cultural awareness training.
It aims to bridge the gap between Gaining a deeper understanding of different cultures, such as
management matters
By Jacqueline McLean
Jacqueline McLean FInstAM is Senior Lecturer
in HRM (Human Resources Management) at
Manchester Metropolitan University. She has worked
with the IAM in many different roles since 1992 and
is currently a Trustee.
Communicating across Cultures
Jacqueline McLean and Richard D. Lewis* comment on the ways in
which globalisation is creating a multicultural corporate landscape.
Globalisation is, without doubt, carving a new, multicultural
corporate landscape. Its march across the globe shows no signs
of abating and it has enabled societies, both near and far, to be
drawn closer together in a culturally rich and diverse global village.
Citizens of this village are working, communicating and interacting
with each other and each others’ culture and conducting business
together in ways they have never experienced before (Liu and
Lee, 2008).
This poses its own challenges for managers, who not only
have to manage global and local business operations, but also
an increasingly multicultural workforce, which possesses multiple
perspectives of reality, varying levels of knowledge, education and
experience and who are the product of societal norms, values and
personal belief systems. If not properly managed, such cultural
differences have, according to Hall (1995:21), the potential to
“ruin a partnership that otherwise makes perfect sense” and lead
to “management frustration, costly misunderstandings and even
business failures” (Hoeklin, 1995:ix). This lends more credence
not only to the effective management of multiple cultures, but
also to awareness and understanding of culture, how it makes
us who we are, what we are and why we behave the way we do.
Importantly, within this management context, managers must
also know how best to communicate with individuals, and global
business partners, on a cross-cultural basis.
Cross-Cultural Management
The march of globalisation has turned conventional management
on its head, making the management task a more difficult,
challenging and complex one. Moreover, as many business
decisions have become globalised, managers’ roles have become
intertwined with issues of cultural adaptation and conflicts in
communication, exacerbated by cultural diversity (Xie et al, 2008).
Thus, a knowledge and understanding of how to manage cross-
culturally is of vital importance, to ensure that the management
task is a more informed and effective one. Two key aspects of this
are cross-cultural communication and cross-cultural awareness, as
we shall explore later.
Cross-cultural management has been defined by Adler (1991:
10-11) as the study of “people in organisations around the
world… it trains people to work in organisations with employee
and client populations. It describes organisational behaviour
across countries and cultures.” She adds “…importantly, it
seeks to understand and improve the interaction of co-workers,
clients and…partners from different countries and cultures…
it expands domestic management to encompass international
and multicultural spheres.” As Søderberg and Holden (2002)
30 manager summer 2010
point out, cross-cultural management is often referred to as the
tactic for dealing with cultural differences which have, in the past,
become synonymous with friction, conflict and miscommunication.
Experience is no defence either. Firms who operate internationally,
and managers who are experienced or maybe even qualified in
international business, are by no means immune from the scourge
of misperception, misjudgement and mistakes in managing the
intricacies of cultural relationships with stakeholders, customers
and suppliers (ibid).
If managers and their firms do not effectively promote
organisation-wide empathy with, and sensitivity to, cross-cultural
issues, it may potentially have a catastrophically-negative effect
on people’s ability to communicate with each other and, ultimately,
the firm’s reputation and success, both at home and internationally
(Harris and Moran, 1979).
The Impact of Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity is a phenomenon in its own right and is
interwoven with a rich tapestry that, if explored and exploited,
could yield firms incalculable and tangible benefits and generate
a source of competitive advantage (Hoeklin, 1995) in this geo-
knowledge economy. Culture can be defined as a “… system of
assumptions, values and norms transmitted by socialisation to
the next generation… it is seen as something members of the
community have or belong to” (Søderberg and Holden, 2002:108).
In essence, people from different cultural backgrounds share the
same basic concepts, such as symbols, customs and traditions
– but they view and interpret them from a multiplicity of different
lenses and perspectives. This leads them to behave in particular
ways, which others from different cultures may feel are peculiar,
alien, or even contrary to the way they behave, according to their
own belief systems, values and norms. This provides a further
challenge to managers to develop a working knowledge of their
own, as well as others’, basic cultural traits. Such a policy would
minimise or prevent the occurrence of, for example, culture shock,
particularly in situations where expatriates undertake international
assignments in countries with which they are unfamiliar. We have
to accept that globalisation is here to stay. So, in that respect, firms
have an opportunity to capitalise upon the diverse knowledge,
values and experience of a multicultural workforce (Dupriez, 2000)
and view cultural diversity as a resource and opportunity, rather
than as a threat (Schneider and Barsoux, 1997).
Cross-Cultural Awareness Training
The growth of globalisation, and the opportunities it has created
for international firms, has led to a proliferation of cross-
diverse cultures (Dewald and Self, 2008), ensure that negative
occurrences, such as culture shock, are reduced, and develop
international managers and those who have interaction with
other cultures to perform competently and effectively (Edwards
and Rees, 2006). Research has shown that in Europe and the
USA, between half and two-thirds of firms provide cross-cultural
awareness training for their international managers (Bennett,
Aston and Colquhoun, 2000). Contents of such courses include
cross-cultural communication, international negotiation skills and
working in cross-cultural teams.
Cross-Cultural Communication
One of the most important skills of a manager is the ability to
communicate effectively with others. It is a reality that many of
today’s managers engage with a multicultural workforce, work in
or lead cross-cultural teams (either face-to-face or virtually) and
engage in simple or complex negotiations with other international
business leaders. Thus, a working knowledge of cross-cultural
communication ensures that individuals can live and work in a
multiethnic, multilingual and multi-disciplinary society (Kumar and
Chakravarthi, 2009).
As a concept, cross-cultural communication focuses on how
people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate with
each other, both verbally and non-verbally, including nuances in
language (Wells and Spinks, 1994). Developing a knowledge
of how individuals communicate and interact across cultures is
important, as culture underpins communication and influences
who individuals talk to, what is discussed between them and the
success or otherwise of the communication process. Importantly,
our communicated behaviours are largely influenced by the
culture or country in which we have been brought up (Zhang and
Zhou, 2008).
The Lewis Cultural Types Model
A model that can be utilised within cross-cultural communication
and cultural awareness training is the Lewis Cultural Types Model.
The model categorises cultures into three main headings: linear
active, multi-active and reactive, as illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1
A brief explanation of the three categories is as follows:
● Linear active cultures tend to be task-oriented, highly
organised planners. They prefer direct and straightforward
discussions, based on reliable data and prefer to adhere to
logic, rather than emotions.
● Multi-active cultures are emotional, loquacious and impulsive,
who attach great importance to family, people, feelings and
relationships. They are multi-taskers and poor followers of
agendas.
● Reactive cultures are listeners, who rarely initiate action
or discussion, preferring first to listen to, and establish, the
other person’s position before reacting to it, formulating their
own opinion. They are very people-oriented and respect-
oriented.
those mentioned in Figure 1, can enables us to, for example:
● Identify similarities and differences between cultures.
● Cope with and adjust to differences in cultures, so that offence
is not given.
● Identify and understand why people do what they do and behave
the way they do.
● Work proactively with cultural differences, to produce mutually
satisfying and unifying outcomes (Kumar and Chakravarthi,
2009:44; Lewis, 2007:69).
Furthermore, having an appreciation of such cultures helps us to
remove our cultural blinkers, overcome our sometimes negative
assumptions and develop an understanding of, and an affinity with,
other cultures (polycentrism; Morrison, 2002).
We are all different; globalisation and the creation of the
global village have confirmed that. The challenge for firms is to
harness cultural differences and create and sustain competitive
advantage. Culture, as we have seen, can open doors as well as
close them, build bridges as well as destroy them and add value in
unprecedented ways. Cross-cultural awareness is an opportunity
for firms and associated stakeholders to adapt to life in the
twenty-first century global village and integrate and communicate
effectively with other cultures. In the words of Edward T. Hall and
Mildred Reed Hall “The single greatest barrier to business success
is the one created by culture…”
*Richard D. Lewis is one of the world’s leading experts on
cross-cultural communication and is Chairman of Richard Lewis
Communications, an international institute of cross-cultural
communication and language training, with offices in more than
twelve countries. He lectures and consults worldwide with clients
that include The World Bank, Nokia, Rolls Royce and Unilever. He
is author of many classic works in cross-cultural communication,
including ‘The Cultural Imperative’.
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summer 2010 manager 31
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