This would enhance the business performance
through better productivity and better profit generation and allow me to succeed my personal and
professional career as well.
Conclusion
The topic illustrated about the management of effective cross cultural communication at
the workplace. The five diagnostic tools were used to assess the verbal, non-verbal, active
listening and assertiveness perception skills and ensured that people could communicate with
each other belonging from diverse backgrounds and cultures with ease and efficiency. A
literature review was presented to focus on the benefits of cross-cultural communication within
the workplace, which further facilitated the development of an action plan and justified the
planning for training needs of the HR manager. This further helped in managing the cross-
cultural communication and maintained transparency and openness without any sort of
discrimination within the workplace.

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