Advanced Cross-Cultural Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Advanced Cross-Cultural Communication - Essay Example ; (2) Why was the homestay mother rude to me?; and (3) Why was she refusing my help? The first question was analyzed using theories related to non-verbal miscommunication and parochialism. The second question was addressed using theories related to high- and low-context culture. The third question was answered based on the theory of individualism and collectivism as well as the high- and low-context culture. It was concluded that the root cause of miscommunication in cross-cultural encounter is â€Å"parochialism†. Therefore, this report highly recommends the need to provide our future business people with opportunity to learn different the ways on how they can increase their awareness particularly with regards to the relationship between cultural background and the use of non-verbal cues such as facial expression, body distance, gestures, etc. Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................. ........ ii 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 2.0 Research Process ................................................................................................... 2 3.0 Findings and Discussion ........................................................................................ ... .................................................................................................. 9 5.0 Recommendations ................................................................................................... 10 References ........................................................................................................................... 11 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 12 Appendix I – Full Critical Incident Report .......................................................................... 14 Appendix II – Summary of Continuum from High-Context to Low-Context Culture ........ 16 Appendix III – Comparison of the General Characteristics that Affect Communication between people from High- and Low-Context Countries ............................ 16 1. Introduction When I first arrived in New Zealand back in 2001, I had to live in a â€Å"homestayâ € . Back then, I could not speak any word in English. In order to communicate with people who live with me at the homestay, I had to learn the use of body and sign language. Even though I was able to express my personal thoughts and opinion through the use of body and sign language, there were several occasions I encountered miscommunication between me and my homestay mother. (See Appendix I – Full Critical Incident Report on page 14) The rationale and main objective of this report is to analyze and discuss the relevance of several existing cross-cultural theories on the critical incident presented on Appendix I. In the process of completing this report, the student is expected to conduct a literature review with regards to the concept and application of cross-cultural theories. By doing so, the student

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS - Essay Example Basically, the acronym SWOT stands for strengths (S), weaknesses (W) which are internal factors while on the other hand the external environmental factors are regarded as either opportunities (O) or threats (T). SWOT analysis is based on the assumption that an effective strategy derives from a good fit between an organisation’s resource capabilities and its external situation (Thompson & Strickland 2001 as cited in Rossouw & Kruger 2003:17). In this case, a good fit will mean that the weaknesses of an organisation and the threats of the environment are minimised while the organisation makes the best of the strengths within it and the opportunities in the environment. The major strength for Etihad Airways is that it has skilled employees who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. It is imperative that the organisation should harness on this strength since it is concerned with expanding its operations to different geographical locations. Employees with a diverse cultural background can positively respond to the needs and interests of those who also hail from different parts of the globe where they also have their own cultural values. The other strength is that Etihad has got an already established market especially in the United Arab Emirates and this gives it a competitive advantage in that it only seeks to strengthen its operations from an already established market. Penetrating new markets will not be that challenging given that this is an established entity in the airline industry. However, noble as the idea of expansion may sound, the main weakness confronting Etihad Airways is that it often does not have enough working capital to meet its requirements. In order to avoid the competitors to gain an advantage, Etihad ought to improve on creating enough capital in order to sustain its initiative to expand its operations. New planes would need to be bought so as to effectively increase route utility which is