The Culture Map: What

I learned
LECTURE: INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION AND
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

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Content
Introduction

Chapter Overview

Chapter 1

My personal „culture map“

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The Culture Map
• A book by Erin Meyer
• A book on the analysis of how people think and communicate
across different cultures
• And also gives tips on how to communicate and lead better in
a multicultural enviroment

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8 Chapters – 8 Scales
•Communicating •Deciding
• Low or high-context • Consensual or top-down

•Evaluating •Trusting
• Direct or indirect negative feedback • Task- or relationship-based

•Persuading •Disagreeing
• Principles- or applications-first • Confrontational or avoids it

•Leading •Scheduling
• Egalitarian or hierarchical • Linear or flexible time

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Examples
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Chapter 1 - Communication
• Low-context and high context languages
• The United States is the lowest context language with other anglo saxon languages follow closeley
• Japan has the highest context language

• Traditional American rule for transferring a powerful message: “Tell them what you are going to
tell them, then tell them, and tell them what you‘ve told them“
• With Japanese People you have to „Read the air“ to understand the message

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Tips to success
• It‘s relative: Being a top communicator in your culture doesn‘t mean the same thing in another
culture
• Greatest misunderstanding usually comes from different hight-context cultures
• If your team is multicultural, the best strategy is to go low-context

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My personal „culture map“
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low-c ont e xt dir e c t neg a ti ve e g a lit a r ia n c onse nsua l t a sk-ba se d c onfr ont a ti ona l line a r ti me
fe e dba c k

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Thanks for your
attention 

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