Cross-cultural communication is an integral part of our livelihood now that humanity is made up of people from a host of cultures and backgrounds some of which are as wide-ranging in mannerisms as they are distinct in their manner of conduct (Schramm, 1954). It is an undertaking that sometimes may be difficult for persons that are undertaking it if there are challenges of the discomfort of these different cultures that may be involved. Some factors explain why it could be difficult to adapt to the cultural language that is used in a community that one is not used to. Such factors include cultural shock, hostility among people one is interacting with, and negative personal attitude among others (Witt, 2006). However, a person can overcome such barriers by having a new outlook on issues he/she is dealing with. In some communities, there is how they pronounce that is accent and how different words mean different things to different circumstances and other words are used by some groups of people and not others. This paper looks in summary at the different aspects of cross-cultural communication and in so doing, looks at the challenges that come with it approach that can be used to counter these challenges.
Different cultures are employed by different persons and nations on a host of issues. For instance, American work practices require that people be punctual and also neat when going to work. From this American culture, other people have tried to adopt the same trend. This has been observed in the way the majority of American cities are operational for twenty-four hours demanding that people work for more than the conventional eight hours a day as is the case in other conventional economies of the world. However, there has been a transition that has slowly been taking over this culture where people have ceased to be formal in their dressing. Other than dressing formally, people time and again are prefer to dress informally but still look smart and official (Montana & Charnov, 2008). In the same breath, non-Americans have equally adopted this informal kind of dressing while attending to their jobs.
Immigration to the US is complicated especially if you have never been there. There are a lot of procedures that one has to fulfill before finally making it to migrate to the US and in most cases, many people have been frustrated by the stringent rules and regulations, and qualifications that they must have thereby given up before getting a pass to go the Land of Opportunity as it is commonly called. It is different when the case is vise verse where there is a lot of ease for Americans to move around the world freely especially into African countries (Schramm, 1954).
From the discussion above, it is evident that immigration to other countries can be hard to handle. This is part of the reason that there have been different NGOs that have been established to step in to help people to secure a visa and migrate as they move around the world and conduct different business in different parts of the world (Teegen, 2003). Take for instance Smile of A Life which is an NGO that is involved in immigration for persons seeking greener pastures for business and work. There are different challenges that such an NGO faces in the running of its day-to-day activities. Some of these challenges include high revenues taxation by countries where they operate (USA), denial of a license to run their organizations in foreign lands, and lack of funds and connections with other countries to foster their expansion and full operation to realize their missions in full (Witt, 2006).
Different approaches are there that can help deal with some of these challenges to varying degrees of appropriateness. These organizations may begin by learning from existent organizations that are already in operation in the countries of interest to understand how these operating organizations manage it there. There are avenues also through conferences and seminars where some NGOs can come and discuss different issues and share their challenges and from such healthy discussion, come up with solutions to some of those challenges (Teegen, 2003). For the case making the organization known, marketing is very vital if the organization is to increase their output and this can only be easily possible through mass awareness. With increased awareness, the operation of these organizations can be increased. The other main challenge of cross-cultural communication that foreign NGOs can face in lands that are not of their origin can be handled by these companies incorporating locals in their management and workforce as employees, consultants, and operators (Teegen, 2003).
In summary, I recommend that governments for countries in which these NGOs operate avail licenses for these NGOs after proper identification that the companies are not fraudsters since this acceptance for them to operate in the countries will be of great benefit to the entire citizenry. One easier way to appreciate the importance of these foreign companies is the creation of employment opportunities for the locals since the NGOs will not come with workers from the countries of their origin (Witt, 2006). These governments as an encouragement to allow the entry of these NGOs in their country should also reduce the revenues levied against foreign NGOs (Montana & Charnov, 2008).
References
Montana, P., & Charnov, B. (2008). Management and Communication (4th ed.). New York. Barron’s Educational Series Inc.
Schramm, W. (1954). How Communication Works. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
Teegen, H. (2003). International NGOs as Global Institutions: Using Social Capital to Impact Multinational Enterprises and Governments. Journal of International Management, 4 (6), 122-134.
Witt, S. (2006). Changing Roles of NGOs in the Creation, Storage, and Dissemination of Information in Developing Countries. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.