Guest blog by Tristyn MacLeod and Bryan Dyke

Understanding the struggle of how someone manages daily life with physical challenges or deals with the hardships of stereotyping is not something you can truly understand as an outside observer. Until you have experienced what it is truly like to live in their shoes, you can only speculate on the physical hardship and emotional turmoil that can occur on a frequent, daily basis.

Using the resources we have available through both online and physical research articles and interviews, we can learn more regarding the struggle that everyday communication can be for people who live with these kinds of challenges and those who are subjected to ridicule based on misplaced stereotypes and potential language barriers.

With our growing use of online communication and interaction with members of the general public worldwide, we are afforded the chance to communicate while avoiding the risk of interacting based on stereotypes. Ware (2011) offers the premise that technology mediates social discourses and offers a way to have discussions in multiple ways. This means that someone with their own biases may now be required to interact or discuss someone else’s work purely on the content that they have created and not based on the person themselves. This means of interaction provides many marginalized group members with the chance to grow and develop without the fear or external judgment or ridicule.

Societies have also started to shift towards becoming more inclusive environments as well through technology. In television shows or movies such as Wicked, Maleficent, and Game of Thrones, characters with physical challenges are being portrayed in positive ways rather than positions of inferiority or isolation as stated by Donnelly (2016). While this is a good start, there is still progress that needs to be made. Modern day advertising still plays a large role on how we believe people should act. Mensa and Bittner (2020)) gives the example of Latin American countries still depicting women in a sexualized way. They are seen as decorative objects, doing activities outside the home in social contexts, but still removed from roles of power and completeness. With women often shown the same in domestic, maternal, and romantic roles, there is little opportunities for them to escape the feelings and acts of gender stereotyping (Litosselity and Sunderland, 2002).

Another area that has deeply imbedded stereotypes around gender but is starting to change in the media and in daily life is in the perception of non-binary gender. Acceptance of a broad range of gender identities is something that may seem new to our culture however, third genders have been around for longer than we might think. According to Souerbry (2020) many different cultures have had third genders with evidence that dates back to 2000 BCE. Wakashu also known as “beautiful youths” is a widely accepted third gender in Japan. The Muxe is another third gender that originated in Oaxaca, Mexico. Muxes are usually men who identify more as women however they may just be people who don’t fall into the traditional male-female or gay-straight categories. Two-Spirit, a term created for a modern understanding of third-gender understandings of Indigenous peoples of the North American continent is another example (Neptune, 2018). It’s important for us to understand that even though modern culture may just be getting used to the idea of gender binaries, our ancestors already thought of this idea as normal and even had their own definitions of it.

For those who are faced with the physical challenges of daily life as well coping with stereotyping, the struggle is immense. As one of the author’s of this piece, from person experience with being bound to a wheelchair for several weeks due to a broken leg, I can relate that every small task turned into a large project. Thankfully there were people who went out of their way to give assistance but there were many chances for people to help when they chose not to. I was lucky to only have to experience this for a short-period of time, many people are not so lucky.

Just in passing people by, a person’s non-verbal communication can express much of their views. Alberts et al. (2010) share the fact that while may people are not aware of it, people who struggle with accessibility or gender stereotypes are generally well versed in non-verbal communication. They experience these biased perceptions of themselves on a daily basis and it plays an integral part of how communication will occur between the parties.

In the end, behaviours by groups or individuals can influence and change our cultural systems. Our brains are wired to stereotype. Most patterns of stereotyping are socially constructed by our cultures, which means that we can change the patterns and train our brains (Nguyen, 2017). As our societies and cultures shift towards inclusiveness, the general population will also continue to take the right steps in developing healthy relationships with members from every group and cultural and strive towards a better understanding.

References and additional resources:
Alberts, J. K., Nakayama, T. K., & Martin, J. N. (2010). Human communication in society. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Donnelly, C. E. (2016). Re-visioning negative archetypes of disability and deformity in fantasy: Wicked, Maleficent, and Game of Thrones. Disability Studies Quarterly, 36(4).

Litosseliti, L. & Sunderland, J. (2002). Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis.Gender identity and discourse analysis. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins

Mensa, M., & Bittner, V. (2020) Portraits of Women: Mexican and Chilean Stereotypes in
Digital Advertising. Communication & Society, 33(1), 63-78.

Neptune, G. (2018). What does “Two-Spirit” mean? retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4lBibGzUnE

Nguyen, P. M. (2017). Intercultural Communication: An interdisciplinary Approach: When
Neurons, Genes and Evolution Joined the Discourse. 15 – 110.

Pilkington, H. (1996). Gender, Generation and Identity in Contemporary Russia. London, UK: Routledge.

Shi, X. (2006). Gender, identity and intercultural transformation in second language socialisation. Language and Intercultural communication, 6(1), 2-17.

Souerbry, R. (2020, January 21). These Third Genders From Cultures Around The World Prove It’s Not As Black and White As People Think. Retrieved from Ranker: https://www.ranker.com/list/third-genders-around-the-world/rachel-souerbry

Guest Blog by Nicole Weipu Liu

One of the advantages of a proactive policy of hiring people of different cultures is that it strengthens the employer’s place in the market.  Employees from different cultural backgrounds bring with them an understanding of their new host culture and their original culture.  They already have experience in dealing with the inevitable frictions between the cultures and are in a perfect position to interpret the advantages of dealing with their employer.

These intercultural employees are able to guide other host culture employees in the proper direction when dealing with potential clients.  In the Narver (2018) video it is made clear that it is very easy to have an unconscious world view that is ethnocentric. Having employees from different backgrounds helps overcome that and positions the company to succeed in the international market place.

The Varner and Beamer (2011) book provides specific advice on raising skills on areas like business socializing in different cultures and handling controversies and various moral and ethical issues in various cultural settings.  Working side by side with employees from different cultures raises everyone’s skill level as they observe each other maneuver different challenges.

My own experience in working with a range of cultures was in China.  After I earned my first university degree in Chinese Culture, I was hired by Hainan Airlines to help the company cope with integrating its workforce from many Chinese sub-cultures.  Hainan is China’s fourth largest airline with over 500 routes servicing many different ethnic regions in China. The airline is based in the city of Haikou which is populated by Mandarin speaking Han Chinese similar to the Chinese in Beijing.  The airline services other far away cities such a Urumqi which has a large Uyghur Muslim population and Shenzhen which is a center of Cantonese culture near Hong Kong.

I was part of a team whose mission was to build an efficient and happy workforce which could work together.  Our larger goal was to give the population of the various regions of China the feeling that Hainan Airlines was their airline and understood their needs.  We developed strategies of cross training so that employees had to do each other’s jobs as part of a learning exercise.  We would deliberately mix the cultures from all over China for this training.  The object was not to foster a sameness but to build understanding of the different cultures in the group.

We also looked at the market for clients and created marketing messages suited to the cultures we were dealing with.  For example, a marketing message for people from Urumqi might show a Muslim family traveling, and an advertisement for Beijing might depict young professionals.  The skill was in getting the message just right and this required input from intercultural employees.

Developing skills of intercultural competent communication is vitally important for both the employees of national companies and international companies in this era of globalization.  It simply makes sense to take advantage of the breadth of experience available from an intercultural workforce.

Additional Resources:

Duggan,T. (2018).  Strategies for Dealing with Intercultural Communication.  Retrieved from:

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/strategies-dealing-intercultural-communication-11875.html

Faris, S. (2018). Why is Intercultural Communication Important in the Workplace? Retrieved from:

https://bizfluent.com/info-8419030-intercultural-communication-important-workplace.html

Miron, A. (2013). The Importance of Intercultural Skills.  Retrieved from:

https://eskill.com/blog/importance-intercultural-skills/

Narver, D. (2018).  Research on Cross Cultural Team Performance and International Resources.

Varner, I., & Beamer, L. (2011) Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace.  Cultural Rules for

Establishing Relationships,  pp 251-288.

Guest Blog by Jake Jude

Although the concept of a Caucasian male speaking on integrating as a minority in the workplace seems odd, I was afforded the opportunity to learn through the research done for this project, as well as experientially through my internship work in Africa, in order to improve my intercultural competency in the workplace.

Much of the literature that exists comments on the need for individuals to be exposed to the culture of minorities they work with, in order to find ways to work more cohesively with each other and achieve a goal that benefits everybody. It is a system that puts heavy emphasis on the reciprocity of respect in the exchange of information. Much of the research conducted found that minorities find the most amount of difficulty understanding information, directions or criticisms when the messages are coded through archaic methods of communication; communicators who still operate using ageist, sexist or even racist undertones do not attribute to a positive, efficient and safe work environment.

Personally, I have worked in an NGO (non-governmental organization) setting, where I was working among many African born members, as well as members of the LGBTQ and several women in positions of authority. As the only member of my own culture group, I felt like a fish out of water, but learning as much as I could about the language, the holidays and the communication systems helped me to grow within the organization and ultimately as an intern and future employee.

Returning from my work in that setting and back into north American society, I have learned that patience, plain language and direct communication are extremely important when it comes to establishing a professional relationship and working together to get a job done. With respect to this project, in a group capacity, I have added to the  conversation by suggesting themes that some of my other groupmates (a white Canadian womn, an international student from the Punjab, India and an immigrant mom from China) have been focusing on related to intercultural competency in the workplace in our original plan, I volunteered to be the member of the group who pulled all of the work together into a single presentation.

As the COVID_19 pandemic hit us here at the University of the Fraser Valley and interfered with our original plans to interact with other students through displays, I hope you enjoy reading, and can learn from, our individual portions in these blog postings.

For more detailed information here are some great information sources:

Aguirre, A. (2000). Women and minority faculty in the academic workplace[microform] :
recruitment, retention, academic culture [Washington, DC : ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education]. George Washington University, Dept. of Education.

Grant, M. G. (2020). Culture War in the Workplace. New Republic, 251(1/2), 20–29.

Leeming, D. E., & Mora, M. D. I. (2016). Work Based Learning in Intercultural Settings: A
Model in Practice. In Research-publishing.net. Research-publishing.net.

Lüdi, G., Höchle Meier, K., & Yanaprasart, P. (2016). Managing Plurilingual and Intercultural
Practices in the Workplace: The Case of Multilingual Switzerland. John Benjamins
Publishing Company. 320.

Mickahail, B. K., & Aquino, C. T. E. de. (2019). Effective and creative leadership in diverse
workforces improving organizational performance and culture in the workplace. Chapter 4:
Leadership, Culture, and Innovation. 66.

Guest blog by: Karanveer Singh Brar

With the fast pace in globalization and drastic change in the business world, there have been an increased number of people traveling to different countries in the search of better life and well-paying jobs. This has led to developing a need for adapting to the concept of multiculturism and diversity.

The concept of diversity is a burning topic in western countries where people from different rthnicities and cultures reside together in search of better life. This diversity in the workplace offers an entirely new challenge for the employers. Anyone traveling from a different part of the world has their own set of beliefs, norms, values and most importantly perspectives, for instance, colors depict different meanings in among cultures. Sometimes these differences can be stark, so it is necessary to inculcate these differences in a good way so that everyone feels respected. Effective communication at the workplace is the most essential stepping-stone for bringing together people from different cultures. This includes sharing ideas, beliefs and understanding to help adapt quickly and work productively for the organization.

Every organization defines a set of goals and has a vision towards their success, but having a set of rules in place is not the only thing the organization can rely on. It is the effective delivery of these goals and ideas to the employees that would bring a change. Since we are talking about a multicultural workforce, the delivery of these ideas have to be very clear and easy for anyone to understand. According to Graduateway (2016) “A diverse cultural community helps an organization to change their market and moreover an organization has to be familiar with the social aspects of thinking in order to reach to their desired target.”

To put this in perspective, let me take my personal experience as an example. I came to Canada as an international student, found a part time job at a big store. I had certain set of duties and tasks to perform everyday like maintaining a clean and safe work environment, being friendly to my colleagues and managers and above all interacting with customers. During the first week of my job, I found it very hard to talk to anyone. I was hesitant to initiate conversation fearing what the person in would think of me as I was from a different part of the world and wore a turban. However, my managers and colleagues were very friendly and open minded and helped me out in every task where I felt stuck. I was fortunate that I worked in an organization where people helped each other but not everyone is always that lucky.

If my coworkers would have been rude or offensive to my opinions or culture, I would have faced a lot of difficulty in adjusting to my new life and could have even quit. Concluding this, it was the friendliness, openness, warmth and understanding of my peers that made a difference. This clearly defines the important role that intercultural communication played in developing a strong and long-lasting relationship with the organization.

There are various ways through which intercultural communication at the workplace can become effective. One of the best ways is listening to the podcasts and reading books on interculturism. Recently, I found a podcast  about resolving the issues related to intercultural communication by understanding the nature of intercultural conflicts. In this video (2017), Marie Gervais, CEO Shift Management Inc. talks about the diversity in the developed countries. Followed by the discussion on the ways understanding can be improved among the individuals who come from different cultures or countries.

Communication has a deeper meaning than what we normally perceive. It is effective when it creates a friendly environment and encourages people to share their ideas without skepticism. Also, communication should make people feel comfortable about discussing their opinions with their supervisors and other higher authorities. Sometimes a person with a brilliant idea can be undermined just because they are culturally different. Thirdly, effective communication not only means communicating the message effectively but also giving an equal importance to the feedback because this will make anyone feel valued for their thoughts. As a consequence, if effective intercultural communication is practiced at the workplace, the process of adapting to a new culture would speed up for a new immigrant and they would be able to work more productively and efficiently.

Additional Resources

Gaille, B. (2014, January 28). What Colors Mean in Different Cultures. Retrieved from https://brandongaille.com/what-colors-mean-different-cultures/

Graduateway. (2016, May). Retrieved March 16, 2020, from Managing Cultural Diversity in the Workplace Essay Example: https://graduateway.com/managing-cultural-diversity-in-the-workplace

Gervais, M. (2017) Intercultural Communication at Work: Understanding Cultural Conflict Styles · ShiftWorkPlace. Retrieved from https://shiftworkplace.com/intercultural-communication-work-understanding-cultural-conflict-styles/

Intercultural communication in the workplace and the role of communication in an organization. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2020, from НОО Профессиональная наука: http://scipro.ru/article/03-02-16

Rouse, M. (2020, January 29). What Is Globalization? Globalization Explained. Retrieved from https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/globalization

Wolfe, M. (2019, February 11). Changes in the Business World. Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/info-7750928-changes-business-world.html

Guest Blog Post By: Jinnie Saran

Often, when people are met with something that they are unfamiliar with, it can spark a feeling of extreme discomfort and intimidation. From my personal experience and from what I have learned through my intercultural communications class, this is typically due to the fact that people are unsure of how to interact in these situations as they do not have the necessary knowledge and cultural sensitivity to communicate. Generally, people do not want to do or say the wrong thing therefore; this can also lead them to avoid asking any question from the people they encounter such as those whom may have disabilities.

When culture comes to one’s mind disability doesn’t usually fall under that umbrella. However, people with disabilities identify as their own cultural groups. For instance, a popular one is deaf culture and blind culture, as these groups also have their own languages, sign language, and codes such as Braille. In the article “ Disability as a cultural identity,” it is suggested that with the right control from people who are disabled, special education schools have the potential to become positive sights for the promotion of disability in a positive cultural identity. It is also conveyed that this could offer disabled children and their families a genuine choice within their education. Although some people with disabilities such as myself wish to be integrated into the main stream educational system, some people wish to stick closer to their cultural identity. For example, people who are deaf within the United States, may wish to attend Gauldet University as the people there are already familiar with their language and accepting of who they are.

Due to people having disabilities, it is often not thought that they too will be traveling our world and making connections with others. In the article “ Intercultural communication and disabilities from a communication complex perspective (Parrish-Sprowl, 2015),” it is expressed that 10 percent of the world’s population is comprised of people with a disability and are often overlooked. However these people are being mainstreamed within cultures as well as traveling to other countries along with others who are now more frequently traveling due to technological advances. The disabled are marginalized and discriminated against within their own country, therefore when the able bodied interact with those who have a disability interculturally the challenge is greater. The article suggests that people with disabilities should be taken into consideration when developing skills and in future studies conducted.

It is important for the able bodied society to know not only that they can ask individuals with disabilities questions, but also what steps they themselves can take to foster and uphold an inclusive environment. In the TEDx Talk “Blind is Beautiful” (Saran, 2018) I discuss my own challenges with my disability and explain how we can not only educate society about this topic, but how to also incorporate the learning about disabilities within the educational system. Throughout my educational journey, I have learned about various minorities in depth, and yet disability was seldom mentioned. Perhaps this may be why communication and interaction between the disabled and able bodied is quite challenging.

Due to many misconceptions held by society people with disabilities are often deprived of the physical activity they need or crave. In his TEDx Talk,  “People with disability are athletes too,” David Kyle (2017)  describes their journey with their disability and becoming a athlete. They stress the importance of physical activity for all people.

People with disabilities struggle with the same challenges that able bodied people experience, it is just that they do things slightly differently. In the video “Blind Parenting,” (Marsolais, 2016) this is demonstrated quite accurately. Shawn Marsolais explains her experience with parent-hood and how though it has been difficult meeting other moms, that she believes her son has become a better communicator due to having a blind mother. She also stresses the point that she deals with the same challenges any working mother would.

Though the sources and information presented here are quite accurate in providing a basis of understanding and a gateway in building connections among the physically challenged and able-bodied, there is no way to replace the face-to-face experience and chance to ask questions for both groups as even two people with the same challenges are still different people. All one needs to do is view this as a characteristic of our personality and hopefully that makes things slightly easier. Remember, just start with “Hello.”

To find out more and increase your intercultural competency, following is a list of places to start:

Kyle, D. (2017). People with Disabilities Are Athletes Too. TEDX Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huh80afjfCc

Lawson, J. (2001). Disability as a Cultural Identity. International Studies in Sociology of Education.

Marsolais, S. (2016). Blind Parenting. Accessible Media Inc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqMTmW2kYJc

Parrish-Sprowl, J. (2015). Intercultural Communication and Disabilities from a Communication Complex Perspective. Russian Journal of Linguistics.

Saran, H. (2018). Blind Is Beautiful. TEDX Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-YajTp_7O4

Guest Blog by Kendra Bagley

Diversity in the workplace has increased drastically due to many factors such as globalization, outsourcing, and even drawing talent from multicultural regions.  This increase in diversity makes it much more important to focus on creating inclusive corporate cultures.  When considering how to build an inclusive corporate culture, it is important to understand the challenges that each diverse group faces in order to become more interculturally competent communicators in the workplace.

Women make up a large portion of the work force, yet there are still many challenges that they face daily in the workplace.  When considering women in the workplace, the wage gap, and lack of women in leadership positions within a company, sexual harassment, expectations to look and dress a certain way, or inability to contribute openly in meetings are serious concerns.  Uncovering and understanding these issues is the first step to creating a better corporate culture, then learning how to address them and increasing the intercultural competence within the company will help corporate teams to be more successful and will create a culture where people of diverse backgrounds can thrive.

I have been very fortunate in that the organizations I have worked for have had very inclusive cultures, but I know that many women and people from diverse backgrounds aren’t always so lucky.  Aside from reading books, there are many ways that a person can increase their own intercultural competence to make sure that they are treating all people in the workplace in an appropriate way.

One way I learn to become a better intercultural communicator is by listening to podcasts.  I commute at least an hour every day, and I try to fill that time with something educational.  I recently came across a podcast called The Transformative Leader, and the episode I listened to was an interview between culture transformation consultant Amir Ghannad, president and founder of the Ghannad Group and Vicki Hudson, Chief Collaboration Officer of Highroad Global Services.  The podcast discussed how to build a collaborative, high performing team across diverse cultures.  In the interview, Vicki discusses the challenges that companies face in different scenarios that require intercultural communication and competence such as offshoring, mergers and acquisitions, and the day to day existence of global brands.  Her three recommendations for building a productive cross cultural team were to learn culturally specific terms and acronyms; to set clear rules around objectives such as meeting etiquette and project deadlines; and to always try to find ways to connect on an personal level with those from other cultures to be able to build trust.

Another series that I have started listening to is called Women at Work by the Harvard Business Review.  This podcast has over 40 episodes that walk women through different aspects of being women in the workplace, many of which are centred around communication.  I enjoy listening to this podcast as it helps me to understand the challenges that women face in the workplace and gives great advice on how to overcome these challenges.  This will help me to be a leader in my workplace, and will prepare me in the event that a future company that I work for is less interculturally competent.

References:

Cardon, P. G. (2010). Using films to learn about the nature of cross-cultural stereotypes in intercultural business communication courses. Business Communication Quarterly, 73(2), 150-165. Doi:10.1177/1080569910365724

Cheney, R. S. (2001). Intercultural business communication, international students and experiential learning. Business Communication Quarterly, 64(4), 150-165.  Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.ufv.ca:2443/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=17393266&site=bsi-live

Ghannad, A., & Hudson, V. (2019, Dec 5). TTLP 053: “The Power of Cross Cultural Collaboration” – An Interview with Vicki Hudson [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://theghannadgroup.com/podcast-feed/ttlp-053

Jaidev, R. (2014). How pedagogical blogging helps prepare students for intercultural communication in the global workplace. Language and Intercultural Communication, 14(1), 132-139. doi: 10.1080/14708477.2013.866129

Kochman, T., & Mavrelis, J. (2009). Corporate tribalism: white men/white women and cultural diversity at work. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.