What difficulties in communication do cross-cultural workers face? How can these best be addressed in various settings?
by Donald Moon
Members of intercultural teams bring with them their cultural preferences or biases about many things, including leadership styles and how decisions are made. Misunderstandings and conflict were nearly inevitable when team members operate, often unknowingly, from their cultural preferences. Their different ideas about what they consider the correct way to make decisions is a key indicator of their cultural type.
Read Moreby Sunny Hong
This book was written to help members of a multicultural team recognize and understand why cultural differences exist among members of their team and to apply biblical truth to cultural differences. Silzer starts this book by stating that we are all created in the image of God. The image of God in us is distorted, however, by following cultural practices rather than biblical truth.
Read Moreby Sam Yim
The concept of human development is different for East and West. For example, I heard of a Hong Kong pastor who worked with American missionaries to do church planting in Hong Kong. They started from zero and gave him five years to be independent. It meant this Chinese worker would not receive any financial assistance from the Western mission group after five years. When the time was up, the Chinese worker requested that the new church needed to have more time to be independent, but the negotiation failed as plans were fixed. The Chinese church viewed the Western group as selfish and that they were being forsaken too early. Therefore, any partnership needs both parties to dialogue and both parties need to be willing to adjust.
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