Intercultural Communication

Introduction

1. Background

2. Culture

3. The ways culture affect communication

4. Work with people in different culture

5. Business behaviors

Background

The twenty-first century business environment is expanding and increasingly attracting the interest of countries from developed and developing nations of the world. As countries of the world become increasingly interdependent and interconnected because of global market and diverse consumer needs, it is critically important that participating countries and their organizations understand and appreciate one another’s cultural differences in order to ensure growth and sustainability in international business.

Culture

Discussion 1：what’s culture？

Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts ( Daphne.A, 2008).

The ways culture affects communication

Discussion 2：how culture affects communication?

Culture affects communication in various ways. It determines the time and timing of interpersonal events, the places where it is appropriate to discuss particular topics, the physical distance separating one speaker from another, the tone of voice that is appropriate for the subject matter (Edward T, William Foote, 2009).

Work with people in different culture

Discussion 3: To work with people, must we be just like them? How can we work with people in different culture?

Business behaviors to work with people, must we be just like them? Obviously not. There are some methods we can learn to make us work with people in different culture better (Edward T, William Foote, 2009):

1. We can learn to control our frankness in a culture which puts High value on maintaining pleasant surface relations.

2. We can avoid expressing quick decisions when their utterance without a long period of polite preparation would show...