Intercultural Relations: Cultural Identity, Managerial Skills, and Communication Complexity

Intercultural Relations
1. Cultural identity is related to nationality

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Nationality is something that binds a person with an identity of the nation. There is a very
deep relation between the cultural identity and the nationality. The belongingness to a
particular group on the basis of cultural variances is known to be as the cultural identity.
Cultural identity is a feeling or the identity of belonging to a group. Most of the time, it is
understood as the self-perception and self-conception of an individual. Any person belonging
to a particular nation has same cultural identity. Cultural identity gets developed because of
the nation they belong to. For example a person from the particular country will have a
specific cultural background this will be reflected in their cultural identity (Samovar, Porter,
McDaniel & Roy, 2014). Like in the case of cultural identity people are generally attached to
the same ethnicity which could be seen through the stuffs they wear. In the business
organisations especially the multinational organisations have people from different cultural
background. This can be seen through the country of their belonging. Their traditional values
like the festivals and the practices can be somehow determined by the nation they are from.
For example an Indian working in the big IT firm like Microsoft in America will still
celebrate the festivals of their own irrespective of the fact that their host country is different.
For another person this cultural identity helps them to easily understand that the person
belongs to which country. At times it is seen that the people from the other nation might have
some different special traditions. This tradition automatically highlights and attaches them to
a particular nation (Neuliep, 2017).
Culture is largely developed according to the history that a country had in the future. The
socio-cultural history that a company had in the past always moulds the cultural identity of an
individual. Most of the time, the language that a person speaks is enough to identify that from
which country they might have link to in the past (Gallois & Giles, 2015). With the
increasing mobility, people have generated bicultural identity which they have generated
because they have lived in both these companies. With the increasing influence of multi-
national companies in the countries, the culture of the cities is changing. Many cosmopolitan
cities have emerged in various parts of the world having no specific cultural identity. This
defies the fact that cultural identity relates to nationality. Nations have provided a framework
for the cultural identities called as external cultural reality. This is having effect on the unique
internal cultural realities of the individuals within the country. Nation has a very larger role in
the cultural complexity as it is the foundation of the individual’s identity but it might contrast
with one’s cultural reality. Many countries that are based on the cultural basis are
contributing high to the development of the cultural identity (Ting‐Toomey, 2017). This can

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also be seen by the organisational culture present in any company. It will reflect the country
from where it originates or the place from where their owners are from.
2. Skills that are needed by managers for intercultural communication
Various types of problems arise in intercultural communication. In order to reduce these
problems, it is essential for the modern day managers to build certain kind of skills.
Effectiveness of communication depends on the type of skills that is present in any person.
This becomes further crucial for the managers in the multi-national organisation as there are
many people from different countries having diverse cultural backgrounds (Hua, 2013). If the
managers do not have intercultural skills, it is always difficult to manage day to day
operations. It is further difficult for human resource managers as they have to deal with
various aspects of employee development and assessment. In the age of interconnected
business, intercultural communication is the key to expand the business as well as ensure
smoothness in the business in various parts of the world. There are certain skills that are
developed by an individual in due course of their life while there are some skills that are
present by birth.
Intercultural differences are common and can be on the basis of various aspects like
standards, customs, behaviour, thought pattern, practices social norms. These are the traits of
cultural identity. The first skill that a manager must have is to respect these aspects ( Jackson,
2014). He or she must be capable enough to understand the differences and then react to it.
This understanding capacity helps the managers to know the needs of the individual which is
highly essential for the development of the employees. Another crucial skill that a manager
must have is the capacity to accept the diversity and adapt accordingly. This is necessary for
making the comfortable environment. Language barrier is most common in the intercultural
communication. This calls for the need that a manager must have the knowledge of at least
the languages that are common around the location of the company (Oetzel, 2017).
Apart from this it is also essential that manager must have the knowledge gaining skills. This
would help them in gaining knowledge related to the history of the culture or nation they
belong to. This helps in making a stronger relationship with the customers at the time of the
communication (Bennett, 2013). Managers should also have the art of negotiation since
negotiating skills plays a very crucial role in the intercultural communication especially the
business communication. A manager must have the skill to apologise to the counterpart in
case any differences arise in between the two. A manager also needs to have good team