As more and more organizations come face to face with a multicultural workforce structure due to enhanced globalization and internalization of labor (Seymen, 2006), contemporary managers must demonstrate proficient cross-cultural communication skills if they wish to succeed in today’s global environment (Munter, 1993).
The present paper discusses some communication strategies that can be used by organizations to train managers to deal with a multicultural workforce.
Adler (1991) posits that “…achieving effective communication is a challenge to managers worldwide even when the workforce is culturally homogenous, but when one company includes a variety of languages and cultural backgrounds, effective two-way communication becomes even more difficult” (p. 63).
However, contemporary organizations are now using a multiplicity of methodologies to train managers to communicate more effectively with employees who have different cultural backgrounds.
One of the methods is to provide the managers with basic training on cultural diversity issues without necessarily studying individual cultures and languages in detail (Edmondson et al., 2009).
For example, organizational managers should be exposed to short multicultural communication courses offered by learning institutions because they help them realize that a basic understanding of cultural diversity is critical to the actualization of cross-cultural communications.
Second, cross-cultural managers should be exposed to non-verbal communication cues to assist them in overcoming barriers to communication (Munter, 1993). However, it is imperative to understand that non-verbal cues and gestures may mean something completely different to each culture, thus the need to display complete understanding of the cues to keep the multicultural workforce running smoothly.
The “thumbs up” sign, for example, exhibits high approval for American employees but may be considered as vulgar by the Greeks (Munter, 1993).
Third, organizations should expose cross-cultural managers to in-depth training on language nuances as extant literature demonstrates that conversational style and subtle discrepancies often occur even in the absence of a language barrier (Seymen, 2006).
For example, managers must be made to realize that while employees of American origin may accept exaggeration as a normal communication strategy, their German counterparts will absolutely rebuff statements that aren’t literally true.
Equally, it is known that male employees may take pride in compliments, but female employees may not take them lightly, mainly if they target their character, physical appearance, or dressing code.
Fourth, organizations must encourage managers to develop a necessary awareness of individual cultures and at least learn something about the language of communication used by different cultures to have the basic level of understanding required to engage in appropriate multicultural interactions and physical contact (Seymen, 2006).
For example, it is essential to have an understanding that kissing a business partner or employee may not be considered an appropriate business practice in the African and Chinese context, but the same may be overlooked in Europe.
Fifth, organizations should use various tools at their disposal to cultivate and demand understanding and tolerance from managers in dealing with multicultural issues (Edmondson et al., 2009). Here, education can be used as a tool to understand the different needs and various means that could be used to realize common goals in a multicultural workforce, hence achieving tolerance and mutual respect for each other.
For example, it is essential to be aware that Muslim employees attend prayers while kneeling down and raising their back, and therefore managers should develop tolerance to such a predisposition to spur effective cross-cultural communication.
Sixth, managers should be encouraged to keep their communication clear, simple and unambiguous when communicating to a multicultural workforce for the purpose of achieving effective communication, not mentioning that they should avoid engaging in humor in their communications until they are sure that employees will not be offended (Seymen, 2006).
Humor is explicitly cultural-specific (Edmondson et al., 2009), implying that an Indian employee may be offended by any form of humor involving cows as most Indians consider the animals sacred. The same humor may appear funny to an American employee.
Seventh, managers should be endowed with the capacity to assist multicultural employees anticipate cultural variations in the workplace and set the norms and values for dealing with cultural differences, such as meaningful participation and mutual coexistence within the work setting (Gwynne, 2009).
For example, managers may consider instituting multicultural teams to develop strategies and initiatives for meaningful participation of the workforce.
Lastly, managers should consider instituting relationship development when engaging in multicultural communication not only to provide a mechanism for reciprocal learning and technology flows in the multicultural workforce, but also develop complementary contributions of partner “skills” across the value chain (Harvey & Griffith, 2002).
Reference List
Adler, N. J. (1991). Communicating across cultural barriers. In N. J. Adler (Eds.), International dimensions of organizational behavior (pp. 63-91). Boston, MA: PWS-KENT Publishing Company.
Edmondson, V. C., Gupte, G., Draman, R. H., & Oliver, N. (2009). Focusing on communication strategy to enhance diversity climates. Journal of Communication Management, 13(1), 6-20.
Gwynne, P. (2009). Managing cultural diverse teams. Research Technology Management, 52(1), 68-69.
Harvey, M. G., & Griffith, D. A. (2002). Developing effective intercultural relationships: The importance of communication strategies. Thunderbird International Business Review, 44(4), 455-476.
Munter, M. (1993). Cross cultural communication for managers. Business Horizons, 36(3), 69-78.
Seymen, O. A. (2006). The cultural diversity phenomena in organizations and different approaches for effective cultural diversity management: A literary review. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 13(4), 296-315.