Observing a team behavior regarding intercultural communication

Singapore, as we know, has a vibrant multi-cultural society. As such, to make it even more interesting, we’re now in NUS where we get a myriad of opportunities to mix around with individuals from different cultural groups.

Recently, NUS conducted its orientation for the international exchange students who will be studying their current semester in NUS. In order to familiarize the international students with the main cultural groups in Singapore, the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) had requested several societies to set up their booths at the event. Since I am part of NUS Hindu Society, I gladly took part in this event.

Since nuts are very popular among Indians, our booth gave away various kinds of nuts mixed together in paper cones and we did not provide any spoons to eat them with as we assumed that it was normal for everyone to eat snacks with bare hands. However, we realized later that not everyone thought the same. Surprisingly, many international students gave us puzzled looks and asked us how we eat them. Some even started licking the nuts as it was packed in a way that resembled an ice-cream cone!

It was then that we realized that different cultures have distinctly different characteristics and we cannot take anything for granted. We had seemingly adopted a high- context culture subconsciously and it did not coincide with everyone else’s there. In order to avoid such situations, we have to be more accommodating when interacting with other cultures as it is extremely important to expand our cultural awareness and enrich our intercultural relationships. This is in order to preserve mutual respect and minimize communication breakdown across different cultures.

Why is communication and teamwork important to me?

Communication, in layman terms, refers to the activity of transferring information. When we mention communication, we usually refer to effective communication so that messages conveyed are well received with the intended motive unchanged. Personally I feel that good communication is very important as it is the key to good business and a good living. In a day about a whopping 70 percent of our time is spent in communicating with the others. Therefore it is important to do it well as only through effective communication can we express our thoughts and concerns well. One may be very talented and have brilliant ideas, but if they are not effectively communicated to others, it is hard to embody the ideas as intended. Since more often than not, teamwork is involved to implement ideas, good communication skills are an asset to a team.


Teamwork is just as important as communication as they go hand in hand. Teamwork refers to cooperative work by a group or a team. Good teamwork involves listening to fellow members of a team when they are trying to convey a message across and receiving it the same way as the speaker intended. Following that, fellow team members have to reciprocate good communication skills to effectively put their response across to the team. Communication is a two-way lane and when done effectively, it creates synergy in a team. A team can then embark on their journey to success with a more empowered way of working. With teamwork comes equity and camaraderie which promotes an energized working environment for the team to achieve their goals efficiently.


On a personal note, I feel that communication and teamwork make up the backbone of all strong relationships, be it among friends, family or colleagues and every individual ought to adopt it. (: