...variation in a diverse world and adapting and improving communication across cultures. The term Intercultural communication refers to exchanging information between people from different cultures. With the ever-changing business environment, businesses are adapting a more diverse workforce. With a diverse workforce, there are advantages of different national, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Cultural competency is essential for working in or with a diverse group of individuals. Cultural competency requires a blend of attitude, knowledge and skills. The book recommends some steps to help ensure your success with intercultural communication. Starting first with understanding diversity and culture. A broad definition of diversity: the entire characteristic that define people as individuals. Diversity is closely related to people’s culture. The book defines culture as a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms for behavior. Your cultural background defines your attitude about what is appropriate in a situation and establishes norms of behavior. Culture shapes the way we communicate, view work, interpret conflict, define and solve problems, and resolve dilemmas. There are challenges of communicating with and motivating these diverse employees and at the same time maintain cooperation and harmony among them. When communicating with people from different cultures you must overcome ethnocentrism and stereotyping. When communicating across cultures...
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...Diversity Issues Diversity Issues Organizations who make a commitment to diversity can see a significant impact on business in many ways. Diversity “requires a significant commitment for change to occur” (Delong, 2007, p.9). It is extremely important that leaders understand the commitment and embrace it in order for a positive impact to occur. Employers with diverse cultures and leaders can build positive and successful relationships with customers, suppliers and vendors. They can better attract and retain top talent. All of these equal more financial gain for the company. Diversity Leadership I agree that being a diversity conscious leader is important to professional and organizational success. Not only is diversity consciousness important in business but it is equally important in all aspects of life. Diversity consciousness consists of three components “diversity awareness, understanding of diversity, and diversity skills” (Bucher, 2015, p.38). When dealing with people from different cultures, it is important to communicate effectively. In order to do so there are skills that should be adapted. An “integral part of developing diversity consciousness is developing diversity skills” (Bucher, 2015, p.37). Bucher states that the five skills essential to success at work are speaking, solving problems, taking initiative, ability to relate to others and teamwork. Being a diversity conscious leader means being well versed in the skills listed above. Teamwork...
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...second-largest company in the world measured in terms revenues. It is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry which include exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading. Along with the conventional energy, Shell has significant presence in the renewable energy sector with investments in bio fuels, solar energy and wind energy to mention a few. It has operations in over 90 countries and employees more than 93,000 people globally. It believes that people are central to its strategy and are involved in the planning and directing of their own work. It also values differences and create channels to report their concerns. Shell and its people Shell believes in valuing differences of its employees and believes in providing everyone equal opportunity to develop their skills and talents. Diversity and inclusion has been integrated into the Shell culture through their core values of honesty, integrity and respect for people. This is also reflected in the Shell General Business Principle, which states their aim of creating an inclusive work environment with equal opportunities. Shell has come up with People Standards which helps it to effectively resource, develop and engage staff. These standards work to value different views and opinions, to respect each employee’s personal needs and to promote a safe workplace. Shell aims to continually strive to include diversity and inclusion into principles...
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...Importance of diversity and networking in social awareness and social skills Submitted to: Rhonda Hoare Submitted by: Mr. Rajinder Singh Kingra 26 Aug, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENT Name: Page no. Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Main ideas 5 Conclusion 7 Reference list 8 Summary Diversity and networking highly improves social awareness and social skills in business interactions. This report identifies how diversity plays...
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...engineering or finance. B) The higher you rise in your organization, the more time you spend using the technical skills of your profession, and the less time you spend communicating. C) Good communicators are generally more difficult to find than good accountants, good engineers, or good attorneys. D) Good communication has not been linked to financial advantages for companies. E) Communication is important for most jobs, unless you are an entrepreneur. Answer: C Explanation: C) The world is full of good marketing strategists, good accountants, good engineers, and good attorneys—but it is not full of good communicators. Acquiring good communication skills will provide you with an opportunity to stand out from your competition in the job market. Classification: Conceptual AACSB: Communication Abilities LO: 1 Difficulty: Easy Learning Outcome: Describe best practices in team and interpersonal communication 2) Which of the following is true about the importance of effective communication to your career and to the companies where you will work? A) Communication is important for most jobs, except technical jobs such as engineering or finance. B) The higher you rise in your organization, the less time you spend using the technical skills of your profession, and the more time you spend communicating. C) Good communicators are generally much easier to find than good accountants, good engineers, or good attorneys. D) Good communication has not been linked to financial...
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...from companies expanding their business from local or regional to global corporations. While companies like The Grand Harbor and Chevy Chase Bank provide services to diverse group of customers, they have not attempted to operate their business globally. Other companies such as AT&T, Arrowhead and 7-Eleven have opted to maintain offices in a global environment. These companies also serve a diverse group of customers in the United States as well as throughout the world. As a result, the companies are able to adapt to the culture, customs, and attitudes of their customers and provide services based on the needs of the customers. Diversity “Diversity can be defined as a characteristic of a group of people suggesting differences among those people on any relevant dimension” (Hitt, Miller, & Colella, 2006, pg. 15). Companies that have a diverse organizational culture utilize that diversity to create market success. In our group discussion we have found that Chevy Chase Bank, AT&T, Arrowhead Water, and 7-Eleven have diversity in common. Each company employs people from different races, culture, ages, and sexual orientation, and gender. These organizations have found by recruiting...
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...This paper will discuss the roles of business communication and how they fit into day-to-day work activities and discussing how it helps to manage daily work activities. This paper will continue to analyze what trends are seen in the current workplace or past workplaces. Nevertheless, the paper will discuss some of the message types seen as results to these trends. Consequently, the reader will have a general concept of how important trends are in business. Communication is essential in many forms, from verbal to nonverbal in the world of business today. The internal and external audience in business organizations is the people who make a business successful. The types of business communication trends in the field as a health care provider occurs on a day-to-day activity on my job is “teamwork, balancing work and family, quality and customer needs, security versus privacy, job flexibility, and technology” (Locker & Kienzler, 2008). Communicating through teamwork help ensure that the tasks are done faster and easier. The ability to balance work and family is important to business communication because I have to keep the two separate. Another business communication is delivering the best service and meeting the customer needs and wants. However, the medical field requires security and privacy as a number one priority in my line of work. The business communication trend of being flexible...
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...Cultural Diversity Book Analysis outline 1. Text Name: “Diversity Consciousness”, Fourth Edition, by Richard D. Bucher. Main Idea: Opening our minds to people, Cultures and Opportunities. i) The book helps us in understanding the different concepts of diversity and its effects on individuals. The major topics that covered in the text books are listed below: * Diversity: Overview on diversity. * Diversity Consciousness and Success. * Personal and Social barriers to Success. * Developing Diversity Consciousness. * Communicating in Diverse world. * Social Networking. * Teamwork. * Leadership. * Preparing for the future. 2. This book has a great source of information for a people who wants to learn something about diversity consciousness, how it affects each of us in our daily life and how it is important for personal and professional growth. i) Chapter 2 talks about a Sociocultural Theory and Success, It explains us that why Diversity skills are important at school or workplace. ii) Chapter 3 discuss about the Personal and Social Barriers to Success that everyone encounters at one point of their life. iii) Chapter 4 talks about developing the diversity consciousness, six steps that can help us in learning the diversity skills. iv) Chapter 5 gives us the information about the different forms of communication in a diverse world, why effective communication is important in dealing within the diversity. v) Chapter...
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...Workplace Diversity: Communication between Management and Employees Workplace challenges come in many forms. One of those challenges is communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, between co-workers or between management and employees. Businesses currently are being affected by communication issues that are hindering production, satisfaction, and employee retention (Salahuddin, 2010). Communication is a vital key to effective and good management. Face-to-face communication is always the best way to talk to your employees but that may not always be possible, so a combination of verbal and nonverbal communication may be the best practice for your company (Chazanof, 1998). Too many companies rely solely on newsletters, bulletins, and flyers to communicate with their employees, making them feel less important to the company. Written communication is good but companies should also use face-to-face communication as well, use a combination of both. Written communication in the form of newsletters or flyers is a great tool when communicating with employees (Chazanof, 1998). Having your company put together a newsletter filled with company events, statistics, news, etc. Getting your employees involved, asking for volunteers to contribute information can help bridge that communication gap. Newsletters help inform your employees of company events as well as keep them connected and make them feel involved, all good ways to keep the communication waves flowing within your organization...
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...Fed EX is the world largest parcel distributor. The company was formed within the United States in the year of 1971. Fed Ex provides companies and consumers throughout the world with a comprehensive variety of transportation services. Fed EX has accomplished a substantial status amongst the world committed companies with 275,000 staff and contractors. The organization motivates the company employees and contractors by having a positive attitude and to focus on safety, which is the utmost ethical and practice measures and required within their communities and consumers. The managers execute the four functions of management to accomplish the administrative objective to keep the company running smoothly ("About FedEx", 2010). Globalization is a process of communicating and uniting among people, governments, and corporations of a diverse nation. This process is established by global trade and investment which is assisted by international technology. FedEx impact on the four functions of globalizations of management is the importance of the environment on ethnicity, economic development, prosperity, political structure, and human well nature involvement around the world (Harris Hartman, 2000). The internal aspect is creating a major impression on the function and operation in management. With increase production of globalization has made the effects more difficult, in commanding additional analysis of universal markets. As well as the process of function of organizing...
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...Communication Theory HCS July 25, 2011 Communication Theory Learning to communicate and collaborate with individuals whose gender and culture are different is a critical skill to possess in today’s professional world. Therefore, it is important to develop strategies for communication and collaborating within a group or team of individuals of different genders and cultures. Learning and using proven communication strategies could mean the difference between “a group of people working together, and a team functioning together effectively” (Wee & Morse, 2007, p. 38). To perform at its best, a team needs to be composed of individuals with different skill sets, including different genders and cultures ("Pulling in the Same Direction," 2008). This diversity of skill sets also allows a better distribution of responsibilities on a team and creates an environment that encourages cooperation. Good communication must be embedded into the organization’s culture and effective communication must be recognized and supported by management (Wright, Sparks, & O'Hair, 2008). Gender and cultural stereotypes can act as barriers when communicating with coworkers, patients, families, caregivers, and managers. The health care given to patients can differ because of poor communication brought about by cultural differences (du Pre, 2005). Health care providers can work to bridge communication gaps by making the most of face-to-face communication and encouraging questions and open dialogue. Acknowledging...
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...Audience Analysis Paper Communications 285 University of Phoenix January 31st, 2011 Stephen Goodman Audience Analysis Paper Introduction In this situation we focus on what would occur when the author of this paper is asked to present the quarterly sales information at an in-person meeting to a group of stakeholders, including managers, salespersons and customers. In this scenario the author has to focus on the best way to communicate the information to the audience in a manner that is designed to fit the audience. The audience must be taken into consideration while focusing on how to present the information that needs to be displayed. Stakeholders will include anyone that will be affected by what impacts the business such as a drop in profits may make the stakeholders lose money off of what they invested into the business this includes customers. Characteristics of Audience Any person that is giving a presentation, as the above scenario asked, must consider the characteristics of the audience that they will be talking to. The focus of the presentation must relate to the audience and be informative, relative and still interesting enough to retain the interest of the audience watching the presentation. An example would be the facts presented in the presentation. Numbers, the math involved, figures and so on will mean nothing to the audience if there isn’t enough information supporting the numbers. If, for example, you want to inform the audience that with the rise...
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...Diversity is an aspect of life that is almost inescapable, especially in the workplace. As we go about our daily lives, we are surrounded by people and cultures that differ from what was once considered the typical American lifestyle. There are endless options of food, music and social activities allowing us a small chance to experience and explore what life is like in other countries. Businesses are also recognizing the need and importance of diversity. Many have begun investing in diversity and inclusion as part of their overall management structures. To continually challenge their practice, organizations are striving to make the connection between those principles and their corporate performance (Chaney & Martin, 2014). This paper will explore some of the key issues regarding diversity in the US and India. Cultural variations, communication and management styles will be examined for a more in depth look at the ever changing corporate environment. Cultural Variations Carol Milano (2012) with ASME.org analyzes that in the United States, especially in large cities, a “time is money” attitude is common. Often working professionals appear to be in a rush, which gives the impression that Americans tend to get down to business rather quickly. Many countries have a different perspective and work ethic, where people are not in such a hurry. They may prefer to get to know a colleague before they start working together, which reiterates the fact that teamwork is an area rich...
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...challenges are mainly affected by the different types of culture and personalities that employees bring to organization mainly affecting its leaders. Outcomes of a Cultural Diverse Workforce Diversity is becoming more common among organizations and its rapid growth especially in the United States, is creating challenges across the globe. Diversity is not just defined for the different type of cultures that there is within an organization, there are other definitions to diversity. You can also find diversity in organization from the gender of a person, the sexual preference, religion, nationality, age and color. Diversity refers to an individual differences, that are within each person and creating some challenges for the organizations. Research shows that a diverse workplace can challenge the leader’s skills, attract top performers and eventually making corporations more global competitive by adapting to new culture and having more proficient leaders. Diversity is becoming more common among organizations and it is rapidly growing in this business. Diversity is refers to the differences between individuals weather is cultural backgrounds, race, religion, genetic, sexual preference, and physical abilities or inabilities, between individuals. There are many characteristics to diversity, two of the most common found in organizations are sex and cultural backgrounds which is generally introduce through training for the employees. These trainings had being proven by research to...
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...Increase in Productivity Workforce diversity can bring about an increase in productivity and competitive advantages. conclude Kelli A. Green and her University of Florida colleagues in their paper, "Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools." Employers can offer more solutions to customers because of new ideas and processes brought into the organization. Workplace diversity increases employee morale and causes employees to desire to work more effectively and efficiently. Diversity in leadership within a firm allows managers to bring in new skills and methods for achieving unity within their teams. Increase in Creativity Workforce diversity increases creativity within a company because heterogeneous groups are cross-fertilizing one another within the organization. According to EthnoConnect, a consulting company specializing in workforce diversity, employees from different backgrounds bring in a variety of solutions on how to achieve a common goal. As more diverse ideas are suggested, the chances of finding a workable answer are improved. In atmospheres when brainstorming is necessary, more ideas are formed because team members are culturally diverse. For example, employees from China working in American companies may approach a problem totally differently than do American workers. Some companies have successfully created innovative processes by taking ideas from several employees. Related Reading: Tips on Supervising a Diverse...
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