Cross cultural communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cross cultural communication - Essay Example She advises that when you visit another country; forget about popular notions about the people. When doing business with Spanish and Swiss for instance, do not expect that the latter arrives on time and is more organized because that is how we have been socialized to believe. It is imperative to appreciate that such characteristics are dependent on the individual. We had punctual Spanish people and disorganized Swiss. Therefore do not assume that every Spanish person you meet will be late and that the Swiss are always punctual, you might end up very surprised. In other words, cross-cultural stereotypes might negatively influence our ability to perceive things properly. Currently, there are very helpful courses that help those who want to work or live abroad cultivate cross-cultural awareness, which is very essential in developing global competence and in building international teams. Such courses help individuals identify and then can deal with such cross-cultural differences ultimately improving their overall capacity in developing and most of all maintaining efficacious cros s-cultural relations. Sometimes stereotypes lead us into misunderstanding and judging other individuals in accordance to much unfounded generalizations, which sometimes may be very detrimental since we miss the point of meeting new people and knowing them as individuals, not as a population. Communicaid is a cross-cultural awareness-training center that helps you understand your counterpart’s behavior without relying on any stereotypes. Remember that such beliefs about other individual’s habits and behavior can greatly influence our expectations and attitudes when communicating with cultures different from our own. Nevertheless, this does not imply that no stereotypes are important. They help us in some situations where we are dealing with strangers since culture is responsible for shaping our perceptions and thoughts, we can be able to