Cross Cultural Business Communication

Cross cultural/Intercultural Communication

is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures.

Culture

Cultures provide people with ways of thinkingways of seeing, hearing, and interpreting the world. Thus the same words can mean different things to people from different cultures, even when they talk the "same" language. When the languages are different, and translation has to be used to communicate, the potential for misunderstandings increases

Culture-

by Gert Jan Hofstede: Culture is the unwritten book with rules of the social game that is passed on to newcomers by its members, nesting itself in their minds. In other words, it is the sum of all the rules you have learned when you were a kid without necessary knowing you were learning them. They were just the way to do things.

Cross cultural/Intercultural Communication

Levels of human mental programming

Specific to individuals Specific to groups

Personality

Inherited and learned

Culture

Learned

Human Nature

Universal

Biological

Constituents of culture

Constituents of Culture

Value system: Shared assumptions of a group

regarding what is good bad, right or wrong, and important or unimportant.

Norms: are guidelines or social rules that prescribe

appropriate behavior in a given situation. Cultural imperatives: norms to be followed or to be avoided Cultural exclusives: behavior patterns or social customs appropriate for locals and in which foreigners are expected not to participate. Cultural adiaphora : refers to social customs or behavior in which a foreigner may conform to or participate but it is not imperative to do so.

Aesthetics: Ideas and perception that a cultural group

upholds in terms of beauty and good taste is referred to as aesthetics. It includes areas related to music, dance, painting, drama, architecture, etc.

Traditions and Customs: Tradition passed from one

generation to another. An established pattern of behavior that is regulated informally by as a custom.

Language: can be described as a systematic means of

communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventional signs, gestures, marks, or especially articulate vocal sounds. Coping with translation problems

Back translation: Parallel translation: Decentring:

Religion:

World Religion Population

Four major religion Adherents Percentage of world population
Christianity 1.9 billion - 2.1 billion 1.3 billion - 1.6 billion 900 million - 1 billion 500 million - 1.5 billion 29% - 32% 19% - 23% 14%

Islam

Hindu
Buddhism

7% - 23%

World population

6.8 billion

Hofstedes Dimensions of Culture

Power Distance

(Large or Small)

The extent to which less powerful members of institutions accept that power is distributed unequally Large (Mexico, South Korea, India) blindly obey order of superiors hierarchical organizational structure Small (U.S., Denmark, Canada) decentralized decision making flat organizational structures

Power Distance Index

100 80 60 40 20 0
Malaysia Arab Nations France USA G. Britain

Uncertainty Avoidance (High or Low)

The extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations High( Germany, Japan, Spain) high need for security strong beliefs in experts Low (Denmark, UK) willing to accept risks less structuring of activities

Uncertainty Avoidance Index

100 80 60 40 20 0

Table 3.1 in text

Japan

Mexico

Germany

India

Sweden

Individualism (vs. Collectivism) The tendency of people to look after themselves and their immediate family only strong work ethic promotions based on merit U.S., Canada, Australia

Collectivism The tendency of people to belong to groups and to look after each other in exchange for loyalty weaker work ethic promotions based on seniority China, South American cultures

Individualism Index

100 80 60 40 20 0
USA France India Arab Nations

 Masculinity

(Vs. Femininity)

the dominant values in society are success, money and things emphasis on earning and recognition high stress workplace Japan

Femininity
the dominant values in society are caring for others and the quality of life employment security employee freedom Scandinavian cultures

Masculinity Index

100 80 60 40 20 0

Table 3.1 in text

Japan

G.Britain

USA

Arab Nations

Sweden

COUNTRY EXAMPLES

NEW ZEALAND - INDIVIDUALISTIC, LOW UNCERTAINTY, EQUALITY & MALE VALUES ITALY - INDIVIDUALISTIC, LOW UNCERTAINTY, & EQUALITY (QUALIFIED) AND MALE VALUES SINGAPORE - COLLECTIVIST, HIGH UNCERTAINTY, LOW MASCULINITY, RELATIVELY HIGH POWER DISTANCE JAPAN - COLLECTIVIST, HIGH UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE & MASCULINITY, RELATIVELY HIGH POWER DISTANCE

Hofstede - Caution!

Assumes one-to-one relationship between culture and the nation-state Note that many nation-states contain various cultures (often extremely different from each other). The research may have been culturally bound. Survey respondents were from a single industry (computer) and a single company (IBM).

APPLYING TO MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

PLANNING & DECISION-MAKING - individualism & collectivism? STRUCTURING & ORGANIZING - high or low uncertainty avoidance? STAFFING & DIRECTING - masculinity & femininity? COMMUNICATING & CONTROLLING - power distance?

Cultural Dimensions by Trompenaars Universalism vs. Particularism

Universalism: the belief that ideas and practices can be applied everywhere without modification U. S., Germany, and Sweden Particularism: the belief that circumstances dictate how ideas and practices should be applied. Spain and Japan

Neutral Vs. Affective

Neutral: emotions are held in check Japan and the U.S. Affective: emotions are openly and naturally expressed Mexico, Netherlands, and Switzerland

Specific Vs. Diffuse

Specific: individuals have a large public space and a small private space UK, U. S., and Switzerland Diffuse: both public and private space are similar in size Venezuela, China, and Spain

Achievement Vs. Ascription

Achievement: people are accorded status based on how well they perform their functions

U.S., Switzerland, and UK

Ascription: status is attributed based on who or what a person is

Venezuela and China

Time
Past or Present-Oriented Vs. Future-Oriented Past or present-oriented : emphasize the history and tradition of the culture Venezuela, Indonesia, and Spain

Future-oriented: emphasize the opportunities and limitless scope that any agreement can have U. S., Italy, and Germany

Sequential Vs. Synchronous Time

Sequential: time is prevalent, people tend to do only one activity at a time, keep appointments strictly, and prefer to follow plans U.S. Synchronous: time is prevalent, people tend to do more than one activity at a time, appointments are approximate, and schedules are not important Mexico and France

Environment

Inner Directed Believe in controlling outcomes U.S. Outer Directed Believe in letting things take their own course Asian Cultures

Individualism Vs. Collectivism

Individualism: refers to people regarding
themselves as individuals U.S., UK, and Sweden

Collectivism: refers to people regarding

themselves as part of a group Japan and France

Other cross-culture classifications

High-context vs low-context cultures Homophilous vs heterophilous cultures Relationship-focussed vs deal-focussed cultures Formal vs informal cultures Polychronic (fluid time) vs Monochronic (rigid time) cultures Expressive vs reserved culture

Verbal Communication Styles

Context is information that surrounds a communication and helps convey the message Context plays a key role in explaining many communication differences Messages often highly coded and implicit in highcontext society (e.g., Japan, many Arab countries) Messages often explicit and speaker says precisely what s/he means in low context society (e.g., U.S. and Canada)

Major Characteristics of Verbal Styles

Verbal Communication Styles

Indirect and Direct Styles

High-context cultures: messages implicit and indirect; voice intonation, timing, facial expressions play important roles in conveying information Low-context cultures: people often meet only to accomplish objectives; tend to be direct and focused in communications

Verbal Communication Styles

Elaborate and Succinct Styles

Three degrees of communication quantityelaborating, exacting, succinct Elaborating style most popular in high- context cultures with moderate degree of uncertainty avoidance Exacting style focuses on precision and use of right amount of words to convey message; more common in low-context, lowuncertainty-avoidance cultures Succinct style more common in high-context cultures with considerable uncertainty avoidance where people say few words and allow understatements, pauses, and silence to convey meaning.

Explicit and Implicit Communication

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication

Transfer of meaning through means such as body language and use of physical space Chromatics

Use of color to communicate messages Study of communication through body movement and facial expression

Kinesics

Eye contact Posture Gestures

Nonverbal Communication

Proxemics

Study of way people use physical space to convey messages

Intimate distance used for very confidential communications Personal distance used for talking with family/close friends Social distance used to handle most business transactions Public distance used when calling across room or giving talk to group

Nonverbal Communication

Chronemics: the way time is used in a culture. two types:

Monochronic time schedule: things done in linear fashion Polychronic time schedule: people do several things at same time and place higher value on personal involvement than on getting things done on time

Personal Space in U.S.

Cultural Orientation In International Business

Parochialism vs Simplification EPRG Approach

Ethnocentric Polycentric Regiocentric Geocentric

Emic and Etic Dilemma

Campus Overview

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