Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges in Singapore and China

This report delves into the challenges of cross-cultural communication within multinational organizations, emphasizing the difficulties arising from cultural barriers and differences in language. The paper identifies key challenges in intercultural communication and explores potential misunderstandings, particularly in the context of integrating workforces from Singapore and China. It examines the impact of noise in communication, cultural differences, intercultural conflict, and the effects of culture shock and reverse culture shock. The report also analyzes the dimensions of cultural values and their influence on communication. Furthermore, it suggests strategies to improve workforce engagement and communication, including an internal communication and engagement plan to assist Singaporean management in interacting with their Chinese workforce. The report emphasizes the importance of cultural assimilation, language proficiency, and addressing technical and cultural differences to foster effective communication and collaboration.

Running head: CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Cross-Cultural Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The modern multinational organizations are observed to be significantly affected with
the issue of the cross cultural barriers. As the term implies, the multinational organizations
will be observed to have employees irrespective of their culture, national barriers or
language. The usual barrier that these organizations face is in integrating those employees
who belong to different cultures or languages or the societies. The cross cultural differences
has the potential to cause notable distraction inside an organization. This plays the role of the
destructor in the smooth conduction of the business operations of the multinational
organizations (Urbancová, 2013). The paper is focused in specifying the key challenges in the
intercultural communication and the identification of the potential misunderstandings. The
paper is able to portray a scenario where it will be able to evaluate the issues in the smooth
integration of two workforces belonging to Singapore. Apart from that the paper will state the
strategies which will be helpful in the improvement of the workforce engagement and the
communication. Along with that the paper will also include an internal communication and
engagement plan to assist the Singapore management for better communication and
engagement with the Chinese workforce.
Identification of the Intercultural Communication Challenges:
A general briefing regarding the possible sources of barriers will be notably good in
understanding the communication challenges faced by individuals of different cultures. The
smooth flow of the communication in the organizational level is significantly observed to get
ineffective due to the introduction of noise into it. According to the study of Martin &
Nakayama (2013), the noise is termed as interferences that reduces the clarity of the message
during the encoding and decoding processes. The noise can be divided into Psychological or
mental, Physical and environmental, Semantic or language usage and Channel (Carbaugh,
2013). Along with this, the occurrence of the noise is significantly involved with the
encoding and decoding of the messages along with the encoding and decoding of the

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feedbacks as well. Apart from this noise can also take place in cases where the suitable
channel is not used for the transfer of the message. In organizational level the channel is the
medium through which the information flows from a level of employees to another level. The
interview sessions were significant in expressing that the issues like the low picture quality
and audio quality can become a menace for the Singaporean management team in the
effective transfer of the messages to the Shanghai workforce. Along with that the signal
strength of the internet can also be a point of concern for the Singaporean team in effective
communication with the Chinese team. According to Almond & Verba (2015), culture is a
collected design of values, behaviours and beliefs that are shared by a common group of
people who has significant similarity in their history and verbal and non-verbal symbols.
However there are different aspects of culture present in the form of formal level, technical
level and informal level. Sahlins (2013), states that the formal or the on stage level is
concerned with the visible rules and roles, traditions, rituals, patterns of communication along
with the customs. According to the study of Cadden, Marshall & Cao (2013), the connection
between the culture and the communication is pretty strong as the communication is the main
medium for the learning of the culture. In depth analysis of the link between the culture and
the communication will confirm that the culture is transmitted or interpreted or taught
through the usage of the codes of communication may that be the common symbols, non-
verbal cues or the language (Babnik et al., 2014). The communication between the Shanghai
team and the Singapore management group will be difficult at times as considerable number
of words in both the languages have multiple different meanings.
The intercultural conflict is a case where the difference in the expectations of the
employees involved in the intercultural exchange is the main reason behind the generation of
the emotional frustration. This is observed to have three distinct stages in the form of Micro
or Individual, Immediate and Macro or Societal level (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). The general

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division of the conflict among the employees of the organization is observed to be divided
into five phases in the form of Latent Conflict, Perceived Conflict, Felt Conflict, Manifest
Conflict and the Conflict Aftermath (Samovar et al., 2014). A detail analysis of the phases
will portray that the latent conflict is the stage where the reason behind the conflict arises due
to the inherent differences in the values or the beliefs of different individuals. In case of the
Perceived stage, the interacting employees becomes well known about the differences and
starts to experience the frustration (Neuliep, 2017). In the Felt conflict stage, the interacting
employees are observed to examine the sources of motivations for themselves and the other
employees and also evaluates the magnitude of the problem (Hua, 2013). Apart from that, in
case of the Manifest conflict, the exhibition of the actual conflict behaviours take place. In
the Conflict Aftermath stage, the outcomes are observed to be assessed whether they are
productive or counterproductive. The interview findings were significant in stating that the
Chinese people face notable issues in maintaining their desired work life balance. The
Chinese people are observed to be affected to significant amount of job stresses and they
often get dissatisfied with their work pressure. The Singaporean management team needs to
mindful of the work-life balance of the Shanghai workforce in order to reduce the job
stresses.
Apart from that, one of the aspect of the cultural communication which has significant
influence is the cultural shock among the employees. The culture shock generally relates to
the employees who are the outsiders of a particular culture. According to the study of Van der
Zee & van Oudenhoven (2013), the concept of the culture shock defines that when a
particular employee enters a new culture which is completely unknown to him or her, the
employee is subjected to undergo four stages. Gunn (2017), confirms that these stages are the
honeymoon stage, hostility stage, adjustment stage and the adaption stage. At the initial
stages the employees who enter the new culture seems to be liking the change from the old

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culture to the new culture. The new culture, the food, the society and the work environment
seem to be fascinating for the employees at this stage (Jack, 2014). In the hostility stage, the
employees starts to experience the differences among the new and the old culture in a not so
good manner. This generates significant amount of dissatisfaction among the employees and
considerable amount of anxiety which initiates the culture shock (Lombard, 2014). In the
adjustment stage, the employees are usually in the new culture for 6 to 12 months and
somehow they starts to adjust to the new culture, language and the way of living (Yook,
2013). With more time in the new culture, the employees starts to become a master of the act
where the employees become well accustomed with the changes that had the potential to
create the culture shock. Along with the concept of culture shock, the employees who return
to the own land from a different culture, is also subjected to the reverse culture shock. The
concept of the reverse culture shock specifies that the employees who return to their own
culture or society after certain period in the new culture expects that all the aspects of the
culture that he or she left behind will be in the same state and condition (Naeem, Nadeem &
Khan, 2015). However, the culture and the society that the concerned employee left behind is
also subjected to significant amount of changes during the time, that employee was in the
new culture. Hence these modifications will be the main reason behind reverse culture shock
of those employees. Apart from that the Singapore management team will face significant
amount problems in getting culturally associated with the Shanghai workforce as it is seen
that the value dimension aspects for both countries are notably different in cases like the
conflict management, long term orientation, uncertainty avoidance along with indulgence.
Hence the management team needs to take care of the mentioned issues as well in order to
effectively manage the Shanghai workforce.
The process of the cross cultural adaption is observed to include three basic steps
which are basically Acculturation, Assimilation and the Deculturation. In the Acculturation

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stage, the process of resocialization to the ethics and values of the host culture takes place
and in the organizational context, the culture will be considered as the organizational culture
(Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). The Assimilation is a state where the high acculturation to
the host culture takes place along with the high deculturation of the original culture takes
place among the employees of the organization. The deculturation step defines the unlearning
of the original cultural habits of the employees.
Improvement in the Employee Engagement and Communication:
The Singapore management needs to improve a lot in the cultural assimilation part
because the management will face significant issues in communication. The management
needs to make sure that they be able to speak the local language without any sort of issues as
that will be instrumental in getting the feedback of the employees from the lower level
(Zakari, Poku & Owusu-Ansah, 2013). This will be good for the organization as the scope of
communication gap between the different levels of employees and the management will be
significantly reduced.
From the interview findings, It is visible that even though the Malaysian and the
Singaporean society and people are highly similar in their way of living or the food but even
then there are considerable amount of cultural differences that is present among the
workforces of two nations. Victor who was a manager in the Business Banking Planning and
Enablement of Maybank Singapore, was interviewed over his experience in the organization
for the last 7 years. The background of the interview informs that he was planning to conduct
a virtual team meeting through the telephone or video conference using an application named
as Call WebEx.
From the response of Victor, it seemed that the cultural differences and the
technological gap are the main obstacle for Victor. The research findings are able to state that

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the behaviour and the culture of the workforces and the people of the two nations are bit
different. The language is also a major reason behind the dissimilar nature as it was observed
that some of the words in the Singaporean language have different multiple meanings in other
languages. This was significant problem for the Singapore management team in having a
smooth communication with the workforce of Shanghai. Along with that the work culture and
the adaption of the technology were observed to be different for both the nations. Singapore
were observed to be highly efficient in terms of handing the technological advancements and
their adaptability of technology were notably higher than any other nations. Hence the
Singaporean management team needs to take care of the issues as their level of expectation in
terms of handling the technological innovations from the Shanghai workforce may or may
not be same.
Apart from that, the Singapore management team is in need of preparing well to cope
up with the technical issues as well. The technical issues like the poor speech quality or low
quality video in the video conferencing will be a significant menace for the team in dealing
with the workforce of the Shanghai. The poor signal strength will be frustrating for the
shanghai workforce in having a long discussion. The Singapore management team is in need
of recruiting quality and efficient engineers in order to cover up these flaws. Along with this
the Singapore management team is in need to make sure that they be well prepared for the
work culture at Shanghai, value and the preferences of the employees along with the social
behaviour. The team needs to be significantly mindful of the local languages as well in
dealing with the Chinese counterparts.
From the second interview, it is visible that the Singaporean management team is not
to be concerned with the occurrence of any sort of physical meeting as the Shanghai team
may not have any sort of issues in expressing their ideas, views or any sort of opinions.
Rather the applications like Google Hangout will be significantly benefitting for both the

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parties involved as it will make sure that the amount cost and time that relates to the physical
meetings are reduced in a notable manner. The management team will be able to avoid the
constraints like fixed timing, fixed dates or the fixed places for the meeting and it becomes
notably good for the team in having a more open environment for the meetings. Having said
that it also relates to significant amount of vulnerability as well because it can be counter-
productive as all the parties involved in the decision making may or may not be involved with
all the items of the agenda.
Apart from this the second interview was significant in expressing the presence of
culture shock. The Singapore management team is advised to take all the necessary steps in
order to reduce the culture shock at Shanghai. The culture shock has the potential to cause
significant amount of issues in maintaining the work-life balance and that leads to the
generation of considerable amount of work stress (Haar et al., 2014). The team is advised to
be aware of the time zone at Shanghai as the timing of the meeting must not be creating
difficulty in maintaining a proper work life balance for the employees at Shanghai.
Along with that the team is advised to be aware of the social and cultural
representation of the people of China as it was observed that the people in China was largely
collectivist and they considers others’ difficulty as the major one in front of their issues. The
collectivist aspect of the Chinese society has the potential to make the life easy for the
management team members if the Shanghai workforce is well managed and in order to do so
the Singapore team must be able to eradicate every sort cultural and interpersonal differences
between them and the Shanghai workforce (Steele & Lynch, 2013).
Along with that the organization is in need to make sure that they be able to
implement several employee engagement activities where the employees of the different
culture will be able to meet and communicate among themselves. This will be significant for

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both sets of employees in recovering from the usual dilemma that they have in interacting
with the employees of different cultures (Owoyemi & Ekwoaba, 2014). This will also be
significantly helpful for the employees to get used of each other and that will be a benefit for
the organization in the effective team work as well.
Apart from that it is recommended that the employees of different culture be mindful
of their activities and comments regarding the culture, society, language and way of living of
the employees of other culture (Halim et al., 2014).
Internal Communication Plan:
Key Stakeholders and Partners:
The key stakeholders or partners in this case will be the Shanghai workforce along
with the Singaporean Management Team. The general topics will be the strategies for the
effective communication across the different levels of employees and the management.
Key Communication Activities:
The engagement workshops, the discussion events or the surveys will be the main
activities for the communication.
Value Proposition:
The basic goal of the communication will be to increase the flow of the information
across the different levels of employees and the management. Apart from that, the effective
communication among the different segments of employees will make sure that the
management is well aware of the happenings of the organization.
Employee Segment:
The employee segment will be the lower, executive and senior level employees and
the management of the organization.

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Engagement Activity:
Activity Time Authority Outcome
Learning of Local
Language
6 Weeks Language Professor
of the local
University
Ability to
communicate
efficiently in the
local language with
the Shanghai
workforce.
Employee
Engagement
Activities like
celebration of
Chinese festivals
Yearly basis Human Resource
Management
This will enable the
Singaporean
management team to
get the chance to
know and gel with
the Shanghai
workforce in a better
manner (Appannah
& Biggs, 2015).
Evidential Report
Processing
12 weeks Human Resource
Management
This will be
significantly good
for the employees
and the management
in making proper

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evidential reports on
which the critical
decision making will
be based. This will
be good for the
organization in
reducing the
conflicts among the
employees
(Lawrence & Lee,
2013). Apart from
that the follow up of
the proper medium
or channel will also
be significantly
helpful for the
employees and
management to
reduce the amount of
noise related to the
communication.
The success of the engagement activity and the internal communication plan will be
tested by the capability of them in reducing the cross-cultural differences that is visible
between the Singaporean Team and the Shanghai workforce. Along with that, it will have the

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objective of improving the non-verbal communication and plan will have the aim to pose a
better version of attitude towards resolving conflict among the team and the people in China.
The engagement activities will be significant in understanding the different approaches to the
task completion, different styles of decision making along with the formation of the trust.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note it can be said that the employees of Shanghai workforce will be
difficult to manage for the Singaporean team without proper understanding of the value
dimension aspects of the Chinese society. Along with that it is observed that the interview
sessions were important in gathering significant insights regarding the cultural and societal
differences of the Chinese people along with the members of other countries. Hence the
implementation of the internal communication and the engagement plan must achieve utmost
priority to the management team.

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References:
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five nations. Princeton university press.
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Appannah, A., & Biggs, S. (2015). Age-friendly organisations: The role of organisational
culture and the participation of older workers. Journal of Social Work Practice, 29(1),
37-51.
Babnik, K., Breznik, K., Dermol, V., & Trunk Širca, N. (2014). The mission statement:
organisational culture perspective. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 114(4),
612-627.
Cadden, T., Marshall, D., & Cao, G. (2013). Opposites attract: organisational culture and
supply chain performance. Supply Chain Management: an international journal,
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Carbaugh, D. (Ed.). (2013). Cultural communication and intercultural contact. Routledge.
Gunn, S. (2017). Globalisation, education and culture shock. Taylor & Francis.
Haar, J. M., Russo, M., Suñe, A., & Ollier-Malaterre, A. (2014). Outcomes of work–life
balance on job satisfaction, life satisfaction and mental health: A study across seven
cultures. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 85(3), 361-373.
Halim, H. A., Ahmad, N. H., Ramayah, T., & Hanifah, H. (2014). The growth of innovative
performance among SMEs: Leveraging on organisational culture and innovative

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human capital. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2(1),
107-125.
Hua, Z. (2013). Exploring intercultural communication: Language in action. Routledge.
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class marginality. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 453-475).
Lawrence, P., & Lee, R. (2013). Organizational Behaviour (RLE: Organizations): Politics at
Work. Routledge.
Lombard, C. A. (2014). Coping with anxiety and rebuilding identity: A psychosynthesis
approach to culture shock. Counselling psychology quarterly, 27(2), 174-199.
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural communication in contexts. New
York: NY: McGraw-Hill.
Naeem, A., Nadeem, A. B., & Khan, I. U. (2015). Culture Shock and Its effects on
Expatriates. Global Advanced Research Journal of Management and Business
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Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2014). Intercultural
communication: A reader. Cengage Learning.

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Stacks, D. W., & Salwen, M. B. (Eds.). (2014). An integrated approach to communication
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Organisational Performance: Empirical Evidence from the Banking Industry in
Ghana.

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Appendix:
Interviews:
Two interview sessions were conducted where a Chinese was interviewed and his
name is Victor. His age is 36 years and he had an experience of operating 7 years in
Singapore in Maybank Singapore as a manager in Business Banking Planning & Enablement.
The other one who was interviewed, was the Ms Joycelynn, operated in the post of
manager for the operation of Hoodsuite Inc. in Singapore. Joycelynn was 31 years old and
had the experience of 4 years in Singapore.
Victor’s Interview:
Q1. What is your name?
Ans. Hi, This is Victor.
Q2. How long you served in Singapore?
Ans. Well, I am still serving Maybank Singapore and I am doing this for the last 7 years.
Q3. How was your experience in managing the employees?
Ans. It was good. To be honest the workforce was helpful to me and I had a good time there.
Q4. How do you think Singapore pose in terms of power distance?
Ans. Well, in my small duration at the country what I understood from the employees that I
managed, is that the Singaporean people significantly accepts the fact that there must be
inequality among the people. I observed the workforces to have a strong subordinate and
superior relation where there was not any sort of precautions against the misuse of the power
by the superiors.

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Q5. How did you feel the flow of communication in China?
Ans. See, to be honest, the cultural differences is something that is available in any society
and that is even present in Singapore as well. Being an outsider of the Singaporean culture, I
expected that the commands that I will be passing to my team in Singapore will be
sufficiently clear for them. However I experienced that the language was posing a strong
barrier in the smooth and effective communication as the different cultures and the societies
were having multiple meanings of a single word. Hence I faced significant issue in
understanding their reply as they communicate in their local language. Apart from that the
technological advancement was also a major issue as the people and the society of Singapore
are technologically advanced than the people a Malaysia.
Q6. Are they collectivist or individualist?
Ans. Well, Singapore is a country which largely believes in the collectivism here the people
are more concerned about their groups rather than individuals and that was significantly
helpful for me in order to lead them.
Q7. Was they satisfied with what they were doing or they wanted more?
Ans. Actually Singapore is a country where the people and the society are significantly
sympathetic and soft as well.
Q8. What was their reaction towards your appointment as their manager?
Ans. To be honest I did not feel that they were too dissatisfied with my appointment as the
team was significantly helpful to me. They helped me in each of my decisions and
contributed in the decision making as well.

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Q9. How will you rate the adaptability of the Chinese people?
Ans. Well, I had a very limited amount of time to reach at a conclusion regarding their
adaptability but with my team, I was pretty happy in this case. My decisions at Maybank
Singapore were highly demanding for my team as I significantly focused in increasing the
sales for the organization and was highly pleased to see the response of the team as they
surpassed my expectations in adapting my strategy.
Ms Joycelynn’s Interview:
Q1. What is your name?
Ans. Hello, My name is Joycelynn.
Q2. How long you served in Singapore?
Ans. I served Hoodsuite Inc. for 4 years as a manager.
Q3. How was your experience in managing the employees?
Ans. Well, it was difficult at the initial stages but later it was pretty good for me. At the initial
stages I faced some discomfort in transferring my message to my team and that had the
potential to create considerable amount of frustration in me as I was not operating in the
desired manner. Along with that communication gap was a major reason behind my
dissatisfaction. Apart from these the cultural shock was also a major reason behind my
dissatisfaction at the initial stage.
Q4. How do you think Singapore pose in terms of power distance?
Ans. Well, to be very specific, Singapore is a country where the organizations are largely
dependent on the bosses and their strict rules. The employees of my team were significantly

18CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
requiring my command for each and every task. I needed to control and guide them
throughout the operations.
Q5. How did you feel the flow of communication in Singapore?
Ans. As I mentioned earlier that I faced significant issues in learning their language and at the
initial stages it was significantly tough for me to cope up with my team as I was not able to
communicate with them in the desired manner. Hence at the initial stages the communication
gap between me and my team was notably harming the effectiveness of us as a team. Apart
from that the culture shock was significant in creating an imbalance in the work-life
characteristics as the Singapore and US teams were having a major difficulty in arranging the
meetings owing to the issue of timing.
Q6. Are they collectivist or individualist?
Ans. Well, with Singapore, you can tell them to be a collectivist country any day. The people
or the employees are observed to put “We” way ahead of “I”. I observed the community to
believe themselves as a member of their family rather than being an individual.
Q7. Was they satisfied with what they were doing or they wanted more?
Ans. It is hard to comment on this. However I observed that the people have a considerably
soft approach towards the competition. The people are observed to be more sympathetic
towards the underdog. Apart from that the people appreciates the humbleness and modesty
more than anything else.
Q8. What was their reaction towards your appointment as their manager?
Ans. Well, I cannot tell that they were not pleased with my appointment rather what I felt that
the people were considerably frightened as they have a sense that they will be fined for

19CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
everything and my appointment being something unknown to them was a point of concern for
them as well.
Q9. How will you rate the adaptability of the Singaporean people?
Ans. Yeah. This is something that was signifgicantly impressive about the nation. The people
or the employees were observed to show the required qualities and the competencies in
acknowledging the long-term investments and that was a significant reason behind the
nation’s growth in economy.