Reflective Essay on Cross Cultural Communication Assessment 3 Answer

During the module, I have come across to a number of group activities and class activities. The group activities have enriched me with different feelings and experiences. Using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle (Which has five distinctive parts), I am going to reflect on one such incident. 

Description: 

I have experienced cross-cultural communication during a group discussion. In this group discussion, there were four members including me belonging to different culture and nationality. Besides me, one member was from United Kingdom, the second from United States and the third from Canada. The group discussion was on the current Covid-19 Pandemic situation and its ill effects all over the world. I played the part of storyteller by starting the conversation. One by one, input from everyone started. However, it becomes very clear after few minutes that not everyone is able to comprehend what others are saying. This is mainly due to the differences in our language and tone of speaking as well as the way we use our body movements. Cross-cultural communication is the source to generate information, learning and educate oneself over different topics (Tombleson & Wolf, 2017). The difference in the cultural background and upbringing provides a different learning of gesture, posture and way of communicating (Teunissen et al. 2017). I have used some other words and spoken in a way that people within the group were unable to get it. I have to explain my word repeatedly to make them understand what I am trying to convey them. The pronunciations of several English words are different in different countries. Due to lack of knowledge about the words, peoples usually get confused when they make conversation with an individual who belongs to a different culture (Brún, 2017).

Feelings: 

I felt that the information that I have shared, I have to understand the way of speaking and learnt about the words, sentences and vocabularies they have said  during the conversation. I have kept a dictionary with me and Google access in my phone. I have searched for the meaning of the different keywords that is spoken by the other individuals during the video conferencing. During the cross-cultural communication, individuals face with the difficulties related to the attitude, approaches, thinking process, decision making and knowledge (Filmer & Herbig, 2020). When I was making conversation with the group of individuals during the conferences, I felt that one of the individuals from United States was little too aggressive. The individual was keeping his points so direct that I must believe the facts. The way of open communication, power distance and individualism creates a difference in the way of communicating with others (Chung, 2019). The population of UK and America were too direct to make decisions instantly by their own. On the other hand, I was been able to understand the conversion process of the individual belonging to Canada.     

Evaluation: 

As per my evaluation, the conversation or the group discussion, in which I have participated, has provided me detailed information over the cross-cultural communication. Cross-cultural communication requires learning about cultural backgrounds norms and standards (Lifintsev and Wellbrock, 2019). Once it is learned, it becomes easy and convenient to talk to the individuals. During the group discussion, I have found that there is a difference between the language, style, gentle, posture, attitude and decision making within the group. I have faced issues related to the direct and aggressive behavioural approaches of the individual. I have experienced that peoples from America and UK are less believed over the hierarchical flow of information, order taking and working practices. I have evaluated that the difference in attitude and behaviour was not acceptable to me. I have to adjust with their emotions, communication and style of talking during the whole conversation.      

Conclusions: 

In my analytical viewpoint, cross-cultural communication becomes a tough job when you do not have any idea about the background or the culture of the individual you are talking to. I was one of them during the conference talking. I have not researched enough about the cultural aspects of different countries. This has resulted in me to adjust with the emotions, speaking process and attitude of the other group members during the discussion. I was clueless sometimes about the topic and the point they are trying to make. I usually ask them about the meaning of their sentences. The learning about other cultural background is necessary and important to be learned and educated for making a valuable conversation (Orest Weber et al., 2016).  During the conversation, I also felt avoided or neglected by the group members. I have seen that my points were not that considerable to them. They have opposed some of the points I have made on the subject of cross-cultural communication. But when I have provided a different overview and much-matured facts and information, they took interested in my words. The thought procedure plays a vital role in cross-cultural communication (Kittler, 2018). The difference in perception and thought procedure increases the risk of failure of the communication between the individuals.  

The whole discussion was carried out for an hour. The conversation have provided me a lot of information and learning. During the conversation, I have gone through difficulties and issues to create valuable communication between us. I have been prepared to take a proper group discussion on the cross-culture with their individuals heading from different nations. However, I have faced numerous troubles during the conversation. The conference discussion was about the cross-culture; I have provided my viewpoints and tried to understand theirs. During the conversation, I was a bit annoyed, as I was not able to understand the way of communication and the information they were trying to share with me. I have made a proper communication with them, but at times, they were not getting my vocabulary, pronunciation and the way I usually speak 

Action Plan for future: 

During the process of the conversation, I have made use of my cross cultural communication abilities that I have. I have applied all my abilities to make a justified communication. After the end of the conversation, I have understood that I do have some issues with the observation skills, as I was not able to understand some of their conversations through their signs, gesture and posture. I do have issues related to my research skill. During the conversation, I was confident that I have gathered enough information to make conversation with them. But, I was failed to do so. Thus, I must on gaining knowledge on different cultures and their values, way of working, attitudes and behaviours in order to communicate with them properly. The presentation skills are important aspects that can reduce the barriers to communication during a cross-cultural conversation (Abugre and Debrah, 2019). The way of presenting information and conveying thoughts helps others to understand your opinion on a certain topic. I need to increase my formal communication and presentation skills to understand cross-cultural communication in a better manner. In future, if the similar situation arises where I need to deal with people from different cultures, I will try to understand their perspective first before putting my words as it will help me to communicate with the others in a proper way.