Communication is the process of conveying meaning to others. The purpose of communication is to exchange ideas, develop or dissolve relationships and conduct business. Figure 1 illustrates the communication cycle when the sender encodes the message and make use of various channels to bring the message across to reach out to the receiver. The receiver will then decodes and interpret the message. After the message was decoded, the receiver will respond by triggering a feedback to the sender through the channels of communication which eventually decoded by the sender. The desired communication cycle occurs when the meaning of sender 's message is in sync with the meaning of message decoded by the receiver. However, in transition of transmitting the meaning to others, there are various factors which act as the barriers in communication (Buzzle, 2013). When communicating across different cultures, misunderstandings and disagreements may arise due to the factors such as languages, communication styles and expectations. For example, showing "O" sign with the thumb and index finger means okay in United States. However, it represents …show more content…
Whereas in Hong Kong, as mentioned in determinants, English and Chinese are the official language in Hong Kong. About 88% of their citizens speak Cantonese and Mandarin (Hong Kong Tourism Board, 2015). When doing business in Hong Kong, managers have to localize and required to speak in the dominant language. For example, if the manager often interacts with the locals in Hong Kong, it will be beneficial to know Cantonese. Likewise, if the manager interacts with Chinese in mainland China, it will be advisable to know Mandarin. The Mandarin Chinese used in Hong Kong is sophisticated. A Chinese word character can have more than 3 different meanings. Hence, the Chinese will use non-verbal mode of communication to increase the clarity of the