Research Paper on "Interpretation Across Culture in on Line Communication"

Quoted Instructions for "Interpretation Across Culture in on Line Communication" Assignment:

Use Chicago Manual of Style. I need the bibliography and work cited information along with my order for free. I provided 11 reference materials to use. Along with that add at least 20 other references. I need minimum of 15 quotations. I have provided the Introduction of the research paper. Based on the introduction please write the body and conclusion. NOTE *****“ Keep my introduction and use that as a base to write the body and conclusion. I am ordering 12 pages in total write 10 pages for the body and 2 pages for conclusion based on my introduction. I am not paying to write an introduction as I would like to use my own introduction. So please write the body and conclusion only and make sure it flows with my introduction. The paper should be based on my introduction and answer the last three topic of the introduction, which are:

- Online cross-cultural communication is more prone to misunderstanding and distrust than face-to-face communication because some of the nonverbal communication cues like body language are missing.

- The building of trust between individuals can lead to successful on-line cross-cultural communication.

- There is a need to understand how the meaning of word may vary between cultures in order to eliminate any potential misunderstanding and distrust between individuals.

Subject: Interpretation across Culture in on-line communication

Introduction:

I have been using my second language, English, since I was two years old. I have been living in the U.S. for nine years and still some words do not portray the same meaning to me as they do to people over here. I have found that the meanings of words can change; I notice this particularly at my workplace. When I started my job, I was given a project, and in an e-mail communication I wrote, "I am working on resolving the problem. I will keep you posted with my findings. In the meantime, if you have any further problems please feel free to contact me again." The word "problem" created a big situation in my department. My manager and my co-workers thought the word "problem" sounded negative and that I should use the word "issue" instead. I explained to them that where I come from, Bangladesh, "issue" sounds very harsh. It makes me feel as if I am attacking someone personally. After much discussion, I stepped aside to think from their perspective and decided to change the word. These made me realize that communicating in the workplace in my second language, even if my colleagues and I do not always understand words the same way, we can eventually understand each other well enough to achieve our tasks at work.

Language is the key factor for communication. The English language is being used globally to communicate through online media. While most people are using the same language to interact, not everyone is communicating with the same cultural values and understanding. Effective communication with people of different culture is especially challenging. There are no established procedures or rules for us to follow to be efficient communicators across cultures. The Internet has caused an explosion in the variety of communication methods and has opened an extraordinary level of communication without boundaries. This is causing an unprecedented possibility for misinterpretation, misunderstanding, and distrust. Trust is a vital element in team development and efficiency building within a traditional team context. Any kind of communication we engage in has our cultural values intermingled in it. Culture teaches us values and principles that direct our thoughts and actions toward anything we encounter. This cultural understanding dictates the way we learned how to speak, write, and interact with others. It creates a challenge in understanding each other. Along with the regular face-t-face cross-cultural communication challenges now we need to pay attention to the cross-cultural communication via on-line media.

To keep costs down and remain competitive in the global economy many organizations are choosing to convert traditional teams to virtual teams and forming Geographically Dispersed Teams (GDT). It is easy to setup virtual teams, but the challenge is in establishing trust among virtual team members to work collaboratively. Individuals in a virtual team not only depend on the use of information technology but also create rapport through on-line communication. In a research done by Dr. Zhou she revealed that virtual team also needs to trust their team members for their work. Because they are dependent on each other*****s assigned task to deliver a successful project. When there is s strong trust built within the team, it is easier for the team members to work efficiently because they are able to depend on each other. It also helps them to have open communication within the group and maintain a collaborative environment. Trust is a vital element in team development and efficiency building within a traditional face-to-face communication of team context. So, we also need to pay attention on how to build trust through on-line communication.

It is phenomenal how people can communicate with each other while connected only by computers. Today, online media has shortened the time span of international communication to a matter of seconds. According to Internet World Stats, on June 30, 2008 the Internet was used by 21.9% of the world population, which is a 5.19% increase since 2006. The increase of Internet usage has brought with it a mixture of new settings and concerns that affect how the world interacts with in cyberspace. It has become a melting pot of different languages, cultural values, laws, regulations, and individual expectations. These factors need to be considered while using the online media to network with people of different cultures around the globe. A majority of work teams now spend at least 25% of their time working in a virtual environment, according to a recent survey by the Institute for Corporate Productivity.

It can also be said that the on-line media is also influencing people to take on new habits from other cultures. Consider the following simple scenario that Satinder Gill, talks about in his article "The Cultural Interface: The Role of Self." Usually, in Japanese culture, everyone addresses their colleagues at work by their last name. When communicating via email they tend to address their colleagues by their first name, which they do not normally do in person (1). Here we can see how online communication changes how Japanese communicators address each other differently online rather than face-to-face. This is just one example of global communication causing unconscious changes to occur in users' communication styles and how we need to pay attention to online communication protocols between cultures.

The emergence of cyberspace is pushing everyone in the workplace to grow an understanding of how different cultural values can play a role in online communication. Online cross-cultural communication in can be unconsciously affected by cultural values. This factor can affect how employees from different countries engage in online communications. All of these issues can play a positive or negative role in our life. If we do not pay attention to potential misunderstanding, then we are more likely to become victims of miscommunication. It will take more than just awareness to overcome these issues and communicate online across culture. On-line cross-cultural communication is a vital element in today*****s communication at workplace for team development and efficiency. In this study I plan to explore some of the potential reasons for misunderstanding and distrust in on-line communication. I believe to address this question I need to tackle the following issues listed below:

- Online cross-cultural communication is more prone to misunderstanding and distrust than face-to-face communication because some of the nonverbal communication cues like body language are missing.

- The building of trust between individuals can lead to successful on-line cross-cultural communication.

- There is a need to understand how the meaning of word may vary between cultures in order to eliminate any potential misunderstanding and distrust between individuals.

Some Resources to use in the paper*****“ Annotated Bibliography

Nastri, J., Peña, J., and Hancock, J. T. (2006). The construction of away messages: A speech act analysis. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11.4, article 7.

This research study focuses on away messages in IM and how it can be used for better communication. A total of 483 away messages written by 44 individuals were studied. The messages were broken down indo different categories. They are primarily assertives, followed by expressives and commissives, but rarely with directives. These findings are discussed in terms of computer-mediated discourse and online self-presentation.

Coppola, N. W., Hiltz, S. R., & Rotter, N G. (2004). Building trust in virtual teams. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 47.2, 95-104

The authors, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark uses Debra Meyerson*****s concept, *****˜swift trust***** at the beginning of an on-line course to build trust between temporary teams in online courses. The industry is moving towards a virtual world and along with it the academia is also preparing the students to work in a virtual world. As the students are meeting for a short time they can be compared to the temporary groups at workplace how everyone is pressured to become familiar in a limited amount of time. It shows the faculty members who were able to build trust between the team within the first week of the class were able provide successful learning community. The same phenomenon works within virtual teams at work place. Trust needs to be present between team members so they can count on each other and work more effectively towards their task without additional worries.

Suchan, J. & Hayzak, G. (2001). The communication characteristics of virtual teams: a case study. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication; 44.3, 174-186

The authors, researchers are from the Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Army explores on how there is greater need by the industry to deliver to their client in the most efficient way and how they are turning towards virtual team to give them the nimbleness to leverage their resources. They research analyzed the communication technologies like Customer Support Virtual Team (CST) for a Fortune 500 organization. Advanced electronic media provide the primary means of interaction between the virtual team members. For an effective team they found the great need for self driven team members and a great deal of trust along with the most efficient communication tools. In contrast they also found that organizations need to have staff to support these technologies for virtual team to perform effectively. As the industry is getting more demanding with the turnaround time of their project this study shows how managing a productive virtual team directly depends on a reliable communication systems. They show an interlinked relationship connecting the need to maintenance the uptime of these systems which helps the virtual team to be productive and as a result support their clients.

Zhou, L., & Zhang D. (2005). A heuristic approach to establishing punctuation convention in instant messaging. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 48.4, 391-400

The author, researcher at the University of Maryland, MD explores the behavioral indicators of deception in virtual group when using instant messaging as a media of communication through qualitative study. He also discovered the difference in linguistic behavior between deceivers and the truth teller. This study is crucial for industries as most are instant messaging or synchronous computer mediated communication now pervades in daily life of the workplace. The study also compares the research on deception in face-to-face communication based on the clue theory with the deception via instant messaging. The interpersonal deception theory from social science was also used to guide the deception research in the group studied using instant messaging. Compared to face-to-face interaction instant messaging is influenced by the lack of incoming social cues as the communicators doesn*****t get to see the facial expressions. It is important identify these deceptions as organizations interact with each other virtually to reduce project failures. The results from this research can be used to understand knowledge of deception behavior in human communication and be aware of deceptions in the virtual world.

Grosse, C. U. (2002). Managing communication within virtual intercultural teams. Business Communication Quarterly. 65.4, 22-38.

This study was based on the findings from a graduate level business communication class assignment and interviews with four executives from France, United Kingdom, and US. The study focuses on how to build a strong virtual team through technology at the same time keep the interaction more humanized. It is a challenge for the traditional workers to work with teammates where there is no face-to-face interaction so there is a greater need for human touch to make them comfortable. There is also a need to have awareness of cultural diversity in the global virtual team to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding. The study also troughs the idea of a first face-to-face interaction between the team before forming them into virtual team but this is not always feasible due to geographical location and cost. The organization need to encourage open communication from the beginning between the virtual team members to grow trust and understanding. In the long run this will help the team to be more efficient and productive.

Shaw, B. , Scheufele, D. and Catalano, S. "The Role of Instant Messaging as a Tool for Organizational Communication: An Exploratory Field Experiment" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Sheraton New York, New York City, NY Online Retrieved 2008-06-20 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p14438_index.html

Millions of adults currently use instant messaging (IM) in the workplace and yet there is very little research examining how use and perceptions of this new medium affect intra-organizational communication. While one of the characteristics of instant messaging is the ability to exchange real-time communication, what truly distinguishes instant messaging from other widely adopted forms of mediated communication is the integration of presence technology, which allows parties to detect if others are online and available to communicate. In this paper, we propose a theory of productivity benefits of presence-aware communication technology, building upon past research. Based on this model, we use a quasi-experimental longitudinal research design with quantitative and qualitative methods to test how providing instant messaging to selected workgroups at a Fortune 1000 company impacts employees***** attitudes and work behavior. Results suggest that IM use had a positive effect on improving productivity with participants citing reductions in voice mail and phone tag, improvements to how easy it was to see if colleagues were online and available to communicate as well as increased productivity served by back-channel communications conducted via IM. Results and future research directions are discussed.

Panteli, N. & Davison, M. R. (2005). The role of subgroups in the communication patterns of global virtual teams. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 48.2, 191-220

This study was collaboration between the University of Bath, UK, and the City University of Hong Kong, China. The author, researchers represents both the universities and led a group of 47 students by dividing them into 8 subgroups. The research explores the emergence of subgroups in global virtual and the communication pattern of teams in virtual settings. Extensive observation was made for 8 months to analyze the way all the teams communicated on the same projects by using on-line file exchanges, chats, and discussion forums. The study was very close to real life scenario because of the geographical proximity and the organizational homogeneity of the members in two different locations. The study shows how misunderstand between team members caused lack in team cohesiveness thus creating boundaries. Although the end result of the task between the team were very good but interestingly the study show there is greater need to have highly skilled team leader to maintain the serenity between the subgroups and to help taking ownership of faults, thus reducing misunderstanding. The study does a great job in discussing the insinuations of the findings and how to apply in practice. As businesses are moving toward outsourcing this study can be used as source in understanding some of the shortcomings of virtual teams and ways to overcome them.

Burn, J. & Barnett, M. (1999). Communicating for advantage in the virtual organization. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 42.4, 215-222

The authors, researchers at the Edith Cowan University, Australia studies six virtual organizational models and explores how the electronic network of virtual organizations rises above the conventional organizations. All these models have some common needs. They all seek for innovative way to come up with low-cost communications technology and employ rich functionality. The models also explore how virtual organizations are dynamic and are going through constant changes. The most stable virtual organization that run most efficiently are the ones***** that treat communication knowledge as their core need for their infrastructure. The trend to the formation of virtual organizations industry and a lot can be learned from their communication structure which can be applied to the traditional organization and to the formation of their virtual teams.

Zhou, L. (2005). An empirical investigation of deception behavior in instant messaging. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 48.2, 147-160

The author, researcher at the University of Maryland, MD explores the behavioral indicators of deception in virtual group when using instant messaging as a media of communication through qualitative study. He also discovered the difference in linguistic behavior between deceivers and the truth teller. This study is crucial for industries as most are instant messaging or synchronous computer mediated communication now pervades in daily life of the workplace. The study also compares the research on deception in face-to-face communication based on the clue theory with the deception via instant messaging. The interpersonal deception theory from social science was also used to guide the deception research in the group studied using instant messaging. Compared to face-to-face interaction instant messaging is influenced by the lack of incoming social cues as the communicators doesn*****t get to see the facial expressions. It is important identify these deceptions as organizations interact with each other virtually to reduce project failures. The results from this research can be used to understand knowledge of deception behavior in human communication and be aware of deceptions in the virtual world.

Judith A. H. (2005). Building trust and collaboration in a virtual team. Team Performance Management. 7.3, 36-48

The author from the Holland College, Canada focuses on how building and having trust in virtual organization is important for it to be productive. Organization are moving toward a virtual team environment and to have effective virtual team there needs to me seamless communication between team members and they need to be able to rely on each other without any doubts. She studied six members in a virtual team to find the out how level of trust is important in team effectiveness. She suggest the application of Jung's theory of personality types to assess virtual teams in a positive and laissez-faire way to highlight value of diversity so the team members are at ease to share their personal and work style preferences, thus creating a circle of trust. Trust is need between all kinds of team but it is crucial for virtual team as there is no face-to-face interaction between team members and there is vulnerability for deception.

Jarvenpaa L. S. & Leidner E. D. (1999). Communication and trust in global virtual teams. Organization Science. 10.6, 791-816

The authors, researchers, at the University of Texas at Austin, TX studied three hundred and fifty master's students from 28 universities for six weeks in virtual team setting to explore the how trust was developed through virtual interaction. The study show communication challenges dues o cultural in interpersonal differences and thus creating misunderstanding between team members. The presence of the SIDE theory was found in the study as there were pauses between the members during their interactions which influence individuals to build stereotypical intuitions about each other. In this study we also see the application of Debra Meyerson*****s theory of swift trust but between the team members were very fragile and temporary. There are challenges in virtual team due to geographical distance so organizations need to focus on open communications between the virtual team members so there is less misunderstanding. A productive virtual team cannot be built just with the proper communication tools but there is need for trust, respect, and relationship between team members.

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