Intercultural communications:
Abstract:
This paper explains, describes and rectifies a situation which illustrates an intercultural communication issue within the work environment. A complete description of the issue related to communication will be covered, along with the outcome of the situation. A diagnosis of the communication issue and cultural norms involved will also be discussed. Several recommendations that would have prevented the communication issue will also be discussed.
Intercultural Communications:
Today the world has an increasing number of contacts that result in communication between people with various linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The communication requires being as constructive as people, without breakdowns and misunderstandings. Like many other areas Sweden is changing into a multicultural society. In Sweden the health care industry has been one of the most ethically and segregated work places based on gender compared to the rest of the industry. It is starting to change rapidly that has created some communication issues.
Communication issue description:
Context:
“The chance of hearing Swedish with an accent in hospitals and other health care institutions is fairly high” (Allwood, et.al.). There is such a shortage of health care personnel that they are doing job abroad because they can work less hours, get lower taxes and get higher salaries outside of Sweden. Sweden has been recruiting health care personnel from other countries to cover the open positions to the number of individuals working abroad. Physicians who are working foreign countries experience cultural differences and language usage.
The non-Swedish physicians are generally belonging to EU/EES countries. Many Hungarian, German, Polish and Spanish physicians are working in different areas of Swedish. Hungarian and Iranian physicians are occupied major part in the study.
Outcome:
It creates the need for giving training programs to help the physicians understand the local culture of their patients and help to reduce negative impact of cultural variations. There are number of alternative solutions to alleviate the communication gaps. These solutions will be explained in further detail within in this document.
Diagnosis of Communication issue:
The first step to fix a problem is to understand what the problem is. To diagnose the problem we need to get more information. The best method is to get the information is to develop quantitative and qualitative methods. “The quantitative method is a survey consisting of three questionnaires, i.e. one to non-Swedish physicians, one to Swedish health care personnel and one to Swedish patients” (Allwood, et. al.). The surveys have three different sections, with total 30 questions. The sections are background information, views on patent communication and communications with colleagues. The open questions and multiple choices each allowed some space for comments if the participant felt they preferred to make comments.
The qualitative method is done through video recordings use that is related to interviews and work related activities.
The findings of the study specify that there are definitely communication issues between Swedish health care personnel and non-Swedish physicians. Especially it is true for male nurses. 100% of the male nurses agreed on these issues in the survey. The majority of health care personnel of Swedish believe poor language competence can be mistaken for low professional competence. Only 18% of non-Swedish physicians believe that language problems have a negative effect on the medical competence of physician.
Cultural norms:
Swedish have their own set of cultural norms like the rest of us. The “Swedes tend to be consensus-oriented and less open to risk” than other cultures, such as the Dutch (Stuurman, 2005). “The Swedish decision-making is much more closed” than the Dutch (Stuurman, 2005). The Swedish people tend to lead by agreements rather than by control. The people are willing to sacrifice to develop consensus.
The Swedish natural passive nature may have affected the communication transactions if they are not interested to discuss touchy situations. They may select to overlook a situation rather than address the issues for fear of causing conflicts.
Germans do not prefer personal relationships or long standing relationships with other employees. These people are not ready to share their innermost thoughts. Iranians are very traditional and cannot easily fit into other cultures.
Strategies for dealing with the issue:
The skills of cross-cultural cannot be taken for granted; they are skills that need to be improved. The surveys analysis shows that every individual is relatively satisfied with their communications. They understand that misunderstandings can occur, but for the most part they can effectively communicate. To help reduce the misunderstandings, educational programs must be established for certain groups of people in the work area with language and cultural barriers in mind. Cultivating cross-cultural skills to improve the understanding of other cultures, through the study of its values, its history that identify and differentiate it from other cultures are important.
Another method may be to have coffee breaks together with colleagues in lunch rooms and minimizing conflicts for integration in a Swedish work place. It may sound silly, but Swedish are famous for their coffee drinking tradition, which is certainly why they believe it will help to create a more convenient work place. “It is important for Swedes not to have conflicts, and they will go to extreme lengths to avoid it, if possible” (Stuurman, 2005).
Some other strategies that are noted by the Diplomacy.edu web site are;
Be other oriented. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy said, we are not in Kansas anymore. No one can no longer depend on own cultural heritage assumptions. This is not to tear down the own culture value but it is to make that one can aware of richness that is available to that person in other view points. Also it does not mean to try to be something that one is not. It means allowing the others to be whoever she or he is rather than who one can think that person should be.
Ask questions. Be ready to share information about yourself and also be sensitive in the way you ask (you do not want to be perceived as prying). But open communications help in minimizing the uncertainty in any relation.
Develop mindfulness. This is one way of saying “be aware”. Acknowledge that there are is a relation between deeds and thoughts, and become aware of your own thoughts and assumptions. Be active, be conscious, not reactive. Also be aware of your own self task.
Tolerate ambiguity. Communicate with a person who is from other culture produces uncertainty that is uncomfortable. Learn to tolerate the discomfort until come out on the other side.
Avoid negative judgments. Avoid thinking that your culture has all the answers. It has its cultures, so do other cultures.
Summary:
The work environment creates challenges with cultural differences. These cultural differences affect all aspects of lives from work to home. It is necessary to understand that we should not adopt other cultural styles or abandon our own cultural characteristics. We should aim to minimize the difference between the two cultures and learn from the experience.
The study has found out various central themes that emerge from the survey participants. If these themes can be addressed, then it may helpful to develop successful intercultural communications in the health care industry of Swedish.
Reference:
http://www.immi.se/intercultural/
http://www.diplomacy.edu/language/intercultural-communication
http://www.global-excellence.com/articles/02dutch.html
