Bigger hurdle now are the blending of using both the old and new system at the opening stage of the daily operation of the system. Management will need to decide whether to continue the old communication system for several months while the change over take place or an immediate change over once the operational training is complete. Chicago O’Hare Airport have chosen a blending of both as the old system is used daily while the new system slowly fit into the communication centre, this process took the airport several months to complete involving hundreds of air traffic controllers making daily technical adjustments just to make the new system work.
At this point of view operators themselves will need to play their part to blend in with the machine, and their mindset is equally important they must understand the reason for change, upgrading and learning, and must be ready to adapt automation and technological changes. Logically it seems to be a safer approach as problems that arises from the new system can easily be spotted and remedy can be done while the old system continue its operation without hassle and threats of air traffic breakdown. Air traffic controllers that operate on the new system will tend to spot problems only when actual operation had taken place. They will also need more time to digest the problem and find suitable solutions to deal with them. It’s even more logical now that the choice of using both the system is right.
Top- management will now need to plan and apply operation methods that suit the new communication system. Planning the operation methods itself is a tedious process with great amount of time and effort involve. Most properly the whole air traffic communication centre will only be focusing only on how the new system can fit in and takeover the old one. Other tasks beside the introduction of the new system are usually put on hold or prioritise according to their importance. This had also post a series of workloads being put on hold and forces the manager to think harder how not to disturb the daily work while having the new system being introduce.
The disadvantage of the new communication system is not on the system itself but the actual problems lays in the introduction period where large amount of adjustment needs to be made right from top- management to the users. The transferring from the old system to the new one is a tedious part as the old system is still running while the new system is being set up at the same time. At this point at hand the airport will face lots of unexpected problems and solutions need to be made at the point of time, such situation can be demanding and stressful for air traffic controllers. This blending and takeover process can take up to several months to complete and the running of two systems at the same time can be time consuming and frustrating to both employees and management. Chicago O’Hare Airport have also realise that the time, effort and expenses had far exceeded what they estimates.
Airports that are interested in introducing new communications or technology should have sufficient research and reading material done before making any decisions. Airports nowadays have also developed multiple scenarios planning just to counter sudden changes during the introduction and operation period of the new system but problems tend to arise when two system is run together so the best solution is to seek technical advise from both the manufacturer and those airport that have already been successful in using this system. This is both a logical and sensible approach, as airports are able to respond faster to sudden changes and problems as air traffic communication are very complex, unpredictable and uncertain.
Even there are disadvantages but that can be overcome if the airport, top- management and operators are ready to put in effort and solve all problems that arises along the way, having just one common interest in mind and that is to successfully introduce the system to the communication centre.
On the other hand, advantages that the new system bring can far exceed the old system in terms of operating, maintaining and providing accurate information in the complex air traffic situations that all airports in the world face. The new system had also improved tremendously in helping the operators who operates in them. New improved features and additional user-friendly advantages also help contribute comfort, effectiveness and efficiency to operators who are handling it.
The world is filled with invisible information system travelling every seconds around us. In one area which the proper functioning and use of such communication systems is crucial to our safety is air traffic control. With air space becoming increasingly congested, human safely and lives depend on flawless communication to avoid tragedy especially when modern technology is now available.
These changes however didn’t really change the basic organization and operation of companies. They still maintained the same functional breakdown and hierarchical structure that most organizations have adopted. Modern technology has helped the firm to realise its objectives and making it more achievable and realistic to employees. However, the important factor to consider when automation and modern technology is introduced to the organization is the human factors. Human factors like employee’s attitude, behaviour, skills required and their resistance to change. There are many areas to study and understand before any introduction of automation or modern technology machinery should be introduced in the firm as to prevent any costly mistakes.
QUESTION 2
Explain clearly why communicating across cultures is important to business. Describe and evaluate cultural differences in body positions and movements, attitudes towards factors of human relationships e.g. time, space, odours, etc.
Exemplify your answers by citing egs. From at least two different cultures.
ANSWER 2
Decades ago corporations do not have large investments in foreign countries but now this is all changed. Corporations now play a major role in many businesses such as Coca- Cola in beverages, Microsoft in computer software, IBM in computer hardware, Nokia in telecommunications, Ford Motors in automobile, Walt Disney World in entertainment and not forgetting McDonald’s worldwide existence in the fast food industry. Major corporations and MNCs are now expanding and investing heavily into new foreign markets, as home markets are no longer as rich in opportunity as before.
All business activities be it locally or overseas will require human beings to interact and react, this process will involve exchange of information, ideas, plans decisions, proposals, contracts, agreements and most importantly ‘effective communications.’
Definition of communication: Communication is define as the meaningful exchange of information through messages between one person or group to another, is a composite of everything we do and say. (Block, Boone and Kurtz, 1997, p. 2)
Definition of culture: Culture is defined as a set of values, ideas, and attitudes that shape human behaviour. (Aldag, Cunningham and Stone, 1996, p. 82)
As (Hildebrandt, Murphy and Thomas, 1997, p. 4) said, “communication is the lifeblood of every organization, organizations cannot function without open and effective communications.”
Communications in the organization itself can spell a series of problems, what’s more when the firm need to communicate across border with cultural differences as an additional obstacle. Organisations will need to learn, understand, respect and adapt other culture’s style of communication.
Effective cross- cultural communications play a vital role in corporations that are operating in foreign markets as it can increase job satisfaction, productivity, profits and organisation’s overall effectiveness and efficiency. Most importantly it can avoid all unnecessary misunderstanding that arises from the roots of cultural differences like knowledge, language, customs, society’s basic values, perceptions, preferences, religion and behaviours.
Culture differences also include a sense of self and space, communication and language, dress and appearance, food and eating habits, time and time consciousness, relationships and affections, values and norms, beliefs and attitudes, mental process and learning, and work habits and practices.
Effective communications will enhance understanding, respect, co- operation and work attitudes, which play a crucial role in connecting two groups of people with little or extreme cultural differences working together. That is the reason why many corporations choose not to sell their products or services in foreign countries because they do not understand the cultures and the communications style of those countries.
In an era of global business, contact and communications among cultures are more that anthropological interest, those who possess greater cultural sensitivity and knowledge of international issues are consider having advantages over the competitors. A crash of culture and communication differences might affect harmony or even destroy a potentially rewarding joint venture or strategic alliance. It is vital and important to avoid as organization put in a great deal of money, time and effort going global aiming to achieve its objectives and goals in a foreign land.
Effective cross- cultural communications is achievable by applying appropriate and effective behaviours and styles across cultures. Successful global corporations need to understand a new or different cultural context and to respond to it effectively. Managers should spend time to study and plan for a particular culture the firm is aiming to penetrate, but on the other hand managers may still find themselves having to respond immediately and with little preparation.
If organization is able to understand the key differences in cultural styles such as a sense of space, language, appearance, food, time consciousness, relationships, values, attitudes, mental process and work habits. I am very sure that both managers and employees can communicate and work more smoothly with others in the global workplace and business situations.
Example 1- Cultural difference in conversation style.
A U.S. manager, visiting Japan to promote a product, told his Japanese colleague, a marketing manager, to arrange a visit to a customer. The Japanese manager knowing that the style of the U.S. manager was too aggressive for the Japanese and was unwilling to arrange the visit to the client. However, he felt that he had to arrange the meeting and they visit the client together. The Japanese client was courteous to the American visitor and responded to his requests in a diplomatic way (saying, “Yes, yes,” and nodding). In the other words, the answer this client gave the U.S. manager was no more than a façade, what is supposed to be said. But the U.S. manager took this answer literally and returned to U.S. headquarters with a positive sense of achievement. Meanwhile, his Japanese colleague received a phone call from the client, who said, “Never bring that kind of guy to see me again!” This message never reached the U.S. manager, because his Japanese colleague didn’t want to offend him. (Funakawa, 1997, p. 83)
From the example above we can see a clear cultural differences in conversation style and as a result the Japanese comments can easily mislead the American visitor. Many American expatriates and visitors prepare themselves by studying the Japanese language and Japanese business practices but the fact is that it is often difficult to apply this cognitive knowledge in practice.
Not only American businessmen who do not know Japanese business practices and customs cause failures in mergers or business activities. Effective cross- cultural communications will still need Japanese colleagues to give constructive and logical feedback and advice for their Americans colleagues.
Both American and Japanese managers need to realize and develop knowledge on cultural contexts and learn how to apply cross- cultural communication skills so to limit their perception and hinder them from working effectively across cultures in the global arena.
Example 2- Cultural difference in concepts of time.
Concepts of time, however, vary across cultures and the differences in the use of time can lead to lots of misunderstanding. For example the Germans are quite punctual while the Middle East businessmen tend to do things slowly, even a simple agreement may take several days to negotiate because Arabs often engage in lengthy discussions of unrelated issues. In Western society, example German businessmen tend to move pretty much by the clock- a 1 o’clock appointment usually mean 1 o’clock of within 5 or 10 minutes. But in some Middle East cultures - a 1 o’clock appointment usually means 2 o’clock and if the businessman arrive on time (1 o’clock) to transact and close the deal he may actually offend the person.
If you are invited to a meal in the West it is usually consider impolite to leave immediately it is over, whereas in Saudi Arabia, for example, the socialising and chatter usually take place before the meal, and guests commonly leave as soon as the meal is finished and your host, no matter how busy they are, will press you to stay; but you should leave politely. (Stanton, 1996, p. 33)
The Saudis set more value than we do on the exchange of small favours in their everyday affairs, no business is discussed at all until coffee or tea has been served and time has been spend on elaborate personal exchanges. If the Germans or any other Western businessmen try to get down to business it will be taken to be a sign of bad manners and even lack of business expertise.
(Stanton, 1996, p. 34)
From the two examples above we can understand that slight differences in conversation style and concept of time in two different cultures can bring very different and negative results. The more interactions people have with each another’s from different cultural backgrounds, the more challenges arise that are new and complex. I felt that companies that are going global should spend time and effort on cultural comparison first then on strategy planning to uncover understanding in foreign markets, customer behaviour, advantages in locating facilities overseas and factors that will influence investment decisions.
I have considered and decided to point out the following points as common mistakes organizations tend to make when practising cross- cultural communications and they are:
Firstly, the firm should avoid judging other cultures base on it’s on culture as each country has its long- established traditions. There isn’t any single correct cross- cultural business communication theory, principles or procedures.
Secondly, the firm should avoid drawing conclusions for an entire cultural group based on only a few examples or experiences.
Thirdly, organization should realise that for effective cross- cultural communications to take place, organization itself must be ready to adapt to changes in the new culture. Time is the influential factor that is needed to adapt and understand another culture.
Lastly, organization should also realise that money and profit are not the only things that the cross border businessmen are looking for. They might be looking for elements like trust, sincerity, integrity and mutual understanding in their foreign counterparts, which are vital for building any long-term successful business relationships regardless of cultural differences. Organizations with better preparations and understanding of a foreign country and culture can avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and enjoy a more fruitful business deals and intercultural communications experience with their counterparts.
REFERENCES
1. Boone, Louis E., Kurtz, David L. and Block, Judy R., Contemporary Business Communication (second edition), Prentice Hall International, 1997
2. Cunning, William H., Aldag, Ramon J. and Stone, Mary S., Business In a Changing World, South western College Publishing, 1996
3. Funakawa, Atsushi, Transcultural Management, Jossey- Bass Publishers, 1997
4. Murphy, Herta A., Hilderbrandt, Herbert W. and Thomas, Jane P., Effective Business Communication (seventh edition), McGraw- Hill Companies, Inc, 1997
5. Stanton, Nicky, Mastering Communication (third edition), Macmillan Press Ltd, 1996
6. Thackara, John, Winners! - How Today’s Successful companies innovate by design, Gower Publishing Ltd, 1997
