Culture and communication in International business

Business communication is about exchanging information, creating relationship and building

trust among employees. Business communication can help gain new customers, hire
productive employees and create a successful workplace. It’s a work life path starting from an
initial handshake to the delivery of the final work reports. It includes all written, verbal,
electronic communication within a company or between the companies. Business
communication is necessary for self-improvement as it will increase productivity along with a
positive outcome.

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International business communication is increasing globally, the reason being some countries are
in better position to produce better quality products or at a low cost than what other nations can
do. International business communication execution has various factors which include careful
planning, expert training and a basic understanding of cross culture communication. Effective
communication within international business is important as it enhances productivity, improves
customer service, ensures that deadlines are met, team collaboration, improves employee
engagement, building better teams, accurate decision making, improve brand awareness,
enhances innovation and prevent misunderstanding and conflicts. Acceleration of student
exchange programs, international expansion of educational institutions, international conferences
and seminars all require effective communication strategies. Global communication is a
continuous state of ferment and evolution redefining the nature of international relations.

Further key elements and processes of international business communication are discussed
contributing to effective communication between employees at workplace.

Cross cultural communication skills

Adapting to changing work environment, manager needs to understand the cross cultural skills
and employees’ background to enable them to communicate effectively. Ethnic diversity and
cultural exchanges creates a strong workplace. Globalisation has increased the interactions
between people from different countries, cultures and racial backgrounds. Establishment of
Appropriate communication strategies will allow employees to interact freely and exchange
different ideas at work. As a part of this global interaction people tend to have different skills,
perspectives and experiences so people who are more open minded about the problems having an
idea how to solve it are more likely to fit here. Intercultural business environment promote
creativity and innovation.

Linguistics

English is widely spoken all over the world, however there are number of people who speak
French, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. An international business organisation needs to employ
multi lingual employee who are able to communicate easily in different languages. Workplace
should ensure that there is easy and understandable flow of communication among the

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employees that will eventually improve their language skills to make them achieve their
objectives at work.

Emotional intelligence

Employees with high emotional intelligence make more thoughtful business decisions as they are
better at staying calm under pressure, they listen more than they speak. Emotional intelligence is
crucial in business as it is beyond connecting with people and is directly linked with leadership,
improved job performance and overall wellbeing.

Collaboration capabilities

Communication in a productive way is important to build collaboration strategies and effective

professionals recognise the importance of working with local and international team members in
working towards their goals.

Networking skills

International business networking is necessary as it has the ability to quickly build rapport and
establish connections with professionals in other countries.

Factors that influence the effective communication within international business are social
behaviors, understanding the cultural differences, adaptive thinking that will promote new ideas
and creative thinking that is incorporating confidence to react and adapt quickly thinking “out of
the box “ to solve problems. Active listening is the key communication skill that can influence
international business communication that involves making eye contact, proper body posture,
nodding of head and making facial expression and using open ended questions. Professional
communication along with marketing communication are essential factors as it involves
advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, online social media marketing that
would reach target audience across different cultures and countries. Lastly, weekly and monthly
feedback is essential for improving the decision making skills and outcomes for globally
connected business firms.

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Analysis on how cultural differences can affect communication within international business

International business and cultural differences go hand in hand; it has both positive and negative
impacts. For the company to grow it is necessary to understand these cultural differences.
In a positive way, this ethnic diversity of culture differences at workplace can nurture
connections and increase productivity. As workplaces come together from around the
world each company conducts business differently according to their respective cultures,
these differences impact business practices, communication and relationship. Cultural
differences in business are the variations in customs, norms, behavior that would affect
how individual and organisation run business activities globally. Understanding the
cultural differences in international business is important as people are travelling to
abroad for global business is increasing each day. Many people aren’t aware of cultural
differences such as attitudes, gestures, actions, ethics and communication and it would be
difficult and it may take a lot of time for people to become accustomed. Starting or
engaging in business on a global basis requires a good understanding of difference in
cultures as what may be acceptable business practice in one country may be very
different from approach used by international business. Difference between successful
and failing endeavor set up by the company is lack of effective communication.
International business pays a close attention to effective communication to avoid cultural
differences affecting messages at the receivers end unexpectedly. Managing the
differences of right to deliver message is obligatory for an effective communication that
is the use of direct language to deliver a message that is clear and clam. Addressing
factual descriptions and relevant detail are more likely to be heard. Speaking the same
language as the target audience is the first step but getting the message across in an
understandable way is more important. Knowing these cultural differences in
communication will affect the way brand delivers its messages to the customers. Lack of
effective communication can risk by getting ‘lost in translational’ For example, it is
common in countries like United states or Germany where people share ideas amongst
the colleagues in an assertive way and being verbally loud. But in countries like japan,
people have a passive tone and tend to speak more softly. Other cultural differences that
would impact communication are basic customs, mannerisms and gestures. International
business needs to understand the cultural differences in communication, this will help

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 them to overcome language barriers and use the right tone and body language. Right
mindset of sensitivity, openness and curiosity can help business to succeed. Being patient
and encouraging an open mind work environment can help in addressing the cultural
differences. Addressing the cultural differences in communication can be what makes or
breaks an international deal. Getting the small details right makes all the difference and
helps the company to grow globally.

The difference in habits, values and ways of expression arises cultural differences among people
that may cause problems when people communicate. Following points indicate how cultural
differences affect communication.

Body language

Nonverbal messages are conveyed through movement of hands, fingers, eyes, head, face and
these have different meaning in different cultures. Examples:
Handshake, Americans like to greet with the firm handshake while in china they bow to greet
people. In USA people maintain eye contact while they communicate. Victory sign in USA
indicates a symbol of success, in Japan it represents money.

Space

Space is viewed differently in each culture. North American’s maintain two feet distance while
speaking whereas Arabians stand close.

Time

Time being an important factor varies in a way that, people from USA, UK or Europe maintain
time efficiently and keeps a track of their schedule.

Language

Language barriers can cause chances of miscommunication during international business such a
single word can have multiple meaning and lack of alternated words. Effective communication
can be difficult when common language isn’t share between employees. Companies often hire

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mediators and translators to overcome this language barrier. Though it is suggested to avoid
using of idioms while communicating.

Conflicts in workplace

Dealing with conflicts can be complex process and to address it directly knowing the culture and
language it gets even more difficult. It’s important to be aware of how different culture responds
to these situations

Frankness

It has been noticed that first world countries are more frank and open than the third world
countries. Americans and Germans are more frank with respect to relationships than Asians.
They openly share all the relevant information while Asians remain introvert sharing limited
information.

Social Values

Social Values such as living styles, class status, the way of addressing people may cause
conflicts and sense of inferiority amongst the employees while communication. Respecting ones
culture and not demeaning them on the basis of their living standards and class is necessary.

As there is increase in economic interdependence worldwide, it’s necessary address these

differences and communicate effectively by being more ‘culturally sensitive’. Being culturally
sensitive requires an understanding that similarities and variations in culture impact people
people’s behavior, perceptions and values. Cultural sensitivity break cultural barriers and
appreciate and understand these cultural differences, thus it would help a person understand how
the receiver may interpret their words. Through this one can know how to communicate
effectively and avoid words that can cause misunderstanding.

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Effective communication supports cohesive team work in an international business.

Effective communication is necessary to build cohesive teams that work together to achieve
common goals. Proper functioning of a company requires effective, continuous and
understandable communication that will lay a foundation to generate cohesive teams capable for
achieving objectives set by the organisation. Effective communication in international business
supports cohesive team working in a way by enabling communication between all parts of team,
stable, positive and productive relationships are generated among people this creates a good
working environment and ensures well-being of employees. Effective communication is also
necessary to create healthy companies that are involved in international business firms- trust,
creativity and innovation are important factors that will nurture the employees performance and
will contribute to cohesive team working. It’s important for employees to understand their
position, objectives and how to achieve them in this way organisation works together increasing
productivity. When this dynamics is created, managing people becomes easy inspite of cultural
and language barriers, as employees will know objectives being pursued, in this way
organisation connected through international businesses manage crisis with greater chances of
growth. Cohesive teams are building and sustained upon the foundation of effective
communication, the shared information must be received adequately, understood and acted upon
transforming group of mere individuals into a cohesive team. Effective communication supports
cohesive team work by creating trust and inducing transparency where members feel safe to
share ideas and collaborate openly, have higher employee retention rates, increase in productivity
and innovation, conflict resolution and reduction in misunderstandings, tackle problems
collectively and alignment of goals. Effective communication creates a bridge to success for
teams, as ideas are transformed into actions, plans are executed and challenges are overcome.
Effective communication is a collective commitment that requires participation and dedication
from every team member. Building cohesive team is important as it creates an overall strength
and resilience of the team being necessary factor to run business globally. To build a strong team
should be a collective endeavor. Another benefit of effective communication is that it enables
constructive feedback, when team members share their feedback openly, honestly and
respectfully it helps to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Feedback also helps the
employees to recognize their achievements, celebrate their successes and motivate each other.
Barriers such as physical distances, misunderstandings amongst people and unclear

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organizational norms make effective communication challenging. These barriers can be
overcome by following effective communication practices which include active listening, regular
and structured meetings, open and honest communication, establish clear communication norms,
promote cross cultural understanding, implement conflict resolution protocols, encourage
informal interactions and open and honest communications.

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