INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

ABSTRACT 1 (Communicating Interculturality in the Workplace) - 2015

The theme of intercultural communication in the workplace has mostly been examined

from organisational perspectives, utilising theoretical frameworks that see culture as an

objective set of national/ethnic attributes and experiences that shape interaction. This has

resulted in the production of polarised images of intercultural issues as either an

organisational challenge or an asset. The study at hand deepens our understanding of

workplace interculturality by focusing on the very interpersonal communication

processes through which people’s different cultural memberships may surface at work.

Informed by critical constructivism and ethnomethodology, the study seeks to develop

insights into how people may perceive and perform interculturality across a variety of

workplace arrangements, relationships and communication situations. The study

comprises four articles. The first one is a critical review of intercultural workplace

communication scholarship. The other three articles are empirical research reports that

explore relational development, cultural identification and cultural knowledge sharing.

They are respectively based on interviews with employees of a Finnish recruitment

agency and metal workers recruited from Poland, interviews with female Russian

immigrants in Finland performing interaction-intense knowledge work, and records of

Skype™ chat conversations of a four-member team embedded in a Finnish organisation

and dispersed in Finland and Russia. The findings suggest that understandings and

manifestations of interculturality are in constant motion. National and ethnic identities are

social constructs that may emerge as relevant in different ways across interpersonal
relationships and communication situations. Language is a social tool intertwined with

the process of communicating interculturality. Linguistic choices and competences can be

a powerful means for identification, and they may affect the patterns of interaction.

Constructions of interculturality may become imbued with ideologies and have material

extensions. At the same time, interculturality is only momentary and not a stable feature

of communication.
ABSTRACT 2 (Intercultural and Workplace Adaptation: A Case Study of Malaysian

Professional Returnees) - 2016

Intercultural adaptation is one of the factors affecting success of returnees’ adaptation at

the workplace. This study aims to gain insights into Malaysian professional returnees’

cultural response from the organisational challenges and supportive role perspective.

Integrative Communication Theory was used to explain the interaction between returnees

and the organisation climate. This study was conducted through a qualitative approach.

Thematic analysis revealed two themes: a) challenges in working environment, and b) the

supportive role of the management is required in their adaptation. The empirical findings

indicate that Malaysian professional returnees experience different challenges in the

organisation. Top management support is the most prominent factor that influences

returnee's adaptation at the workplace.

ABSTRACT 3 (Intercultural Communication from Managerial Perspective: Challenges

and ways to overcome them) - 2015

This study deals with intercultural communication from a managerial perspective. The

objective of the study was to examine the intercultural communication challenges

managers face in their work in international organisations, as well as to examine possible

ways to overcome the challenges. The theoretical part of the study is divided into two

sections: culture and communication. The section titled Culture covers the definition of

the concept, Hofstede’s dimensions of national cultures, and culture’s influence on

perception. The section titled Communication discusses intercultural communication, the

communication process, communication styles, language, and nonverbal communication.

Data for the theoretical part was gained from published sources, as well as from

electronic sources. The empirical section is based on a qualitative approach. Data was

collected by semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted with three

managers in international companies with extensive international experience. In addition,

a teamleader of multicultural teams with a consultation background in intercultural

communication and management was interviewed. According to the study results, there

are five main areas of challenges: the deep level of culture including values and norms,

interpretation and perceptions, communication styles, language, and nonverbal

communication. Challenges in these areas create miscommunication and

misunderstandings in intercultural communication from the perspective of the

interviewees. The study results indicate that in order to overcome challenges in

intercultural communication, it is necessary to have an understanding of the cultural

backgrounds of others, and to have cultural awareness. Developing understanding is

important in order to better interpret others and to avoid misunderstandings. Furthermore,

based on understanding, expectations as well as communication and behaviour should be

adjusted depending on the cultural context. Moreover, looking for similarities instead of

differences helps to build basis for communication, and enhances mutual understanding.
ABSTRACT 4 (The impact of individualism-collectivism orientation and communal

orientation on employees' attitudes toward intercultural communication: The case

of Chinese employees in an MNC) - 2017

This study explored relationships between an individualism-collectivism orientation as

well as communal orientation and the perceptions of Chinese employees (n = 20) from an

MNC of intercultural communication. On the basis of previous research, we hypothesised

that this group of employees would display a tendency to focus their attention on the

actions, knowledge and needs of their co-workers. To verify this hypothesis, the

employees were surveyed in a Chinese subsidiary of a European top manufacturing

company. We administered Individualism and Collectivism Scale, Communal Orientation

Scale and an original questionnaire survey collecting data about participants' opinions of

cultural diversity, communication problems, and stereotypes in intercultural interactions.

A correlation analysis showed that although collectivists expressed positive attitudes to

cultural diversity, they accentuated a need for respecting their own cultural values. Both

collectivists and communally-oriented employees were not emotionally involved in

communication with co-workers from other cultures. Whilst collectivism was moderately

associated with focusing on norms at a workplace, communal orientation was proven to

be related to maintaining and regulating relationships within a professional group.

ABSTRACT 5 (A Qualitative Study of Workplace Intercultural Communication Tensions

in Dyadic Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Interactions) - 2014

We present findings from a qualitative study with 28 participants of the dyadic

intercultural communication tensions professionals experience in Face-to-Face (FTF) and

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) workplace interactions. We identify four

categories of intercultural communication tensions that emerged most frequently in our

dataset including range of emotional expression, level of formality, “fixed” versus

flexible appointments and task versus social-orientation. We discuss how these tensions

manifested in FTF and CMC media and unravel the ways media supports or hinders

intercultural communication. We present the adaptations participants made to mitigate

such tensions and offer implications for design. Our findings demonstrate that the most

frequently occurring intercultural communication tensions manifested in both FTF and

CMC, regardless of the medium used. This indicates that cultural communication

challenges will persist no matter the medium, highlighting the opportunity for

technologies to better support workplace intercultural communication.