Cultural Issues that Might Influence Communication between Members of a Team - Coursework Example

Running Head: Cultural Issues that might influence communication between members of a team Name Cultural Issues that might influence communication between members of a team Course Tutor Date Cultural Issues that might influence communication between members of a team Introduction Diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity, individuals’ country of origin and races in many organizations has grown out globally. This diversity has been as a result of globalization and has been able to bring considerable benefits in terms of better decision making, enhanced creativity and innovation, and even more aggressive marketing to different kinds of customers. On the contrary, increased cultural differences within a workforce also come up with potential costs in higher considerations, interpersonal conflicts as well as communication breakdowns. To curb this vices and capitalize on the importance of diversity while minimizing the considerable costs, many leaders of various organizations are concentrating on looking keenly on the change process towards coming up with “multicultural organizations”. There has however been so many changes in the cultural structures of organizations that it has become necessary for leaders and supervisors to understand the diversity of cultures and their impacts organizations. Researchers have given various definitions to cultural diversity in various dimension (Cox et.al., 1997).Their primary dimension of diversity being age, gender, ethnicity, sex and race. This shapes our basic self image as well as our views. Apart from these, they have the most effects on groups in the various workplaces and society. The researchers’ secondary dimension is based on educational background, location geographically, marital status, religion and work experience. The organization’s diversity climate determines the organizations outcome brought out by the interaction between group associations such as age, gender and race. The urge for a favorable multicultural communication is therefore becoming more and more prevalent worldwide as different nations undertake business globally and the issues of borders disappearing. To be effective, multicultural communication must embrace audience expectations which can only be understood through familiarity with culture. While building relationships is the best way to deal with this task, many people do not always get this opportunity. It is therefore important to acquaint oneself with some basic concepts. This may go on to have an impact on individual and organizational outcomes either as effective or leading to achievements. This may impact on the organizational factors such as work quality and productivity level. A set of individuals, group and organizational factors interact to influence a set of individual outcomes that eventually affects the organizational outcomes. The individual and organizational outcomes can as well lead to affective and achievement outcomes. Outcomes in this case refer to how people feel and think about their respective jobs and their employers. What people think about the opportunities in the working environment is very important regardless of whether or not the beliefs are in consistent with the facts. This means when individuals or workers of an organization feel appreciated they contribute more to the organization. This can be in terms of performance ratings or promotional ratings. So by understanding well the diversity climate within an organization one can tell its effects on the individual outcomes as well as the impacts of diversity on the effectiveness of the organization. Diversity of an organization has various diverse effects. These include problem solution, creativity and communication. The processes are very critical to any form of organization and diversity can either complement the processes or pose challenges to be overcome. Problem solving in a wider group will provide different perspectives; provide more critical analysis of the available options thus undermining the ability to think. It is therefore of great interest for the other group to understand the differences of the other members, as this may lead to the group developing tensions hence conflicts in trying to solve out problems. Creativity can also be promoted by a diverse group, but on condition that all the members’ efforts are recognized so that as individuals each one of them will want to give out their different creative ideas. Communication differences related to culture may also lead to misunderstandings and lower group work effectiveness. Identity structures are also crucial to impacting on cultural diversity. A group identity can be described as an association with other people with whom one shares some things. They are thus crucial and determine how culture diversity impacts on the organizational behavior. The way we see ourselves can in this case be based on our group associations. This plays a part in how an individual defines himself or herself as well as how others view them. Group identities also enables individuals acquire their self-esteem and individual pride from such associations. They also influence how others react with them. There are different types of group identities; phenotype identity that can be easily separated from members of other groups for example, women can be physically distinguished from men and therefore gender stands for a phenotype identity. Another group is the Racioethnic which often represent phenotype groups. When we group people based on stereotypes and prejudice, our minds will naturally recall any information concerning the members of that particular group. Ethnocentrism, an act of viewing somebody as belonging to a particular group and defining other social group from the perspective of one’s own group. It looks into the beliefs, values and behaviors of a particular group as more important than the other. This influences communication in some way amongst the parties involved. In an organizational situation, there are those who would only want to interact with individuals who are more like themselves. This could result in favoritism being encouraged. Ethnocentrism can result into a false sense of superiority and members of organizations or a working group should adopt the reality that simply because people see things differently doesn’t mean they are inferior. In the case of the Australians and French working on the same project work, it can interfere with the results as their working will creative ideas. Communication differences related to culture may also lead to misunderstandings and lower group work effectiveness. Identity structures are also crucial to impacting on cultural diversity. A group identity can be described as an association with other people with whom one shares some things. They are thus crucial and determine how culture diversity impacts on the organizational behavior. The way we see ourselves can in this case be based on our group associations. This plays a part in how an individual defines himself or herself as well as how others view them. Group identities also enables individuals acquire their self-esteem and individual pride from such associations. They also influence how others react with them. There are different types of group identities; phenotype identity that can be easily separated from members of other groups for example, women can be physically distinguished from men and therefore gender stands for a phenotype identity. Another group is the Racioethnic which often represent phenotype groups. When we group people based on stereotypes and prejudice, our minds will naturally recall any information concerning the members of that particular group. Ethnocentrism, an act of viewing somebody as belonging to a particular group and defining other social group from the perspective of one’s own group. It looks into the beliefs, values and behaviors of a particular group as more important than the other. This influences communication in some way amongst the parties involved. In an organizational situation, there are those who would only want to interact with individuals who are more like themselves. This could result in favoritism being encouraged. Ethnocentrism can result into a false sense of superiority and members of organizations or a working group should adopt the reality that simply because people see things differently doesn’t mean they are inferior. In the case of the Australians and Brazilians working on the same project work, it can interfere with the results as their working will processes of group identity categorization and on the assumed traits of the categories. It is therefore a fixed as well as a distorted generalization made about on all members of a given group. Stereotypes are commonly distortions rooted in false thoughts and false analysis. It is therefore of great of importance to take stereotyping as what it is ,as far as embracing diversity is concerned basing our beliefs about characteristics of groups on relevant sources of information and accept that differences between groups exists. Another fact that we must remember in embracing diversity is that stereotypes represent not merely an acknowledgment of differences but also an evaluation of them. Usually this evaluation is seen in a negative context. The major challenges to organizations face are to acknowledge differences in positive terms. Power fightings and role conflicts can be the impacts of stereotyping in organizations. For example, placing women, who are regarded of low in status as compared to men in society, in senior management positions creates status incongruence in the minds of many. This can cause difficulties in the leader-subordinate relationship and can lead to power differences in an organization. This is conducted in such a way that members of minority groups may find it difficult to put influence over decision-making processes in the organization. Additionally, role conflicts can arise when roles of a person is supposed to perform outside of work conflict with the expectations on the job. For example, in a situation where the Indigenous Australians working on a project along with some Germany citizens, stereotyping amongst them may create a situation of discomfort. There will therefore a role conflict created amongst them. Because of the many myths and stereotypes that we carry with us into the workplace, it is likely that we will misinterpret or devalue some primary and secondary differences when we are finally exposed to them. As a result, we may find ourselves unable to establish healthy working relationships with people of different Identities. With all things being equal we prefer to interact with individuals with whom we share some similarity in one way or another. In organizations, this could result in in-group favoritism being manifested. Recognition of ethnocentrism is important for building commitment in address diversity issues in organizations, especially for majority group members. Informal integration also has critical role in any organization as they influence the achievements of the organization as well as the career successes of various individuals within the organization. Good initiatives depend mainly on the workers full involvement and these informal networks can be of great impact to the process. The informal groups are influenced by various factors including ethnocentrism, language spoken and social similarity. These social networks are critical when it comes to communication within the organization. Race is also believed to be playing a significant on social networking. This is because people have preference for interaction with members of their own cultural groups. Individualism and collectivism can also provide a major dimension to cultural variability as this can determine cross-cultural differences in behaviors among different parties working within an organization. In cases where individualism is embraced, individuals are seen as separate individuals who are endowed with their own responsibilities with their own destinations and for their own actions. This is different with collectivism where the group has an organization embraces everybody. They take on the “we” identity and not the “I” identity and therefore putting more focus on common interest, unity and interdependence. This is able to apply well especially with the case of the two groups of teams, the Australians and the Brazilians working on the same project but having different cultural backgrounds. They are therefore able to accommodate each other despite the differences hence coming out with great results. Leaders of organizations need to be aware of both collectivism and individualism in cultures. Employees from a collectivistic culture may not think it necessary to share or collaborate when working. The monochromic and polychromic concept can also be factor influencing communication within a multicultural organization. People from different cultures have different ways of timing.Monochronic time culture related people put more emphasis on schedhules, time precision as well as being keen on promptness (Mooji, 2009).They view time as an important commodity. People with this kind of culture tend to consider doing one thing after another and ensuring that they finish each of their activities before moving on to the next. People, who adopt polychromic cultures, on the other hand tend to work on multiple things at once within a period of time. They however put much emphasis on the number of transactions completed and the group or number of people involved. They therefore do not adhere to time schedules as the case with monochromic culture. According to them making punctuality is not a vital issue. Monochronic and polychromic aspects should be therefore be paid attention to by organization leaders to embrace differences as far as timing is concerned. It is therefore important that when working across different cultures, it is vital to pay attention to both low and high cultures through the actions of the people within the organization. For example if people are perhaps late for meetings it may be due to the fact that they are polychronic, and not because they are either disobedient or lazy. Time adaptations have great relevance especially cross-functional teaming and can in most cases become a major source of frustration (Clyne, 1996). Leaders or organization managers should therefore understand the personal, national and organizational cultures in order to align with everyone hence acquire greater influence. Both polychromic and monochromic seem to be more related to past, present and future and all have a long view. Cross-cultural time understanding among leaders of organizations is therefore vital as it provides a more comprehensive approach to handling time differences between people from different cultures, and its impacts on organization or team work involving people from different cultures. Conclusion I t is now a reality that culture is broad and multifaceted and that culture greatly influences who we are as individuals, professionals, communities, industries, companies or organizations, nations and even how we interact with one another within and across regional and international borders. Culture provides a sense of belonging and identity. It is found everywhere from the languages we speak, history, religion, values, symbolism as well as the ways of being. In local and global workplace settings, people in organizations reflect their various cultures. As changing demographics bring together people of many cultural backgrounds, human resource management from various organizations or companies must thoughtfully examine themselves and at times alter to support organizational goals. Special Expertise Panel members point out that for sustainability, organizational leaders must expand their perspectives from a local to an international look. (Sarbaugh, 1988)Workplace Forecast brings into attention several trends in culture that will likely have a major impact on the workplace. This include increasing awareness on the need to embrace cultural differences in both the local and global work places and a greater need for cross-cultural understanding that favor various business environments. Others include putting more emphasis on world leadership competencies and increasing the utilization of global teams. With the increasing globalization, research on cross-cultural behavior has proved to be the pathway to understanding the pathways to multicultural local and international workplaces (Matsumoto, 2001). Leaders of organization who are experienced in workplace diversity and cross cultural communication find themselves at a favorable position to come up with and implement culturally diversed human resource management strategies and policies. They therefore provide the organization with great insights for human resource that serves well the requirements of the organization.Sucssessful organization leaders of the 21st century therefore require leaders who are acquainted with knowledge on culturally diverse work environments and can work well with different cultures with varied work ethics, norms as well as business protocols. Acquisition of cross-cultural competence consumes a lot of time, education, experience, sensitivity and openness When people lack intercultural skills, poor communication can break business relationships, deadlines can be missed, projects may fail and talented people will go to the competition. Key responsibilities of organizational leaders are therefore supposed to understand how cross-cultural factors interact with human resource be the conduit for organizational learning for cross-cultural intelligence and enhance cross-cultural communication throughout the organization. Cross-cultural intelligence should also be inculcated into the organization system. Cross-cultural intelligence refers to the ability to switch ethnic and or national contexts and quickly learn new patterns of social interaction with appropriate behavioral responses. This competence is vital to working effectively in multicultural environments. Thus, combining future career paths and global business success with cultural competence is important for leaders to emphasize, with the goal that human resource managers are motivated to acquire new behaviors and skills and understand the benefits of learning from different cultures. To become culturally competent, the first step is to have a solid understanding of one's own values and how they shape cultural identity. Within this process, it is also vital to realize that different cultures often have different values. Whether in a domestic or global workplace, leaders of the organizations need to be accommodative of cross-cultural decision-making and the corresponding influence on the human resource management. By being aware of cultural differences in the decision-making process, for example, the reasons for making decisions, the various ways that decisions are made in different cultures, the party responsible for making those decisions, individuals, groups, various levels within the organization and the ways decisions are implemented. The organization leaders can better gauge culturally appropriate decisions and work with managers of other cultures in the decision-making process. Lack of cross-cultural sensitivity in the performance evaluation process can result in negative effects on communication, employee morale and teamwork. It is therefore critical that organizational leaders be culturally appropriate when assessing performance and delivering feedback. Additionally, to get better performance results in culturally diverse employees and organizations need to look and examine their performance standards to ensure cultural bias does not influence the performance appraisal process. 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