Reflection on Intercultural Communication: Challenges and Solutions

This reflective assignment explores the challenges and solutions encountered in intercultural communication within a team setting. The student reflects on experiences with a Chinese team member facing language barriers, highlighting the importance of providing resources like language classes and translation tools to foster effective communication. The reflection also examines differences in communication styles between American and Indian team members, emphasizing the need for cultural awareness to prevent misunderstandings and maintain productivity. Furthermore, the assignment delves into the impact of cultural perspectives on hierarchy and authority, illustrating how varying expectations of power dynamics can affect team dynamics and suggesting the implementation of meetings to facilitate understanding and promote collaboration. The student concludes by summarizing three critical aspects of intercultural communication: overcoming language barriers, understanding diverse communication styles, and recognizing varying perceptions of power and hierarchy to ensure smooth workflow and organizational goal attainment.

Running head: REFLECTION ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
REFLECTION ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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REFLECTION ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
24th August, 2017
Intercultural communication can be defined as the procedure of sharing these details and
information across a large number of cultures and social groups. This may include individuals
who belong to different religions or social, ethnic as well as other educational background.
While performing in the team I came across a Chinese lady who was unable to communicate
in English. So it was becoming very difficult for me as the leader of the team to communicate
with her. At a point of time she was also getting frustrated because she was not being able to
make her feelings and suggestions clear to the team. I saw at one point of time she was
completely withdrawing herself as she have lost the hope of working effectively in the team.
Therefore with the help of Internet resources as well as evidence based paper written by
eminent researchers over the time I tried to provide her with solutions. I suggested her to go
for ongoing workplace language classes so that he can get accustomed with the language that
we use in the workplace. I also helped her with multilingual translators and other
Technological Solutions such as translation software so that she can easily and quickly gain
an idea about what is said in the team. From this she was gradually being able to understand
what others said and the language barrier gradually started to decline. From this I gained an
experience that diversity of languages should always be seen as an opportunity to learn
something new rather than taking it as an insurmountable issue. This will ultimately benefit
the entire team work in the end.
26th August:
Individuals who are skilled in intercultural communication can understand the differences
about how different people from different cultures act, communicate as well as perceive the
world around them. These are very much important to maintain an effective teamwork in the
Global organisations so that the production of the company can be made and each and every

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worker aligns with the organisational goals. Another issue that I have noticed is the
differences in communication styles which are followed by different cultures in different
parts of the world. There was an American as well as an Indian team member who were
assigned with a task of performing the budget sheet for a client. I was also assisting them in
the same task. I noticed that the American member used to talk with direct eye contact with
the Indian which the Indian team member was not comfortable with. Moreover the American
member although was junior in rank talked with the Indian members directly with his first
name which was found to be disrespectable by the Indian. The Indian member later
complained to me that the American members are disrespecting him while communicating
with him. To this I understood that the American member really did not had the intention to
disrespect him. It was a difference in the communication style followed by different countries
in their business organisations which have been inculcated in the persons who were working
in the team. Therefore from this experience I have learnt that it is extremely important for the
team members to be aware of the culture of business followed by different nations all over
the world so that they can maintain a proper relationship with each other and the feeling of
distrust and disrespect does not arrived. I also noticed that when the feeling of the disrespect
arises due to an issue in communication style the company's productivity gets affected.
Moreover an environment of stress and conflict also arise. So I provided them with important
internal resources and magazines of business which discuss about the different
communication styles followed by different people all over the world. They stated that this
help them to know about the others culture and day decided to walk accordingly.
30th August:
Another issue was also noticed by me regarding the hierarchy and authority experienced by
different members in different ways according to their own cultures. There was one of my
colleagues who were of an Asian origin. Under him there were about 5 people working out of

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whom two were Americans and three were Australians. I noticed that the colleague followed
a completely different perspective about experiencing his power. He was not comfortable
with his juniors giving him feedback as well as suggestions as he thought that he is not given
the authority and the power which should be experienced by a senior. The attitudes of the
juniors were not liked by him as he thought them to be over friendly which affected his Ego
and self respect. The Americans and Australians usually follow an informal way of approach
towards the seniors where they get total freedom of providing effective feedback. The
Australian and American seniors also accept the suggestions and feedback from the juniors
making them feel respected. However the Asians believe in authority based accomplishments
as the they mainly follow authority based leadership styles where they believe in maintaining
a certain distance between the juniors and the seniors. They maintain proper balance between
formal and informal communication. Proper presence of cultural awareness is therefore very
important for every team members working in a multicultural team so that their goals are
achieved by the team without the arrival of conflicts. Therefore I decided to call on meetings
where my colleague and his five members of the team were invited. I discussed with them the
differences of their cultures of business communication and hence they were able to
understand that they need to be culturally aware of each other's feelings, expectations and
wishes so that they can work together as a team and bring out effective results.
This assignment thereby helped me to understand three important aspects which need to be
followed in intercultural communication. The first one is overcoming the language barrier.
Secondly it is very important to develop an idea about the communication styles followed by
the different team members of different backgrounds. Thirdly, it is very important to
understand how the concept of power and hierarchy is expected by different people in
different parts of the world and to act accordingly so that smooth workflow can be
maintained and organisation’s mission as well as vision can be adhered to.

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