When individuals from different cultural backgrounds find themselves in a community, there are always possibilities for communication conflict because each person holds diverse values, beliefs, and practices. These differences are attributed to the cultural diversity that subsequently leads to communication differences and conflicts (Almutairi, 2015).
Cultural differences in a community could be a basis for unworthy disagreements or useful energy if well handled. While interactive communications and relationships among people of the same community with the same cultural orientation are primarily simple to develop relative to relations among individuals with more diverse cultural orientations, one culture leads to a limited variety, low collaboration, and resourcefulness.
Unfortunately, conflicts due to variations in values, beliefs, and practices are bound to occur when people communicate to achieve shared objectives, complement each other, and share resources. Although cultural differences in a community can allow members to contribute ideas and information gathered from different sources, critical differences in communication will oftentimes lead to vicious conflict.
For instance, more individualist cultures tend to promote their views directly and use direct verbal communication supported by other elements of non-verbal communication to advocate their personal opinions, ideas, and achievements. Conversely, individuals from more collectivist cultures may tend to rely on indirect forms of communication styles. They tend to be less expressive, prefer group contribution, enjoy the silence, and they downplay personal achievements and contributions.
Therefore, failure to recognize and appreciate these cultural variations in communication styles may cause misunderstanding, miscommunication and eventually conflict (Campinha-Bacote, 2011).
References
Almutairi, A. F. (2015). Fostering a supportive moral climate for health care providers: Toward cultural safety and equity. NursingPlus Open, 1, 1–4. Web.
Campinha-Bacote, J. (2011). Delivering Patient-Centered Care in the Midst of a Cultural Conflict: The Role of Cultural Competence. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 16(2), Manuscript 5. Web.