It seems to me based on my unscientific anecdotal evidence (watching how people interact with a boss across cultural barriers), that one of the real issues is that when people are speaking, the communication doesn't only come from the words and the general context, but also the ability of two people to connect and communicate by articulating thoughts in the way the other can understand.
We like to pretend that languages are these very simple things, but they aren't. We bring our expectations to interactions and these are cultural expectations. Keep in mind I am married to someone from another culture, so while I have a lot of experience but I can't call it scientific.
For example, power relationships affect communication differently among Chinese than Americans. Americans will communicate differently when questioning a boss's decisions and this leads to Chinese assuming their authority is challenged when this isn't intended for example. Similarly on the other side, Americans may miss the subtly of the communications that the Chinese expect and this can cause problems too.
So with this in mind, I think that the question is how well are people able to communicate effectively, and accents are, I think, at best a proxy for a lot of other thins going on.
If I were to make one recommendation, it is "recognize that everyone is ethnocentric and if you are working with people from other cultures, expect misunderstandings, and work with them."
We like to pretend that languages are these very simple things, but they aren't. We bring our expectations to interactions and these are cultural expectations. Keep in mind I am married to someone from another culture, so while I have a lot of experience but I can't call it scientific.
For example, power relationships affect communication differently among Chinese than Americans. Americans will communicate differently when questioning a boss's decisions and this leads to Chinese assuming their authority is challenged when this isn't intended for example. Similarly on the other side, Americans may miss the subtly of the communications that the Chinese expect and this can cause problems too.
So with this in mind, I think that the question is how well are people able to communicate effectively, and accents are, I think, at best a proxy for a lot of other thins going on.
If I were to make one recommendation, it is "recognize that everyone is ethnocentric and if you are working with people from other cultures, expect misunderstandings, and work with them."