MEDIA5010 Unit 5 GRP.pdf - Running head: CULTURAL...

Running head: CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION 1
Business Communication (MEDIA5010)
Cultural Diversity and Effective Business Communication
University of Wisconsin – Platteville

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION 2
Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
The effect of effective communication in a diverse-cultural organization ..................................... 6
Barriers to effective multicultural communication in an organization ........................................... 7
High context and low context cultural backgrounds ................................................................... 8
Stereotyping ................................................................................................................................ 8
Lack of understanding ................................................................................................................. 9
Language ..................................................................................................................................... 9
How to overcome Barriers to multi-cultural business communication ........................................ 10
Importance of cross-cultural communication plan ....................................................................... 11
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 13
References ..................................................................................................................................... 14

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION 3
Cultural Diversity and Effective Business Communication
Abstract
The number of diverse organizations is increasing all over the world, and the need for
communication between people from different cultures has increased as well. The importance of
multi-cultural diversity has been extensively debated in the field of organizational
communication. Culture represents a set of shared values, attitudes, goals, beliefs, languages, and
more, that characterizes institutions, organizations, ethnic, or social groups. Effective
communication represents the exchange of information that encourage relationships and
outcomes. Cultural diversity represents the key to major success or the cause of great failure.
Many types of research indicate that cultural diversity can enhance organizational productivity.
However, it can cause frustration, having a high impact on how people feel and how they
respond. This paper addresses how cultural diversity and organizational communication are
related, the effect of effective communication in a diverse-cultural organization, the barriers to
effective multicultural communication in an organization, and how to overcome barriers in the
multi-cultural business communication.
Keywords: cultural diversity, intercultural communication, communication barriers, effective
organizational communication.
Introduction
Diversity is an important subject because of its impact on opportunities and challenges to
various organizations and businesses around the world. Workplace diversity refers to the existing
differences among people within a workforce. In the workplace today, diversity has gained
significant relevance because employees represent the key elements of the competitiveness and
success of the company. In the recent years, many public and educational campaigns have

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION 4
focused on embracing diversity (Cardon, 2018). People from different nationalities, cultures, and
backgrounds find themselves in the same workplace. One of the significant benefits of a diverse
workforce is that it brings about diverse views and perspectives, as well as improved
performance among working teams.