Contemporary Business Relationships: Cross-Cultural Communication
Cross-cultural business communication is the reality of the modern business world because of the necessity to state and support relationships involving partners and investors from all over the globe. From this perspective, the problem is in the fact that the lack of focusing on the aspects of cross-cultural business communication about such factors as training, development, and investment can often lead to worsening the international business relationships. The purpose of this research is to discuss the particular features of cross-cultural business communication as the main characteristic of contemporary business relationships with the focus on the determining factors and points.
Thus, the sub-problems related to the issue are the following ones:
- the lack of additional cross-cultural development programs and training can lead to creating barriers between business partners;
- the lack of investment into the leaders’ cross-cultural business communication can lead to the failure of international projects;
- the lack of the focus on cross-cultural communication can lead to misunderstanding the aspects of the business reality.
Referring to the stated problem and sub-problems, it is possible to formulate the hypotheses related to the research:
- If the company invests in the cross-cultural training and development programs, then the quality of the business communication with international partners increases significantly;
- If the company invests into the promotion of the cross-cultural business communication, then the company’s leaders build more effective relationships at the global arena.
To delimitate the research, it is important to focus on the experience of the companies from the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the United Kingdom in developing and supporting the idea of cross-cultural business communication and its importance for stimulating business activities.
While discussing the problem, it is significant to concentrate on such terms as ‘cross cultural’, ‘business communication’, and ‘business relationship’. In this case, the term ‘cross cultural’ is used in combination with such notions as communication and means the exchange of specific knowledge related to different cultures (Cross-cultural communication strategies, 2014).
Thus, cross-cultural communication is the communication between persons who are characterized by different cultural backgrounds (Kaufmann, Ruediger, Englezou, & Garcia-Gallego, 2014). ‘Business communication’ is the communication that supports the progress of the organization, which is used to complete the goals and to achieve success (Lang & McNaught, 2013). The ‘business relationship’ is the formal relationship within the business or organizational environment (Johnson, Lenartowicz, & Apud, 2006).
The assumptions of the project are associated with the facts that the companies from the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the United Kingdom work in the same business environment and develop partner relationships; and that the experience of the companies is different about supporting or not the principles of the effective cross-cultural business communication (International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 2014).
The proposed study is important because cross-cultural business communication is the distinctive feature of the modern business world, and the effectiveness of cross-cultural communication can directly affect the effectiveness of the business relationship between certain companies. From this point, it is necessary to know what aspects can influence the success of cross-cultural business communication and to study the role of the additional training and development programs associated with the issue.
References
Cross-cultural communication strategies. (2014). Web.
International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management. (2014). Web.
Johnson, J., Lenartowicz, T., & Apud, S. (2006). Cross-cultural competence in international business: toward a definition and a model. Web.
Kaufmann, H., Ruediger, H., Englezou, M., & Garcia-Gallego, A. (2014). Tailoring cross-cultural competence training. Web.
Lang, R., & McNaught, K. (2013). Reflective practice in a Capstone Business Internship Subject. Web.