1.
Describe how communication skills fuel career success in a challenging digital
age marketplace.
● In an era of automation, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence, communication
and other interpersonal skills can future-proof well-trained workers.
● Workers communicate more than ever; many collaborate in teams, which means that
even technical fields require excellent communication skills.
● Employers expect new-hires and other employees to project a professional image
and possess superior interpersonal skills, including oral and written communication.
● Information age job challenges include rapid technological change and uncertainty,
24/7 availability, flatter management, an emphasis on teams, global competition, and
a renewed focus on ethics
2. Use active listening techniques.
■ Organizational success and careers greatly depend on active listening, but most of us are
poor listeners; to improve, we can remove physical and psychological barriers, overlook
language problems, ignore nonverbal distractions, and curb our thought speed.
■ A significant lag in language processing speed, called speech-thought differential, allows
us to let our minds wander; as a result, we fake attention and prefer to talk rather than to
listen.
■ We can improve listening skills if we stop talking, focus fully on others, limit noise, adopt an
empathic attitude, and distinguish facts from opinions.
■ Capitalizing on lag time, listening for feelings and validating them, taking selective notes,
and providing encouraging feedback are other methods for building listening skills
3. *Discuss how effective nonverbal communication can help you build your
credibility and advance your career.
■ Study nonverbal cues such as eye contact, facial expression, and posture/gesture that
send silent, highly believable messages.
■ Understand that how you use time, space, and territory is interpreted by the receiver,
who also reads the eye appeal of your business documents and your personal appearance.
■ Master nonverbal skills by keeping eye contact, using posture to signal interest, reducing
physical barriers, improving your decoding skills, and probing for more information.
■ Interpret nonverbal meanings in context, learn about other cultures, and consider the
impact of appearance—of documents, your office space, and yourself.
4. *Describe the key dimensions of culture and how technology and social media
shape intercultural communication.
■ Culture is a complex system of values, traits, ethics, and customs shared by a society;
culture molds the way we think, behave, and communicate both offline and online.
■ Culture can be described using 5 key dimensions such as:
● context
● individualism
● time orientation
● power distance
● communication style.
● Low- and high-context cultures:
- Low-context cultures: linear, analytical, and action oriented. Business communicators
stress clearly articulated messages that they consider to be objective, professional,
and efficient. Words are taken literally.
- High-context cultures : intuitive and contemplative. Communicators in these cultures
pay attention to more than the spoken or written word. They emphasize interpersonal
relationships, nonverbal expression, physical settings, and social context.
● Individualistic versus collectivist societies:
- Individualism: Members of low-context cultures, particularly North Americans, tend
to value individualism. They believe that initiative and self-assertion result in personal
achievement. They believe in individual action and personal responsibility, and they
desire much freedom in their personal lives.
- Members of high-context cultures are more Collectivist. They emphasize
membership in organizations, groups, and teams; they encourage acceptance of
group values, duties, and decisions. They typically resist independence because it
fosters competition and confrontation instead of consensus. In group-oriented
cultures, such as those in many Asian societies, self-assertion and individual
decision making are discouraged.
● Time Orientation:
- Monochronic time (M-time): Time perceived as if it were running on a single, linear
track. Considering time a precious commodity. They correlate time with productivity,
efficiency, and money. Keeping people waiting for business appointments is
considered a waste of time and rude.
- Polychronic time ( P-time): Time is viewed as abundant and nonlinear. Relationships
are more important than tasks. People in monochronic Western cultures may
schedule appointments at 15- to 30-minute intervals. Businesspeople in polychronic
cultures may plan fewer but longer meetings without a defined end time. People in
monochronic cultures may look at time as formal and task oriented. In polychronic
cultures, time is seen as an opportunity to develop interpersonal relationships.
● Power Distance:
- In high-power-distance countries, subordinates expect formal hierarchies and
embrace relatively authoritarian, paternalistic power relationships.
- In low-power-distance cultures, however, subordinates consider themselves as
equals of their supervisors. They confidently voice opinions and participate in
decision making. Relationships between high-powered individuals and people with
little power tend to be more democratic, egalitarian, and informal.
■ Whether social media can bridge cultural divides and erase differences or will lead to
greater isolation will depend on the users as much as it would among strangers who meet at
a dinner party.
5. Identify strategies for enhancing intercultural effectiveness and
communication across cultures.
■ Beware of ethnocentrism and stereotyping; instead, embrace tolerance and keep an open
mind.
■ In oral communication, use simple English, speak distinctly, check for comprehension,
observe eye messages, accept responsibility for miscommunication, smile when appropriate,
don’t interrupt, and follow up in writing.
■ When writing, consider local styles and conventions, hire a translator, use short sentences,
avoid ambiguous wording, and cite numbers carefully.
■ As the domestic workforce becomes more diverse, appreciate diversity as a critical
business strategy.
■ To communicate well with diverse audiences, seek training, understand the value of
diversity, learn about your own culture, make fewer assumptions, and look for similarities.
Key Terms
★ soft skills
★ people skills
★ emotional intelligence
★ interpersonal skills
★ professional skills
★ sharing economy
★ smartphone apps
★ ad hoc teams
★ gig economy
★ empathic listening
★ mindful
★ speech-thought differential
★ nonverbal communication
★ culture
★ context
★ individualism
★ collectivist
★ cultural convergence
★ monochronic time
★ polychronic time
★ power distance
★ loneliness epidemic
★ digital nationalism
★ Splinternet
★ ethnocentrism
★ stereotype
★ tolerance
★ empathy
★ groupthink
___________
1. Verbal vs Nonverbal
2. Types of Contexts
3. Dimensions of Culture
Homework: write a short reflection: which one u feel most interesting ( friday)
