Diversity, Culture, and Communication Competence

Diversity, Culture, And Communication Competence Purpose of Studying Communications Working effectively with others in a professional environment often requires the ability to understand different personal perspectives and cultural norms, values, and expectations. As society becomes more culturally diverse, it becomes more important to master the skills necessary to collaborate effectively with others in the vocational environment and to do so while absolutely minimizing potential areas of interpersonal misunderstanding or conflict.

My objectives in studying business communications include: (1) learning how to express myself accurately and appropriately in all forms of communications media; (2) developing cultural awareness and the related competencies necessary to communicate with coworkers, clients, management, and the general public; (3) learning how to work as smoothly as possible with difficult individuals; and (4) mastering the ability of controlling my natural ("gut") reactions to situations and individuals that could otherwise be detrimental to maintaining positive communications and a collaborative working environment.

Specific Challenges Understanding Cultural Diversity In a culturally divers society, it is important to develop an understanding of the differences in values and social expectations among different cultural groups. Failure to do so can often result in unnecessary conflicts that are attributable exclusively to unintentional misunderstandings rather than to genuine disputes or matters of disagreement among coworkers. There are enough opportunities for genuine disagreements and problems without adding those that are completely unnecessary and mainly related to ignorance and misunderstanding.

Working with Difficult Individuals In any vocational environment, there will always be individuals whose personalities, beliefs, or values are incompatible with those of others. Certain people are difficult to work with because they are unhappy in their lives or because they lack the necessary social skills and perceptions required to work with others.

In many cases, difficult individuals can undermine morale and productivity of the working group if other members of the group react defensively or forget that it is not necessary to respond to every issue that is not directly related to the team's working objectives and goals. Controlling Gut Reactions I realize that I have limited patience for dealing with difficult individuals and that I tend to respond reflexively from my gut instincts in many situations.

In the vocational environment, that can be counterproductive to the needs of the working group and the organization. By studying communications, I hope to learn to control my gut reactions to people and circumstances and to learn conflict.