Cultural Diversity

Intercultural communication is a must on today's globally enriched society, especially in an organizational setting. "More and more companies around the world are hopping national borders to conduct business" (Hahn, n.d.). I believe it is important for us to overcome communication barriers and cultural differences because individuals, regardless of their background, upbringing, or cultural beliefs, if given the chance, and driven by motivation and goals, can become successful in both their personal and organizational environments no matter where they come from. “The ability to bring diverse individuals, information, and perspectives to organizational innovation, creativity, problem solving, and decision making has never been greater.” (Shockley-Zalabak, 2010) The Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication can apply to both a personal and business setting. 

I am reminded of my personal relationship with my mother-in-law when reading this article because she is Japanese and I have had to become more aware of the cultural differences between the two of us in order to understand her more and thus develop a closer relationship because of the understanding. One of the guidelines discussed in the article has to do with being aware of different etiquette rules and manners. This is one of the cultural barriers I've had to overcome with her. It is custom in her culture to not openly disclose as much detailed personal information with others like we often tend to do here in America. At first I didn’t know what to think when I noticed that she never initiated any conversations and was always quick with her answers. Her answers were never detailed. I found myself almost having to pry information out of her in order to get a response to whatever conversation the family was having together. Someone who doesn’t understand the cultural difference between the Japanese people and American people could take this as an insult. They might assume that she wasn’t interested in them or what they had to say. They might also judge her intelligence and may even think that she isn’t taking part in the conversations due to her lack of knowledge. I was guilty of assuming some of these incorrect stereotypes about my stepmother at first.

Throughout the years, however, she has felt more comfortable voicing her opinions and views with me. I’m sure that she will never become as overly dramatic and detailed as I can be at times but that’s perfectly fine. This is a cultural difference between the two of us and I respect that completely. In fact, I sometimes wish I could be as meek as she is and consider it a very wonderful quality of her sweet character. 

The seventh commandment in The Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication is "be aware of body language". This reminds me of when I took a trip to South Korea to visit my husband who was stationed over there. Whenever we would go out in public places, I noticed the Koreans would never make any eye contact with me no matter if we were passing each other walking down the street or making a purchase at a local store. To Americans, this might come across as insulting, but to the Koreans it's actually considered disrespectful to make direct eye contact with a stranger. They consider direct eye contact as being impolite. 

Hahn, M. (n.d.) Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-Commandments-of-Intercultural-Communication&id=120247

Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2012). Fundamentals of Organizational Communication: Knowledge, Sensitivity, Skills, Values (8th ed.) Pearson Education, Inc.