Impact of Socio-Cultural Factors on Business Communication

Business Communication Project

Term 1

The project has been prepared under the guidance of

Professor Archana Parashar

Submitted by Group 1

Aditya Yadav (373)

adityay25@iimk.ac.in
Akriti Sahu (374)
akritis25@iimk.ac.in
Akshay Rajgarhia (375)
akshayr25@iimk.ac.in
Akshita Jain (376)
akshitaj25@iimk.ac.in

Table of Contents
S.No Particulars Page No.
1 Acknowledgment 2

2 Executive Summary 3

3 Purpose and Scope 4

4 Introduction 5

5 Literature Review 6

6 Methodology 8

7 Data Analysis & Findings 9-15

8 Conclusion 16

9 Recommendations and Limitations 17

10 Appendix 18-20

11 References 21

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Professor Archana Parashar under whose
guidance this project was completed. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the
administration of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode for providing us the resources
required for conducting the necessary research. The students of IIM Kozhikode have also played
an important role in helping with the collection of primary data.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report covers the impact of socio-cultural factors on business communication. We have tried
to highlight how various factors like gender, age, cultural diversity, and emerging social media
trends affect the way in which businesses communicate with their customers.

Gender and Age: The way men and women may perceive a message may have some
differences. The report covers how gender plays a role in influencing the approach in workplace
relationships and decision-making. Interpretation of non-verbal communication is also affected
by the gender of the persons involved in communication. It has been seen that women tend to
rely more on body language than men when communicating. Age is another factor that affects
the way in which a person communicates with younger people preferring to communicate over
the phone and the older population preferring face-to-face communication.

Culture: When communicating with people coming from different cultural backgrounds, the
chances of a message being misinterpreted increase. This happens because people from different
cultures may assign different meanings to a message. For companies that operate across different
countries, this issue becomes even more problematic. This was seen when H&M came up with
its jungle-themed clothing collection for children and one of the advertisements showed an
African-American child wearing clothing with the message “coolest monkey in the jungle”. The
brand faced a lot of criticism as ‘monkey’ is considered a derogatory way of referring to African-
Americans in the USA. The same was seen in the Gucci ‘blackface’ case.

Education and Socioeconomic Conditions: This section of the report covers how perception
and understanding of messages are impacted by the educational and socio-economic background
of the people involved in communication. In certain cultures, people of a certain social rank may
face difficulties in communicating with people belonging to another social rank. The
environment and social expectations of a person influence the way he/she sends or interprets a
message.

Meme Culture: The ubiquity of the internet and social media platforms has given rise to a new
method of communication called memes. This form of communication is extremely popular
among the younger generation. Memes are being used by various companies as a cost-effective
way of connecting with their younger customers. There are many companies, like Zomato and
Netflix, that have used memes effectively to communicate with their customers. However,
memes also pose a challenge as the interpretation of memes differs from person to person.
Understanding the context in which a meme is to be used is also critical as each meme has some
underlying emotion or feeling attached to it. The use of incorrect meme templates may convey
the wrong message to the receiver.

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 SCOPE AND PURPOSE
Communication plays one of the most crucial managerial roles in our day-to-day life. It can
either strengthen or weaken a relationship. It encourages human elements in an organization to
build a cooperative attitude and improves organizational efficiency. Its evolution into one of the
most critical aspects has been effective in management.

To make communication effective it requires consideration of those factors that influence

communication. The primary focus of this study is to determine factors affecting business and
interpersonal communication. It also focuses on how communication has evolved over a period
of time and how effectively it is being used to communicate thoughts, ideas, messages, and
emotions. This paper analyzes how people from different backgrounds prefer and perceive
various modes of communication.

Owing to the current scenario, today's audiovisual technology, both accessible and convenient,
has nearly completed the circle of commercial communication. Participants converse face-to-
face despite being physically apart. They are simply using a web-based video conferencing tool
that includes features like live chat, document sharing, and Meeting Rooms. Determination of
factors affecting effective communication has become important for both business and
interpersonal communication.

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 INTRODUCTION
For the effective running of an organization, communication - both internal and external - needs
to be proper. When persons from various cultural backgrounds communicate, there is a greater
potential for misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Large corporations and multinational
corporations (MNCs) typically employ a culturally diversified workforce. They also deal with a
diverse range of nationalities. Since the business of many enterprises spans multiple countries
and touches people from myriad backgrounds, the complexities around business communication
have increased multifold. To prevent any miscommunication from happening, it is important for
corporations to understand the various factors affecting communication.

Culture has a profound impact on the way we think and act. In a sense, it is both influencing and
being influenced by our established communication patterns. Individuals in one social group
develop norms, values, or behaviors that are different from those in another group. Interest,
knowledge, value, and tradition are all affected by cultural differences. Therefore, people with
different cultural backgrounds will experience barriers to communication.

Communication gaps between men and women can cause problems at home and at business. A
communication gap between the sexes can be caused by societal preconceptions, presumed
gender roles, and interpersonal differences. Men and women in society are assigned duties that
accentuate the gender gap; however, it is vital to understand that not all men and women fit into
a designated group. The first step toward understanding is to recognize the common differences
and commonalities.

Age, like many other characteristics, is likely to aid or hinder communication. Both how we say,
what we mean, and how we interpret what others mean might be influenced by our age. This isn't
to argue that being older or younger makes you a better communicator, however, your age is
likely to influence your vocabulary, the experiences that inform your communication, and your
expectations of the other person. As a result, even when there is no age difference between them,
many people face communication difficulties.

Social media is not only an effective way of staying connected with friends but also an important
way of staying connected to the entire world. As users of various social media websites and
applications, all of us have surely come across a meme whether or not we know what it is called.
Even when communicating internally among informal groups, stickers and emoticons have
assumed an important role. Memes are pictures, videos, texts, or other forms of multimedia that
are humorous in nature and are copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight
variations. Memes provide a very unique snapshot of a cultural event of a moment in time. With
the emergence of memes as a powerful form of communication, a new form of marketing called
“meme marketing” has also come into existence. With the advent of this new form of
communication, the need to understand the above-mentioned factors and their influence on
communication becomes even more important.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

Aries E - Gender and Communication.

This study summarises the extensive literature on the disparities between men and women in
verbal and nonverbal communication. She indicates that no single or easy explanation is likely to
work for all cases, in addition to giving several interesting facts. Some of the observed sex
differences are related to men's proclivity to dominate groups, but others are not. Some of the
women's different actions in domestic talks with men appear to be owing to their trouble gaining
men's complete attention, while other discrepancies defy explanations based on cross-sex
communication principles.

John E Baird - Styles of management & communication: A comparative study of men & women.
While women are increasingly assuming leadership roles in modern organizations, and while
there is ample evidence that males and females communicate differently in some ways, no
previous study has attempted to determine what differences exist between the communicative
behaviors displayed by male and female supervisors in organizations. As a result, the purpose of
this research was to see if female managers take on a "male" role when they take on supervisory
roles or if they provide a leadership style that is distinct from that of men. Male and female
managers differed in numerous areas of communicative behavior, according to data collected
from 150 respondents randomly recruited from three firms. While such differences appeared to
show that female managers oversee more effectively than male managers at first, later studies
revealed that more research is needed before concluding that females are typically superior to
males in management.

Lillis M.P - Cross‐cultural communication and emotional intelligence.

The goal of this study was to look into the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in business
communications and describe how important it is in developing abilities that are necessary for a
company's worldwide network of operations. The findings imply that EI has a higher impact on
gender diverse groups' performance than it does on their homogeneous counterparts. The
findings are explored in relation to cross-cultural abilities and skills that are required in a
multinational corporation.

Stacy E. Thayer and Sukanya Ray - Online communication preference across age and gender.
The current study looked at how online communication and relationship preferences differed for
friends, family, coworkers, and strangers based on gender, age, and length of Internet use (low,
medium, high). The participants were classified into three age groups (young, middle, and late)
as well as three periods of Internet use (low, medium, and high). For online communication with
friends and strangers, the major influence of age was considerable. When compared to middle
and late adult age groups, young adults expressed a stronger preference for online

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communication with friends and strangers. For online communication and relationship
preferences, the primary effect for the duration of Internet use was substantial. When compared
to their peers, high Internet users scored higher on online communication and relationship
development.

Beverly Mallett-Hammer - Communication within the workplace.

It offered background information on the various modes and styles of communication to the
researcher. Face-to-face contact, unsurprisingly, seems to be the most popular mode of
communication within enterprises. According to research, lack of communication within a
business has also been shown to reduce productivity, weaken morale, and cause other major
workplace concerns.

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 METHODOLOGY

To gather insights on the issues faced by people in business communication, a primary survey
was carried out using Google Forms, amongst a diverse group of MBA students. A total number
of 54 responses were gathered using the form. The responses were then analyzed using graphs
and pie charts to come to an understanding of the data.

Demographic data of the respondents: Out of the 54 people who filled the survey 77.8% (42)
belonged to the age group of 22 to 25. 9.3% (5) belonged to the 18 to 21 age group and the
remaining 13% (7) belonged to the group 26+. Out of the total, 57.4% (31) were male and 42.6%
(23) were female. The average work experience among the respondents was approximately 22
months.

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 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

● The respondents were asked about whom they felt more comfortable communicating in
an office setting. They could choose one or more options amongst peers, subordinates,
seniors, and/or groups. 91% responded that they feel comfortable when communicating
with their peers, which does not come as a surprise. The least number of people surveyed
(27.8%) said they feel comfortable communicating with their bosses/seniors, meaning
that 72.2% do not. approximately 42% and 37% of people replied that they feel
comfortable talking to their subordinates and in groups, respectively.
● People were also asked if they had faced any prejudice when communicating in a
corporate setting. 66.7% of people responded that they have been subject to stereotypes
on the basis of gender, age, and/or socio-economic factors.
● 53.7% of the people responded that they rely on non-verbal cues when communicating
with someone.
● 80% of the respondents agreed with the statement that the way we communicate changes
when we deal with a colleague from the same country versus a foreign counterpart.
● When asked if they feel anxious when sharing ideas and thoughts in a workplace setting,
50% disagreed with the statement. About 30% felt neutral about the statement and only
the remaining few agreed.
● When asked about the impact on communication based on their migration from a small
city to a big town, the intensity varied as low impact (37%), moderate impact (24.1%),
and high impact (14.8%).
● People were asked to rank their preferred means of communication among face-to-face,
video calling, voice calling and text messaging. The face-to-face mode of communication
was the first preference for about 54% of the population. (Add data for other modes)
● As a cultural shift with the penetration of social media in the day to day life, over 53% of
people agree that ‘memes’ are an effective means of conveying a message.

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10
 Factors affecting Business Communication

Gender
Approach to Workplace Relationships: Men prefer building relationships/camaraderie using
tasks and projects, on the contrary women first focus on developing relationships and then
leverage these relationships to work effectively as a team. This difference in approach is a key
reason that leads to a barrier in how the two genders communicate.

Process of decision-making: The inherent differences between the genders when it comes to
decision-making is a common communication barrier. When a problem emerges at work, a
female leader is more likely to seek counsel from her peers. A male leader may see this as a flaw,
believing that a leader should be able to make decisions without consulting others. Similarly,
women like to talk about problems verbally, but males prefer to think about them internally.

Non-Verbal Communication: Women employ body language when communicating as a means

to validate the person with whom they are conversing. They believe lack of such cues is
equivalent to disinterest in the conversation or lack of understanding of the subject of discussion.
These cues could be a smile, a head-nod, or just direct eye contact. On the other hand, men tend
to stay still during the course of a conversation.

Unequal Participation: Men are more likely to supply information than to seek it. In mixed-
gender groups, women try to comprehend and listen to others. They want to make sure that
everyone has a chance to participate in a discussion. Men frequently engage in actions like
dominating conversations and interrupting women.

31.5% of the respondents felt that they have faced gender discrimination at some point in their
life which acted as a communication barrier. Data is based on the primary survey.

Age

When interacting with an older person, a younger person may be less assertive, although this
could also be due to their culture. An older person may find it difficult to comprehend a younger
person's serious or sarcastic intent in their communication.

Also, in different demographics based on age, the preferred means for communication changes.
Young adults chose mobile devices and text messaging, middle-aged patients preferred phone
conversations, while senior citizens preferred face-to-face meetings.

94.4% of people are more comfortable when interacting with their peers. This data is supported
by the primary survey conducted.

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Indian Aspect

Indians employ every form of communication available to them. They favor face-to-face
conversation over the phone or written correspondence. Business meetings begin with a firm and
pleasant handshake as a result of British colonial influence. Be aware that, due to religious
influences, it is not often customary for males and females to shake hands with each other. When
shaking hands with a female, it is customary to wait for her hand. Greetings are commonly
exchanged by shaking hands upon arrival and departure from a meeting. Indians have a formal
demeanor and are quite talkative. They enjoy talking about cultural and historical themes.

Rather than using alternative methods, Indians prefer to address critical business issues in
person. Following initial face-to-face contact, ongoing business visits and phone calls are
common. In meetings, though, they are more inclined to get down to business right away and
take a conservative and efficient approach. In Indian business communication, maintaining eye
contact is critical. If you're meeting with a group of people, make sure to greet each person
individually rather than as a group.

Order, privacy, and timeliness are important to Indians. Indian work environments are centered
on hierarchies and formalities between various levels of management, in accordance with Indian
society. Due to the impact of India's hierarchical social structure, the most senior individual
present in a meeting should be greeted first, followed by the next most senior, and so on.

The primary research conducted too supports the statement that culture does in fact act as a
barrier to communication. For example, different geographic areas have different cultures. 75.9%
of the respondents felt that their migration from a small city to a big city impacted the way they
communicated.

Communication Barriers due to Socio-Economic Factors

Cultural Diversity

When people from different cultural backgrounds interact, there is a larger chance of
miscommunication and misinterpretation. An ethnically diverse staff is common in large
organizations and multinational corporations (MNCs). They also work with people of various
nationalities. Misinterpretation of messages by a firm can lead to a very problematic situation.
Businesses can take a number of precautions to avoid this problem.

Misunderstanding of Message: When people attribute various interpretations to the same word,
communication in business fails. When technical terms or jargon are employed, this type of
misunderstanding occurs. Furthermore, people may purposefully misrepresent the meaning of
words. The misinterpretation of a message is typical in communication, but it can be problematic
for a business. As a result, messages must be adequately written, and a feedback system must be
in place.

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H&M: Coolest Monkey in the Jungle

H&M is an omnipresent fashion retailer with

5000 stores in 74 markets across the globe. In
January 2018, H&M faced backlash around
the world for advertising an image of 5-year-
old Liam Mango wearing a green sweatshirt
with white capital letters emblazoned on it
reading "coolest monkey in the jungle." For
people of African descent, the term monkey is
considered a derogatory stereotype. People
identified the advertisement as the racist
ideology of the ape trope and thought it to
have a devastating effect on Black people
globally. The brand made the headlines that morning for all the wrong reasons. Even though
H&M promotes diversity and inclusivity at all junctions, the incident happened and a lot of
people were offended. This can easily be attributed to the gap in communication due to cultural
differences. The same word has different connotations in different parts of the world and is
perceived differently. For a brand that operates globally, it needs to be careful about the way they
communicate, keeping the cultural differences in mind.

GUCCI: Blackface

Gucci is a luxury brand that has always been

popular among celebrities and elites. It has always
gained attraction and been the talk of the fashion
industry. The wool balaclava jumper shown in the
picture was a part of Gucci's Fall Winter 2018
line. The black turtleneck sweater wasn’t accepted
well and #Blackface started trending on Twitter.
Blackface refers to the activity of face darkening
by white people to resemble black people. Hence,
this was perceived as the shame of face darkening
and was offending to a lot of people globally.
Some people called for a boycott while others
threatened to burn the merchandise in their closets.

Educational and Intellectual Difference

As Brennan puts it: “Communication is about trying to share something about your mental
state.” The meaning of communication is also influenced by differences in the informal
educational and intellectual levels of the parties engaged. Communication will be effective if
they have similar educational qualifications. Because they are likely to share comparable
perceptions, understandings, feelings, thoughts, and perspectives, among other things.

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It is crucial to note that in communication and educational processes, not only the relationship
between the sender and recipient of information but also the environment that is appropriate and
favorable to communication, as well as other factors, play a role. As a result, creativity has a
dynamic component, with pupils having the opportunity to flourish if teachers provide
appropriate learning conditions (Leikin, 2009). According to psychologist Ala Petrulyt (2008),
one must first feel motivated to do so, as well as a desire to discuss or publish material that
represents one's emotional state.

Social and Economic Condition

People may be unable to communicate with one another due to inequalities in social status.
People with higher ranks or postings, as well as those with higher social status, may find it
challenging to communicate with those with lesser ranks or social status.

Others in positions of greater influence may be cautious to speak honestly with those in less
fortunate circumstances. This is visible in both personal and professional settings. When
speaking with persons from the middle or lower-middle classes, for example, people from
wealthy households may face a communication barrier. You may feel inferior if you are in a bad
financial situation or have a lower social status. On the other hand, a good economic situation or
social status can make one feel superior, resulting in a communication gap between these two
groups.

The primary research conducted too supports the statement that culture does in fact act as a
barrier to communication. For example, different geographic areas have different cultures. 75.9%
of the respondents felt that their migration from a small city to a big city impacted the way they
communicated.

The ‘Meme’ Culture

With the evolution of social media, the use of memes has exploded. Memes are convenient as
they convey messages without using long pieces of text. With the passage of time, memes have
become more and more vibrant as can be seen below.

Memes are such a strong force in communication due to various reasons. They are characterized
by virality and humor. A digital multimedia object is said to go viral when it gets widely
disseminated throughout the internet. Memes are usually created with the main objective of

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being replicated and imitated in order to spread a message. This is usually achieved by
incorporating the element of humor in the message.
The primary data collected indicates that 75.9% of the respondents have rated memes to be an
effective means of communication. They have given a rating of three or more on a scale of five
to this factor.

Memes in Business Communication

Due to the viral nature of memes, they are constantly being used by corporations and businesses
as a form of advertisement. Advertisement, to put it simply, is a way by which businesses
communicate with their customers. One component that makes it such a popular form of
advertisement is virality. The other factor is that memes are one of the cheapest ways to get the
word across to a large number of people. Companies incur huge expenses in coming up with
elaborate marketing campaigns to spread the word about their products. Smaller businesses
usually do not have such a huge marketing budget. Many businesses, both large and small, have
started making use of memes as a means of reaching a wide audience. Memes offer users and
companies the opportunity to make a reference to an established inside joke that the entire
internet is a part of.
From the end user’s perspective, memes have become a very important source of infotainment.
With the increasing ease of access and ubiquity of social media, users are developing a
compulsive need to consume more and more content. Capitalizing on this, businesses are
increasing their engagement with consumers by coming up with hilarious memes.

Meme Marketing
Visuals have more impact than written text. This has prompted many companies to come with
content that not only entertains the users but also informs them about the company. This helps
increase user engagement. Some of the companies that have successfully leveraged memes to
communicate with their users are stated below:
Zomato: Zomato is an Indian multinational food delivery and restaurant aggregator which was
founded by Deepinder Goyal, Pankaj Chaddah, and Gunjan Patidar. The company has mastered
the art of using memes to reach out to its customers. Recognizing that most of its target audience
spends time on social media, Zomato’s marketing team has been actively engaged in producing
content that is hilarious to connect with its customers.

As can be seen here, Zomato has used a current event to

communicate with its customers. In the Tokyo Olympics
held in 2021, India had won a silver medal. Zomato created
a light-hearted pun to celebrate India’s victory and to send a
subtle message to its customers that the company also

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delivers tea! The Instagram handle of Zomato is filled with memes that make use of current
events to engage with its customers.

Netflix: Netflix is an OTT platform and production company founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings
and Marc Randolph. Netflix has also been at the forefront of using the meme culture to
communicate with its audience and informing them about its shows. Its promotional campaigns
have really made it stand out from its competitors. On social media, Netflix did not go for
deadpan serious branding of its content. Through memes, Netflix was able to appeal to younger
crowds before its competitors Amazon Prime and Hotstar could.

However, the use of memes to communicate with customers does have some disadvantages. One
of the potential challenges is that two cultures may interpret a meme in two different ways. Since
a meme is low on text, it may inspire completely different emotions in two individuals. For
example, the “Confession Bear” meme which contains humorous confessions may seem
traumatic to some. Moreover, certain meme templates are used to suggest a certain emotion or
tome. Incorrect use of a meme template may result in a marketing failure by the company. For
example, the “success kid” meme template is used in a sarcastic tone. Using it to convey an
actual achievement sends out a wrong message to the audience. Despite their shortcomings,
memes have become a dominant factor in social media communication. Proper communication
using memes requires understanding how the target audience perceives those memes.

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17
 CONCLUSION

We have the natural tendency to look at other cultures through our own lenses due to a lack of
perspectives and open-mindedness. The major cross-cultural communication barriers are
ethnocentric, stereotyping, psychological, language, geographical distance, and conflicting
values. Sometimes, ignorance of other people’s culture and insensitivity becomes a
communication barrier. Each individual is unique. Stereotyping by assuming that a person would
be of a certain type based on the general cultural traits is another barrier that we can see.
Speaking in different languages i.e. religion and living in different geographical areas i.e.
regional creates a social distance between members. Age and Gender can too act as a gap
between two people. Along with the fundamental socio-economic factors acting as the barrier to
communication, the way of communication has changed over the years creating new gaps.
Bridging those gaps is a challenge that can only be achieved by being more empathetic and a
better listener. Adapting to new ways of communication and keeping a check on our attitude will
go a long way.

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 RECOMMENDATIONS & LIMITATIONS

Recommendation: We recommend that businesses take proactive steps to understand the

perception of their consumers. It is essential to understand this as people from different socio-
cultural backgrounds perceive information in another way. Businesses can ensure the following:
● Examining the true purpose of communication and ensuring clarity of idea
● Understanding the socio-cultural background of the receiver to ensure that the
communication does not get misinterpreted.

Limitations: The number of participants was 54, which is not an appropriate representation of
the business professionals in the workplace. The primary survey is done amongst MBA students,
and a more holistic study can be done with a diverse background of working professionals. Due
to the subjective nature of the questions asked, there is no valid method to verify the veracity of
the data provided.

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APPENDIX

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