Understanding The Importance Of Intercultural Communication, And Reflections On My Own Culture

In my opinion, ‘Intercultural Communication’ is getting more necessary in every work field. Through increasing globalization, the borders between cultures are continuously fading away. I visited or lived in cities like Sydney or The Hague and I began to understand the importance of gaining a sensitive attitude towards people of other cultural backgrounds than me. Studying Intercultural Communication will help every individual to create a ‘collective identity’ together with people from different cultural backgrounds. The only entry requirement for studying Intercultural Communication is the willingness to develop a ‘growth mindset’ that is open-minded for other opinion and views. As Gloria stated in the forum, one of the best ways of learning about different cultures is traveling. When I was traveling in Australia, I got confronted with all different kind of cultures. This was the first time I realized the various kind of values, habits and perceptions that distinguish cultures from each other and I recognized the way that I got programmed by my very own cultural background. I learned to exchange different views and opinions on global issues on the basis of mutual respect. For the purpose of improving leadership skills, I, as a future manager, find it necessary to work on intercultural communication skills in order to overcome cultural barriers while working in a globalized world.

The receiving of a message from a work colleague should not be interrupted by cultural noises. It is helpful to apply the TOPOI Model. This model can help to prevent misinterpretations and to gain a mutual understanding of each other’s values and goals. I am 20 years old. My father comes from Morocco and my mother is German. Therefore, I come from two different national cultures. I have lived my whole life in Germany and I consequently do know the German culture the best. Nevertheless, my father taught me a lot about my Moroccan origin. I visited this beautiful country a few times already and learnt a lot about its culture. For the reason that my parents are divorced since I was born, I struggled to learn the language of my father as I saw him just once a week. On the other hand, I can speak a bit French which helps me to communicate in Morocco. I was raised as part of the middle-class in Germany which is therefore my subculture. Another subculture is the culture of football players and fans, as I enjoy playing and watching football. In regard of Hall's key concept, there are low context and high context cultures. For the reason that I was raised up in Germany, which is one of the most low context cultures in the world, it could be assumed that I am consequently a low context person. I can neither agree nor disagree with that. In my case, I realized that it depends on the language I speak and on the relationship I have with the person I speak to. When I speak German for example, I tend to be more low context as most of German people are, but when I speak English, I often catch myself speaking high context. Additionally, I noticed that I tend to speak more high context with people that I have a symmetrical relationship (e. g. friends) with and low context with people that I have a complementary relationship (e. g. teacher) with.

According to Kluckhohn's value orientations, two values that distinguish cultures from each other are individualism and collectivism. As I am half German and half Moroccan, I come from an individualised and a collectivised culture. Therefore, I see myself as a mix of both but with a tendency to be more collective-oriented. It is a very important for me to have healthy relationships with my friends and family. I happily let them be a part of my circle of influence and listen with respect to their advises. On the other hand, an important value of mine is independence and the freedom of choosing my way of living without too much external influence and directions. For example, I did not like when my family criticized my decision to do a gap year in Australia. In this case I was individual-oriented, ignored the critics and did what I think was right. As part of Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture, there are masculine and feminine cultures. I can clearly state, that both of my national cultures are masculine. Regarding my cultural programming and my independent will, that both shape my behavior, I realize quite a lot of masculine driven characteristics in me. For instance, I always had the secret goal to get the best test results of my class. I like to compete with friends over the better results from gym workouts or the better football skills. I was always driven by success.