Misunderstanding cultural differences can result in a stressful workplace with low employee morale, poor overall performance, and, worst case, a high turnover rate (Carroll, 2012).
In this discussion, I will assume that (Bechtel Corporation) "My MNC," will open a new office in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia; this office was linked to three locations in: (the USA - China - Egypt); I will discuss the potential barriers to effective communication for all parties & what strategies are needed to reduce those barriers.
Communication Barriers Across Cultures
Language Difference:
Not speaking the same language causes many misunderstandings between English, Chinese, and Arabic. Although English is now the language of business (Klimova & Semradova, 2012), the distinctive southern dialect of Georgia is in itself a challenge to deal with the English that the Chinese and Egyptians assimilate, who are accustomed to the most famous "New York English."
Stereotypes:
Prejudice among employees and their managers on nationality, race, and religion among the three countries creates enormous gaps in dealing. Assuming that Americans are all impulsive, Chinese are all shy, Egyptians are all conservative, and Georgians are all religious, this makes the work more complex and challenging for everyone.
Signs and Symbols:
Hand and facial gestures differ significantly between the four cultures and are unreliable. In Eastern cultures such as China and Egypt, there are many reservations about direct hand pointing towards a specific person, the opposite of what is accepted in the United States (Bavelas, Gerwing & Healing, 2014).
Populist Bigotry
The feeling of superiority of some employees in particular countries over employees of other countries makes things worse between them. Some countries have ethnic conflicts with other countries that make it impossible to deal with them at work (Jansen, 2011).
Geographical differences:
It is almost impossible to deal with the time zone differences between China, Egypt, and the United States. Organizing meeting dates will be a big challenge, as every employee will wish his/her meetings were during the morning working hours.
Strategies to minimize the cross-culture barriers
1. According to (Hooker, 2012), Courses should be held for employees and leaders to understand the specific culture of each of them and how it is adapted to them, stand on the barriers of cultural differences between them, and appreciate those differences as they benefit the diversity of ideas at work.
2. Discussing cultural differences as they arise directly keeps them from festering, allows everyone to discuss their views, and works to resolve differences and make the work environment safe and stable (Kanter & Corn, 1994).
3. To unite culturally different individuals around one shared vision by setting general priorities for the company and standards to which everyone must work and making all members cooperate to reach better results (Kanter & Corn, 1994).
4. According to Bigelow (1994), as an international manager, I have to study the cultural differences between my teams and employees, be aware of the stereotypes and prejudices of some employees against each other, and try to replace them and promote a culture of effective communication between them.
Conclusion
In the international work environment, a successful global manager must work hard to train his/her employees to avoid cultural barriers between them, use a common language for dialogue, avoid prejudices, and ask direct questions when misunderstandings are suspected (Goman, 2019), it also provides a space for mutual respect and openness to new ideas and acceptance of different cultures, this will have a profound impact on the productivity and creativity of individuals within the company.
References
Bavelas, J., Gerwing, J., & Healing, S. (2014). Hand and facial gestures in conversational interaction (pp. 111-130). The Oxford handbook of language and social psychology.
Bigelow, J. D. (1994). International skills for managers: integrating international and managerial skill learning. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 32(1), 1-12.
Carroll, R. (2012). Cultural misunderstandings: the French-American experience. University of Chicago Press.
Goman. C.K., (2019). Communicating Across Cultures. Retrieved from https://www.amanet.org/articles/communicating-across-cultures/
Jansen, R. S. (2011). Populist mobilization: A new theoretical approach to populism. Sociological theory, 29(2), 75-96.
Hooker, J. (2012). 19 Cultural Differences in Business Communication. The handbook of intercultural discourse and communication, 29, 389.
Kanter, R. M., & Corn, R. I. (1994). Do cultural differences make a business difference? Contextual factors affecting cross‐cultural relationship success. Journal of Management Development.
Klimova, B. F., & Semradova, I. (2012). Communication barriers. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31, 207-211.