Effective interpersonal communications in a multi-cultural work environment

As the world is more and more becoming a ‘global village’, meaning that goods, people and ideas move more easily and frequently between places, it has become of great importance for successful businesses in the international arena to employ a range of staff that are able to communicate effectively with people from different national and cultural backgrounds. It has been said that ‘effective communication is the hallmark of dynamic, productive leadership’ (Fisher, 2002). Furthermore, a dynamic leader is one who not only takes responsibility for what he or she says, but for how it is heard and experienced by others. By definition, communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages or information. More importantly however, our oral communications are revelations of who or where we are in any given moment, whether directly or indirectly expressed. An effective communicator is described to be a person ‘who has the ability to detect and use such revelations to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome’ (ibid.) for all parties involved.


In the following, this essay aims to establish what steps an individual can take to become a more effective communicator with a range of people from different countries. Firstly, we will be looking at the meta-dimension of culture, where people’s different behaviours, values and worldviews are formed to better understand sources for potential conflict between different cultures. Then, we move on to the interpersonal dimension of communication by introducing the Johari window model, which illustrates relationships in terms of awareness. Following from this, we will be looking at individual’s different learning styles and motivational factors which have an influence on interpersonal work relations. Subsequently, more concrete advice for effective communication, such as how to behave assertively in negotiations, is given.