University Name: Structured Reflection on Intercultural Communication

This report provides a structured reflection on intercultural communication, examining its critical role in today's globalized business environment. The student explores the challenges posed by cultural barriers in both inter-business and business-to-business communications, highlighting how diverse cultural backgrounds can lead to misunderstandings. The reflection emphasizes the need for businesses to understand and adapt to different cultural norms to foster effective communication and build strong relationships. The student discusses the importance of intercultural communication skills for personal career development, emphasizing how these skills can lead to promotions, improved customer interactions, and expanded opportunities in the global market. The report references successful companies like IKEA, McDonald's, Toyota, and IBM, which have embraced intercultural communication to achieve long-term success. The student concludes by recognizing the importance of intercultural communication in the workplace.

Running head: STRUCTURED REFLECTION
STRUCTURED REFLECTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The given reflection will be discussing various aspects of the topic related to Intercultural
Communication and represent my views on it. The topic which I found most interesting is the
topic relating to the Intercultural Communications. With the advancements in the business and
related technology, the business is not limited to geographical boundaries (Martin and Nakayama
2013). With the globalization era, business has now developed greatly and this has led to the
increase in communications between different people from different countries. Businesses have
gone beyond boundaries and there are no borders which are relevant now. This has raised the
topic concerning building of business relationships and the human resource teams worldwide
(Carbaugh 2013). Intercultural communication is also known as cross cultural communication
which major business houses want to ace in in order to overcome any disparities between
different organizations and cultures.
Challenges in Cultural Communication
There exists certain cultural barriers and issues at two primary business levels. These
levels are inter business communications and even business to business communications. Due to
globalization, people are often hired from different countries and thus due to this, the employees
often face certain problems in relation to this and there arises scenarios of misunderstanding
from such interactions (Samovar et al. 2014). The cultural roots tend to play a huge role in the
professional behavior of an individual and this is what impacts the communication between
different parties.
In the business to business communication even a comment which is not in context may
contribute to a misunderstanding during communication. For instance, the Japanese population

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are not that comfortable thinking and speaking out loud and thus, this leads to problems during
business meetings with them.
The business to business communications are majorly affected by the diverse upbringing
of the different partners and clients involved. Due to budgetary constraints different companies
do not invest in understanding the ethical and social systems unique to different cultures and
thus, they often face issues in the lucrative foreign country opportunities.
The given topic on Intercultural communication is very interesting and it has been chosen
in order to understand that the promotion and implementation of a commitment towards the
intercultural communications can help a business and the company will be able to cater to the
cultural needs of different parties efficiently (Piller 2017).
Reason why the topic seems interesting
Intercultural communication is the need of the hour
With globalization, various merging markets have expanded largely and it is due to this
reason that it is extremely important for different individuals as well as the different business
organizations to be able to communicate effectively with different cultured organizations or
different cultured people (Jandt 2017). The social requirement of all the parties need to be
respected in order to foster an environment of mutual growth and in order to be able to find
success in the long run. The communication also comes in useful in scenarios, where the
company caters to the needs of the different customers. According to me, the intercultural
communication capabilities should be adopted by all organizations aiming to find success in the
long run.
It is one of the primary reasons why business often fail at expansion

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Very often different business enterprises fail to find success in the long run due to their in
capabilities in the given domain. This is the reason why it is important to engage in training
seminars and programs to train the management as well as the employees and assist them in
ways which will help them to deal with the people from different cultures and social
backgrounds. According to me, in the competitive environment it is extremely important for an
individual to ensure that the business remains competitive and thus, they need to ensure that this
aspect is correct. Company like IKEA could not work out in a country like China. This is
because, IKEA failed to adapt to the culture of China and due to this reason they could not
explore the growing Chinese market. Hence, I find this topic quite interesting and would like to
explore in the given domain.
Lastly, when intercultural communication skills of the different members in a firm have
been successful it has led to the long term benefit of many organizations. I believe that as stated
earlier intercultural communication is the need of an hour and using this example there have
been different companies who have been able to find success for the organization (Chaney and
Martin 2013). Companies like Mc Donald’s, Toyota and IBM have ensured that they took up
Intercultural communication capabilities easily and saw to it that all the employees respected
different cultured people. This reflected in their long term success as observed in the host
countries.
Comminution of the topic to future development
After analyzing the importance of Intercultural communication in the workplace along
with other related aspects, I have realized that intercultural communication would go a long way
in helping me to ace in the corporate world (Neuliep 2017). Given below are some of the reasons

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why a good grasp on intercultural communication and the knowledge of all the cultures will
contribute towards my personal development related to career:
Help in career promotion
If I possess good intercultural capabilities then it will go a long way in assisting me to get
a promotion at workplace. This is because, the given skill will assist me in communicating easily
with different members of the organization and maintaining healthy relationships with everyone,
which will then be noticed by my seniors and they might find that I am suitable for leading the
organization in the long run. This may relate to them giving me promotion opportunities which
will contribute towards my career development in the long run of the organization.
Customer interaction
The intercultural communication will assist in proving me to excel and maintain my
relationships with the different customers. The customers tend to form the basis of all the
business organizations and hence, if I possess good knowledge of intercultural communication
and related capabilities I will be able to easily interact with the customers and through this I may
become an useful asset to the organization and this thereby increases my future opportunities
(Martin . and Nakayama 2013).
Beyond boundaries
Having a strong intercultural knowledge will also assist me in exploring various
opportunities which may rise outside of the country of origin. As globalization has increased
considerably, I may benefit largely from having acute knowledge of another country which may
assist me to gel in well if I ever get a job opportunity and help me in exploiting my capabilities to
the fullest.

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References
Carbaugh, D. ed., 2013. Cultural communication and intercultural contact. Routledge.
Chaney, L. and Martin, J., 2013. Intercultural business communication. Pearson Higher Ed.
Jandt, F.E., 2017. An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global
community. Sage Publications.
Martin, J.N. and Nakayama, T.K., 2013. Experiencing intercultural communication. McGraw-
Hill Higher Education.
Martin, J.N. and Nakayama, T.K., 2013. Intercultural communication in contexts. New York:
NY: McGraw-Hill.
Neuliep, J.W., 2017. Intercultural communication: A contextual approach. Sage Publications.
Piller, I., 2017. Intercultural communication: A critical introduction. Edinburgh University
Press.
Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E., McDaniel, E.R. and Roy, C.S., 2014. Intercultural communication:
A reader. Cengage Learning.