RAISING AWARENESS WITH PERSONNEL

ABOUT INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Case Company X

LAB UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED

SCIENCES LTD
Bachelor of Business Administartion
Degree Programme in International
Business
Autumn 2020
Elmira Kulieva
 Abstract

Author(s) Type of publication Published

Kulieva, Elmira Bachelor’s thesis Autumn 2020
Number of pages
33 pages, 2 appendices
Title of publication
Raising Awareness of personnel about intercultural communication
Case: Company X
Name of Degree
Bachelor of Business Administration
In the world of global changing economics and rapidly increased changes in the demand of
clients, services and communication have always been the key element of connection with
customers. Cross cultural management examines the concept of culture and its dimensions
and relates these to work in a range of different locations, organizations, and sectors. The aim
of this thesis is to study intercultural communication as a tool for achieving a high level of
service in Company X. In recommendations make its personnel aware of how to meet
customer needs through intercultural communication.

In this research, the author used inductive research approach and utilize qualitative analysis
methods. The secondary data is collected from specific books, journals, and online-based
publications and peer-reviewed articles. Primary data is collected from an interview with the
Company X employees.

The theory about cross-cultural or intercultural communication and the concept of Meyer’s
theory of scales, and Lewis model of cross-cultural communications are used for better
understanding the main idea of relationship between culture, organizations and how it could
be utilized in business management according to a specific case in the form of guideline.

Keywords
Communication, Intercultural, cross-culture, multiculturalism, organization
CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Research background ........................................................................................... 1
1.2 Thesis objectives, research questions .................................................................. 4
1.3 Limitations .............................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................... 5
1.5 Research methodology and data collection .......................................................... 5
1.6 Thesis structure ..................................................................................................... 7
2 MEYER’S EIGHT SCALES ............................................................................................ 9
2.1 Multiculturalism ...................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Erin Meyer’s cultural theory ................................................................................. 10
2.3 Erin Meyer’s eight scales .................................................................................... 12
3 THE LEWIS MODEL OF CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION ........................... 14
4 CASE COMPANY X ..................................................................................................... 17
5 EMPIRICAL RESERACH AND DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................... 18
5.1 Data Aquision ...................................................................................................... 18
5.2 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 20
6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 22
6.1 Answer the research questions ........................................................................... 22
6.2 Validity and Reliability.......................................................................................... 25
6.3 Discussion of the key findings ............................................................................. 26
6.4 Communication guideline creation ...................................................................... 27
6.5 Suggestions for Further Research ...................................................................... 28
7 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 29
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 30
APPENDICES...................................................................................................................... 33
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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research background

Communication has always been one of the main keys to the business world. It is hard to
imagine a successful company whereby corporate growth was achieved without the
influence of professionals in business or intercultural communications. The role of this
specialization plays a significant part in any organization. (Martic 2020.)

If the business success relies on an ability to work successfully with people from around
the world, it is essential to have an appreciation for cultural differences as well as respect
for individual differences. Thus, various amounts of different programs, classes, work
positions, training, and seminars related to this sphere are open for students, employees,
or future employees. For example, only in Europe top-ranked universities offer over 20
different opportunities in Master Degree studies related to business communication and
intercultural communication studies. (Keystone 2020)

Besides, intercultural or cross-cultural competence for basic information is also crucial for
students doing their Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. According to the
research that was made, Bachelors of Business Administration studies are offered 10
programs specialised in communication. (Keystone 2020)

A particular position in a business-oriented company requires knowledge of intercultural

communication as one of the skills that a proper candidate meets. This requirement
demonstrates a candidate’s interest in organizational development. (Dzenowagis 2008.)

The next main requirement for a successful employee is knowledge of cultural differences
in doing business with potential customers. This skill applies to adapt to customer and
achieve successful results in the service level. Also, awareness about cross-cultural
communication differences uses not only in the external management structure of the
company by working with clients. It also applies to internal organizational management in
collaboration with employees and co-workers. (Lumen 2017.)

The thesis presents a case study by focusing on a case company X in a particular area of
the Netherlands. The Company X is experienced in international relocations. Based on the
provided customer’s experience data, a customer’s needs were not satisfied from the
intercultural communication aspect. The purpose of this study is to complete research with
recommendations. The company can use this research as a guideline for its employees to
help the Company X create employee awareness with their intercultural business
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communication. The purpose of this guideline is to increase in the future the service level
of the company and improve its customer satisfaction.

The Netherlands is home to a large number of international companies. Firstly, the reason
is the geographical location of the region. It consists of borders with Germany, Belgium,
and overseas borders in the North Sea with the United Kingdom as well as with island
territories in the Caribbean Sea. Hence, it contains territories of Bonaire and Saba. The
country is one of the top leading export countries. Secondly, the reason why
entrepreneurs are choosing the Netherlands as the country is open to invest, or
internationalize its business, the Netherlands has an open business environment, highly
educated, and multinational workforce. Moreover, in 2017, as a result of Brexit, 18
companies made Brexit-related move to the Netherlands. Next, in 2018, 42 companies
have moved to the Netherlands. More than 250 foreign companies are considering Brexit-
related relocations to the Netherlands. (Government of the Netherlands 2019.)

It is important to mention that it is challenging to prove an exact number of international

companies in the Netherlands. However, the data proves that yearly a number of
company’s growth significantly. The Figure 1 demonstrates the data. As a result, for the
year 2018, in The Netherlands has been registered 255082 companies. (Statista 2020.)
 3

Figure 1 Total number of new business enterprises in the Netherlands in 2018, by industry
(Statista 2019)

The statistic show that the total number of commercial services was the leading industry
with a total number of 48,300 new business enterprises in the year 2018. While
government was the industry with the lowest number of new business enterprises with a
total of 33 new business enterprises. (Statista 2019)

It is clear that intercultural communication is highly important in the country with positive
business environment as well as all around the world to attract more investors, customers
and create a corporate growth. The importance of intercultural communications is
necessary to meet customer’s expectations and needs. (Fenell 2017.) The plan of this
study is to help Company X improve the communicational experiences of its customers by
raising awareness of personnel.
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1.2 Thesis objectives, research questions

The core objectives of this thesis is to bring out a deeper understanding of the effect of
intercultural business communication. The main objective of the thesis is to analyse the
current and past experience of the employees at Company X while communicating with its
customers. From these analysis of experience aspects that had influence on service level
of the company and the guideline of its improvement of the service level in communication
way will be provided.

Nothing is more important than classifying the research questions in the thesis. (Lambert
2015.) The main question for the particular thesis is:

How is it possible to make the personnel aware about intercultural communication?

Developing one general research question is an effecting starting in the research writing
process. In order to help the author to answer this main question. The following sub-
questions were developed:

1. SubQ1: What is the business communication?

2. SubQ2: What are the main aspects of intercultural communication?

3. SubQ3: What kind of experiences towards intercultural communication the employees

and their customers have in the company?

4. SubQ4: How is the lack of awareness in intercultural communications influenced on the

level of customer service?

As a result, answering these questions will help the author to determine the challenge and
achieve a deeper understanding of the importance of applying intercultural business
communication in the company on the service level. Then by comparing this aspect with
the aspect of lack of awareness in cross-cultural business communications, the issue
would be determined and filled to meet the customer’s demand on the proper level. Will
be prepared a suitable guideline of information for the specific company.

1.3 Limitations

Since this particular study focuses on raising awareness in intercultural communication of

personnel as a part of business communication with customers, the author chooses
employees as the research target group. The thesis presents intercultural business
communication as a strategy of improving customer service.
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In addition to this, to implement the empirical part to gain more data regarding the
customer’s experience in this field, the author will contact employees of the organization.
Further studies can focus on other target groups and various companies can implement
following recommendations in their practise as well as students can use the research as
the basis for their analysis.

1.4 Theoretical framework

A theoretical framework follows a research, it operates at a plan and supports the study,
providing a structure on how to approach the thesis work. (Grant & Osanloo 2014, 12-26)

The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on Erin Meyer field-tested model for
decoding how cultural differences impact international business. In the research eight
scales are presented as a core elements of theoretical framework. Next theoretical base is
the Lewis model of cross cultural communication which describes three types of the
model.

The essential methodology of cross-cultural business communication is provided for a

reader in order to demonstrate the idea of intercultural communication and give an
overview of possible ways of implementation the plan. Moreover, based on the theory
chosen for analysis, key elements and conditions are presented and explained. The study
also gives the overall view on the specifics of cross cultural management.

In this case, according to the theoretical data, basic insights of intercultural business
communication and management will be right foundation of the development
recommendations which includes the improvement of existing plan and improve the level
of customer service and further research.

1.5 Research methodology and data collection

The following sub-chapter presents the methodology and data collection the author has
chosen for the study. The choice of the method was based on the subject of the research
and its objectives.

It is essential to identify the research approach as one of the first important steps in the
study. There are two different types of research approaches: deductive reasoning and
inductive reasoning. The deductive approach can be considered as a scientific study to
prove the scientific principles, it firstly starts from the researcher who first develops
different theories of the research topic and then create a hypothesis to tested to prove the
theories. The approach applies to quantitative research method to collect data. Inductive
 6

approach is structured differently. Firstly, the data is collected and then a researcher
forms a theory, based on data analysis for better understanding of the meanings humans
attach to specific events. Thus, the approach starts from collecting data and according to
that data, new theories are formed. Inductive approach is usually used in qualitative
research methods to gather data. However, it is possible to implement the combination of
those two methods in the research process. (Saunders 2009, 124-125.) The current study
uses inductive approach by collecting and analysing relevant theory and existing concepts
of the cross-cultural business communication and aims to test new theories according to
the results.

Based on the topic of the research, it is determined which methodology and research
method to use in order to collect data. For data collection in a thesis, there is a research
method to be used: qualitative. (Creswell 2014, 3)

The key difference between quantitative and qualitative methods is the procedure of data
collection. In quantitative research, findings arrive using statistical gathering. It focuses on
a survey, numerical data methods, laboratory experiments, simulation, and as was
mentioned above, uses a deductive approach to test the hypothesis. Overall, the collected
data emphasizes numbers more than words. Whereas the qualitative method collects its
data using interview, case study research, text, action research, and uses the inductive
approach to conclude the theories. The method consists of four typical questions: What,
Why, How, and When. Those questions a qualitative researcher might ask for the main
research question. (Myers 2013, 6-8) As a result, a focus in quantitative research is
testing and verifying the collected data while qualitative data emphasis more on
observations and analysing measurements in natural settings by understanding
(Saunders et al. 2009, 482). As the aim of this thesis is to come up with a solution: to how
to raise awareness of intercultural communications with Company X employees, the
author used an inductive research approach and utilize the qualitative analysis method.

Collecting data consists of two basic types: secondary and primary. Primary sources are a
collection of the data which is gathered directly by the researcher. The data is
unpublished. An example of it might be interviews, surveys, or meetings. While secondary
data is existing material, the data collected by other researchers for their purposes and
are then published. It might be any visual material such as a movie, different types of
records, articles, books, and reports. (Kovalainen & Erikkson, 82-122)

The thesis involves both data collection method. There are primary and secondary
sources. The primary data is gathered with the qualitative method from an interview with
the Company X employees. Due to the fact that the core factors will be subjective and
 7

would vary according to the employee experience, it is suitable to find data through open-
ended unstructured, and semi-structured interviews. Secondary data will be collected from
trustworthy sources such as topic-specific published books, journals, and online-based
publications, electronic sources that relate to the thesis topic, and peer-reviewed articles.
Figure 2 shows the research methods which the author used to collect data.

Figure 2 Research approach, research methodology and data collection methods

Figure 2 demonstrates that the method approach of the thesis is based on the inductive
research approach. The figure illustrates that empirical data is collected by interviews and
the author uses both: primary and secondary methods to gather the data. As was
mentioned above, the qualitative research method has been applied. The interview
participants were three different employees of the company. The interviews are questions
regarding personal experience in the company, specifically about intercultural
communications, background data, core challenges, and current situation in the company,
which will be deeply explained in the empirical part. (Appendix 1)

1.6 Thesis structure

The thesis consists of several chapters. Firstly, introduction introduces the background of
the thesis, the objectives, and the research core question with the sub-questions. In
addition, it includes the limitations of the research. This is followed by the research
approach, methodology, and data collecting methods are also presented in the research.
The second chapter consists of the theoretical framework as the next main section of the
thesis structure. It describes the definition of intercultural communication, cross-cultural
management and it is a role in the business. Furthermore, it explains the sampling
methods and Erin Meyer’s cultural theory. The third chapter is a theory based on the
Lewis model of cross-cultural communication. The fourth chapter focuses on the case
company and introduces the company. The fifth chapter includes empirical research and
data analysis, chapter determines how the research data was collected and analysed. The
six chapter brings out recommendations for Company X that the company will be able to
 8

implement into practice and comes up with recommendations and summary as the last
chapter.

The chapter answers the research question and sub-question of the thesis. The final
chapter seven summarises the thesis and the research.

Figure 3 Thesis structure

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2 MEYER’S EIGHT SCALES

This chapter is a crucial part of the thesis. It will start by analysing the meaning of cross-
cultural communications and the analysis of intercultural and multiculturalism. The last
sub-chapter explains a cultural theory of Erin Meyer and her eight scales.

After analysing these four subparts of this chapter, a reader and researcher can get a full
picture of an intercultural company and understand the type of commonly implemented
strategies for the employee.

2.1 Multiculturalism

In order to aware of the definition of what multiculturalism is, we first have to note the
culture.

Culture in the study refers to various branches of values, norms, beliefs, and traditions
shared by a group of people in a given society. All the shared characteristics within
specific groups of society present these similarities in daily life. One should mention that
some cultural characteristics can be easily defined by a simple act such as greetings.
(Cavusgil, Knight & Riesenberger 2017, 86)

The following Figure 4, will illustrate the most essential elements of a culture.

Figure 4 Framework on the elements of culture (Sociology Group 2018)

 10

The figure demonstrates the most important elements that define culture. However, a
language is considered to be the most noticeable one. (Sociology Group 2018.)

Religion plays a significant part in social organization, however, is one of the most heavily
debated aspects. Our world is divided into different religions. For instance, Western
countries tend to be defined by Christianity whereas Asia will be linked to Hinduism.
(Tracey 2012, 89)

The social organization in culture shows the network of relationships in a group and how
they interconnect. Western cultures tend to be more focused on individualism, whereas, in
Latin America or Asia, the societies are structured in collectivism. (Huber 2003, 48)

A society that contains several distinct cultural or ethnic groups is called multiculturalism.
It means that multiculturalism including people of several different races, religions,
languages, and traditions. (Benet 2012, 3)

In an intercultural communities or societies, no one is left unchanged as everyone learns

from one another and develops, educates and grown together. Intercultural communities
are used to describe cultures meetings, clashing, and making adjustments. Intercultural
describes communities in which there is a deep understanding and respect for all cultures.
There is a focus on the mutual exchange of ideas, cultural norms and the development of
deep relationships. The study of cultures interacting with one another is intercultural. (Du
2014, 20)

Whereas cross cultural deals with the comparison of between two or more different
cultures or cultural areas as well as researchers’ study. In cross-cultural communication,
differences are understood and acknowledged, and can bring about individual change, but
not collective transformations. In cross-cultural societies, one culture is often considered
“the norm” and all other cultures are compared or contrasted to the dominant culture. The
study of different styles is cross cultural. (Du 2014, 20)

2.2 Erin Meyer’s cultural theory

The theory was created to provide a framework for evaluating different cultures based on
research collected from well over 20 countries. The field-tested model created by Erin
Meyer is beneficial for discovering how international business can be affected by different
cultures. Her theory is valuable to cover the basics of intercultural communication or
related topics in business and match current research. Meyer defines the eight basic
scales that are presented below in Figure 5. (Meyer 2014, 29.)
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Figure 5 Erin Meyer's eight scales (Meyer 2016)

Meyer created and identified scales with two dimensions each that can help to make quite
a comprehensive view on what to expect when communicating with people from a specific
culture.
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2.3 Erin Meyer’s eight scales

Meyer defines low-context and high-context as presented on the Figure 6 below.

Figure 6 Meyer’s Scale. Communicating (Meyer 2016)

As was mentioned above, the communicating scale consists of both: Low-context and
High-context. The scale is useful to consider when making a hypothesis according to what
people say.

The second presented Meyer’s scale is evaluating that shows Figure 5. The scale is
divided into direct negative feedback and Indirect negative feedback. The scale is useful
to consider when you work in an international team or/and with international customers
where feedback acts as a valuable development tool. It is an essential tool to establish
what is the most accurate and successful way to give proper feedback that increases the
chances of actually taking it into consideration. (Meyer 2016, 89-91)

The third scale is Leading that consists of Egalitarian and Hierarchical. The scale is
extremely useful when managing an international team, especially in terms of what acts
as an authority or what kind of behaviour achieves respect. For example, switching
languages can switch the way you see the world. In addition, it depends on culture who is
perceived as a good leader. Thus, the hierarchical level very different for each culture as
in some cultures the aspect does not exist as a norm. (Meyer 2016, 93)
 13

The fourth scale is deciding which divided into consensual and top-down. The scale is
especially useful and matches the thesis case because the scale is beneficial to consider
when working with a client from a different culture. The scale point is understanding how
decisions are made in the culture you are working with to avoid miscomprehensions and
be able to present your decision at a right time. (Meyer 2016, 93.)

Trusting can be task-based and relationship-based. In general, trust-based on various

cultures and in many places and locations trust means more than just trusting someone
will get their work done. In task-based cultures, trust is built cognitively through work.
While in a relationship-based society, trust is a result of weaving a strong affective
connection. (Meyer 2016, 94.)

Disagreeing that consists of confrontational and avoids confrontation present the following
data. The scale measures tolerance for open disagreement to see it as either helpful or
harmful to relationships. The scale gives everyone the same chance of having input in the
team. (Meyer 2016, 94.)

The seventh scale is scheduling that dimensions are liner time and flexible time. Despite
the fact that mostly all business follows timetables, some cultures strictly stick to
schedules, whereas in others, they do it selectively or they do not pay much attention to
agendas. Thus, this scale shows how much value is placed on linear time versus being
flexible. (Meyer 2016, 94.)

The last scale presented above is Persuading which includes Principles First and
Applications First. At the core of value are the ways in which arguments that are
convincing are deeply rooted in the philosophical, religious, traditional, and educational
assumptions of the culture might not work in a different environment. (Meyer 2016, 94-95.)

The organization sets these scales as traditional behaviour for the employees through the
guidelines of communicating with clients and/or employees. The implementation of these
scales can change the environment of the company and fully adapt to the customer needs
to achieve a high level of company service. (Meyer 2016, 95.)

Meyer offers strategies for negotiating these differences among the cultures represents.
However, according to these scales, the most basic solution is to be aware to prepare for
all misunderstandings and different cultural norms. (Meyer 2016, 95.)
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3 THE LEWIS MODEL OF CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Richard Lewis pioneered the Lewis Model of Cross-Culture more than 25 years ago.
However, the model is still widely used in the world as scientists, executives, leaders, and
academics find the model as one of the most practical and intuitive approaches to bridging
cultural differences in a business context. (Business Insider 2013) The author suggests a
broad model of characteristics of different nationalities divided into three clear categories
based on specific behaviour, but not nationality or religion. He named these typologies as:

• reactive

• linear-active

• multi-active

Lewis categorizes cultures as follows:

Figure 7 Levels of difficulty in Liner-Active, Multi-Active, Reactive Interactions (Lewis

2018)
 15

Lewis created Figure 7. to categorize cultural differences. The figure shows the similarities
between the representative of the same cultural category. (Lewis 2018, 38-39)

Reactive people are harmony and reactive type is mostly connected to all Asian cultures.
Reactive people are harmonious and people-oriented with good listening skills, they do
not interrupt the opposite side. In conversation, they tend to listen to interlocutors to
understand the values and thoughts of a person. The type is very punctual overall and
chooses to connect social and professional. They are polite and tend to hide their feelings.
Re-active cultures are also found in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Vietnam,
and even in Finland. In Europe, only Finns are strongly re-active. According to Lewis’s
model, the next follows an example of an explanation of oral communicating with a re-
active type of culture. As was mention before, the re-active cultures are the best listeners.
When the sentence of the opposite side is finished, they do not reply immediately. After
the speaker has stopped, the pause before the following answer shows respect which
must be considered with a due defence. When representatives of a reactive culture begin
their reply, according to their tactics, they ask further detailed questions in what has been
said to avoid misunderstandings. However, Finns are blunt and direct. Although, they are
trying to formulate an approach that suits the other party. (Lewis, 32-34) In other words,
for the type, the preferred mode of communication is a monologue — pause — reflection
— monologue (Lewis 2018, 35)

The second type of model links people to all Nordic countries. Liner-active people are job-
oriented, have strong management skills, and are unemotional. In addition, they respect
personal space more than the next type. In conversation they are brief on telephone calls
and always follow the agenda, also rarely interrupts the other side. The type prefers logic
and facts. Liner-active cultures are Sweden, also found in Finland, North America,
Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. According to Lewis’s
model, next follows an example of an explanation of the behaviour with an opposite
speaker. As it was mentioned before, they are also great listeners as the previous reactive
type of culture. (Lewis 2018, 34) They are silent and no less important is that the liner-
active type attach great importance to relationships and circumvent official channels by
using personal contacts. It means the cultural type is tending to be more networking.
(Lewis 2018, 29.)

The last type represents the opposite group of people. The bright example of multi-active
culture is found in Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Greece, Italy, some parts of Slavs, and France.
The type is people-oriented, emotional, they show feelings, do not follow agenda and
schedule. A group of people lined to a multi-active type of culture do not focus on one
 16

thing, but doing many things at once. Taking into consideration their ability to
communicate, this type does not like to leave the conversation unfinished. It is important
to mention that multi-active people are knee-deep in the information. In comparison to the
re-active type, they do not intend to personal space. (Lewis 2018, 29.)

Besides, some cultures are related to more than one type or stay in between these types.
As examples of countries which are not officially recognized as one of cultural type, there
are France, Poland, and Russia that do not strongly relate neither multi-active nor linear-
active interactions. These countries are in between the mentioned characteristics.
However, mostly incline to the multi-active type of cross-cultural communication. (Lewis
2018, 49.)

The Lewis model was created as a practical tool to help and comfortably support
employees at a workplace to accomplish more effectively results in a multicultural team.
The purpose of the model is to align co-operational issues among colleagues by using the
method of explanation diversity without a deep analysis model. The model successfully
implements in cooperation with various aspects with different customers. (Lewis 2018, 50)

Although the model does not represent cultural belongings, it plays a significant role in
building ideas about other cultural habits and norms to respect others' behaviour (Lewis
2018, 135.)
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4 CASE COMPANY X

The Case company X is a company specializing in transportation and logistics, providing

transport support services. The company provides international relocation, removals, and
storage services. The organization was established in 1977 in London, United Kingdom.
For the past over 40 years’ experience of international moving, the company successfully
operates worldwide – 60 offices and delivering high-quality global moving services to
some of the world’s leading multinational organisations and government agencies,
working with them on a national, regional, and global scale. Moreover, the company has
integrated operations in 34 locations across Europe, in addition to a network of partners in
over 120 countries. Only in the Netherlands, the company owns five offices (Company X
2019.)

At the beginning of the year 2020, the case company X was bought by an American
company SIRVA. Now they offer more developed access to a border, a global support
system, and seamless service delivery. The organization is known as a global leader in
moving and relocation services. The company offers unmatched global breadth and
innovative technology, complimenting Company X’s longstanding reputation and image for
high quality moving and relocation solutions to some of the world’s leading multinational
organisations. While the SIRVA brings incomparable strength in Europe, boasts a strong
position in the Americas and Asia, with both companies joining to offer 60+ office locations
worldwide, with over 2,900 employees operating in 170+ countries. (SIRVA 2020.)
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5 EMPIRICAL RESERACH AND DATA ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the research methods and data analysis are presented. As the main
objective of this study is to find a solution of how to raise awareness of personnel in
intercultural communications, at the beginning of the thesis was mentioned that there are
applied qualitative research method. The method collects the data using interviews, case
study research.

The author decided to form a semi-structured interview as a data collection method to

determine and collect a deeper insight into the challenges detected through participant
observation. The data collection strategy one-on-one interview implies that the researcher
asks informants a series of in-depth questions to explore participant’s thoughts according
to their experience. (Given 2008, 573.) This technique comprises direct communication
with participants to study their ideas, concepts, past and present experiences for a
particular situation. This method allows the researcher to reach the information that helps
to explore the research topic in-depth. (Milena 2008, 1279)

In this research, the observational approach was not applicable as well as open-ended
questions since respondents’ personal opinions, background and experience are
essentials for the case study results. Also, the focus study group was not chosen. The
reason for that is a collective discussion is not relevant for certain research and will not
help to determine the common challenges of the company. The second reason is that
potential responders will not be able to share their experience independently using
created templates to provide answers. Focus groups obtain the data directly from the
interviewer. However, the in-depth interview aims to provide and collect information in a
more detailed process. (Boyce 2006, 3.)

In-depth interviews, in comparison with the focus group, allow responders to have enough
amount of time for deeper research.

5.1 Data Aquision

The timeline for the thesis and the research was from 2 nd of February until 20th of April
2020. (Appendix 1). The timeline for the thesis and the research was from the 2nd of
February until the 20th of April 2020. (Appendix 1). The timeline started with the approval
of the topic and fill in the necessary documentation.

Open-ended and unstructured questions lead to disclosing various perspectives and

views about the current situation and the main challenges facing the company. As long as
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the interviews are semi-structured, the topics to be covered are determined and the
respondents are chosen beforehand. (Ghauri and Gronhaug 2005, 132.)

The next applied inductive approach is a theory that allows us to analyse the data by
using previous scientific investigation in the field of intercultural and cross-cultural
communications. The set of hypotheses previously explained outlining both approaches.
They connect the whole thesis in order to answer the research question and create a
solution. (Woiceshyn and Daellenbach 2018, 8.)

The author determined the topic and challenges to be covered in the interviews. However,
some of the sub-questions were not predetermined depending on the responder’s
answers. The individual Skype and face to face interviews were anonymous due to
confidentially reason.

The entire process of collecting the data took place starting from the 2nd of February 2020
by using Skype face to face method, the second interview was made personally in the
office of the company on the 9th of March 2020. The last interview was taken together
with the last participant on the 20th of March 2020 through the Skype face-to-face
meeting. Every interviewer was recorded with the approval of interview sides and the
company to achieve more effective results in the research. The recordings were made
using a mobile phone. The reason why the mobile phone was used despite various digital
devices, is because of the accessibility of use. The collected data takes 6 written pages.
The ultimate time of recorder materials was 63 minutes. Results are based on the number
of questions and answers to the interviews, depending on their position and experience.

The table below presents the exact dates, the amount of the research participants, and
position titles. The table below deeply and clearly shows the schedule of the interview for
the field research:
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Figure 8. Interview Schedule

Before conducting an interview, it is vital to ensure that all interview candidates match the
selected and agreed criteria. In the case study, participants are chosen as employees of
the company. Therefore, in the process of selecting potential interviewees, there one main
criterion was applied.

The criterion is the relativity of company employees to the company case study and
problem under study. The group of people is chosen according to the following data: they
are closely working with clients of the company and their positions allow them to critically
present the personal experience of employees who are facing the challenge.

5.2 Data Analysis

This sub-chapter provides data analysis of taken interviews. The data analysis is needed
to come up with a relevant conclusion for the topic by analysing relevant findings out of
the collected data.

In order to import the relevant findings. There is a various amount of data analysis in
qualitative research method. There is not a selected way of how the data should be
analysed as it depends on the topic of research and research type (Braun & Clarke 2006).

For each research type, there are special methods of data analysis. Since the study
implemented an inductive method of conducting the research, there is used a grounded
theory approach. The most appropriate type of data analysis allows it to open coding
which enables a source of the data logically. Open coding performs two basic tasks: it
makes comparisons and it asks questions.
 21

Such a method as open coding is common for qualitative research as was mentioned
before. The coding indicates that an author analyses the text of interviews and selects
specific words, phrases to summarise the data and find essential answers for the research
to finally make a logical conclusion (Bryman & Bell 2015, 594.)
 22

6 CONCLUSION

The conclusion of the thesis provides the answers to the research questions. The findings
of the study provide the answer to the research question and the following sub-questions
are answered. This is followed by the key findings, validity, and reliability of the thesis.
Next will mention the section with the communication guideline creation and
recommendations.

6.1 Answer the research questions

The researcher facilitates the main research questions along with several sub-questions in
order to support the research process. Therefore, the answers followed to raise questions
are presented in the logical order, there are: four sub-questions and main question.

The researcher facilitates the main research questions along with several sub-questions
to support the research process. Therefore, the answers followed to raise questions are
presented in the logical order, there are four sub-questions and the main question.

The main aim of the thesis is to define how is it possible to raise awareness with
personnel in intercultural communications. First, the author gathered information from the
theoretical part. Secondly, the author interviewed Relocation Managers and Relocation
Advisors of the case company to create a full answer to each question (Table 1).

Table 1 Research questions and answers

Research Question Answer

Sub-question one: What is the business Business communication is a goal-

communication? oriented process. Feedback plays a
significant part in business
communication, it can be both: oral and
written. Business communication in
general can function for employees to
managers and clients to employees. The
results, norms, and policies of the
company have to be communicated to
people within and outside the organization.
Effective Business Communication helps
managers to perform their jobs. Besides, it
helps with the growth and success of the

Sub-question two: What are the main
aspects of intercultural communication and
is it importance?
Sub-question three: What kind of
experience the employees and their
customers have in the company?
23
company. The main point for the
importance of business communication is
that this is a valuable source of information
to the organizational members for any
changes inside of the company or for
identifying alternative actions.
Intercultural describes communities in
which there are a deep understanding and
respect for all cultures. There is a focus on
the mutual exchange of ideas, cultural
norms, and the development of deep
relationships. It is important because
intercultural communication trains the
ability to negotiate on the global level and
increase marketability.
Taking into consideration the general
experience of the employees and their
customers, all of them faced some
communicational challenges related to
intercultural and cross-cultural areas.
Firstly, in common each member of both
parties expects that one of them will adapt
to each other’s’ cultural norms during
collaboration and in the end, each party
follows its rules and norms. Despite the
fact the company has various templates of
communication, they still have to change it
according to the move services they
provide. They do not focus on intercultural
communication on the business level, but
mostly on services. They do follow their
personal work experience; however, they
still receive complaints from their
customers. In addition, employees are not
highly aware of intercultural or cultural

Sub-question four: How is the lack of
awareness in intercultural communications
influenced on the level of customer
service?
Main research question: How is it possible
to make the personnel aware about
intercultural communications
24
communication management despite their
studies in a higher education institution.
However, employees would be interested
to fill the gap in the field to improve its
services level.
The company receives complaints
regarding the poor customer services in
the area of intercultural and cross-cultural
communication as they expected. Thus,
the level of the company decrease. The
biggest issue for the company is that some
customers are trying to avoid to cooperate
within the company.
In order to meet customers’ needs in the
field of intercultural communication to
provide clients successful customer
service, there are should be calculated
overall finances spent on fixing mistakes
related to intercultural misunderstands as
the fixing and time cost covers by the
service company, or as it was mentioned
in the interview by the customer of the
organization. The whole picture shows in
finances what it costs. The company
should organize training by inviting a
professional in intercultural and/or cross-
cultural management. Not surprisingly
monthly training will not solve all the
challenges with every client. However, the
paid training face-to-face or via electronic
presentations and tests to get a legal
certificate will make the personnel aware
of intercultural communications. These
training and awareness will also be helpful
 25

to avoid more cultural conflicts and

questions at the workplace

6.2 Validity and Reliability

There are two concepts implemented to define the quality of the research: primary and
secondary data. The primary data had been collected only through personal interviews by
professional employees of the case company. It has been chosen to take interviews only
from that group of people because they are in particular communicate with various
customers daily and take different positions. All of the chosen respondents are
knowledgeable in the internal operations of the organization, personally faced with
challenges, and are interested in making their respective businesses and working life
more efficient to potential and main customers

It was officially agreed that the names of the participants as well as any private
information of the company as examples of the E-mails from clients, would not be shared
in the research or discussed in the interview. Experts are located in the Netherlands and
all the experience they share is from the Dutch office.

Before the interview calls and meetings were made, the author sent drafts of the scripts to
the interviews to agree on the topic questions. The study has conducted three interviews
in-depth which provided more relevant data for the case study. In addition, some
questions were made randomly during the interview by following the previous response of
the interviewee. These added questions helped to obtain a deeper understanding of the
research subject and collect more applicable data. However, some questions have not
affected the order of the case study.

It is important to mention that one interview an author was able to take personally in the
Netherlands at the beginning of March 2020 while other interviews were possible to take
via Skype sessions. It happened because of the global pandemic. At the moment it is hard
to predict the efficiency of the company since expats do not travel and move. At the
beginning of the global pandemic expats home returns were organized. Although it is
impossible to predict what happens to the international relocation and move services
industry, employees are working from their home offices and support the business. It
means the company adapted to global changes. Nowadays the company transfers mainly
warehouse than expats.

Since the interview aimed to find what kind of issues the employees are meeting during
their work with a customer and what challenges affected them, the interview questions
were formulated to reflect the problem in the company. The questions were created to
 26

identify the aspects that influence the company’s customer service in intercultural
communications. Responders were reordered through the whole interview process in
order to avoid information loss. All these actions in gathering the data were made to
specifically make the findings more meaningful. Thus, they are appropriate for the thesis
and are valid within the research.

According to the mentioned factors, the research findings of the interviews are reliable
and valid.

6.3 Discussion of the key findings

Throughout the research, there had been studies on a topic related to intercultural
business communication and activities to cross-cultural communication management. The
main aspect was to research the benefit, importance, and point of cross-cultural operation
in the context of intercultural business communication. The focus of the study was
concentrated on Relocation Managers and Relocation Advisors of the company since they
are the employees who personally interact and communicate with changes of cultural
norms of clients’ expectations and follow them end-to-end through the process of
achieving services. In the end, the goal of the research is to find out what kind of
intercultural business communication challenges and other specific cross-cultural activities
the employees of the company are facing. The result was achieved through face-to-face
interviews with Relocation Advisors and Move Managers as well as research through
relevant literature.

The key findings were defined from the most relatable results highlighted to create them
more reliable for the research. After the interviews with the personal experience of
employees in the empirical part and equal them according to the theoretical findings –
literature. The first important highlight is that international company focused on
collaboration with expats all around the world by default needs to constantly improve and
develop skills in intercultural business communication of its employees. According to the
interviews, the core issue of the company in intercultural communication is that the
company does not pay attention to customer complaints related to intercultural challenges
that happened instead of studying them and using it as an example for all employees.
These complaints are successfully used to be prepared to avoid future similar challenges.
The findings from the empirical part also illustrate that employees are ready to learn new
to perform more successfully at work or to upgrade their skills. Mainly people are open to
intercultural communication and ready to achieve international customer’s expectations
because they used to practice analogical experience with their clients or have seen poor
provided results of their colleagues. Moreover, the next two reasons are previous
 27

theoretical studies and internationalization. The next key finding is implying the theoretical
and empirical parts together. During the processing of a client through the services
provided by the company, it is relevant to use Erin Meyer’s theory of eight scales and the
scale of low-context and high-context. The theory of low-context scale matches the
practical experience of the company.

Performing both theories of Meyer’s scales and Lewis’s model of cross-cultural

communication into practise are able to show positive improvement of the company since
there is the ability to implement them on the business level.

6.4 Communication guideline creation

This sub-chapter presents a basic guideline in the Table 2 in the field of intercultural
communication that the company is being able to implement to raise awareness with
personnel in intercultural communication.

Table 2. Guideline

Guideline how to raise awareness with personnel about intercultural communications

The first step is to explore that the employees do not know in the sphere by taking into
consideration complaints from the customers

Develop an awareness of the employees’ views, assumption and beliefs, and how they
are shaped by their culture

Take an interest by making their working life easier with the following knowledge

Hire an expert in the cross-cultural and intercultural field for paid monthly training

Motivate an employee to earn a legal certificate that proves their knowledge

Create new updated formal official templates to communicate with a client based on
employees’ experience from the whole company
 28

6.5 Suggestions for Further Research

As a recommendation, I suggest to take into consideration customer complaints related to

intercultural communication to achieve high results on the global market and attract new
long-term clients to the company.

According to the following guideline in raising awareness with peroneal in intercultural

communications, in the future might be also created improvements in the guide.

After finalising the research, the author identifies further research topics of the current
thesis which can be studied by other researchers on a different level.

Further research according to the study can be developed by focusing not only on
Company X managers and advisors but in particular the customer service department. In
addition, the research could be based not only on one specific department located in a
particular country but all around the world as the company recently globalized. In this
case, I suggest implementing the surveys. It is also essential to investigate who are the
main customers from the cultural point of view and create deeply organized guidelines of
intercultural communication not only for each region or a specific place but for the country.

Also, the next idea for further study is that the data collection method might be used from
the other party – customers. They show similar organizations of the research case from
the different sides.

The subsequent researchers can analyse expat relocation companies specializing in

operating globally in other geographical areas.
 29

7 SUMMARY

The main focus of the research was to examine how is it possible to raise awareness with
personnel about intercultural communications. One of the most efficient ways to evaluate
the idea’s validity is to research the market of international companies in the Netherlands
and conduct the importance of intercultural business communications in organizations.
Consequently, it is vital to examine who is considered as an effective employee in the
company, what skills are important to achieve aiming for a degree, geographical location,
and economic situation in the world. This theory builds the whole picture of the validity of
the research and its structure. The next theoretical part of the research connects with
empirical key findings.

The following step of the research is also mainly theoretical, however, it’s based on
created theories of Meyer’s and Lewis. The theory part gives an understanding of what is
multiculturalism, cross-cultural communication, intercultural, how to conduct it, how to
categorize cultural differences, and their aspects.

The empirical part was formed by implementing semi-structured in-depth interviews with
professional employees of the case company – relocation managers and advisors. As a
result, all the necessary data was received. The analysis of the information obtained
answers the research of the paper. The author has given recommendations, defined a
conclusion, and provided a basic guideline created specifically for the company “how to
raise awareness with personnel about intercultural communications”. The last chapter of
the thesis is the overall summary of the paper.
 30

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Oral Sources

Interviewee 1. 2020. Move Manager. Company X. Interview 2nd of February 2020.

Interviewee 2. 2020. Relocation Advisor. Company X. Interview 9th of March 2020.

Interviewee 3. 2020. Relocation Advisor. Company X. Interview 20 th of March 2020.

 33

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 Interviews

Interviews were semi-structured and the questions given below were asked to get a clear
view of intercultural communication flow of case company. Due to confidentially reason,
names of the of the interviewees is not been disclosed.

Interviewee 1. 2020. Move Manager of the Company X. Interview 2nd of February 2020.

- Have you ever personally been in the situation when your customer complained about
the poor service level that anyhow related to intercultural misunderstands?

- Did you realise it when you have been following the case?

- When you receive a complain, what do you or the company does to avoid future
misunderstandings?

- In your opinion, does it affect a service level of the company?

- Did you study anything related to intercultural or cross-cultural communication?

- Do you use this knowledge that you gained during your Bachelor?

Interviewee 2. 2020. Relocation Advisor of the Company X. Interview 9th March 2020.

- Which is the best way to communicate with customers: via e-mail, phone or video call
or/and you create some chat?

- Is there any guideline or some model in your department for communication with
customer existing?

- Could you tell a bit about the problem or challenges you personally solved related to
intercultural communications?

- In your opinion, which is the most effective way to communicate with a customer to avoid
these misunderstandings?

- Did you notice that because of cultural and cross-cultural misunderstandings, the service
level of the company dropped? Maybe some clients of long-term companies you have
been collaborating with, deny to collaborate?

- When you receive complaints about poor service level of the company and its related to
intercultural communication, what do you do?

- Does it happen often?

 34

Interviewee 3. 2020. Relocation Advisor of Company X. Interview 10th of March 2020.

- Is there any guideline or a model for communication with customers’ existing? Any via e-
mail or by phone or video call?

- What are the main objectives of intercultural communication process of Company X?

- Could you share a bit about the problem or challenges related to communication?

- Since there are several challenges of communication exists, in your opinion, which is the
most effective way to communicate with a customer in order to avoid cultural
misunderstandings?

- Since, multicultural, cross-cultural and intercultural communication is vital part of

everyday communication of employees, in your opinion, what are the barriers in and
between an employee(s) who carries the case and customers in Company X?
 35

Appendix 2 Responses

Interviewee 1. 2020. Move Manager of the Company X. Interview 2nd of March 2020.

- Yes, I’ve been into these situations. For example, a lot of clients from countries where
there is a high level of avoiding uncertainties, let’s say, India or Nigeria, they were failing
to follow our instructions and they blamed us for not delivering those instructions in a
proper manner that they wanted to have. That cost problem. For example, once we
advised Indian clients not to pack religious items. We did it directly. They did not like our
directness, but they sort of failed following the instructions and that created a lot of
problems with the customs at the end.

- Yes, because we relieved the call directly from our agent in India that the client failed
following our instructions, but agents could have prevented it, however, they did not,
because of the intercultural communication. Indians do not really try to directly solve the
problem, but they try to solve it indirectly. So they were hoping that we would resolve the
issue. But we could not because of the different time zones.

- We have a lot of calls, not only e-mail communication, but also calls and once we facing
the problem, let’s say, with an example with these religious items, we put them in our
check guidelines. So, once we have a meeting calls with us involved, and client involved
and with the Shell involved. So, three parties. We highlight it personally via call. Then we
highlight it in the introduction e-mails and then just follow this up with our agent and also
explain agent that they should not pack prohibited items.

- Definitely it has. Then the client fails instructions at the end it is your responsibility to ship
the goods or services depending on your position. In case the client does not receive the
packages or shipments in time, they complain about it and they give us low scores and it
affects our KPI’s and at the end its followed up in the way where the move managers fault
was not properly instructing a client. But even though the client actually failed those
instructions.

- Only during my Bachelor Studies Business Administration. I was introduced to the

intercultural communications and intercultural management. But this is it. No further
trainings, no further development in the company were provided to have better awareness
to the intercultural communication.

- Yes, definitely. I use this knowledge even though it is quite basic. But I would like to have
some more trainings. I feel that there is a lack of it in the company.
 36

Interviewee 2. 2020. Relocation Advisor of Company X. Interview 9th of March 2020.

-It depends on the nationality. I would say, on the region where your moving clients.
Because sometimes they can live in different time zones. But also there are a lot of clients
who prefer to receive their instructions or they prefer to have all communications via E-
mails. From my experience, I have notices that those are expats coming from China and
expats coming from European countries, because they usually in the shortage of time. But
for some clients only the complex communication chain will work out. So, for countries
where the import or export clearance or the whole move processes are quite complicated.
Let’s say, Russia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan – for those moves you want to have all channels of
communication working as a complex.

-There are skeleton E-mails that we use as templates but of course it changes. It is
depending on the move because every move is quite unique and all the family situations
are different. We do not distinguish communication as per country or per region. We
mostly address them as an international view. Every nationality and representative receive
pretty much the same E-mails. They just have all the information about the move. But they
are not aligned with a culture norm of clients. Although, with our previous experience of
expats failing our instructions. For example, Nigerian expats or moves to Nigeria, we
adapted our skeletons to specifically elaborate with bullet points to what they need to pay
attention to, and they still failed it.

-So, we all know that Indian expats or Indians, they are really keen on their culture. They
really abended their culture. Especially, with its cuisine. So, they always pack food items
such as spices and tees on their shipments. Especially, in the airfreight which is not
allowed. Failing a couple of months, I kept having the issues where the packers packed
food items in the airfreight which is prohibited. I just changed our skeletons where I
highlighted that no food items are allowed and sent out only to Indian clients, because
they are the only one who for some particular reason wanted to pack food.

- Whatever you say via calls or during Skype meetings or personal meetings, you really
need to summarise those E-mails, because that is the only solution for you to prove that
you provided all relevant information in the proper manner. So, the most effective way is
to always summarise it with everyone in the copy of your E-mails. So, Shell should be
always involved in the copy. All the business parties should be included.

- Yes, a lot of times we received some uncertain replies from our customers. For example,
they were from the Middle East or from Asia and they did not say “no” and they did not
 37

say “yes” to the additional services that the company does not cover. At the end we
assumed that they agree with additional services that I needed for the move. But they
actually never confirmed it and it cost situations where we just refused to pay or they just
started ignoring us and they refuse to collaborate with us, they just ghosted. So we lost
money. That is only happened because we assumed the positive answer while they did
not think about it.

- To be honest, nothing for now. We just elaborate whose party the fault was. It is either
us, Shell or the expat himself. Most of the time it is out fault, we accept it and then we just
go further with this. We do not really have any follow up. Especially related to intercultural
communication management.

- Yes, quite often. Of course there are a lot of groups of risks in which we can have poor
service level. It could be disruptions of the supply chain we are moving expat, it could be
some uncertain level, it could be some ad hoc unfortunate events that happened to his
move, or accommodation, or car or flight. But they require a lot of cases where the client
felt not respected enough. Most of the time it is happened from the expats coming from
the countries with a really high context culture.

Interviewee 3. 2020. Relocation Advisor of the Company X. Interview 20th of March 2020.

- Yes, we have a lot of templates and models for communication with our customers via E-
mails, phone or video calls. We have four mandatory calls for the client. It is introduction
call, where we introduce the services of us, the time frames, some documents needed,
everything about the country of the destination. The second call is specifically related to
import and export of the household goods. We define what documents need for the
customs clearance, how they need to provide what to whom, what are the problems, what
are the challenges during the move etc. The third call is when the client us leaving the
country. Once they prior its leave, where we set what is the status of the move, where the
person is moving and is everything going well. The last call is final. We have it when the
person has already moved. It is sort of feedback and closing the final one. Those are
operational calls. But we do not have anything related to the cultural communication
management. It all depends on the country where they go. These model vary from the
country of the destination of an expat. But we do not mean anything related to the
originality of the client. For example, if a client is Chinese, we do not really have a model
or a guideline of how to communicate with specific Chinese expats of those who are
coming from India or Asia. However, in general for the destination we have a model which
includes all the operational necessary information required for the move. We talk about
the documents that they need, time frame of the move etc.
 38

- There are not many objectives of international communication processes of Company X.

Company X defines Shell as international company, so they treat all the expats regardless
of the cultural background and treat them as Shell expats, so this difference is not defined
yet. I would say that the objective the goal of the whole process can be to increase the
efficiency of communication to get a better respond rate, because a lot of expats do not
reply on our updates. They ignore it.

- There are challenges of communication, because sometimes an expat can disappear.

They cannot reply or in timely manner reply to sign all the documents, or they do not
understand the urgency of any situation that there is a timeline with a customs clearance
etc. The challenge is in my example. I had an expat, he was moving from the Netherlands
back to UAE, he filled the serving report what he wants to move with his airfreight. Based
on the serving report, it was more than allowed. It would not fit with given allowance. He
started telling me stories that he was willing to move some of the items in case of
overweight, he also said that it was impossible that he had had a lot of goods, claimed
everything was fine. However, he did not define what goods he wants to take out from his
airfreight and I just believed his words without any proof which costed problems as
overflow was packed and our company had to pay more for packing his goods what are
allowed. When I told him that he had overweight, at the end he refused to pay the bill
telling me that I allowed him to do this. I did not directly ask for his confirmation and I did
not ask in the E-mail that he confirmed he was ready to pay for the overweight or not
packed overweight. Now I know that I shall have been more clear about it and direct to
avoid these situations.

- I guess communication has to be really blunt. It has to be really direct. Even bad news is
also news. You need to bluntly update a client with everything that is happening to their
cargo during the move. You cannot agree something via E-mail. Otherwise, it will create
misunderstandings in future. You need something tangible so you can have a proof in
case of escalation. That is why most communication efficient way is through e-mails only
no matter of country or nationality.

- The biggest barrier is that there are not only Company X and expat involved, but also
Shell. Technically, our customer is Shell and we should operate with international given
standards provided by Shell. However, since their presence is very small, then we
communicate directly with a client. The Shell allowances and defined Shell principles of
communication that also exist in our base. Definitely have a barrier of communication
between employees (us) and our customers. In some, we are tightened by the standards
that Shell has provided and has defined to us.