Business communication does not occur in vacuum so we have to contend with different peoples cultural values.

Intercultural communication: communication between people from different cultures. Globalization increased interaction and diversity in the workplace (multicultural workplace and contexts) = increased need to develop caring, responsible, ethical business leaders. When we talk about intercultural communication, we only think in terms of national cultures. But it is actually impossible for us to say that we bring along with us only our national culture when we talk or write to people. There are other domains of intercultural communication: ethnicity, gender, social class and education. To borrow the words of Gladwell, the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound impact on how we communicate. A Singaporean is may also be a Malay or female corporate CEO. Characteristics of CULTURE - Learned: what is commonsense is part of the value system - Shared: a narrow view of intercultural awareness may lead to stereotyping of people. Culture may be shared but each individual is still unique in terms of her values and practices because her life experiences are unique. You may KNOW about the practice/belief but dont UPHOLD - Teach values and priorities create own culture shapes ATTITUDES - Prescribes behavior people of privileged positions prescribe their values and practices upon others power and culture are intertwined - Dynamic: phenomenon of globalization, continuously changing. We cannot talk of culture as though it is static! - Plural: culture has many voices because we come from and associate with different groups of people and communities. Intercultural moment: point of contact in communication between people. Intercultural competence: to understand and navigate potentially difficult intercultural moments, completion of tasks or gathering of important information. Communication breakdown - Loss in revenue for the company - Importance of listening skills: because no 2 stories are alike (Prudential) - Loss of life airplane disaster dues to lack of comprehension of local terms and cultural differences - Need for understanding of audiences cultural values and norms Real business activities like: Product presentation, negotiation, networking, conflict resolution, rejection letter writing. Requires intercultural sensitivity and awareness to be carried out persuasively and effectively. Intercultural communication is not smt we do independently as a business activity. It is embedded in the real business activities that we engage in.