Week 3 assignment: Overcoming cultural differences

Image Credit: http://www.slideshare.com

Hahn (2005) identifies several guidelines for communicating with people from other backgrounds that will be useful to adopt in work centers. He suggests that creating an environment for different cultures to flourish, and for everyone to accept each others differences in a positive, open forum. When people engage one another about their respective cultures, including religious beliefs, it allows them to connect in a different way, which could increase productivity and team cohesion.

Hahn (2005) suggests that people have an awareness of each person's individual space and be aware of their comfort zones in a business environment. He also added that employees should understand the organizations policies on legal and ethical behavior to ensure they are following the appropriate guidelines for how to treat people with language barriers and other cultural differences.

The most effective way to address cultural differences in the workplace is to be respectful, flexible, patient, and clear in communicating your needs. Try to empathize with their cultural challenges, and try to relate to their situation to find common ground to send and receive messages properly (Hahn, 2005).

Image Credit: http://www.saludtoday.com

We had an extensive diversity program at my last organization that emphasized bridging gaps between cultural differences in the workplace.The program also created opportunities for each employee to learn about how high-context and low-context cultures. High-context cultures use less verbal communication in favor of nonverbal actions in the workplace, while low-context cultures depend on oral communication and implied meanings to get their messages across at work (Hahn, 2005).

Having a clear understanding of cultural boundaries, and how to overcome them, lead to our organization having a judgement-free environment for employees to thrive and ultimately help the company achieve its mission and goals.

Reference
Hahn, M. (2005). Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-Commandments-of-Intercultural-Communication&id=120247