How does culture effect business communication in the workplace?
Cultural awareness in communication is crucial in todays workplace. Businesses must adjust and accommodate new attitudes, rules, and values that are merging in this intercultural society and workplace. Businesses need to be aware of stereotypes, prejudices, and generalizations and proactively educate employees in cultural awareness. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, stereotyping is defined as: a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image. Sometimes stereotypes may contain truth, however if the stereotypes become rigid and are based on false beliefs, they can easily turn into a prejudice. Generalizations occur when our brains take in new information and put it into categories in order to understand the new data. Generalizations are simply t a way that humans sort data and make sense of their world. They only become unhealthy and negatively affect businesses when they turn into prejudices. It is advantageous for businesses to learn about cultur