COMMUNICATION DIFFERENCES AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Author(s):  
Slagjana Stojanovska ◽  
◽  
Kristina Velichkovska ◽  

This paper aims to examine the challenges of cross-cultural communication in multicultural teams and the resolution of conflicts arising during that process of communication. For this purpose, a survey was conducted on individuals coming from various cultural backgrounds to determine how cultural differences affect the organizational communication styles, their perception of conflict situations and the choice of conflict resolution procedures. The study is underpinned by a literature review of cross-cultural communication and theories on culture, conflict resolution and multicultural team dynamics. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory will be used to define the cultural differences using four dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs collectivism, and masculinity vs femininity. The outcome of the study assesses the intercultural communication competence of employees in North Macedonia and gives recommendations on how to improve communication and avoid conflicts that plague multicultural teams.

Management ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao C. Chen ◽  
Huan Wang

Cross-cultural communication is a field of study composed of two streams: (i) cross-cultural comparisons of how individuals from one culture communicate differently than those from another culture and (ii) communication dynamics involving interactions of people from different cultures. The critical difference between the two streams is that the former does not necessarily involve interactions among members from different cultures whereas the latter does. Nevertheless, cross-cultural communication and intercultural communication are often used interchangeably, partly because intercultural communication is fraught with cross-cultural communication differences and assumes such differences as given. Therefore, cultural differences are the dominating frameworks, such as Hofstede’s national culture dimensions (Hofstede 1980, cited under Hofstede’s National Cultural Dimensions and Communication), for studying both cross-cultural communication differences and intercultural communication dynamics. Many references included here adopt the term “intercultural communication,” yet the content is primarily about cross-cultural differences in communication; a few, however, are exclusively devoted to interactions of people from different cultures. The bibliography that we have built therefore centers around how various cultural dimensions affect and account for between culture communication differences and inter-cultural communication dynamics and how cross-cultural or intercultural communication competence affects intercultural-communication effectiveness.


Author(s):  
Irina Onyusheva ◽  
Etiopia Elisa Changjongpradit

This paper discusses the expansion of cross-cultural communication in today’s business world along with the cultural structures from two main school of cross-cultural communication. The key aim was providing a clearer view on this problem so that to assist in dealing with cultural differences in work places and in business environment overall. The authors investigated the factors that cause issues in a multicultural workplace and how organization management should approach these matters along with why it is important to have such knowledge and promote cross-cultural communication. Detailed recommendations are also provided on how to minimize communication conflicts in the international business settings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 170-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Baba Abugre

Purpose Given the rising expansion of Western multinational companies (MNCs) to the African contexts, the development of expatriates and local employees has become increasingly important to the human resource management of these MNCs. This paper aims to provide critical lessons on cross-cultural communication competences for Western expatriates working in the sub-Saharan Africa business environment. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a qualitative phenomenology that makes use of lived experiences of senior expatriate staff working in Ghana in the form of direct interviews. Findings Results showed that cross-cultural communication competence is very important for Western expatriates’ functioning in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings also established a plethora of cross-cultural communication skills that are essential for Western expatriates’ successful adaptation and work outcomes in Africa. Practical implications This research argues that there is the need for the appreciations of the differing cultural patterns of expatriates and local staff, and this provides the underlying assumptions of intercultural and cross-cultural communication in global business. Originality/value A critical perspective of international business that has scarcely been studied offers lessons for Western expatriates working in sub-Saharan Africa.


Author(s):  
Hyemin Chung ◽  
Henry Lieberman

The need for more effective communication between people of different countries has increased as travel and communications bring more of the world’s people together. Communication is often difficult because of both language differences and cultural differences. Attempts to bridge these differences include many attempts to perform machine translation or provide language resources such as dictionaries or phrase books; however, many problems related to cultural and conceptual differences still remain. Automated mechanisms to analyze cultural similarities and differences might be used to improve traditional machine translators and as aids to cross-cultural communication. This article presents an approach to automatically compute cultural differences by comparing databases of common-sense knowledge in different languages and cultures. Global- Mind provides an interface for acquiring databases of common-sense knowledge from users who speak different languages. It implements inference modules to compute the cultural similarities and differences between these databases. In this article, the design of the GlobalMind databases, the implementation of its inference modules, as well as an evaluation of GlobalMind are described.


Author(s):  
Tasha Peart

This chapter discusses and evaluates research on cross-cultural communication differences in online learning at the university level. It starts out by discussing the growth of online education in recent years and the historical context of online education. The chapter then evaluates research on differences in cross-cultural online learning primarily between university students from the Western part of the world compared to students from the East. Barriers in cross-cultural online education cited in the literature include language, technology, and instructional design. Future research on Western-based online education should assess cross-cultural differences for students from other parts of the world including Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.


Literator ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
A. Wessels

The author of this article published an Afrikaans translation of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land in 1992. This article is a personal contemplation and evaluation of the process of literary translation as experienced in the particular case, referring to aspects of translation theory where relevant. It discusses the unremitting balancing act that literary translation requires, where the translator has to pose the need for as close a literal translation as possible against the need to render, again as faithfully as possible, the comprehensive poetic effect of the work, as regards, for example, stylistic features, emotive force and symbolic significance. Through all of this runs the thread of (a sometimes unconscious) transculturation of the work, partly the result of the desire on the part of the translator to communicate the impact of the poem as successfully as possible to a specific audience with a specific cultural identity and cultural presuppositions. Sometimes the inescapable interpretative nature of literary translation could be attributable to the cultural identity of the translator himself and sometimes it could be the result of the innate cultural dimensions or temper of the recipient language. The problems encountered, solutions arrived at and transcultural evolution effected are illustrated from the (original and translated) texts.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-128
Author(s):  
Anete Mezote

The objective of the research was to find out the most necessary competences of external relations specialists working in Latvia at the present moment, as well as to provide solutions for ensuring the acquisition of the necessary competences. In the research, the working environment of external relations specialists and data obtained in 2011 from surveying the graduates of the study program External Relations of Organizations, implemented at the Latvia University of Agriculture, are analysed. The results reveal that most of the skills needed for external relations specialists are related to cooperation with foreign partners, as well as that external relations specialists in Latvia most of all need to possess and improve cross-cultural communication competence, including awareness of cultural differences, as well as knowledge in specific business etiquettes and ways of communicating and thinking typical of different cultures. The necessary competences of external relations specialists should be improved by means of ensuring more cross-cultural communication opportunities and integrating the acquisition of more culture-specific etiquettes into the curriculum. Key words: competences, cross-cultural communication, external relations education.


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