Dealing with Cross-Cultural Barriers

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Dealing with Cross-Cultural Barriers

Cross cultural communication is defined by Gotland University as “a process of exchanging, negotiating, and mediating one’s cultural differences through language, non-verbal gestures, and space relationships.”

In business, cross cultural communication plays a critical role in successfully carrying out business with teams and stakeholders in other areas of the globe. When the communication is effective, everyone benefits from increased bandwidth, institutional knowledge, and competitive advantage. Ineffective communication however, can mislead, cause misunderstanding, offend, or send an ambiguous message. This could in turn cause broken relations with stakeholders.

Language Barriers

A common cross cultural barrier in business communication is of course, language. Although English is regarded as the common international language of business, not every business globally uses English on a regular basis. Employees may have more difficulty when communicating in English, which can lead to misunderstandings when taking direction, understanding level of urgency and communicating issues or concerns.

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