How should I propery respond to the below 2 discussion posts?

My favorite topic from this courses material was introduced to us in Module 3 and Module 4. This topic covered culture, the importance in understanding it, and how to communicate in environments where different cultures may clash. In Module 3, the very first thing that was discussed is how important it is to understand the practices, values, and beliefs within other cultures in order to have effective International management. Where one culture may consider a certain behavior to be polite, another may perceive it as rude. For example, in the United States, one thing that is regularly practiced in the workplace are handshakes. Whereas in Japan, handshakes are only used when greeting those who are "lower" than you. If you were to be greeting someone who is "higher" than you, you would bow. Module 4 lists the various ways and variables that affect the communication process. These variables are attitudes, social organization, thought patterns, roles, language, nonverbal communication, and time.The article that I chose that fits this topic is called "Cross-Cultural Communication and Cultural Understanding." This article enhances the importance of adapting to different cultures to put the other person at ease. In doing this, it also provides better communication and increased productivity, (MasterClass, 2022). This was my favorite topic throughout this course because it gave me insight on how to approach situations where there may be a clash of cultures. It also taught me how I should educate myself if I was ever given the opportunity to relocate for work.

Haley Carlson

Deresky, H. & Miller, S. R. (2021). International management: Managing across borders and cultures (10th ed.). Pearson.

MasterClass. (2022, November 13). Cross-Cultural Communication and Cultural Understanding. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cross-cultural-communication#:~:text=Sign%20Up-,Why%20Is%20Cross%2DCultural%20Communication%20Important%3F,across%20previously%20daunting%20cultural%20barriers.

2. https://aboutleaders.com/leadership-skills-persuasion-and-influence/Links to an external site.

I feel that my favorite topic from this course so far has been the area of the differences between persuasion and influence. I found an article from aboutleaders.com that discussed the intricacies behind how a leader uses both of them to accomplish goals. Persuasion and leadership are both leadership tools, but persuasion is convincing someone to do something you want them to do while influence is part of your identity and is incorporated into your presence (Jackson, 2023). Persuasion usually acts off the principle of compliance while influence incorporates the idea of conversion (Jackson, 2023). This is to say that a leader can tell someone to do something and they will do it, but that doesn't mean that person's belief system has changed nor have they accepted that person's logic as their own. Influence ties into conversion and in doing so you have an effect on a person's belief system and they are buying into your way of performing certain function or tasks. Some ways that conversion helps leaders is by; creating healthier and more fulfilling relationships, gain more overall control of your life, and by having a more agreeable workplace. This isn't to say that persuasion isn't a part of your influence but there is an element of getting to the point of where they coincide with one another.

I have seen in my own work environment that some supervisors and managers have an expectation which is set by their influence and their workers respond well to it. In another areas I see supervisors who dictate and only persuade. The latter has a negative effect on the work group because when the supervisor is gone there is a ton of bad mouthing that goes on because their beliefs regarding work don't align. These employees and their bosses to not work in harmony, but instead adopt a more of "go and do what you are told" attitude.

References

Jackson, D. T. (2023, June 21). Leadership Skills Persuasion and Influence. Retrieved from About Leaders: https://aboutleaders.com/leadership-skills-persuasion-and-influence/