Problems of Ethnocentric Viewpoint in Intercultural Communication

COMMUNICATION

ESSAY:
What are the problems of an ethnocentric viewpoint if you are trying to communicate with
a person/group from another culture?
Intercultural communication is the very debatable issue these days. This is because the countries
and the businesses are becoming multicultural and diversified and thus the people have to
communicate with other people from different culture. As the culture of the people is different
thus, it becomes difficult for them to understand the perspectives of each other. This is because
of the values and the beliefs of the people that are based on the culture of the people. Due to
these differences in language, culture, beliefs etc., many barriers to communication developed
and this makes the communication less effective in nature. Ethnocentrism is one of the major
barriers to communication (Kinder and Kam, 2010).
Ethnocentrism can be considered as the belief in the superiority of the one’s own ethnic group. It
can be described as the feeling of the people who judge another’s culture solely on the beliefs
and values of their own. It has been analysed that the people with the behaviour or nature of
being ethnocentric tends to be biased for their own culture and do not easily accept the other
culture (Hsu and Nien, 2008). These ethnic distinctions and divisions act as the basis for cultural
identity. Ethnocentrism may be overt or subtle, and while it is considered a natural proclivity of
human psychology in everyday life, it has developed a generally negative connotation (Zafer
Erdogan and Uzkurt, 2010).
As far as the business communication is concerned, it has been realized that conducting business
communication across the organisation with ethnic diversities is very difficult. It has been
analysed that many problem rose due to change in culture and thus the perceptions of the people
regarding the similar situation (Jang, 2013). When any of the individual from one culture unable
to understand the culturally determined differences or perceptions in communication practices,
values, beliefs, morals of another person from different culture than it creates issues. The main
reason that has been found for the problem is the ethnocentric nature of one of the other person.
If one person clings to the ethnocentric nature or view then it becomes a problematic situation for
both to communicate effectively.