Introduction
Intercultural communication is an essential aspect of globalization as a result of employee relationships in multinational corporations. In this context, there are several distinct perspectives on the impact of intercultural communication on organizational performance. The concepts of intercultural perspectives are a result of different contributions from researchers globally. One of the main objectives of these researchers is to enhance interrelationships between individuals to facilitate cooperation, hence improving humanity. In this perspective, globalization requires a clear understanding of intercultural communication to ensure that large organizations can gather the necessary human resources for organizational performance. In this presentation, the illustration of intercultural communication concepts has a precise analogy concerning organizational performance. The subtopics of the research include the explanation of intercultural communication concepts, the application of intercultural communication concepts in organizational structures, barriers to intercultural communication, and the current trends in intercultural communication.
The Analysis of Intercultural Communication Concepts
The concept of intercultural communication is essential in measuring performance in different aspects of life. At its core, it entails an effective communication process that has different elements including lingua culture, intercultural mediation, subconscious elements in communicative behavior, and the channels of communication that enable people to meet their self-actualization goals irrespective of cultural differences. From this perspective, intercultural communication is vital in every societal construct as an essential aspect of increasing the quality of life experiences. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge the fact that intercultural communication can be learned through research, practice, and observation of outcomes. Presumably, communication competence is a key value in the current dictates of the information era, where it can apply in many significant instances. The probability of effective communication is directly tied to a concrete understanding of communication competence. From this perspective, intercultural communication entails the vast knowledge regarding communications patterns that are appropriate and useful for an individual’s ability to interpret various instances of communication and adapt accordingly irrespective of intercultural differences. On the contrary, the skills in this concept are also key to the achievement of communication goals in a way that is socially applicable. The major strength of intercultural communication is that it is a categorical skill that requires a keen interest in obtaining information and constant practice to become well-versed. On the contrary, it has weaknesses resulting from its limitations and continuous process because of the unpredictable outcomes of any given communication process.
The Application of Intercultural Communication Concepts
Four interventions explain the concept of managing multicultural teams using essential leadership techniques. The first intervention is through adaptation. By working with differences, team members can willingly understand and recognize cultural differences among themselves, hence formulating strategic approaches that enable living with differences. The second intervention is structural. It entails the reorganization of managing techniques to minimize friction through subgroups that are part of the team members. For this strategic approach, the main goal is to minimize the possibility of members clinging to stereotypical ideologies that promulgate negativity. The third intervention is managerial. It entails the significance of essential leadership in formulating final decisions without involving team members. The analogy of this intervention is the establishment of productive norms that acts as a guide for new teams. The last intervention is the exit. It entails the involuntary or voluntary termination of team membership. This perspective applies when emotions are scaling high and there is a deduction in the possibility of salvaging both sides that bring a situation.
Essential leadership in multicultural teams ensures that team members can follow a specific procedure in production and service delivery hence achieving organizational objectives as a team. The rise of multicultural teams is a result of progressive scientific interventions in leadership and management that have enabled multinational corporations to incorporate local employment in their international organizations. By utilizing multicultural teams, corporations can increase the productivity of employees by establishing different approaches to decision-making, problem-solving, and improving creativity. In this perspective, essential leadership in multinational corporations entails professional analysis of cultural nuances and the establishment of sustainable plans that eradicate embarrassment and lack of belonging in the workplace. As a result, key leadership qualities that are essential in multicultural organizations include adaptive leadership, value-driven management, social leadership, meaningful leadership, and confidence in executive management. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the article as an essential guide to leadership and managing multicultural teams from the Harvard Business Review.
The Barriers to Intercultural Concepts
Due to variances in cultural beliefs, the approach of multicultural team members on communication is categorical depending on individual and group descriptions of the concept of indirect and direct communication. For example, negotiations facilitated by Westernized approaches are based on influential information. In this perspective, the priorities and preferences of counterparts are identified, hence strategizing communication procedures that focus on the best interests of multicultural team members before major decisions are made. On the contrary, the aspect of accents and fluency is a major barrier to effective communication within multicultural teams’ workspace. The challenge leads to a waste of time when delegating duties as a result of misinformation and misinterpretations. Another significant challenge is active competition among multicultural teams since the workforce is based on professionalism hence setting standards and competition.
In this perspective, team members end up in self-denial and pretense as a result of superiority and subordination. The aspect of differing attitudes in the workspace is a significant challenge in managing multicultural organizations. For example, the nature of humans is a phenomenon that exhibits their conformity to authority hence obeying hierarchical systems within the workspace. As a result, interrelationships within the work setup end up in disorientation. Furthermore, team members that exhibit undesirable attitudes such as flat teams always differ from team members that are from an advanced social status. Drawing the analogy from the theoretical implications of egalitarian culture, the concept of attitudes on the workspace results in a lack of credibility in teammates’ interrelationships. On the contrary, the concept of conflicting norms that affects effective decision-making significantly determines the success of managing multicultural teams. The differences posed by variable cultural beliefs and conflicting norms restructure the chain of command, therefore, mismanaging multicultural teams.
The Current Trends in Enhancing Organizational Performance through Intercultural Communication
Global Leadership and Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) is a large study that deals with acknowledging the role of culture as applied in constructive leadership. It also addresses the concept of cultural expectations as a determinant of success in leadership placement. The quantitative dimensions that are part of GLOBE approaches include future orientation, assertiveness, humane orientation, gender egalitarianism, in-group collectivism, institutional collectivism, power distance, performance orientation, and uncertainty avoidance. The main objective of this approach is to elaborate on the way national cultures depict their preferences for different styles of leadership. On the contrary, the measure of leadership performance in this approach is classified into value-based or charismatic leadership, team-oriented, participative autonomous, humane-oriented, and self-protective. According to Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, the substructure of the study is to help in understanding the cultural differences between different countries. There are several dimensions in Hofstede’s theory including avoidance of uncertainties, power distance, masculinity and femininity, individualism, and collectivism together with the long-term versus short-term orientation.
The significance of this theory is in primary cultural models that are based on beliefs and values set to achieve preset objectives. In this perspective, the substructure of this theory overlooks the dimensions illustrated by Hofstede and uses them to identify possible faults in corporations such as multicultural companies. The concept of managing multicultural corporations requires essential leadership skills that overlook the challenges faced by multicultural employees, the business-appropriate business models that will sustain the company’s profitability, and management that will distribute power effectively. On the contrary, the theories learned in the course enable one to develop strategic approaches that cater to the short-term and long-term goals of the organization.
Conclusion
In multicultural teams, leadership is a crucial aspect that requires keen intervention by business owners and shareholders. It entails dealing with the diversities of the workforce that arise from cultural differences and belief systems that promulgate different ideas. The ideal practice in multicultural companies focuses on the ideal leadership for multicultural companies that is achieved and measured by leadership techniques.
References
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