Cross-Cultural Competence in Global Business Scenarios

The document underscores the critical role of cross-cultural competence in international business settings, where understanding diverse communication protocols is paramount. It discusses various aspects like cultural adaptation, diversity management, and the pitfalls of stereotyping. Ethical considerations are also highlighted, suggesting that universal values can coexist with respect for cultural differences to foster an inclusive workplace environment. Through references from scholarly journals, it illustrates how businesses can enhance their competitive edge by addressing these challenges effectively.

Running Head: MGT 211
MGT 211
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Answer to question 1...........................................................................................................2
Answer to question 2...........................................................................................................2
Answer to question 3...........................................................................................................3
Answer to question 4...........................................................................................................4
Answer to question 5...........................................................................................................4
Answer to question 6...........................................................................................................5
Answer to question 7...........................................................................................................5
References............................................................................................................................7

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Answer to question 1
Cross-cultural communication or CCC is a business issue considering the globalisation
and advancement in technology. To make a business global, one needs to work with diverse
workforce. It implies strong understanding of culturally diverse people communicate, speak or
perceive the world around them. Lack of awareness of different business and communication
strategies, customs and beliefs hinders the business dealings. CCC is affected by the power
distance, high-context vs. low-context cultures, language differences. It is business issue as it
may lead to trust issues and affect the interpersonal relationship with subordinates. Ethical issues
may arise if each other’s culture, values and norms are not respected. For instance, the American
workers may point finger during non-verbal communication. It is considered rude in other
cultures. This may lead to miscommunications and act as barrier to express the product or service
ideas (Padhi, 2018).
Answer to question 2
CCC is an ethics issue as it is difficult to communicate effectively in the global
environment. Ethical and cultural differences can lead to miscommunication. For instance,
exchanging gifts is respectful for business in some countries but in other countries it may be
considered bribery. It may be offending to adopt another culture, or compromise on personal
cultural identity for some people. Ethical issues arise when individual worth and dignity is not
maintained in culturally diverse workplace. Failure to prefer commonality and universality
instead of separateness leads to ethical dilemmas. Further, it may be difficult for mangers to
comprehend how to behave, due to differences in cultural traditions, history, and level of
development (Trevino & Nelson, 2016).

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Understanding of ethics will help people to treat the culturally diverse people with same
respect and dignity, they expect for themselves. Understanding of CCC can help the
professionals to act emphatically and try to deal with other culture as accurately as possible.
Professional can be more tolerant, that is encouraging culturally diverse people to express their
ideas and views and strive to identify with other people’s cultures (Padhi, 2018). Understanding
of ethics in CCC will assist the managers to balance the ethical imperialism and cultural
relativism during ethical dilemmas. They will respect other people human dignity, human rights,
and traditions (Demuijnck, 2015).
Answer to question 3
The author intends to explain that effective communication can lead to strong
organisational performance. Effective communication is necessary to overcome
misunderstandings due to cultural and ethical differences. An organisation can gain competitive
advantage by learning the in pact of the globalisation on the cross cultural communication.
Effective communication is the internal strength of any organisation as per the author. It will
allow the employees to share their ideas and innovative strategies (Padhi, 2018). Effective
communication is the medium to transfer knowledge. Hence, the author emphasise on
developing internal communication capacity to overcome the economic challenges and external
threats. To work towards common organisational goals and objectives, the employees must be
aware of the products and services of the company and its difference with the competitors. Only
through CCC, can a business devote more time and resources for gaining competitive advantage.
Without internal communication capacity, a chaos may arise that will hinder the process of
tackling the external threats (Kaul, 2014).

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Answer to question 4
It means culturally proficiency do not ask for merely accepting the cultural differences.
Instead it emphasise on having skills, attitudes, beliefs and knowledge that allows one to support
and respond effectively in cross-cultural setting. It is the skill of an individual to respond
effectively to people who differ from them (John & Roberts, 2017). It implies for the mangers to
understand how and when to speak to employees from different cultures to meet the
organisational objectives. It will allow building value for the stakeholders (Lindsey & Lindsey,
2016). It means the focus should be on a transformational process. Cultural proficiency as per
author means to acknowledge the interdependence in workforce align with the group other than
their own. The author intends to emphasise on ability to create environment that welcomes and
values the culturally diverse individuals, to infuse multicultural perspective in implementing
particular business strategy. It means eliminating the culture of stereotyping (Padhi, 2018).
Answer to question 5
Respecting individual differences is beneficial in workplace both for employers and
associates. It is an effective way to maintain workplace diversity and equality. It will increase
workplace productivity and competitive advantage. The other advantages include improvement
in marketing opportunities, creativity, recruitment, and business image (Sharma, 2016). As each
individual is unique, the managers must understand the consequences of discrimination. It is
different from promotion of cultural adaptation in workplace. Cultural adaptation may only lead
to adjusting to different culturally dissimilar backgrounds. However, this may involve ethical
issues, due to cultural shock during adjustment stage (Croucher et al., 2017). To create
innovation one need to infuse multicultural perspective, for which it is mandatory to consider
individual opinions and respect the same (Petrakis et al., 2015). It may not be effective to use

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same leadership style for all people. With different people in the organisation, the need to be in
contact with different people also varies. Cultural adaption may only lead to memorising the
cultural nuance of every market. It may not promote active listening and respecting others
perspectives and ideas (Padhi, 2018).
Answer to question 6
The author explains that effective cross cultural communication does not need to spend
excess time in strengthening the internal communication capacity. These companies are
successful in overcoming the external communication issues. Therefore, these companies gain
competitive advantage. These companies where employees have undergone intercultural training
have better awareness of the cultural nuances. These employees demonstrate understanding of
how culture may impact communication with customers and clients. The employees demonstrate
effective communication style, appreciation of seniority, meeting and greeting skills of different
cultures, meeting etiquette, and strong negotiation tactics (Deardorff, 2017). Thus, the companies
successfully communicating cross-culturally have a competitive advantage. It means that
intercultural training fosters productivity and proficiency. These companies are successful as
they are able to overcome misunderstandings due to prejudices and personal bases. Thus, an
organisation can effectively meet the objectives.
Answer to question 7
Stereotyping may prove to be hindrance in the workplace in regards to communication.
Stereotyping is the development of the assumptions regarding other members in the group. Such
prejudices can lead to miscommunication. Overemphasising the cultural differences leads to
misunderstandings of gestures even though positive. Every culture has a protocol to identify an

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appropriate behaviour. For instance, if Americans are perceived to be aggressive and intolerant,
it may not hold true for all the Americans. Taken for granted beliefs can affect the personal
attitudes and expectations when communicating with people from different culture (Padhi,
2018). Overemphasising the individual differences may hinder the management’s ability to use
the employee’s skills to their full potential. It may affect the decision-making skills of the
managers. Employees may feel deprived of opportunities. It may decrease their morale and
productivity (Korez Vide, & Jurše, 2016). It implies that the organisations must take cognizance
of the differences. At the same time there should be a unity in diversity. Stereotyping in many
companies have led to high turnover rate, poor performance and high rate of absenteeism.
Consequently, it may affect the company’s revenues due to dissatisfied customers. A firm may
lose competitive advantage due to lack of open communication culture. It leads to failure
implementing the diverse employee perspectives. It acts as barrier to creativity, innovation,
problem solving and competitive abilities (Trąpczyński et al., 2016).

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References
Croucher, S. M., Kelly, S., Condon, S. M., Campbell, E., Galy-Badenas, F., Rahmani, D., ... &
Nshom, E. (2017). A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between cultural adaptation
and argumentativeness. International Journal of Conflict Management.
Deardorff, D. K. (2017). Cross‐Cultural Competence. The International Encyclopedia of
Intercultural Communication.
Demuijnck, G. (2015). Universal values and virtues in management versus cross-cultural moral
relativism: An educational strategy to clear the ground for business ethics. Journal of
Business Ethics, 128(4), 817-835.
John, M. T., & Roberts, D. G. (2017). Cultural adaptation in the workplace. Taylor & Francis.
Kaul, A. (2014). Effective business communication. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Korez Vide, R., & Jurše, M. (2016). THE ROLE OF STEREOTYPING IN A CULTURALLY
DIVERSE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT. Teorija in Praksa, 53(5).
Lindsey, D. B., & Lindsey, R. B. (2016). Build Cultural Proficiency to Ensure Equity. Journal of
Staff Development, 37(1), 50-56.
Padhi, D. (2018). The Rising Importance of Cross Cultural Communication in Global Business
Scenario. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science. Retrieved 23 January
2018, from http://www.questjournals.org/jrhss/papers/vol4-issue1/E412026.pdf

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Petrakis, P. E., Kostis, P. C., & Valsamis, D. G. (2015). Innovation and competitiveness: Culture
as a long-term strategic instrument during the European Great Recession. Journal of
Business Research, 68(7), 1436-1438.
Sharma, A. (2016). Managing diversity and equality in the workplace. Cogent Business &
Management, 3(1), 1212682.
Trąpczyński, P., Puślecki, Ł., & Jarosinski, M. (Eds.). (2016). Competitiveness of CEE
Economies and Businesses: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Challenges and
Opportunities. Springer.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.