In my previous post I reviewed on the importance of effective communication in teamwork.Today I am going to write about some observation of team behavior regarding intercultural communication.
Culture is a shared pattern among a group of people.These people will behave similarly in the way they live and interpret each other.Culture is a symbol for a specific human society.People of different cultural background may behave differently.This may pose some problem to a team consists of members of different cultural backgrounds.Hence,effective intercultural communication is important in ensuring the success of a team.
On the other hand,lack of knowledge of another culture may lead to embarrassing or amusing mistakes in communication.At the worst,such mistakes may confuse or even offend the people we wish to communicate with,reducing the effectiveness of teamwork.As a Chinese student,I observed that many of my Chinese friends tend to speak Chinese in group discussion if the majority of the team can understand.It may be convenient for them communicate that way but others who cannot understand the language may feel abandoned.In that way,nobody else will know what they think about and the whole team may lose many valuable ideas and suggestions.
Another interesting thing about Chinese people is that they like to be modest.If you ask them whether they want something or not they will probably say they do not want.However,it does not mean they really do not want it,they are just used to behave like that.If you ask them again,they may be very pleased to accept.Hence,if team members want to nominate a Chinese to be the team leader,do ask him or her more times to ensure whether he or she really want to accept the offer or not.
As the world today has become a globalized one,it is usual to have people of different cultural backgrounds together in a team.Therefore,it is important for us to know each other's culture and conducting effective intercultural communication.This in turn helps us to achieve personal as well as team success.
1/23/2010
Reflection on Effective Teamwork and Communication
Posted by:Guo Likai
Time Posted:24/1/2009 6:30p.m
Nowadays,the role of teamwork has become more and more important.On the other hand,communication has evolved to a stage that it becomes the main component of our daily life.Basically these two life skills are inter-related -- successful teamwork needs effective communication.As a NUS undergraduate student,i realized that university is a place for me to get to know more people.In order to know them,I have to communicate with them.Therefore,the idea of effective communication will ensure my success in building good relationship with others.Moreover,since there are quite a few group projects in universy study,effective teamwork and communication will be a great help to me if I want to get better grades for them.
Many people might think that communication is just about how to talk to one another.However,we have to realize that communication always involves two parties--speaker and listener.An effective communication should be one that the speaker can deliver his idea concisely and correctly and the listener can understand the message and give positive response.This is important to me as there may be barrier to communication caused by cultural difference,background difference,or even gender difference.If I do not know how an effective communication should be carried out,I may face inconvenience or even failure in my course of study.
Another very important thing is teamwork.It is always better to work as a team than to work individually.However,ineffective teamwork may result in worse consequences than individual work.I often encounter such problem that one of my team member is very active and passionate in discussion while most of the other members just keep silent all the time.In fact,they may have their own different opinions but nobody speak it out.As a result,the team might not work as effective as others because not everyone agrees with the idea.Hence,it is necessary to engage every team member to share their own idea to the whole team in order to discuss as a team.Besides,effective communication is also very important in teamwork.Team members must be able to make themselves understood by the others in order to work in a more cooperative way.
Lastly,I believe that I can achieve good interpersonal relationship and successful working experience through effective communication and teamwork.I will try to make myself clear and concise in talking and giving feedback to ensure I can achieve both life skills by the time I graduate from university.
Time Posted:24/1/2009 6:30p.m
Nowadays,the role of teamwork has become more and more important.On the other hand,communication has evolved to a stage that it becomes the main component of our daily life.Basically these two life skills are inter-related -- successful teamwork needs effective communication.As a NUS undergraduate student,i realized that university is a place for me to get to know more people.In order to know them,I have to communicate with them.Therefore,the idea of effective communication will ensure my success in building good relationship with others.Moreover,since there are quite a few group projects in universy study,effective teamwork and communication will be a great help to me if I want to get better grades for them.
Many people might think that communication is just about how to talk to one another.However,we have to realize that communication always involves two parties--speaker and listener.An effective communication should be one that the speaker can deliver his idea concisely and correctly and the listener can understand the message and give positive response.This is important to me as there may be barrier to communication caused by cultural difference,background difference,or even gender difference.If I do not know how an effective communication should be carried out,I may face inconvenience or even failure in my course of study.
Another very important thing is teamwork.It is always better to work as a team than to work individually.However,ineffective teamwork may result in worse consequences than individual work.I often encounter such problem that one of my team member is very active and passionate in discussion while most of the other members just keep silent all the time.In fact,they may have their own different opinions but nobody speak it out.As a result,the team might not work as effective as others because not everyone agrees with the idea.Hence,it is necessary to engage every team member to share their own idea to the whole team in order to discuss as a team.Besides,effective communication is also very important in teamwork.Team members must be able to make themselves understood by the others in order to work in a more cooperative way.
Lastly,I believe that I can achieve good interpersonal relationship and successful working experience through effective communication and teamwork.I will try to make myself clear and concise in talking and giving feedback to ensure I can achieve both life skills by the time I graduate from university.
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