Impact of Cross-Cultural Interactions on Organizational Success

This essay delves into the complexities of cross-cultural interactions within organizational settings, arguing that such interactions are often fraught with conflict, bias, prejudice, and related stereotypes, thereby offering limited benefits to the organization. The paper explores how cultural differences lead to misunderstandings, communication barriers, and reduced productivity. It examines the role of cultural biases, prejudice, and discrimination in creating negative work environments and affecting employee performance. The essay also considers strategies to mitigate these challenges, such as promoting intercultural communication, providing training, and fostering a more inclusive workplace. The author references several studies and theories to support the arguments, including those of Sindayigaya, Stout-Rostron, Fossati, Sheppard and Aquino, Thomas and Peterson, Weber, Kieth, Tran and Mironova, to suggest ways for organizations to handle issues of cross-cultural interactions to achieve set growth and development.

CROSS-CULTURAL
INTERACTIONS ARE
MOSTLY FRAUGHT WITH
CONFLICT, BIAS,
PREJUDICE AND
RELATED STEREOTYPES,
THEREFORE OFFERING
LIMITED BENEFIT TO
ORGANISATION

Table of Contents
ESSAY.............................................................................................................................................3
Cross-cultural interactions are mostly fraught with conflict, bias, prejudice and related
stereotypes, therefore offering limited benefit to organisation .............................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

ESSAY
Cross-cultural interactions are mostly fraught with conflict, bias, prejudice and related
stereotypes, therefore offering limited benefit to organisation
Cross culture exist in the organisation as there are various people belonging from
different backgrounds and cultures work together in the firm. The cross culture interaction s
leads to conflicts in the organisation as people in the firm does not have clear understanding of
the each other culture and background due to which communication between them is affected
and leads to limited benefit to the organisation. The cross culture in the organisation affect the
productivity of the firm as it create the conflict between the individuals due to various reasons
which may create a negative work environment ass thus affect the growth and success of the
business. Cultural biasses exist at the workplace which leads to difference in the opinion for the
individuals belonging from different cultural groups.
Cross cultural interaction are challenging because the individuals have different values,
backgrounds and perspective. This cultural difference can leads to misunderstanding between the
individuals working together and also can influence on their decision making. The people have
different thoughts and opinions regarding the different people and thus it leads to
misunderstanding between the people having interactions. Organisation by reducing the cross
cultural differences is able to build relationship between the employees in the organisation which
assist in reducing the cultural difference existing in the organisation (Sindayigaya, 2017).
Intercultural communication assist in identifying the way people interact with each belonging
from different cultural backgrounds. At workplace, people have difficulty in interacting with
different individuals belonging from different culture due to various reasons such as language,
opinions, values, belief etc. which affect in effective communication at the workplace and thus
create improper understanding about the information which leads to inefficiency in achieving the
business goal and objectives and thus affect the performance and profitability of the organisation.
According to Stout-Rostron (2016), Cross cultural interactions leads to bias at the
workplace because individual belonging from same background work together and work against
the individual that belong to different background due to which there is increase in conflict
between the employees at the workplace and create a negative work environment which leads to
reduction in the performance of the firm. Different cultural background people have differences

which affect their performance din the organisation. Bias at the workplace affect the organisation
performance and also leads to differences in the information provided by the individuals top the
different people working at the same place. Cross cultural interactions leads to conflicts due
biases as it discourages others individuals at workplace from supporting other people belonging
from different cultural backgrounds. On the contrary Fossati (2018), Cultural differences existing
at the workplace leads to identifying the various difference due to which the differences are
existing and assist in resolving those difference to communicate effectively with each other to
reduce the cultural diversity at workplace and the chances of conflict which may affect the
performance of the individual as well as organisation.
In the views of Sheppard and Aquino (2017), Prejudice is the another factor which leads
ton conflicts between the individual belonging from different cultural backgrounds. It is related
to pre- judgement based on the incomplete information. It is related to closed mindedness, lack
of empathy and negative feelings. The prejudice leads to conflict between the cross cultural
people due to which the work is hampered and leads to reduction in the performance of the
organisation. It is preconceived judgement towards the people because of race, social class,
gender etc. It believes the people from different culture are inferior due to different
characteristics such as skin colour, religious belief etc. For example, If in the organisation there
is individual having black colour than it is discriminated at the workplace from the people having
white colour as they think that individual have low social class which leads to conflict between
them at the workplace. It is identified that prejudice affect the work environment and create a
negative environment at the workplace due to which organisation is unable to perform its
operation in the better way the employees which are discriminated on the basis of their colour,
religion, language and sexual orientation feel demotivated and stressed out due to which the
employee's performance is hampered and they are not able to work in effective and efficient
manner. Critically Thomas and Peterson (2017) Stated that, Cultural differences existing at the
work place which leads to conflicts such as prejudice does not affect the work performance of
the organisation by reducing the cultural difference and following the various laws which will
assist the firm sin reducing discrimination affecting the employee's performance. The cultural
differences can be reduced by having effective communication between the people at workplace.
Moreover, the employees by interacting with the people from diverse background are able to
reduce the differences which will assist in providing more benefits to the organisation and

building healthy relation with the people at the workplace. Prejudice can affect the self - esteem
of the people due to which their performance is hampered and they are not able to concentrate on
the work properly. It also leads top bullying and other discrimination at the workplace which
create a negative work culture where the employees are demotivated and the employee turnover
rate of the organisation is increase. So, in order to reduce this discrimination there is requirement
of interaction between the people by providing them training and interacting with the people
from diverse group assist in reducing the cultural differences. Discrimination at the workplace
leads create difference between the individuals working together due to which the objective of
the firm is not achieved. Cross cultural diversity create a negative work culture where he firm
performance is degrading due ton the demotivation to the employees because of cultural
diversity existing at the workplace.
As per the views of Weber (2018), sometimes people fail to understand each others
emotions, their thoughts and thinking etc. in cross cultural interactions. This creates difficulty for
them to be clear about what the other person is saying and feeling. Later, it creates situations
where individual feels bad and are not supportive to each other and lack confidence while talking
and communicating. It is important that organisations do not create such situations where cross
cultural communication is making them suffer in terms of achieving required growth and
success.
Avoiding situations in which cross-cultural interactions are taking place can help the
organisations to manage situations with conflicts and bias. Also, it can help the organisation to
reach new growth prospects and achieve a good management. It is important for the organisation
to avoid cross cultural communications. This is important because problems such as translation
problems occur when cross-cultural communication takes place.
As per the views of Kieth (2019), cross-cultural communication requires better
translation facilities when individuals of different cultures are talking to each other. Without
effective translation facilities, people tends to face issues in management and tends to face
troubles regarding understanding each other and their particular expressions. This often creates
misunderstanding and creates situations where people start making wrong conclusions about
each others cultures. It is important for the organisation to deal with the issue of cross-cultural
interactions by making space for more translation facilities. It will help the organisation to deal

with the issues of occurring bias, fights, and conflicts. This can help the organisation to achieve
set growth and development and ensure that desired growth and objective is being achieved even
if the cross cultural communication is taking places.
It can be seen that people from different cultures have different mentality, different,
understandings and different opinions. Cross-cultural interactions often brings situations where
the people from different cultures do not have the knowledge about other cultures way of talking,
behaving, feeling, sensing etc. It creates situations for the organisation where people creates
misunderstanding when others people tends to behave in a certain way and tends to make use of
a certain attitude while talking with others. It often hinders the organisations and its peoples
capability to reach new level of growth aspects and ensure better management (Thomas &
Peterson, 2017). It creates situations where the employees which belong to the different cultures
tend to feel bad and insecure from the comments of the other people. This is important to ensure
that effective strategies are being used within the organisation to achieve set growth and
development when cross communication or interaction is taking place. It can allow the
organisation or its environment to be more clean and its functioning to be smooth. Cross-cultural
interactions makes it difficult for the organisation to reach new aspects of growth.
As per the views of Tran (2016), cross-cultural interactions often picks up situations
which includes fights, debates, personal comments etc. This hinders the organisation's aspect of
reaching new developments. The employees of the organisation when face troubles in dealing
with each other and face issues with each other. It makes the organisation difficult to move ahead
to achieve and ensure that set goals and objectives are being achieved. In order to resolve this
issue of cross-cultural interactions the organisations, tends to put efforts in building new
strategies, setting up teams and resolving the issues of the employees. It consumes a lot of time
for the organisation and management and often make the organisation faces risks related to
profitability and growth. It creates situations for the organisation where its growth its hampered.
It has been observed that cross-cultural interactions often makes it difficult for the
organisation and its people to make required decisions. For example, when an organisation is
having employees which belong to the different cultures and different nationalities. These
employees tend to face difficulties in understanding each other and managing a better
communication, team work and management (Stout-Rostron, 2016). The employees of the

organisation when do not understand each other tends to face situations in which they are not
able to make right and appropriate decisions. In order to make appropriate decisions, it is
important that right interaction and communication is taking place. It is not possible that
appropriate decision can be made without the help of both of them.
According to Mironova (2016), Cross-cultural interactions in most cases are proven as
ineffective and bad for the organisational reputation. It is important for the organisation to reach
new level of growth and ensure new development. The aspect of growth and developments are
hampered when the organisation faces issues in managing cross-cultural interaction situations.
The employees of the organisation feels stressed when they are not able to understand what the
other person is trying to say or trying to convey. This makes the employees stressful and tends to
make them face issues in which they are able to ensure good health.
In order to deal with the situations of cross-cultural interactions, it is important for the
management of the organisation to recruit fewer employees that belongs from different cultures.
Fewer employees will help the organisation to keep a large employee base of the same culture in
which it is thriving into. Along with it, in order to deal with the issues of conflicts and biases the
organisation can provide effective training to its employees and management both so that
effective communication and interaction can be managed (Sindayigaya, 2017). Along with this,
it can be seen as the organisation can put focus on the core areas and understand at what places
the cross-cultural situations is making their employees face troubles. These troubles can be
resolved when the employees of the organisation can be provided with new training and
development opportunities in order to better their communication.
Cross-cultural communication sometimes enhance the growth of the organisation by
increasing creativity. Employees when work with people that belongs from different cultures and
lifestyles tend to become more creative and feel more satisfied (Thomas and Peterson, 2017).
This does not happen every time, so to ensure that effective growth and success is taking place, it
is important for the organisation to avoid cross-cultural communication by making sure that they
are hiring fewer employees which belong from different cultures.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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communication in multiethnic classrooms. Routledge.'
Fossati, D., 2018. Embedded diasporas: ethnic prejudice, transnational networks and foreign
investment. Review of International Political Economy. pp.1-24.
Kälin, W., 2017. Troubled communication: Cross-cultural misunderstandings in the asylum-
hearing. In International Refugee Law (pp. 175-186). Routledge.
Keith, K. D. ed., 2019. Cross-cultural psychology: Contemporary themes and perspectives.
Wiley-Blackwell.
Mironova, A. D. and Shevchenko, A. E., 2016. English language as the basis for successful
cross-cultural communication during exchange program. In Humanities education in a
university of economics (pp. 274-279).
Sheppard, L. D. and Aquino, K., 2017. Sisters at arms: A theory of female same-sex conflict and
its problematization in organizations. Journal of Management. 43(3). pp.691-715.
Sindayigaya, F., 2017. How do nurses feel about their cultural competence?: A Literature
Review.
Stout-Rostron, S., 2016. Working with diversity in coaching. The SAGE handbook of coaching.
pp.238-255.
Thomas, D. & Peterson, M. (2017) Cross-Cultural Management: Essential Concepts, 4th ed.,
Sage Publication, A Thousand Oaks, CA.
Tran, B., 2016. Communication (intercultural and multicultural) at play for cross cultural
management within multinational corporations (MNCs). In Handbook of research on
impacts of international business and political affairs on the global economy (pp. 62-
92). IGI Global.
Weber, E. A., 2018. Heritage Interpretation as Tool in Cross-Cultural Communication:
Сhallenges and Solutions in the Work of Guides-Interpreters.