Word-Dancing Together Towards Noble Outcomes

Intercultural business communication is often associated with international relations and encounters between people from different countries or national cultures. Yet cultural differences may also play a role much closer to home: between colleagues in the office and on the factory floor, across generations within a team, or between management and the board of directors. Culture is not confined to nationality. People bring different experiences, perspectives, expectations, and ways of communicating to professional interactions. From this broader perspective, intercultural business communication competence is not a separate, specialised skill reserved for international encounters. It is an integral part of business communication competence itself. With this understanding in mind, the following excerpts from my PhD research invite us to look beyond the financial and instrumental outcomes of business communication. A lifelong process Acquiring intercultural competence is not a static resul...