Effective Intercultural Business Communication

519 Words3 Pages
With the world fast becoming a global village, communicating across cultures in the workplace has become an inevitable reality, but it isn't an easy task. We all come from different backgrounds and bring different experiences to the table. Whether problems come from dealing with cultural differences or with messages stemming from nonverbal communication or body language, barriers caused by inadequate cultural knowledge and the lack of intercultural communicative skills can be a disruptive force in the business communication. Effective intercultural business communication is all about overcoming these barriers across borders. The desire to communicate is the first step to be effective in intercultural communication, whether it is between employees, colleagues or clients. The desire to connect with another human being is the bond that will express itself clearly. And a genuine effort to understand another person goes along in the path to effective intercultural communication. The key to effective intercultural communication is knowledge. Knowing about other cultures will help us develop our skills. Within a business context, we should be proactive when approaching a new culture. This is a learned skill which means it will require research, practice, and growth. People from different backgrounds may have varied approaches to learning styles, family structure, religion, and most other aspects of life. It is impossible to know the varied systems of all cultures, so approach this process one culture at a time as we meet and deal with new people in business. With willingness to understand others and adequate cultural knowledge in hands, the crucial step is to improve our own intercultural communicative skills in business. The speaking skills is obvious important, but speaking well is not about accent, use of grammar or vocabulary. Rather, intercultural
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