Psychology

You work in the human resources department of a company that does business in 25 different countries. You have learned that communication culture in your workplace has a significant impact on your employees’ experience, motivation, engagement, and overall business success. Your manager has asked you to write a memo on why and how to build a great communication culture at your company.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word memo that covers at least 2, but not more than 4, of the communication topics in 2 different cultures of your choice. Complete the following in your memo:

Identify 2 cultures you selected.
Identify 2 to 4 communication topics to discuss in your memo:
Language and verbal communication
Nonverbal communication
Family communication
Workplace communication
The expression of emotions
Friendship communication
Romantic relationships, including dating, nonmarital commitments, and marriage
Discuss how the 2 cultures are similar and different in your selected communication topic areas.
Discuss additional common communication practices in each culture.
Discuss how the communications practices in each culture are similar and how they are different.
Discuss how culture influences the way we communicate and form relationships with others.
List ways employees can improve their ability to communicate competently in cross-cultural interactions

ANSWER

Building a Great Communication Culture in the Workplace

To:

From:

Date:

Subject: Building a Great Communication Culture in the Workplace

Culture develops through communication, which allows for human interaction through which cultural characteristics are displayed. Communication culture within an organization can influence how people engage with each other, drive conversations, and share information (Hargie, 2016). Understanding how communication culture significantly affects the workplace and employee engagement, motivation, and overall business successes, there is a need to examine the similarities and differences of communication practices in different cultures. The main focus will be on American culture and Chinese culture. The American culture comprises the Americans’ values, behaviors, and customs. The American culture is known for its love for privacy, relative informality, directness, and timeliness. Chinese culture represents the cultural practices, values, and norms of the people in China. Chinese culture is known for its collectivism, loyalty, honesty, and courtesy.

Focusing on language and verbal communication, non-verbal communication, workplace communication, and expression of emotions between the two cultures will help understand the impact of communication culture between the Chinese and Americans. Language and verbal communication entail using words to exchange written and spoken information. Non-verbal communication entails using facial expressions, body language, and gestures to transfer information. Workplace communication is how employees transfer and exchange ideas and information. Cultural variations exist in the way different people interpret and evaluate emotional experiences.

The American culture is well known for direct communication. The Americans are direct communicators and speak clearly, honestly, and straightforwardly. They do not intend to disregard courtesy or be rude in communication. For instance, they deliver criticism vaguely to avoid offense and remain polite. Their non-verbal and verbal communication tends to be concise, and they highly respect individual freedoms.

On the other hand, Chinese culture is known for its indirect communication, an extension of the need to uphold relationships. (Fang, 2014). They rarely focus on words and are more observant to expression, attitude, and voice, which they use to attract attention. They also tend to understate their points in speeches which makes them ambiguous. Chinese are known to communicate through fewer phrases that are supported by gestures, expressions, and silence. Therefore, the main aim of Chinese speakers is to save face for everyone engaging in the conversation by remaining polite.

In workplace communication, the Chinese are quite indirect since they are a highly contextual culture. The real messages need to be interpreted since the communication is indirect. For instance, one can say yes without completely meaning it since they want to maintain relations. Workplace communication in the American culture highly values honesty and frankness in communications (Dumitrescu, 2013). The Americans expect one says what they mean and mean what they say. Americans are reported to have high arousal emotional states such as enthusiasm and excitement. Chinese rarely express disgust, revulsion, and interest in excitement (Sundararajan, 2015). The Chinese culture is often not good at the expression of their feelings. They are very careful at expressing their feelings, both positive and negative. The Americans embrace positive feelings while the Chinese prefer balanced feelings.

Chinese increasingly advocate for politeness and peace in their communication. During communication, the Chinese rely on a circular and indirect approach to reasoning. Chinese communication is characterized by high context communication and collectivist culture. Chinese are also known for listening-centered, implicit, face-directed, polite, and insider communication. Communication practices among Americans are defined by individualism and self-reliance which encourages free speech (Bonvillain, 2019). Americans prioritize efficient and quick exchange of information. Their interaction is in a high context where they tend to focus less on information exchange and more on building relationships during communication. In American culture, being straightforward means making requests and asking questions directly. The communication practices in Chinese and American cultures vary in that the Chinese communication style is indirect while the Americans communicate directly. For instance, too much eye contact during a conversation among the Chinese is considered disrespectful, while the Americans value direct eye contact during communication.

Culture influences how people communicate verbally and non-verbally through phrases, words, and metaphors. It also influences the topics considered important for conversation based on the cultural values and norms present within a cultural and social setting. Cultural differences significantly impact the communication process since they influence ideas, feelings, and emotions (Kincaid, 2013). For instance, perception, past experiences, and cultural background profoundly affect how people behave and talk.

When individuals from varying cultures interact, there is a chance of misunderstanding and miscommunication due to differences in attitude and language. Improving the ability to communicate competently in cross-cultural interactions requires strategies that will avoid and overcome the hurdles of misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication. Some effective cross-cultural communication strategies include keeping an open mind, practicing active listening, having some knowledge about another cultural background, speaking clearly, and observing non-verbal communication (Guirdham & Guirdham, 2017). Cross-cultural communication skills allow one to express oneself confidently and understand how to be patient with people of different cultural backgrounds. For instance, embracing cross-cultural communication in the workplace enables employees to work with individuals from different cultures and backgrounds. Cross-cultural communication skills allow people to avoid misinterpretation and miscommunication.

Sincerely,

(Name)

References

Bonvillain, N. (2019). Language, culture, and communication: The meaning of messages. Rowman & Littlefield.

Dumitrescu, V. M. (2013). Culture as communication: Communication style across and within cultures. Synergy, (1), 84-91.

Fang, T. (2014). Understanding Chinese culture and communication: the Yin Yang approach. Global leadership practices, 12(5), 171–187.

Guirdham, M., & Guirdham, O. (2017). Communicating across cultures at work. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Hargie, O. (2016). The importance of communication for organizational effectiveness. Psicologia do Trabalho e das Organizações, 15-32.

Kincaid, D. L. (Ed.). (2013). Communication theory: Eastern and Western perspectives. Academic Press.

Sundararajan, L. (2015). Understanding emotion in Chinese culture. New York, NY: Springer International Publishing, 10, 978-3.