Observation of team behaviour: Intercultural and interpersonal communication

The process by which people exchange information, feelings and meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages is what we call interpersonal communication. Working in a team means there is going to be a lot of interpersonal communication going on. As members of a team, we must not only be concerned with what we say but how we say it as well (the tone, facial expressions etc). Now, the other thing is that our team members may not all be from the same culture, background and country as us especially in a multi-racial society like Singapore. Therefore, the more we should be mindful, thoughtful and sensitive when communicating. We must possess good intercultural communication skills.

Intercultural communication is the interpersonal interaction between members of different cultures, practices, knowledge, values and beliefs. I believe our team members for this and other modules are from different countries namely India, Vietnam, Malaysia and China. Therefore, we cannot say whatever we please and we cannot do whatever we please. We must be tolerant and accepting of the other cultures that surround us.

For example, we all speak differently and have different accents. For some of our team members, English may not come as fluently and for others their accent might be pretty strong and we may have a hard time understanding them. In these instances, we should listen intently and not judge them. Confirm meanings, clarify, acknowledge and give feedback. This will give them confidence to speak up and make them feel at ease in the team. Misunderstandings and confusion can also be avoided. Below is a funny clip about a little misunderstanding.



I mentioned above that we cannot do whatever we please. Well I have a personal experience to share. During my secondary school (high school) days, I had a classmate who was from the Middle East. He was a talented football player. During an inter-class football tournament, he scored a sensational solo goal which sparked wild celebrations among the team. In the midst of it all, a player from the opposition came up to him and repeatedly gave him the thumbs up. Things got a little heated and two of them had to be separated. I was perplexed at first but later came to know that the thumbs up gesture which to us means “good job” is perceived as an obscene gesture by some from the Middle East.

Communication and Teamwork: Why are they important for me?

Communication as I understand it, is about relaying our message to other people. Getting our message across. It is also about receiving information that others send to us thus making it a two-way street. When both come hand in hand, we have good and effective communication.

Communication can be verbal, non-verbal or in written form. Communication comes so naturally to us that we often forget to appreciate it. We forget how a simple breakdown in communication can lead to damaging consequences. For example, during my stint in the Police Force, I was in the middle of a case involving 2 men brawling and trying to rip each other apart. The reason? The victim kept staring at the aggressor and was displaying “threatening” body language that the aggressor took offence to. This is an instance of non-verbal communication gone wrong I suppose.

Communication is an integral aspect of our lives as it helps build relationships. If we do not communicate, there is no way we can build healthy relationships with our family, peers, teachers and friends. I am sure before this module, most of us didn’t know our fellow group mates (be it CG1102, CG1108 or CG1413). Now that we have met them, the only way to slowly bond and build a good relationship is through communication.

Another reason why communication is important because it helps us in decision-making especially when we are working in teams. If a disagreement emerges regarding an issue and a decision has to be made, we have to deliberate (i.e. communicate) within our team and reach that decision.

As I mentioned earlier, I believe that to communicate effectively, we must not only pay attention to the message we have for people but also pay equal amount of attention to the message people have for us. This effective communication is vital in a team. A team consists of members who all have a common goal. Working together and achieving that goal I believe is what we call teamwork. Teamwork is important in many settings these days. In the corporate world, the military and even in school. With effective teamwork, we can achieve many great things that an individual alone will struggle to.

I feel we should regard teamwork quite seriously because as engineers to-be, more often than not we will be working in teams to complete projects and assignments in the workforce. Every individual has his/her strengths and weaknesses and by working individually , the end-product might not be as impressive as the one done by a team. In a team, we have people of different strengths and weaknesses and when these people come together, they complement each other resulting in a high quality end-product.

For teamwork to be effective, we must first have a good leader. A leader who makes tough decisions, motivates and inspires people and basically keeping the members focused on the task. The members also have an important role. They must know their duties well, be sensitive towards each other, trust each other and most importantly have each others’ back. A team with these attributes has a great chance of achieving great things.

To sum it up, communication and teamwork is going to be vital in most parts of our lives. It is going to be put to the test in the upcoming weeks for us CEG students!