Once an international organization has delved into such details about a society, then they would be in a better position to know which areas to assign women and which ones not to and instead assign men and the reverse is applicable too.
Yet another significant aspect to look into is the non-verbal communication among the various cultures and the applicability of such between the two genders. It is worth noting that the nonverbal signs are not universal in anyway, even simple things like nodding to indicate agreement may mean directly the opposite in other cultures. It is therefore important to know the various different interpretations of the nonverbal signs that exist in a community that a give multinational has chosen to engage in. this understanding must go further to understand the various nonverbal signs that cannot be used with women or in the presence of women since there are some signs that may be extremely offensive to women, yet not really an issue with the males, like forming a circle with the thumb and forefinger to mean OK may be very offensive for women in some cultures (Molly Edmonds, 2011). The other issue that is important to take care of under this section is the use of space and time in communication, there are cultures that would recommend a given distance between males and females and not necessarily observed between males or between females themselves. It is therefore incumbent on the staff of a given international corporation to analyze and understand the gender sensitive nonverbal cues and learn how to deal with them.
The other anomaly that usually cripples intercultural communication among international corporations and the local communities is the assumed similarity between the two cultures. They tend to assume that the cultures are similar and that the locals will easily understand their...
Unfortunately this is not usually the case and there are some standard ways that people from various communities and countries would expect the relationships between the two genders to be, hence a fatal fallacy for the corporation to take it that the locals will understand.
Last in this debate is the tendency to evaluate that the culture of the people one is dealing with is inferior to your own. It is significant to note that for any international corporation to successfully carryout business in a society different from theirs, they have to recognize that the cultures are just different and not that one is inferior to the other.
Once these have been taken into account, it will make the intercultural communication to be effective and face very few barriers. The recognition of the fact that genders have a significant role to play in the communication and relationship between the international corporation and the locals is the key to effective communication.
References
Becky Mulvaney, (1994). Gender Differences in Communication: An Intercultural Experience.
Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://feminism.eserver.org/gender-differences.txt
Dictionary.com, LLC. (2011). Gender Identity. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gender+identity
Laray M. Barna, "Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication," in Intercultural
Communication: A Reader, 4th ed., eds. Larry A. Samovar & Richard E. Porter (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1985), pp. 330-338.
Molly Edmonds, (2011). How do culturally different people interpret nonverbal communication?
Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://people.howstuffworks.com/nonverbal-communication.htm
