Intercultural competencies

Intercultural competencies

Introduction

Intercultural competencies are attributes, skills, and knowledge that are vital in culturally diverse environments. Intercultural competencies can be used in the workplace or during an international experience.

Nike is a company whose headquarters are located in America. Nike is engaged in the designs, development, manufacturing, advertising, and sales of accessories, equipment, footwear, clothes, and services. Nike organization operates globally in many countries. Nike is divided into many sub-divisional sections, and they are all involved in similar tasks but are in different areas in the company. Many teams, for example, are responsible for departments such as women’s and men’s athletes. These departments are broken down by different sport categories, and each region has various departments. Nike operates in all seven continents since the year two thousand and ten, and there was the creation of subdivisions to track the productivity of each different region. Different reports from these various departments help Nike to view its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the company will be able to come up with decisions that will help the company grow.

Communication in an organization is crucial because it helps the company to operate effectively and be productive. In a multinational company, effective communication is vital because different people can understand each other and remove misunderstandings that may arise. Through conversation, the efforts of the staff working from different countries can be coordinated to accomplish organizational goals.

Intercultural communication is the interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds. This communication may involve verbal and nonverbal interactions that have a significant impact. The purpose of the intercultural dialogue is to increase understanding of culturally arbitrated communication phenomena. Nike operates in different countries, and it is essential to have cross-cultural communication. According to the southeastern university’s article, Intercultural communication allows leaders to increase the values of an organization they represent. It also aids in improving negotiations and the development of business deals.

Communication is surrounded by three areas of intercultural competence. One is cross-cultural traits, which are flexibility, being open-minded, tolerance of ambiguity, patience, and cognitive complexity. The second is an intercultural worldview and intercultural attitudes. And the third one is intercultural capabilities, and they insist on what a person can do to be skilled in cross-cultural interactions.

A communication officer situated in a country with different cultures should learn to work with the people to achieve their goals. In Nike organization, a communication officer situated in India should learn their culture for business purposes. A communication officer should know how to communicate with the agencies of Nike, who are located in India. According to the Asialink Business article, a communication officer should create trust with the Nike agents who are located in India. The communication officer should learn the language that is used by the Indians to make communication easy. Apart from the verbal communication, the officer should learn their culture.

An example is in greetings and titles. In India, a handshake is the standard way to greet people in a business setting. It is crucial to learn their way of addresses even though they are different from the American culture because they create a good relationship between the employees.

Another example is that Indians value their personal space and are not susceptible to making physical contact. The communication officer needs to learn this and avoid physical contact while communicating.