CULTURAL DIVERSITY

According to Hahn (n.d.), “Culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms for behavior,” (para. 1). The best way to handle intercultural communication is to learn as much about another culture as possible to enhance your understanding and to be able to communicate as effectively as possible.
I used to sell real estate part-time while working at my current job. I combined my knowledge of real estate to help recruit physicians and mid-level providers. My primary job was to provide the candidates with a tour of the area and if all was successful, I would sell them a house.
In 2006, we hired a family practice physician. She and her husband lived in New York at the time. The wife was originally from Grenada, which gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1974, and the husband was from Haiti. They both had very strong accents and spoke, in my opinion, very aggressively. I was a little intimidated by their strong aggressive manner, but decided it would be a challenge. They wanted to find a house that day, which was a little unusual since the company had not offered the physician the position yet. Nonetheless, I showed them roughly 15 homes and they found one that they loved and they wanted me to write an offer contract. Long story short, over the course of one-year after the offer was accepted; I spent every evening, no less than, three to four hours on the phone with the doctor’s husband. It was very difficult to understand his English in person and over the phone it was even more difficult. After all those long conversations, I learned that the husband was in the Marines. He was very thorough and detailed and proud of his heritage. He also had reservations about dealing with southerners. Some people found this annoying, but having spent a great deal of time overseas with my first husband who was in the Air Force, I understood various accents and diverse cultural backgrounds more than my fellow Realtors and loan officers. If they had questions for the couple, they would ask me to interpret for them.

I believe what made my job a bit easier is that both individuals were highly educated and a former military officer. The husband was a teacher and the wife being a physician having studied in St. Georges, England, and the U.S. Both were equally willing to communicate as effectively with me as I was with them. We had to repeat conversations to completely understand the true meaning behind the intended message. I cannot tell you how much I learned over the course of that year speaking mostly by phone and dealing with some pretty heavy legal issues as it pertained to real estate.

I agree with the basic concept of the ten commandments of intercultural communication. I am more inclined to agree with Dr. Hahn’s tips for communicating interculturally as follows:

• Take responsibility for communication

• Withhold judgments

• Show respect

• Empathize

• Tolerate ambiguity

• Look beyond the superficial

• Be patient and persistent

• Recognize your own cultural biases

• Be flexible

• Emphasize common ground

• Send clear messages

• Increase your cultural sensitivity

• Deal with the individual

• Learn when to be direct

(Hahn, n.d., para. 9).

Brigitte’s URL: http://ashfordcomfoureightycapstone.blogspot.com/

Reference:

Hahan, M. (n.d.). Ten commandments of intercultural communication: corporate globalization. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-Commandments-of-Intercultural-Communication&id=120247