Effective communication is an essential aspect of our daily
lives, and it becomes more complicated when we interact with people from
different cultures. Intellectual communication is the process of
communicating between two cultures that involves interpreting,
contextualizing, symbolizing, and transacting to create and share meaning
during interactions. To communicate effectively with people from other
cultures, one must understand their culture to avoid misunderstandings
during social interactions. This essay will explore two essential concepts
of intellectual communication, privacy across cultures and cultural space,
and their application in a business environment to improve employee
performance.
Privacy across culture is a crucial aspect of intellectual communication
that enables people to develop a conducive social environment with respect
to personal boundaries. To avoid behavior and attitude barriers in
communication, it is necessary to understand other people's cultures.
Privacy across cultures employs nonverbal communication skills that enable
them to appreciate others as a sign of respect and appreciation. For
example, American residents have a habit of giving a tour to their guests as
a sign of welcoming them to their house, even though the guest did not ask.
Similarly, in a business environment, encouraging employees to develop
customer-friendly behavior such as greeting, smiling, and maintaining eye
contact promotes a customer satisfaction experience, which ultimately leads
to improved employee performance.
Cultural space is another crucial concept of intellectual communication that
uses nonverbal communication to understand our environment. An individual's
environment determines the effectiveness of communication between two
individuals from different cultures. This helps one develop topics of
conversations or the type of products a community uses by predicting their
response. For instance, Wal-Mart is an international organization that
operates across different cultures but has not been successful in Asia. This
is because Asian communities consume different products from America and
China, creating a low demand for Wal-Mart products. In a business
environment, cultural space can be used to develop employee training
programs. As a good manager, understanding the cultures of subordinates will
help create training programs such as seminars and workshops to improve
their skills. This will also contribute to understanding the types of
products a culture uses by learning their likes and dislikes. Hence,
appropriate advertisement strategies can be implemented that will not offend
consumers' cultural beliefs and norms by predicting their reactions.
In conclusion, intellectual communication is crucial in our globalized
world, and it becomes more complex when people from different cultures
interact. The two concepts of intellectual communication, privacy across
cultures and cultural space, are essential in understanding different
cultures and promoting effective communication. They are also beneficial in
improving employee performance and creating a conducive business
environment. Therefore, it is essential to embrace cultural differences to
foster respect, understanding, and harmonious relationships across different
cultures. |