Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1

Case study I: Communication styles and patterns of behavior: ................................... 2

Case study II: Cultural diversity: ........................................................................................ 3

Case study III: culture models:........................................................................................... 5

Case study IV: Communication barriers:.......................................................................... 6

Case study V: High context and low context cultures: ................................................... 7

Case study VI: Management styles: ................................................................................. 8

Case study VII: Relationship between culture and management: .............................10

Case study VIII: Elements of Moroccan culture: ...........................................................11

Case study IX: Communication flows: ............................................................................13

Case study X: Negotiating: ...............................................................................................14

Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................16
 Introduction

The term “culture” refers to all the characteristics common to a particular group of
people that are learned and not given by nature. That the members of a group have
two legs is thus not a cultural characteristic but a natural one, while a special but
common way of walking would probably be cultural.1
Communication can be defined in many different ways. we can say that communication
occurs whenever someone attributes meaning to another person’s words or actions.
Communication may be understood as a “symbolic process whereby reality is
produced, maintained, repaired and transformed”.2 More simply, communication is
said to be "the creation and exchange of meaning.". Communication is not a standard
thing, each continent, country and region has its own and unique style of
communication. In the modern world communication is a critical element as it’s an
essential tool to get various things done, from the simplest needs to the major ones.
The relationship between culture and communication is complex. A dialectical
perspective assumes that culture and communication are interrelated and reciprocal.
That is, culture influences communication, and vice versa. Thus, cultural groups
influence the process by which the perception of reality is created and maintained.
However, we might also say that communication helps create the cultural reality of a
community.3
Following this path leads us to intercultural communication which means
communication across different cultural boundaries. This means that, when two or
more people with different cultural backgrounds interact and communicate with each
other or one another, intercultural communication is said to have taken place.4
Morocco as an active country in varied fields (tourism, business, etc.), is interacting
daily with foreign cultures, therefore, we can say that intercultural communication is
common in Morocco. To understand the Moroccan culture, how it’s different from other
culture and how it interacts with them, we’ll go through ten case studies that highlights
the pertinent points of this subject.

11 Kroeber, A.L. and Kluckhohn

2 James W. Carey
3 Judith N. Martin, Thomas K. Nakayama
4 Jens Allwood

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 Case study I: Communication styles and patterns of behavior:

The ESSEC Behavioral Research Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory dedicated to

the study of human behavior. During their worldwide behavior study, they were
conducting several interviews with various people from around the world to
understand the intercultural communication styles and patterns. The interviewees
were telling the interviewer random stories that happened to them with foreigners,
one of them was about a student with an employee at the USA embassy. The
conversation between the two persons was as following:

Adam FATIH, a Moroccan student who wants to go to the USA is taking his visa
interview with a native American man.

(Adam enters the interview room)

Adam: am sorry for being late, I missed the first bus so I had to wait for the second
one.

Interviewer *smiling slightly*: excuse me sir, but since you were late, I called
another person to take the interview.

Adam *chocked*: what? but why?! I missed the appointment by only 5 minutes!

Interviewer *still smiling*: I have many other appointments sir, so waiting for late
people is not an option.

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Adam *annoyed*: am busy as well… I need to take the interview right now!

Interviewer *tilted by Adam’s tone*: you said it yourself, you “missed” the
appointment… do you know where is the exit or shall I show you the way sir?

Adam *yelling*: am not going anywhere unless I take the interview!

Interviewer *takes a deep breath*: sir, watch your manners, this is your last
warning and any further misbehavior will make me call the security.

Adam *angry*: FINE!

(Adam leaves the room)

1. What are the patterns of behavior expressed by the two parts?

2. What communication styles were used in this conversation?
3. Why did Adam and the native American interviewer have different reactions
towards “being late”?

Case study II: Cultural diversity:

For many years business management was perceived as a “culture-free science”. The
earliest management theories believed that the key to the success of a company was
the universal application of a series of rational and scientific models that were perfectly
applicable to any business context, without the need for any specific adaptations;
however, these models were far less efficient when applied in the context of different

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cultures. This led management theorists to conclude that culture (a complex whole
which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs and any other skills and
customs acquired by man as a member of society), was important in the business
world and convinced them, for example, that the things that motivate a worker in the
Morocco, are not necessarily be the same things that motivate a worker in Spain.

Therefore, today it is a common belief that one of the key factors for business success
is a correct understanding of cultural differences. Nevertheless, cultural perception is
often largely ignored when developing a commercial strategy.

In their search for a better cultural understanding that will help Spanish and Moroccan
businessmen make more effective use of their joint potential, the ONA Foundation and
the IE Foundation jointly created the Think Tank on Cultural Diversity: a critical
reflection and research initiative designed to identify and disseminate a series of
practical recommendations that could be useful as a guide to academics and
businessmen.

A better cultural understanding of the Spanish-Moroccan context will enable a more

solid union between both regions. In the future, this will make it easier to introduce
Spanish business into the African environment and vice versa. Furthermore, a
comprehensive management model for th e Spanish-Moroccan context can help build
a better cultural understanding that will play a key role in business management, and
perhaps this model can later be extended to other cultural contexts.

The Think Tank was conceived as an open process, bringing together different
viewpoints on the same issues in order to reach different conclusions. Experts were
selected from different areas including academia, the business world, politics and the
media. Geographical diversity was also a key factor in selecting participants; therefore,
the Think Tank comprised experts from Spain, Morocco, Canada, Hungary and the
U.S.

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Think Tank participants met once a year and the results of their discussions helped
guide a yearly research project conducted by researchers at th e ONA Foundation and
the IE Foundation, which in turn led to renewed discussions at the following Think Tank
meeting. The process led to an innovative cultural perception model that we believe
can enhance the understanding of diversity among different cultural contexts.

1. What aspects can be considered as cultural diversity in business management?

2. Give an example of cultural diversity in the Morocco/Spain case?
3. Is cultural diversity “a good thing”?
4. How to deal with unexpected cultural issues while doing business abroad?

Case study III: Culture models:

Rami, Adam and Rayan are roommates. Rami is Moroccan, Adam is Egyptian, while
Rayan is Tunisian. They all study in the same university and the three of them get
along, but their personalities, habits and routines are different. Although that they are
all Arabs, each one of them has a unique accent and use distinct words. They look up
to different persons (historical or politicians…etc.), Rami thinks highly of Hassan II (a
Moroccan king), Adam’s idol is Mohamad Salah (a football player) and knows a lot
about Egyptian Pharaohs, and Rayan admires Moncef Marzouki (a Tunisian Politician).
The three friends do everything together, but each of them has his own routine and
preferences, Rami likes to start every day by preparing Moroccan tea and eats
couscous on Friday, on the other hand Adam loves to wear traditional Egyptian clothes

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when he’s at home and insists on eating meze (appetizer) before the main dish, as for
Rayan, as a Tunisian, he loves to take casual walks and despite his modern way of
dressing and thinking he’s a very religious person. The three roommates have different
senses of decision making and also particular points of view; each time they debate
about something they never reach a common conclusion.

1. Using Hofstede’s Cultural Onion Model clarify how the three cultures are
different (Moroccan culture, Egyptian culture and Tunisian culture).
2. How did the three friends learn their habits and behaviors?
3. What other models can be used to describe and judge cultures?

Case study IV: Communication barriers:

Hicham is a young Moroccan manager, he went to the Philippine to organize an

International meeting. At the international meeting, 300 people arrived from all the
continents. Hicham had a meeting with the members including the local staff (the
Filipinos). They checked together the schedule of the meeting, and organized some
logistical aspects (everyone participated in the decision making). After that, each team
left the session with something to do. The staff from Philippine had something to
prepare for the following day. During the session, they were very kind and always
answered by ‘yes’ to the entire questions and requests.

The following day, Hicham waited for the Filipinos staff and their work. They came but
they had not prepared their part of the work. Hicham could not understand. So, he

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repeated to them, another time, all the details, and he asked them to bring him the
work in the afternoon. Unfortunately, in the afternoon the Filipinos came but, another
time, they had not prepared the job. It was strange, Hicham became nervous and
started asking himself: What’s wrong with these people? They look very kind but they
did nothing at all? They said ‘yes’ but they didn’t do their part of the work?

The day after Hicham had a meeting with them. He told them very kindly that it was
impossible to work and to advance in the meeting without their help! After a long talk
Hicham understood that the Filipinos staff had no clue of what they were supposed to
do even after the several meetings.

1. What are the Communication barriers that led to this problem?

2. What are the preparations Hicham needed to do before heading to the
international meeting?
3. What style of management was used during the meetings?

Case study V: High context and low context cultures:

DarFood a small Moroccan company specialized in homemade food launched their

first international project in Canada (three restaurants in different cities). Idriss, one of
the CEO and a Co-founder of the company, personally went there to watch over the
project. Idriss and the other shareholders were totally sure that the company’s
internationalization strategy will be a huge success since that’s what the marketing
experts said, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case, it was a huge failure. The restaurants

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were launched for months but couldn’t attract customers. After a couple meeting the
company decided to conduct an investigation to know exactly what’s happening.
Therefore, they made a Survey and recruited some experts to lead the investigation.
To get direct feedback, the experts went to the street to conduct the survey with the
locals. While doing their research they noticed that the participants were not only
replying as individuals but were also thinking about the other locals (example: they
were asking if the restaurants has the necessary means to satisfy a person with
‘special needs’… etc.), and that they tend to express themselves differently when it’s
a Canadian interviewer, also, the interviewees were answering the questions in a smart
way that requires a lot of focus on the way how the message was presented to fully
understand it, while masking their emotions and avoiding irrational answers. After
analyzing the collected Data, the experts found out that the launching phase lacked an
important key which is a good understanding of the local culture of the target market.

1. What criteria of high-context cultures are presented in the case?

2. What communication styles are used by high -context cultures?
3. What are the differences between low and high context culture?

Case study VI: Management styles:

In business every small detail matter to achieve success. One of the factors that leads
companies to either success of failure is “management style”: who makes decisions,
how are they made and in which way are they applied. Therefore, corporates give a lot
of attention to that factors, by keeping an eye on the management inside the firm,

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analyzing the management style, measuring its effectiveness, then making changes to
improve it.

The company AKIOS is a multinational specialized in electronics. Due to several

reports, the firm had to change their previous head manager Paolo. The workers were
casually complaining about how the manager was always trying to get the work done
by any means and does not care about their opinion, and also how strict he was and
unpleasant to be around. AKIOS recruited Hatim the new head manager, he’s a
Moroccan guy who worked in several multinational firms. Since the company already
had some worker who were familiar with the autocratic Moroccan management style
everyone started talking about how the new manager may be even worse than the
previous one and that they’ll suffer once more. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the case, on his
first day Hatim was greeting everyone with a big smile on his face, and went to every
office and gave them small gifts then asked them about their opinion on how the work
should be done. A year went by, and the workers’ performance increased thanks to
the new manager. During this period, Hatim was consulting every employee before
taking any decision, and encouraged feedback, so the decisions were made with both
the workers and the company in mind, and sometimes he even let the decision making
for the employees exclusively. Three years later Hatim was voted to be the new CEO
of the AKIOS.

1. What management style was used by Paolo?

2. What management style(s) was used by Hatim?
3. What are the key differences between the two management styles?
4. Why did the employees’ performance improve due to Hatim’s management
style?

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 Case study VII: Relationship between culture and management:

SmartSoftware and TechnoLogiX are two rival companies based in Morocco, they
have similar market share but their performances are different (TechnoLogiX’s
performance was much higher). Therefore, Kamal a Moroccan researcher decided to
conduct an investigation to know the reason behind this difference. During the
research, the first thing that Kamal noted is that SmartSoftware was managed by a
French manager and that the employees were all Moroccans, on the other hand,
TechnoLogiX had mostly Asian workers and few locals, but they had two managers a
Japanese and a Moroccan. While the French manager was unfamiliar with the
Moroccan culture, both of TechnoLogiX’s managers had a deep knowledge about the
Asian and Moroccan culture and they could interact with all the employees with no
communication barriers. After analyzing the data, he collected, Kamal reached the
following conclusion:

- For SmartSoftware the relationship of the manager with the employees was too
cold; the manager maintained a professional relationship with the workers and
did not try to understand them and their culture. Which made the employees do
the same and used the ‘basic’ way of doing their work.
- In TechnoLogiX’s case both managers interacted daily with the employees
regardless their origins, and seem to be at ease since they were familiar with
the Moroccan and Asian cultures, which led to motivate the employees and
make them more way effective than their rivals.

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 1. What is the effect of ‘understanding the employee’s culture’ on their
performance?
2. What is the impact of the culture on management?
3. What should SmartSoftware do to improve their performance?

Case study VIII: Elements of Moroccan culture:

Situated in Northern Africa, Morocco is a country of strong Arabic tradition and a rich
blend of Berber, European and African influences. Arab heritage has been fused with
Spanish and French influences to form modern -day Moroccan culture. Each culture
has left an impression on the architecture, designs, languages and atmosphere of the
nation. After having regained its independence in 1956, the constitutional monarchy
remained largely bilingual, with French, Arabic and Berber dialects being spoken.

Morocco’s growing economy, rich cultural and historic heritage as well as the legendary
hospitality of the Moroccans make this country an increasingly attractive choice for
international business. An international assignment in Morocco can be a challenging
and stressful experience.

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In Morocco the key concepts and values are the following:

Respect: Moroccans have a strong belief that you should always respect yourself, your
elders and your superiors. Moroccans are considerate to everyone they meet and
expect the same in return. Courtesy is extended to all and it is never acceptable to be
rude.

Personal Relationships: Family is placed before the individual and is a key component
of Moroccan culture. Moroccans highly value long-term personal relationships so close
friends are often considered family. Trust and friendship play important roles in
Moroccan social and business culture.

Honor: Honor is extremely important to Moroccans. Dignity and self -worth are
especially important so Moroccans take notice of how others perceive them. Shame
is to be avoided at all costs so Moroccans will often do as much as possible to win the
respect of others and to avoid arguments and confrontation. Moroccans are conscious
of their reputation and will do whatever it takes to ensure it is not damaged and to avoid
shaming their family.

Religion: Islam unifies Morocco as the vast majority of Moroccans are Sunni Muslims.
Religion plays a huge part in day-to-day life as well as in Moroccan business culture.
Businesses usually close on Friday afternoons to allow time for prayer.

1. What are the elements of culture present in the case?

2. What are the other elements of culture?
3. How to achieve communication effectiveness in Morocco?

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 Case study IX: Communication flows:

Mohamed is a young Moroccan student who just graduated from ENCG Settat. After
several months, Mohamed found a job. He was appointed as a logistics manager in a
courier delivery services company called ‘AMANA MESSAGERIE”.

The young man expected his work to be as he learned in the ENCG, using the most
common management flow in Morocco: getting orders from his superior then transmit
them to his subordinates, who must do the required work without any feedback.

After two weeks of formation, Mohamed started officially his job. On the first day of his
work Mohamed received an order from his superior, so he transmitted it to his
subordinates as he learned, then they did the what he said without saying any word.
On his second day, he got another order from his superior, and he transmitted it to his
subordinates as usually, but this he was shocked by the fact that they gave intense
feedback and that they did not accept the orders that easily. The following day was
even more surprising, an employee came to Mohamed’s office to share his point of
view and ideas willing to participate in the decision -making process.

The confused manager started surfing the internet hoping to find the right way to deal
with. After hours of researches he learned that he should observe the communication
flows inside the company and try to make decisions that are adapted to the identified
flow. Three months after the event, Mohamed got used to the communication flows

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inside AMANA, and now he doesn’t wait for decisions from his superior... he suggest
ideas that he make either by himself or with his subordinates.

1. What is the basic communication Flow are used in Morocco?

2. What communication Flows are used in AMANA MESSAGERIE?
3. What are the other communication Flows?
4. Is using various communication flows considered healthy for the company?

Case study X: Negotiating:

Negotiators from different cultures may tend to view the purpose of a negotiation
differently. For deal makers from some cultures, the goal of a business negotiation,
first and foremost, is a signed contract between the parties. Other cultures tend to
consider that the goal of a negotiation is not a signed contract but rather the creation
of a relationship between the two sides. Although the written contact expresses the
relationship, the essence of the deal is the relationship itself.

In morocco Negotiators tend to try to get a balance between both factors, the contract
and the relationship. Yet they approach deal making with a Win -Lose attitude, a
struggle in which, of necessity, one side wins and the other side loses. Also, the
Moroccan negotiation style is less formal and less direct than in other countries, during
the process of negotiation the negotiator tries to start the discussion on a first-name

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basis, quickly seeks to develop a personal, friendly relationship with the other team,
and may take off his jacket and roll up his sleeves when deal making begins in earnest.
And may use circumlocutions, figurative forms of speech, facial expressions, gestures
and other kinds of body language. In addition to that, they never rush in making
decisions (they take enough time), show their feelings and tend to have high risk
avoidance. Moreover, the decision making in Moroccan negotiations are made by the
whole member of the group, and the agreement tend to be general and inductive.

1. What are the characteristics of the Moroccan negotiating style?

2. What are the opposite characteristics of the Moroccan negotiating style?
3. How does the diversity of negotiating styles affect doing business?

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 Conclusion

Intercultural communication is vital in the modern word, no country can survive without
interacting with other cultures. Morocco is one of the actors in the loop of cross-cultural
communication.

Through the case studies, we learned about the Moroccan commu nication styles and
patterns of behavior, cultural dimensions, culture diversity between Morocco and a
foreign country, culture models (onion, etc.), high context and low context cultures, the
Moroccan management style and foreign management styles, relationship between
culture and management, elements of the Moroccan culture, communication flows in
the Moroccan management and foreign management approach, and negotiating in
Morocco.

To sum up, we can say that Morocco is unique in his own way, as the Moroccan culture
totally differs from other cultures, yet since it’s interacting on a daily basis with foreign
cultures, Morocco became flexible and able to communicate effectively with variety of
external cultures, regardless the multiple barriers.

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