Providing Solutions:
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
- Old Chinese Proverb.
WHAT IS CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION/UNDERSTANDING?
The field of cross-cultural communication/understanding is a study that evaluates how people from different cultural backgrounds attempt to communicate. Cross-Cultural Communication/Understanding is a necessary ingredient in cross-national understanding - understanding people from different cultural backgrounds.
The study provides some guidance with which people from different cultures can better communicate with one another. It identifies all the key components of culture and communication, including values and beliefs, social structure, decision-making practices, perceptions of time and space, communication styles, proper etiquette and more. Culture dictates behavior, etiquette, and protocol. Culture is communication.
Each of the variables outlined in the sessions are more complex than may be conveyed here; however, experiential exercises will maximize the participants' understanding of cultural variations, and thus, enhance their productivity. Remember the old Chinese proverb, I do and I understand. Issues of trust and communication, individual versus team goals are influenced by cultural differences. The materials and methods used in the workshop will guide the participants in overcoming communication barriers caused by cultural differences and by leveraging cultural diversity to become an asset in the workplace. Cultural differences must be understood and acknowledged before cross-cultural guidance can be directed at managing them. What happens if they are not managed?
The Cross-Cultural Communication/Understanding workshops are designed to help employees recognize their own cultural values and how they are perceived by others as well as learn different cultural values, norms, behaviors that empower them to understand and apply their understandings to their working environment. Interactive processes provide greater experiential learning impact to change cultural behavior: bicultural simulation, value auction, value charts, cultural dialogues, critical incidents, pictographs, analyses, cognitive, behavior modification.