Intercultural, Organisational, Team Communication - Coursework Example

Summaries of Lecture Materials Name Course title Date Intercultural communication The word culture is not new in current society and it has been in existence for a long time. Culture is defined as a social structure that comprises of various systems such as religion, political, education, economic, philosophy, and language. It is viewed as social behaviours that have been embraced and developed over time. Moreover, it is seen as a world shared view that surrounds whatever that happens in a society. Therefore, it is universal and exists dynamically. Studies have shown that culture can be divided into two categories namely micro culture and macro culture. Micro culture is the composition of art, social institutions, practices, activities as well as beliefs that are associated with a particular community, nationality or race. On the other hand, macro culture is the prevailing attitudes and behaviours within a group or an organisation. Diversity of culture has led to intercultural communication that involves people from different cultures relating by sharing their similarities and respecting their differences. This helps in understanding people’s ideologies, conflicts, and mode of living (Blundel & Ippolito 2004, p.37). Hence, introduction of English as a global language has nurtured multicultural relations. Effective intercultural communication reduces cultural conflicts that arise in business organisation. It is important to note that various cultures share some similarities but differ in other issues. Acculturation is a process where different cultures meet, leading to realization of various influences. Four models exist to help in understanding this process namely Hofstede, House, Hall and Huntington models. The Hofstede model expresses culture as a combination of ideologies in the mind that help distinguish various groups. House model draws its support from leadership and management theories to define the effectiveness of organisational behaviour as well as global leadership in terms of culture perspective. On the other hand, Hall model asserts that culture and communication do not exist to words or texts only, but the context in which they are used. Understanding multicultural environment helps to develop effective communication. Organisational communication An organisation can be defined as a collection of individual with a purpose of achieving set goals and objectives. Effective communication is a main objective for any organisation, within as well as outside its environment. Organisational communication is the process that involves words, signs and symbols to perform tasks within the existing components in an organisation. There are different channels of communication in an organisation such as meetings, noticeboards, emails, suggestion boxes, briefings, newsletters, websites and posters. These channels can target individuals or groups and some can involve technology while others are synchronous. Others may be asynchronous, permanent and temporary, formal or informal. Furthermore, it is worth noting that these channels can be interpersonal so that they can help specific individuals to change according to the organisation’s needs (Blundel & Ippolito 2004, p.46). However, mediated communications that involve in stressing on the top management strategies by CEO also exist but their effectiveness is highly doubted. Hence, many individuals believe that effective communication is through a team’s leader. Statistics show that email is the most preferred form of communication although it has its own disadvantages. On another note, there are organisational structures or design that depicts how power is distributed within an organisation. Power breaks down into various levels from the greatest to the least. These structures define how communication in done in an organisation. Therefore, this leads to various methods that include horizontal, vertical, downward and upward communication flows. Horizontal involves communication between people of the same level while vertical involves interaction of people in different levels. Moreover, downward communication involves passing information from topmost level downward while upwards communication involves passing information from low level to higher levels. For effective communication, there exists a cycle that consists of networked individuals on how information flows in the organisation. Punishment of the individual(s) who spread wrong information applies to the members and is referred as shoot the messenger ethos. Therefore, every member is guided by the organisation culture that consists of shared norms and practices. Team communication In any organisation, society, or gathering there exists groups or teams that subdivides the wider team. These teams or groups can be formal or informal, small or large, permanent or temporary, strong or weak, task-oriented or relationship-oriented, effective or ineffective. However, there are advantages as well as disadvantages of working as a groups or team. Some of the advantages of working as a team over individual efforts are firstly, good decision making due to diversity and richness of information. Secondly, the background of the topic of discussion is well tacked due to wider scope of experiences and various alternatives mong the choices. Thirdly, its implementation is more likely than individual decisions since many people support the decision. Finally, teams create environments that motivate achievement of goals and objectives, empowerment of skills and knowledge in additional to increased job satisfaction due to specialization (Blundel & Ippolito 2004, p. 56). Likewise, it is important to note that the performance of a group is higher than the combination of individual works. However, groupthink is the process of making defective decisions in teams. Some disadvantages of teamwork are that some members may contribute minimally to the group’s achievement as well as some may shy off if they recognize they are not competent in the group’s assignment. Due to the diversity of the group member’s capability, different people take different parts in the achievement of the set goal. Furthermore, it is crucial noting that there exist group norms that help preserve individual conduct through the set mechanisms. Finally, there are stages involved during group development for achievement of goals namely forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning stages. The members are supposed to be cohesively integrated while in other case there exist virtual groups whose members are dispersed in various locations. Communicating in meetings Whenever meetings are held, they comprise of many aspects that needs to be analysed. From the meetings, good and bad news are expressed either formally or informally. The news can be in line to the set rules and regulations in different systems or otherwise. Likewise, they can be subject to actual statistics or may rely on observation. Furthermore, meetings have different structures that are in line with existing organisation constitution, standing orders in additional to defensive dullness and control systems. The constitution expounds on the organisational broad structure as well as the requirements of the organisation. Likewise, the standing orders explain specific orders that should be observed when conducting business during the meeting. In addition, defensive dullness and control systems assist in being accountable and provision of feedback concerning the meetings. On another note, there are meeting procedures that involve raising a motion that is a formal proposal requiring actions to be taken. This attracts an amendment if the motion is required to be changed or tuned in line with the organisation goals for maximum benefits to be realized (Blundel & Ippolito 2004, p.71). For the meeting procedure to begin and progress it requires a mover and a seconder. In addition, there are terms that are used during the meeting such as abstention; refusing to vote in any way, acclamation; voting by applauding, adjourn; temporarily halting the meeting session, and ayes and nos; supporting or opposing a motion respectively. Other terms used in meetings include carried; motion raised has been passed, casting vote; for determining the fate of the motion, defeated; when the motion is not in support of majority, and division; a meeting point for both opposing and supporting sides through voting. Furthermore , other terms that are related to meetings are ‘in camera’ that means confidential meeting, no confidence is a term for impeaching the leader, point of order is used when the procedural conduct of meetings are interrupted in additional to a quorum which dictates the minimum individuals required to undertake a certain decision. It is important knowing that the officials have different roles during the meeting. Therefore, effectiveness of meetings are realised if they are planned and where there is thorough analyse of decision-making policies. Oral communication Oral communication is among the most used forms of communication in both formal and informal settings. Different aspects that require oral communication include impromptu speeches, work presentations and motivational speaking. The speakers of the forums require audience ranging from one to many. However, the audience may be friendly, neutral or even hostile. Some may require audio-visuals presentations while other may not, others may require more information while other may require precision and specificity. Furthermore, there are two types of audience dynamics namely authoritative audience stimulate things to take action and influential to others. Likewise, the various types of audience are decision-makers who possess authority and influence while influencers have influence but lack authority. Moreover, there are collectors who gather information for those in power while social are those who just attend but play no significant role. Hence, for one to overcome the problem of audience, he or she has to use some form of communication like grapevine as well as have vital and sufficient information about the topic of discussion. It is also important to have strategies of dealing with audience responses, telling the truth in order to avoid contradictions by being precise and on point. Therefore, for effective communication planning is important on crucial matters like the information content, time management, and mode of presentation. The mode of presenting the information is significant because it determines how the topic is introduced, covered, and concluded. Moreover, it determines how the audience responds. Stress management and rehearsing helps one in familiarizing with the information and perfecting on challenging areas. Likewise, use of display boards, projectors and print outs helps in effective delivery of information (Blundel & Ippolito 2004, p.96). References Blundel, R. & Ippolito, K 2004 Effective organisational communication: Perspectives, principles and practices, New York: Prentice Hall, ISBN 9780273713753. Read More