Advantages of Communication in Today’s Life

Ted Childs, IBMs vice president of orbicular workforce diversity, knows from years of experience that communicating successfully across cultures is no simple task, however curiously in a company that employs more than 325,000 spate and sells to customers in roughly 175 countries around the world. dustup al adept presents a formidable barrier to communion when you consider that IBMs workforce speaks more than one hundred sixty-five languages, but language is just one of umteen elements that play a role in intercourse between cultures.Differences in age, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, and economic status put up wholly run the communication process. Childs recognizes that these differences represent both a ch on the wholeenge and an oopportunity, and a key part of his job is dower IBM executives and employees work unitedly in a way that transforms their cultural differences into a critical barter strength. As he Ted Childs oversees IBMs ef forts to build competitory advantage by capitalizing on the benefits of a assorted workforce. 64WORLD IBMs experience (profiled in the chapter-opening Communication Close-Up) illustrates both the challenges and the opportunities for business professional persons who know how to communicate with diverse audiences. Although the concept is very much framed in terms of ethnic background, a broader and more useful definition of diversity includes all the characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals. 2 As youll learn in this chapter, these characteristics and experiences can pass water a profound effect on the way businesspeople communicate.To a large degree, these effects on communication be the result of fundamental differences between cultures. Intercultural communication is the process of sending and receiving messages between people whose cultural background could lead them to interpret verbal and nonverbal signs differently. Every attempt to send and commence messages is influenced by culture, so to communicate successfully, youll need a basic grasp of the cultural differences you may come upon and how you should handle them.Your efforts to recognize and surmount cultural differences give open up business opportunities tthroughout the world and maximise the contribution of all the employees in a diverse workforce. The Opportunities in a Global Marketplace You will communicate with people from some other(a) cultures tthroughout your c atomic number 18er. You might be a business manager watching for untried customers or new sources of labor. Or you might be an employee looking for new work opportunities. Either way, chances are good that youll be looking across inter earthal borders sometime in your career.Thousands of U. S. businesses depend on exports for meaningful portions of their revenues. Every year, these companies export roughly $700 billion in materials and merchandise, along with billions more in personal and pr ofessional services. If you work in one of these companies, you may well be called on to visit or at least communicate with a grand vvariety of people who speak languages other than English and who live in cultures quite different from what youre used to (see Figure 3. 1).Of the top ten export markets for U. S. products, only tether (Canada, Great Britain, and Singapore) speak English as an official language, and ii of those three (Canada and Singapore) have more than one official language. 3 In the global marketplace, most natural boundaries and national borders are no lengthy the impassable barriers they once were. Domestic markets are opening to worldwide competition as businesses of all sizes look for new growth opportunities outside their own countries.For example, automotive giant Ford markets to customers in some one hundred thirty countries, providing websites that offer local information, usually in the local language. 4 The diversity of todays workforce brings distinc t advantages to businesses A broader oscilloscope of views and ideas A better understanding of diverse, fragmented markets A broader pool of gift from which to recruit The Advantages of a Diverse Workforce Even if you never visit another country or transact business on a global scale, you will interact with colleagues from a vvariety of cultures with a wide unravel of characteristics and life experiences.Over the past few decades, many innovative companies have changed the way they approach diversity, from seeing it as a legal requirement to provide equal opportunities to seeing it as a strategical oopportunity to connect with customers and take advantage of the broadest possible pool of talent. 5 Smart business leaders much(prenominal) as IBMs Ted CHAPTER 3 Communicating in a World of Diversity 65 introduce 3. 1 Languages of the World This map illustrates the incredible array of languages used around the world.Each dot represents the geographic burden of the more than 6, 900 languages tracked by the linguistic research firm SIL International. Even if all of your business communication takes place in English, you will interact with audiences who speak a vvariety of other native languages. Childs recognize the competitive advantages of a diverse workforce that offers a broader spectrum of viewpoints and ideas, helps companies understand and identify with diverse markets, and enables companies to benefit from a wider range of employee talents.As Renee Wingo of Virgin Mobile USA, a cell phone operator based in Warren, New Jersey, puts it, Youre not going to create any magic as a manager unless you bring together people with diverse perspectives who arent miniversions of you. 6 Diversity is simply a fact of life for all companies. The United States has been a nation of immigrants from the beginning, and that trend continues today. The Western and Northern Europearns who made up the bulk of immigrants during the nations early years now share space with pe ople from across Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the world.By 2010 recent immigrants will account for half of all new U. S. workers. 7 Even the term minority, as it applies to nonwhite residents, makes less and less sense every year In two states (California and New Mexico) and several(prenominal) dozen large Communication among people of diverse cultural backgrounds cities, Caucasian Americans no longer form a clear ma- and life experiences is not always easy, but doing it successfully jority. 8 Nor is this pattern of in-migration unique to the United can create tremendous strategic advantages.States Workers from Africa, Asia, and the position East are touching to Europe in search of new opportunities, while workers from India, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia contribute to the employment base of the Middle East. 9 However, you and your colleagues dont need to be recent immigrants to constitute a diverse workforce. Differences in everything from age and gende r to religion and ethnic heritage to geography and military experience enrich the workplace. some(prenominal) immigration and workforce diversity create advantagesand challengesfor business communicators tthroughout the world. 6 PART 1 Understanding the Foundations of seam Communication The Challenges of Intercultural Communication A companys cultural diversity affects how its business messages are conceived, composed, delivered, received, and interpreted. market-gardening influences everything about communication, including Language Nonverbal signals Word meaning Time and space issues Rules of human relationships Diversity affects how business messages are conceived, planned, sent, received, and interpreted in the workplace.Todays increasingly diverse workforce encompasses a wide range of skills, traditions, backgrounds, experiences, outlooks, and attitudes toward workall of which can affect employee behavior on the job. Supervisors face the challenge of communicating with these diverse employees, motivating them, and fostering cooperation and harmony among them. Teams face the challenge of working together closely, and companies are challenged to coexist peacefully with business partners and with the community as a whole. The interaction of culture and communication is so pervasive that separating the two is virtually impossible.The way you communicatefrom the language you speak and the nonverbal signals you send to the way you perceive other peopleis influenced by the culture in which you were raised. The meaning of words, the significance of gestures, the importance of time and space, the rules of human relationshipsthese and many other aspects of communication are defined by culture. To a large degree, your culture influences the way you think, which by nature affects the way you communicate as both a vector and a receiver. 0 So you can see how intercultural communication is much more complicated than simply matching language between sender and receiver. It goes beyond mere words to beliefs, values, and emotions. Tthroughout this chapter, youll see numerous examples of how communication styles and habits vary from one culture to another. These examples are intended to illustrate the major themes of intercultural communication, not to give an exhaustive list of styles and habits of any particular culture.