Cross-Cultural Communication - Assignment Example

Learning Portfolio By + Week 3: Cross-Cultural Communication How does your learning about this topic relate to your prior knowledge, personal experiences, or expectations? Be specific and use examples. The key elements outlined in the topic of cross-cultural communication gives me an insight on the manner to deal with prior setbacks related to dealing with individuals from diverse backgrounds. I have always held that the individuals who have had a prolonged experience in certain settings than the ones who have just joined the niche only understand certain cultures. However, the topic articulates cultural intelligence as a natural communication constituent that becomes useful when an individual explores or rather visits a new territory, thus making it correspond to the difficulties around his or her environment. The three components that influence this include are the intellectual; the physical; and the emotional or motivational. The validation of this concept owes to the fact that I have always looked forward to know the reasons why some employees or even companies become rivals in work related settings, which answers my question that cultural intelligence exist within the body, the heart, and the head. 2. What does your research tell you about this topic? In depth, communication is a key factor in realizing any objective, especially in long-term missions. Cross-cultural communication is an important factor in companies that need to have an edge over their competitors (Peterson, 2004). On the other hand, my research shows that both cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence have a strong coalition since they both work together to apply to the social affairs amongst individuals as well as their significance to modern establishments. The topic explores the essentiality of different cultural backgrounds versus emotional quotient in an organization and the manner in which they interrelate to find a perfect equilibrium through human perspectives. The focus deals with decision-making actions, the manner of intervening with emotions in management and building capacities for the development of a common resolution that eventually becomes an extra importance in personal associations (Peter & John, 1990). Evidently, an individual that possesses a high emotional intelligence combined with cultural intelligence makes him or her a rational being and concurrently makes every individual different from another. The topic also illustrates that companies experience cross-cultural behaviours, which are frequently very differentiating. For example, any new employee who joins an organization always takes an opportunity in the first few days, weeks or months to interpret its cultural code. In any big firm, sparring subcultures also tend to encroach in their activities. 3. What actions do you plan to take based on your learning about this topic (e.g., how will you behave differently next time, what will you stop or start doing, or do differently)? If you anticipate no change, explain why. Be specific and use examples. I intend to look at the brighter side of every interaction that I will have with people from different cultures and try to find a balance between their opinions as well as their behaviour. According to this excerpt, I have learnt that some individuals act appropriately and commendably when interacting with people from other cultures or individuals from unfamiliar backgrounds. My main aim is to act like precisely through recognition, controlling and managing my emotions without the exemption of others as a foundation of my judgements. This will point towards my ability to accommodate different people in my unbiased sensitivity by relating to their significant aspects, such as understanding as well as appreciating each other along with their goals, reactions and behaviour. Furthermore, this will accompany reciprocating the same, according to other individuals’ perceptions and emotions since in contrast to other features of personality, the development of cultural intelligence takes place in in mentally healthy and professionally competent individuals. References Peter, S. and John, M. (1990), ‘Emotional Intelligence’, Imagination, Cognition, and Personality. vol. 2, no. 3, winter, pp. 197–239. Peterson, B. (2004). Cultural intelligence. Yarmouth, Me.: Intercultural Press. Week 4: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution 1. How does your learning about this topic relate to your prior knowledge, personal experiences, or expectations? Be specific and use examples. Negotiation is an everyday activity that keeps my world spinning because every situation carries a set of decisive factors that need careful consideration to move on to the next outcome. Conflicts arise in different ways, but the way an individual reacts to it and negotiate his or her way out is more important than the magnitude of the conflict itself. The topic opens up an opportunity of re-evaluating my stands in, my opinions on and my emotional attachment towards previous job offers that I ended up turning down or messing up during an interview. This mainly takes on the manner in which I answered the questions by focusing on the answers than the intent of the questions. For example, while negotiating a job offer, some questions and opinions always emphasize on the job salary, bit in a deeper perspective, it is prudent to look into the value of the whole deal: duties, locality, travel, working hours, growth opportunities and raise. 2. What does your research tell you about this topic? Negotiation and conflict resolution work hand in hand real world situations that require decisive actions by focusing on the problem or issue and coming up with clear cut objectives in resolving them. Both of the issues do not only mean that winning arguments against other people work, but positioning oneself in such a way that he or she arrives at a compromise that both parties accept in unison. This is important in creating harmony in a critical situation that conflict has taken precedence and finding a balance between two or more individuals or groups having more than two conflicting ideologies (Kessler, 2013). The topic gives the opinion that sharing information openly and investigating issues thoroughly have an upper hand while negotiating and resolving conflict. Before any negotiation takes place, individuals always have an assumption about the situation, making them pre-empt their decisions, which may spark further conflict. This leads to emotional decisions that may seem dangerous in averting and curbing the conflict in the long-term. Accordingly, while controlling a situation or negotiating a way through an issue, it is important to note that emotions vary from one person to another. People have various ways of absorbing and eventually judging the opinions depending on the manner in which the situation affected them (Zu, 2009). However, some negotiators always or sometimes possess infinite patience, while other individuals feel irritated fast or gradually as the discussions drag on. 3. What actions do you plan to take based on your learning about this topic (e.g., how will you behave differently next time, what will you stop or start doing, or do differently)? If you anticipate no change, explain why. Be specific and use examples. The performance of any individual, group, or organization depends on the negotiation skills as well the principles of conflict resolution. My focus on this topic gives me the opportunity to negotiate with my conscience inwardly to come up with appropriate ways of responding to people’s opinions or actions without infringing on their personal insecurities and anxieties. My aim is to voice my opinions in a shrewd manner, persistently argue my position in any conflict, as I concurrently put the needs of others before mine in order to encourage them to share their concerns openly and with ease. On the other hand, I will eliminate the issue of pre-empting my arguments by balancing my emotions, as I put myself in the shoes of the other party and weighing options about the situation. I a job-seeking scenario, I would maintain a sense of perspective using my experience and research to establish the industry and occupation that I opt to work, my career path, and my everyday influences on others. References Kessler, E. (2013). Encyclopedia of management theory. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE. Zu, L. (2009). Corporate social responsibility, corporate restructuring and firms performance. Berlin: Springer. Week 6: Developing Teamwork Skills 1. How does your learning about this topic relate to your prior knowledge, personal experiences, or expectations? Be specific and use examples. When it comes to socializing, human beings take a leading role in this activity, as they develop a range of relationships, such as friends and colleagues, as well as marriage and family. However, as humans get along with each other and expand their networks by knowing different people, some individuals become easy to relate to while others show signs of coiling towards themselves without the need to involve anyone in their business. This topic echoes the opinion that teamwork is the cradle of many successful ideas turned into ventures that not only needed intellectual input, but also trust and motivation. Teamwork calls for energy, engagement and exploration of ideas that require the combined efforts to initiate their capacities and potentials in a real-world context. When working on a business project, I realized that the achievement of our specific goals required my team members to build each other’s capacities in order to meet their individual objectives first, which later helped us sum up our efforts with a participatory approach as well as common interest secured by pure discipline and motivation. 2. What does your research tell you about this topic? The topic generally emphasizes that teamwork skills have an impact on the overall performance of the individual and the group or organization. This means that when each team member occupies a certain role in accomplishing a specific task, this motivates him or her and builds his or her confidence and capacity to perform other roles of team members without feeling pressured or incompetent. According to Katzenbach & Smith, (2005), effective teams progressively and consistently cultivate a strong commitment towards a mutual attitude, meaning that the team members device strict and robust ways that they need to follow to stick together to realize their determination. In most cases, team members should practice division of labour and specialization by agreeing on the members suitable to perform specific tasks and coming up with consenting schedules that need strict adherence. At the same time, I have learnt that teams must look into the skills need development with reference to each task and team member in order to sustain the team’s cohesiveness and cement the idea that continuing membership in the team is earned. The decision making elements, including how the members make and modify decisions takes a crucial role in their levels of commitment, which is vital to team performance as well as their commitment to the laid down purpose and objectives (House & Mitchell, 1975). 3. What actions do you plan to take based on your learning about this topic (e.g., how will you behave differently next time, what will you stop or start doing, or do differently)? If you anticipate no change, explain why. Be specific and use examples. I have learnt that successful teamwork calls for cohesiveness through constant and effective communication among team members while pursuing any project geared towards achieving any goal. Recently, I came up with a self-help group with the sole purpose of raising enough funds to start a business. However, as time elapsed and after several monthly meetings, I realized that our vision and mission did not reflect our objectives since every member had a different opinion on a potential business. This point towards the fact that teams must have a common purpose just to keep every bit of action in place for the attainment of the objectives. I will opt to pinpoint a charismatic member of the group to instil motivational ideas in member’s perceptions about business plans in such a way that the team embarks on division of labour and specialization of duties. This gives every team member an opportunity to make rational decisions and even sacrifice their time and resources to keep the team firm and advance our endeavour. References House, R., and Mitchell, T. (1975). Path-goal theory of leadership. Seattle: University of Washington. Katzenbach and Smith, (2005). The Discipline of Teams, Ney York. Crown Business. Read More