Barriers to cultural communication across culture

International companies are facing new challenges in internal communication structures as a result of major changes through internationalization, downsizing, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures.
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  Lack of investment in cross-cultural training and language tuition often leads to insufficient internal cohesion. Customer/customer loss, lack of employee retention, lack of competitive advantage, internal conflict/power struggle, poor working relationship, misunderstanding, pressure, low productivity and lack of cooperation are all by-products of poor cross-cultural communication.
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  Intercultural Communication Advisors work with international companies to minimize the above-mentioned consequences of poor cross-cultural awareness. Through this collaboration, consulting firms like Kwintessential have recognized the common barriers to effective cross-cultural communication within the company.
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  Here we outline several examples of these barriers to cross-cultural cooperation:
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  Lack of communication
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  It can be said that non-communication may be the biggest factor in poor communication, which seems obvious. However, it continues to prove that it is a major problem for most companies.
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  Lack of communication with employees is not just due to lack of verbal conversation. Instead, it involves access to information.
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  For example, not providing feedback [negative or positive], informing employees about their role or failing to properly communicate desired decisions and actions is a way to hide information from employees. This will eventually lead to an alienated group of employees who feel separated from management and superiors.
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  If managers are too picky about providing information, this can lead to employee suspicion and embarrassment, and inevitably lead to internal conflicts rather than cohesion.
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  Management does not and will not communicate and interact with employees, which indicates their lack of interest, trust and respect.
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  In the West, it is often the case that the communication lines are vertical. Staff report to senior managers and managers, and more. Ideally, the communication channel should run in both directions. Those who are subordinate in the communication process often feel alienated, indifferent, and may even persuade.
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  The lack of communication in all its forms is unhealthy. Companies and managers must understand how they communicate, content and content.
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  Language
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  There are two forms of language communication difficulties:
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  Use the appropriate language
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  Language is accompanied by the meaning of the subconscious and the information conveyed through vocabulary, stress and intonation. Mistaken use of words or emotions hidden behind a phrase can send information that affects the employee's self-awareness, confidence, and attitude. Critical language leads to poor interpersonal relationships and low self-confidence, while supportive language and intonation have the opposite effect.
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  Foreign language
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  Today, the office may have native speakers in more than 50 languages. The main language of the office is very important, whether it is English, French or Spanish. Once this is done, all employees should only talk in the primary language. This will avoid excluding employees who cannot understand other languages. In addition, the company should ensure that all its employees are familiar with the primary language. Language tuition should be considered a necessity rather than a luxury.
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  Culture
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  International companies with highly diverse national and cultural backgrounds face differences in language, values, belief systems, business ethics, business practices, behavior, etiquette and expectations.
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  Cross-cultural differences can have a negative impact on the business in a variety of ways, be it team cohesion or employee productivity. As mentioned above, different communication methods are just one area that represents cross-cultural differences.
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  In such a multicultural society, it may be necessary to provide objective help through cross-cultural consultants who will show teams and individuals how to manage communication and collaborative work more cohesively and effectively.
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  Company Culture
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  Corporate culture involves the management of the company's internal culture. For example, does the company view its different divisions [such as sales, production, management, and human resources] as closed or open systems? Due to the structure and communication lines between the two, the closed system is a system that lacks synergy between the sales and production departments. The result of this division is that the managers of the department tend to become territories. In order to create an open system, teamwork is encouraged, team building and teamwork are essential.
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  These measures are particularly effective in joint ventures and middlemen, and cooperation between two or more companies requires their full commitment to open systems.
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  Understandably, many companies focus on the financial and strategic aspects of company operations. International companies now realize that many of their business problems stem from people management and communication.
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  In summary, we can conclude that the biggest obstacle to effective cross-cultural communication is investing in the expertise and resources needed to overcome these problems. Intercultural barriers are easily negotiated through some objective and qualified assistance.
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  For more information, please visit http://www.kwintessential.co.uk

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