EB4602 Theory Practice Intercultural Business Communication

CHALLENGES AND IMPACTS OF INTERCULTURAL INTERACTIONSByInstitution
Challenges and Impacts of Intercultural Interactions
Introduction
There are diverse approaches scholars take while explaining culture and its true definition. Generally, culture is a way of life for a certain group of people, involving their behaviour, values, beliefs and symbols, which they accept without question and inherited across generations by imitation and communication. According to Hofstede (2003), we exist in a dynamic society with different levels of interactions, which shape and define their own forms of culture. Therefore, people daily need to live up to the complex requirements that these cultural environments impose on them.
With the advancement in science and technology, the world has become a global village, where faster means of transport and communication have highly reduced the cultural gap that existed between different groups of people. It therefore becomes difficult for people to define themselves in multicultural societies, with individuals bearing different cultural identities. Additionally, personal values and preferences such as respect, freedom, self-esteem, and equity come to play even in a society that embraces cultural diversity. Therefore, intercultural interactions face many challenges that this study aims to discuss and unravel the impacts it causes on individuals at different levels of the society.
Types of Cultures
People within a society may come from different cultural backgrounds, which places them on different cultural levels. Hofstede (1997) shows that there are six levels of culture, which includes national, regional, gender, generational, social class, and organizational level. Regional level comprises of people from different religions, linguistic and tribe. Social class differentiates people according to their profession, academic backgrounds, and occupation, while organizational level structures employees according to the process of work in the organization (Berlitz 2009).
Ethnicity in the regional cultural level places people into different ethnic groups, where individuals from the same region easily identify with each other, speak same language and have a common origin. People in different ethnic groups have different behaviours, attitudes, and positions (Onea, 2012). People from different ethnic groups also speak different languages, whose words may convey a different meaning in another language. Gender level of culture refers to the cultural practises specific to male and female members. In a society, men and women have different perceptions in terms of how to approach certain issues. For example, men see communication as a way of having control and independence while women take communication as essential in relationships (Onea, 2012).
In social class form of culture, different classes have different attitudes, where superior social classes have positive attitudes towards gender, marriage, abortion, and environmental policies (Karahanna, Evaristo & Srite 2006). Studies show that the more educated people get the more secular, materialistic, and intrinsically motivated they become (Haidt & Joseph 2007). The social segregation of people into upper, middle and lower class clearly differentiates individuals economically and socially, which has an influence on their perceptions of the various issues in the society.
Additionally, differences in culture exists between different generations. This is evident in the way people think, behave, and associate with each other. For example, younger people in the 21st century take technology more positively and see it as a means of solving problems as compared to the older generation. The younger generation, mostly born in an already multicultural society may have a more positive attitude towards immigrants and people of colour, while the older generation may perceive them as a threat to employment and propagation of their culture (Karahanna, Evaristo & Srite 2006).
Effects of Culture on an Individual
Perlman and Gleason (2007) highlight the effects of cultural determinism, where the society shapes an individual’s behaviours, values, ideas, beliefs and meanings. The theory of cultural determinism indicate that individuals choose what they want to become and not merely shaped by their environment. Most anthropologists suggest that societies create their own forms of culture, which varies from one society to another. However, membership in one society has the power to shape an individual’s attitudes and behaviours. Different cultures within the societies also feel, act, and think differently (Hofstede 1997). This greatly informs an individual’s decisions in judging and acting upon an issue.
Ethnocentrism exists in some societies where people perceive their culture as superior to others (Reardon et al. 2005). Issues related to gender equality, racism, and social class emanate from this ideology. This perception may make an individual to assume superiority over individuals from other cultural background, especially when the individual is not culturally sensitive. These perceptions and behaviours sculptured by culture have a cognitive effect, which enables an individual to perceive certain actions and behaviours differently to others from different cultures (Byrne et al. 2004). As Byrne and others add, ethnocentrism makes an individual exercise aggression over those from cultures appearing different from theirs. These actions are mostly evident in xenophobia.
Differences in cultures manifest in several ways and depths, provided by unique entities surrounding each culture. According to Hosftede (1997), these differences emanate from symbols, heroes, rituals, and values held by certain cultures. In different cultures, words, pictures, gestures, and objects hold different meanings, which people copy across cultures (Haidt & Joseph 2007). Different cultures have certain personalities who either existed or fictional, and are taken as role models or reference to a lesson. For example, the world considers Bill Gates a technological hero, while South Africa’s Nelson Mandela is a freedom hero.
Rituals form important cultural entities, such as greetings, religious practises, respecting elders, and rites of passage, which vary across cultures. Values make the most important form of cultural identity. Values held by one culture may not be the same compared to another culture. The different cultural entities of symbols, heroes, rituals and values aid greatly in shaping an individual’s lifestyle and impacts greatly on his interaction with people from other cultures (Haidt & Joseph 2007).
Challenges of Cultural Interactions
The interactions between people from different cultures present several challenges. The most evident form of challenge culture presents is language barrier. With over a thousand languages in the planet and hundreds of different writing symbols employed across nations, it becomes difficult to interact amicably among people. According to Timmins (2002), it becomes challenging for professionals, especially in the medical and hospitality industries, to offer services as they serve people from across cultures. Therefore, individuals often need to learn different languages; which will still present challenges since their accents may be different from those of the natives. Roberts and Campbell (2006) posits that this lack of fluency in native languages may cost job interviewees, especially in jobs with great communicational demands.
Interactions among people from different cultures become even more difficult with the use of non-verbal communication. According to Silverman and Kinnersley (2010), different communities have different ways of perceiving non-verbal communications, especially those common between cultures. Additionally, non-verbal communication varies between cultures, and may portray a meaning different to a point of hampering interactions (Silverman & Kinnersley 2010). For example, a doctors looking at a computer while talking to a patient may seem okay to a white patient but appears as form of disrespect to a Latino patient. This is because these two cultures perceive eye contact differently during communication.
Significant challenges occur to individuals who may move to another country and experience different forms of lifestyle. Some cultures provide extreme challenges to certain individuals, whenever they find the practises withi...