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Chapter 1 Introduction to Intercultural Communication

Chapter 1

Introduction to Intercultural Communication

Learning Objectives

By the end of this Chapter, you should be able to

Define intercultural communication and intercultural business communication.

Understand the importance of intercultural business communication.

Briefly describe the developmental study of intercultural communication and its

applications.

Develop an awareness of the complexity involved with intercultural business

communication.

Many experts in the field of communication theory believe that the two concepts of “Intercultural

business communication” (ICBC) and “cross-cultural business communication” are basically two

different concepts with the same meaning. Cross-cultural business communication is simply a British

term for intercultural business communication. There have been some studies comparing different

styles of leadership, as well as studies looking at the different negotiation strategies. Still some may

argue that cross-cultural communication implies a comparison between cultures. For example, studies

on different styles of leadership and different negotiation strategies used by both Chinese and

American negotiators are presented as cross cultural business studies. The author finds this particular

research concept too restrictive and we prefer to use the more acceptable concept of intercultural

business communication throughout this book, in short, ICBC.

In chapter one we will first define and then discuss the concept of intercultural communication,

secondly we will explain why there is a need to study intercultural business communication; and finally,

we will show how the study of intercultural communication developed and was applied in an

international business environment.

I. What is Intercultural Communication?

We’ll start with the question: How to define the terms of intercultural communication and

intercultural business communication?

Intercultural communication (ICC) is the term first used by Edward T. Hall in 1959 and is 1

simply defined as interpersonal communication between members of different cultures.

Intercultural business communication (ICBC) is a relatively new term in the business world 2

and is defined as communication within and between businesses that involve people from more than

one culture. It belongs to the category of intercultural communication. So for students to gain a better

understanding of the field of ICBC, a knowledge of ICC is important and essential.

Intercultural communication can be understood as a phenomenon, and we call intercultural

communication as 跨文化交际 . It can also be understood as a discipline ， that is 跨文化交际学 .

Some make this distinction, but some don’t. They just use 跨文化交际 for both.

Intercultural communication can include international, interethnic, Interracial, and interregional 3

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communication.

International communication

International communication takes place between nations and governments rather than

individuals; it is quite formal and ritualized. The dialogue at the United Nations, for example,

would be termed international communication. If Chinese Chairman communicates with American

President, we have international communication, because this is communication between two

nations or countries.

Interethnic communication

Ethnic groups usually form their own communities in a country or culture. Interethnic

communication refers to communication between people of the same race but different ethnic

background. For example in China, if a Tibetan communicates with a Han, we have interethnic

communication, as they are from different ethnic groups.

Interracial communication

Interracial communication occurs when the source and the receiver exchanging messages are

from different races which pertains to physical characteristic. For instance, if an Afro-American

interacts with a white American, it’s interracial communication. Interracial communication may or

may not be intercultural.

Interregional communication 4

This term refers to the exchange of messages between members of the dominant culture within a

country. If a northerner interacts with a southerner, we have what is called interregional

communication. These are members of a culture who shared common messages and

experiences over a long period of time; but who live in different regions of the same country.

Intercultural communication as a phenomenon has the following features: 5

First of all, it is a universal phenomenon. Intercultural communication as a phenomenon is

universal. It occurs everywhere in the world. When you talk with an American teacher, or send email to

a foreigner, or even when you watch a foreign film or read an English novel, you are engaged in

intercultural communication. As a result of this communication, whether it be face-to-face,

communicating over the Internet, watching a movie, or reading a book; if you are receiving messages

from another culture, then you are involved in intercultural communications.

Secondly, the communication between cultures has been going on for thousands of years.

The history of intercultural communication is almost as long as human history itself. It dates back to

when primitive nomadic tribes started mingling with each other and needed to communicate with each

other. It become necessary even more so when sailors visited alien lands; and when thousands of

“gold-diggers” from Asia and the different European countries immigrated to North America in search of

wealth, there was intercultural communication. During the Tang Dynasty in China, there was the

example of the famous “Silk Road” in which people of Asia, Africa and Europe interacted and

communicated with each other in order to conduct their business transactions. 6

Thirdly, intercultural communication is a common daily occurrence. The communication between

cultures today is happening continuously, with it taking place almost everyday. Today, you find

thousands of Chinese students going abroad to study, there are millions of foreign travelers coming to

China to visit, foreign artists come to China to give performances in and today there are many joint

venture enterprises doing business in many of our cities here in China. These are all examples

showing how prevalent intercultural communication is today.

Especially now during the twenty first century the importance of intercultural communication has

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greatly increased. Why has an increasing number of people now recognized the importance of

intercultural communication? Let’s move on to the next point for the answer. 7

II. Why Is Intercultural Communication Increasingly Important?

During the later part of the last century, satellite communications, computer networks and

supersonic air buses have virtually turned our world into a global village. Even today, as you are

resting in your bed at home, you can watch a football game being played in Italy or even a basketball

game that is transmitted from America. At the Chinese market, you can buy various kinds of goods and

products that are made in many different parts of the world. 8

From an intercultural perspective, there are four developments that were crucial to the rapid

increase of intercultural communication:

1. Improvements in transportation technology

The improvements in transportation technology have helped to shrink the earth to a figurative

global village by creating the means for people to travel almost anywhere in the world in less than a

day's time. For example, where it used to take months to travel from Shanghai to Los Angles by ship, it

now takes only 12 hours by plane. In the future, travel will be even quicker. There is aircraft now in the

design stage that will increase travel speeds even more so. There will be a time when air travel

between China and the United States for instance may be completed in a couple of hours. Where the

time in air travel will be shorter than the time traveling to the airport. So you can see, the improvements

in transportation technology make it much easier for people from different cultural backgrounds to get

together and communicate in our modern world.

2. Developments in communication technology 9

Developments in communication technology paralleled those in the travel technology and

prompted even a quicker movement toward a global village. It is now possible for people to have

instantaneous vocal, graphic, textual and even video communication with most parts of the world.

Unbelievably so, with a cell phone for instance, anyone can be in instant communication with anyone

else, anywhere in the world while simultaneously traveling to any place in the world. In addition, the

developments with the Internet and the World Wide Web have provided a means for people

everywhere in the world to interact and communicate with one another; as well as to transmit, store,

and retrieve information about near1y any topic imaginable. It is truly amazing.

3. Changes in mass migration patterns

Changes in mass migration patterns have also contributed to the development of the global

village. Every year, millions of people now move across national boarders. The world's population has

continued to increase and shift. As a result of population growth and mass migration, contacts with

cultures that previously appeared unfamiliar, alien, and at times mysterious are becoming a normal

part of our day-to-day routine.

America is widely known as a land of immigrants, and every year thousands of new immigrants

arrive in American to make a new life for themselves. American businesses have been making special

efforts to adapt to this new cultural diversity. For instance, recently some American telephone

companies have been advertising in the Chinese communities using the Chinese language, so that

they could better communicate to their Chinese customers and remind them to call home during the

Chinese New Year holiday. At the same time, there is also an increasing number of foreigners

immigrate to China and would like to become Chinese .citizens

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4. Globalization of the world economy 10

International business would not be possible without international communication; and as a result

of the activity of conducting business internationally, international businesses have become an

important economic force for many countries. In developed countries of this world, international

business is the process of conducting business transactions across national boundaries and

transnational corporations (TNCs) are the principal participants in this activity. The following data will

help to show why TNCs are among the world’s largest economic institutions. In 1970, there were some

7,000 parent TNCs. In the year 2000, that number jumped to 45,000 parent TNCs, with over 250,000

subsidiaries. They controlled from 40% to 50% of the entire world’s productive assets and 90% of

foreign direct investment (FDI). A rough estimate suggests that the 300 largest TNCs own or control at

least one-quarter of the entire world’s productive assets, worth about US$5 trillion. TNCs’ total annual

sales are comparable to or greater than the yearly gross domestic product of most countries.

Transnational companies are also classified as multinational companies. Multinational firms do

not ordinarily think of themselves as having specific domestic and international divisions or

subsidiaries; its strategic planning, marketing and decision making are concentrated towards

international markets; and having a centralized headquarters in one particular country is almost

irrelevant. As a multinational firm, TNCs employ people of different ethnic groups and cultures. Actually

many TNCs make a point of employing people of different countries. Ted Zhi, the China Manager of

Akzo Nobel once described the composition of his company in this way: The division manager is from

Sweden, the R & D head from Denmark, the Export Manager is from Holland, and the China Area

Manager and I are from China.

China's sheer size, coupled with its rapid growth, makes it a major player in the global economy

now. In nominal terms, China currently accounts for almost 4 percent of world output. China's share of

the world trade has grown more rapidly as well. In 1990, its share of world exports was 1.9 percent;

that grew to 4 percent in 2000 and 6 percent by 2003. China's share of world imports grew from 1.5

percent in 1990, to 3.6 percent in 2000 and 5.7 percent by 2003. China’s total exports and imports in

2001 amounts to US$ 509.8 billion, which is 4.6 times as much as that in 1989, with an average

annual increase of 13.6%. In 2001, China’s 6th ranking in world exports had advanced up from being

ranked 15th in 1989.

Since our change in the national policy that now allows foreign-funded enterprises to do 11

business in China through joint ventures, China has approved the establishment of 420,753 foreign-

funded enterprises with a contracted foreign investment of 822.24 billion US dollars and actually used

foreign investment of 44.32 billion US dollars by 2003. They employed over 23.5 million Chinese

people, which accounted to 10 percent of non-agricultural laboring population. Of the top 500 world

enterprises, almost 450 have come to China for investment. Over 30 of them have established their

headquarters in China. This not only shows that China has become a very attractive area for the direct

foreign investment in Asia, especially after the Asian financial crisis, but also shows that those

strategical-minded foreign investors have become more confident than before about the continuing

growth in China’s economy.

Therefore, even managers and employees who stay in their native country will find it hard to

escape or even ignore the changes that are coming from today’s global economy. Many of these

individuals will be thrust into intercultural relationships when they find themselves working for foreign-

owned companies or in their dealings with foreign suppliers, customers, and co-workers. With or

without our approval, these people that we will now have to interact with will often appear alien, some

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may seem exotic, and perhaps even wonderous. In any case, the globalization of the world’s economy

will challenge virtually all businesspersons to become more internationally aware and interculturally

adept.

All of these instances of major changes in China’s society reinforces the fact that intercultural

communications is becoming a daily occurrence and is greatly becoming increasingly important. They

have produced major transformations in both worldwide and local patterns of communication and

interaction and as a consequence, mankind is going to have to adjust.

III. How Is the Study of Intercultural Communication Developed?

Although the phenomenon of intercultural communication is as old as human society, the study of

intercultural communication is of recent origin.

1. A review of the development of intercultural communication study

Intercultural communication, as was mentioned earlier, is a discipline with a fairly short history.

It was first started in the United States. Edward T. Hall conceptualized this new field of ICC in

the12 early 1950s when he worked for the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (FSI). He popularized this

new area of communication in his foundational book, The Silent Language, in 1959, which is

considered the founder of intercultural communication study. Because it was he who first published this

important book, which has since become a classic in this field. As stated in the Handbook of

International and Intercultural Communication, 2nd edition:

“After World War II, the United States established a foreign aid program, the Marshall Plan, to help

rebuild Europe. Based on the success of this program, U.S. President Harry S. Truman proposed in

1949 the United States should offer its technical and scientific expertise to the then developing

nations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to assist their development process. The FSI was

established by the U.S. Congress in the U.S. Department of State to train American development

technicians and diplomats. Hall was the key intellectual in the FSI training program from 1950 to

1955.” (Gudykunst and Mody, 2002, p.2)

It’s easy to understand why the field of ICC has continued to prosper in the United States

considering the following reasons:

The country is a land of immigrants from many diverse cultures;

There are thousands of new immigrants entering the country every year;

The U.S. has large numbers of foreign students and tourists; and

The American involvement in the global economy

As was mentioned previously, America is considered a land of immigrants. There are many

opportunities for people from different cultural backgrounds to communicate with each other and as a

result, Americans whose ancestors have come from Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia etc. are

constantly interacting and experiencing intercultural communication episodes. With new immigrants,

foreign students and tourist arriving in American by the thousands every year, large cities like New

York, Chicago or Los Angeles are places where you will see many people of different races, ethnic

groups and geographical regions. At any typical American college campus, you will also find students

from many different parts of the world; and this exposure to multicultural experiences both in and

outside of the classroom prepares these students for the future of tomorrow.

Besides, more than the majority of America’s Fortune 500 Corporations are multinational and

transnational companies with large numbers of employees and offices in many different countries in

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the world. So that education and training in intercultural communication styles becomes a necessity,

and is very important to being successful in the global economy.

At the very beginning, even before the establishment of the FSI by the U.S. Department of State,

the very roots of ICC developed initially through study of communication by such intellectuals as

Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud.

There had also been an anthropological tradition in the study of race and culture in U.S. that 13

contributed to the further development of ICC. Anthropologists such as Franz Boas, a professor of

anthropology at Columbia University and some of his students which included Edward Sapir, Ruth

Benedict, and Margaret Mead, contributed to the later development of ICC through their studies and

research of race and culture. For example, Ruth Benedict is the anthropologist who coined the term

“culture shock,” which is defined as the traumatic experience that someone may encounter when

entering a different cultural environment. Benjamin Lee Whorf, a student and colleague of Sapir’s at

Yale University, advanced linguistic relativity through the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the notion that

language influences perceptions and thus human behavior. (This will be discussed in detail in Chapter

5.) It is well documented that the favorite research topic for American ICC researchers was to

investigate the assimjilation of immigrants to the United States. (Gudykunst and Mody, 2002, p.3)

So the major points in the development of ICC are:

Culture and communication were studied separately until recent years, and it was not until the

early seventies that scholars started to relate culture to communication.

In 1970, intercultural communication was recognized by the Intercultural communication

Association (ICA), and since that time, many changes in the discipline have taken place, such as

ICC being offered as a course of study at many American universities.

In the early 1970s, serious training in the field of intercultural communication was begun.

The first training actually started with Peace Corps members, who were being prepared in ICC

before being sent abroad in the 1960s and 1970s, to countries in the Asian and African

continents. Most of these Peace Corp volunteers were recent graduates, fresh out of college.

Being inspired by the early 1960 speeches of President John F. Kennedy, they volunteered to go

overseas to work for the general betterment of mankind; but when they were thrust into these

different cultures that were totally different from what they were accustomed to, many of them

experienced what Ruth Benedict called “cultural shock.” Many of them could not adjust and had

to be sent back home. The American government soon realized that sending them overseas

without the proper training was a major disadvantage to successful of the Peace Corp . All

volunteers would have to be trained in cultural awareness before they were sent to their missions

overseas.

Sietar (Society for intercultural education, training and research) was set up in 1975; and it

is probably the largest international organization engaged in intercultural communication.

In 1977, an academic journal entitled International Journal of Intercultural Relations was

first published.

The International Association of Communication has a membership of over five thousand

members.

As Hart (1996) summarized, this new field of study originated in the United States in the late 1950s

when anthropologists made studies of the native Indians and the problems U.S. diplomats at the

Foreign Institute Service had with people from other cultures. The study of intercultural communication

gained acceptance through training and testing practice in the 1960s and 1970s, formed its basic

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framework in the late 1970s and has made great achievements in theory and practice ever since the

1980s both inside and outside the U.S. Today intercultural communication not only has become one of

the major academic disciplines in the United States but also is widely acknowledged and extensively

researched in all parts of the world.

2. Intercultural communication studies in China 14

The history of intercultural communication studies in China is much shorter and more recent than

what had happen in the United States and Europe. It was first introduced into China during the early

decade of the 1980s by some English teachers, who took an interest in ICC for the purpose of

changing traditional teaching methodology into communicative approach in EFL in China. ICC well

illustrates the interrelations among language, communication and culture and thus can serve as a

theoretical guidance for the research and teaching practice under the communicative approach. The

short history of ICC in China can be divided into three distinct periods according to Professor Hu

Wenzhong, a leading scholar of ICC in China:

The years of 1979 to 1987 marks the first period. During this time there was a heavy emphasis

on foreign language teaching.

The second period of 1988 to 1994, while foreign language teaching still growing and being

emphasized in the field, a new discipline called Intercultural Communication or ICC per se was

beginning to be introduced as an area of interest among Chinese researchers.

In 1995, the third period began when the 5th International Conference on Cross-cultural

Communication: East and West” was held in China; and it was during this conference that the

China Association for Intercultural Communication was established. 15

This Association holds an international symposium on intercultural communication biannually.

Thus far five symposia have been held successfully, the first was held in Ha Er Bin, the second was in

Beijing, the third was in Shenzhen, the fourth was in Xi An and the fifth was held in Xiangtan. Scholars

who participated and are involved in these biannual symposiums are mainly teachers of foreign

languages, teachers of Chinese as a foreign language, linguists, as well as psychologists.

As was stated above, it was the English teachers in China who first took an interest in the study

of ICC when they began to investigate the relationships between language and culture. Professor Xu

Guozhang was one of those investigators who first wrote articles on the cultural loading of words or the

meaning of words. After those first several articles, it was not long before hundreds of articles were

written and then those articles were followed by books. Their study grew from academic interest to

theoretical research and practical implementation.

The conceptual areas covered in those researches were mainly concerned with: 16

1) Verbal communication (the relationship between language and culture: vocabulary, syntax,

pragmatic rules, discourse pattern and translation);

2) Non-verbal communication;

3) Comparative study of customs and behavior patterns in China and other countries;

4) Cultural differences in business management; and Traditional Chinese value orientations and

their impact on modernization, etc.

With the rapid development of economic globalization, intercultural communicative competence

has proved to be more and more important. Therefore, the Requirements for College English Teaching

in China newly issued by the Ministry of Education of China has listed intercultural communication as

an important content in the syllabus. Up to now, many universities have developed courses in

intercultural communication for both graduates and undergraduates. What’s more, intercultural studies

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have been applied to other fields as well. For example, intercultural training and consultation is gaining

popularity in some more developed cities in China now.

3. The multidisciplinary nature and elements of intercultural communication study 17

During the course of conducting ICC studies, it was found that by putting certain ideas about

communication, culture, society, education and human psychology together, a new and different way of

observing and learning about intercultural communication had emerged.

James Alutis summarized the multidisciplinary nature of ICC as “LAPSE”:

L--Linguistics and language

A--Anthropology

P--Psycholinguistics and Psychology

S--Sociolinguistics and Sociology

E--Education and English

In addition to the above named disciplines, ICC is also related to several other disciplines, such

as

C--Communication studies

C--Cultural studies, etc.

This multi-disciplinary approach to the study of ICC has widened and deepened the research

area in this field. Listed below are what is considered the top ten works and top ten writers in the area

of ICC. The reader should notice what an important role the disciplines of psychology and

anthropology play in the study of ICC.

Top works and scholars in ICC

The following works are regarded as the top ten works on ICC:

Landis & Brislin (eds.): Handbook of Intercultural Communication Training, 1983.

Samover & Porter (eds.): Intercultural Communication: A Reader, (1972).

Hofstede: Culture’s Consequences, 1980.

Brislin: Cross-cultural Encounters, 1981.

Brislin: Cross-cultural Orientation Programs, 1976.

Hall: Beyond Culture, 1976.

Brislin, Bochner & Lonner: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Learning, 1975.

Triandis (ed.): Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology, 1979.

Furnhan: Cultural Shock, 1986.

Furnhan: Culture in Contact, 1982. (Hu Wenzhong, 1999, p.23)

Gudykunst, Triandis, Bristin, Ruben, Hall, Hofstede, Kim, Hanner, Furnham, and Landis are

viewed as the top ten scholars in ICC. Out of these ten scholars, four are professors of

communication, five are in field of psychology and one is an anthropologist.

As you may have gathered from the diversity of areas that contribute to the field, intercultural

communication is an extremely complicated field of investigation, and it can be conceptually quite

arduous at times. This relatively young discipline that draws its variables of study from such a wide

diversity of separate disciplines, as was shown above, is becoming even more important as we try to

investigate, understand and explain the cultural differences in the behaviors of people. As we move

further into the twenty first century and become even more globalized, the importance of intercultural

communication as a major field of study will definitely be recognized and studied by more and more

professionals.

Elements of ICC Study

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ICC is both difference-based and culture-based. Aspects of a culture are acted out whenever

members of different cultures come together to share ideas and exchange information. As a discipline,

intercultural communication studies problems that arise in the course of communicating across

cultures.

Communication barriers are obstacles to effective communication. By understanding

intercultural communication barriers, we can break them down and pave the way for mutual

understanding and respect.

Condon (1974) highlighted three areas as most problematic in intercultural exchange: language

18 barriers, different values and different cultural patterns of behavior. More specifically, Bell (1992 )

identified the following barriers to communication :

Physical—time, environment, comfort and needs, and physical medium;

Cultural—ethnic, religious, and social differences;

Perceptual—viewing what is said from your own mindset;

Motivational—the listener’s mental inertia;

Experiential—lack of similar life happenings;

Emotional—personal feelings of the listener;

Linguistic—different languages spoken by the speaker and listener or use of a vocabulary beyond

the comprehension of the listener;

Nonverbal—nonword messages; and

Competition—the listener’s ability to do other things rather than hear the communication

Because documenting all of these variables would be an impossible task, the author has selected

only those cultural elements that she believes have the greatest impact on intercultural business

communication. These elements work in combination with each other, although these elements are

treated individually in different chapters; the author believes that the context of the communication

event is strongly influenced by culture or cultures that are present during the communication process.

With this in mind, the author plans to focus mainly on the business context surrounding the

communication process itself.

IV. How is ICC study applied to ICBC?

ICC is an important discipline and can be applied in many ways to the area of Intercultural

Business Communication (ICBC), such as: 19

Training of new immigrants and foreign students. (This is done mainly in America and Australia).

Multilingual education (This is done especially in American and British schools.)

Foreign language teaching. (As is the case of TESL – teaching English as a second language.)

ICBC is useful for increasing general cultural awareness. ICC in now a required or elective

course for undergraduate and/or postgraduate students of communication, economics, business,

linguistics, foreign languages, education, sociology and the humanities in many universities and

schools all over the world.

Training of business executives and technicians.

An important application of ICC can be found in the training of business executives and

technicians, particularly for those who are going to be working overseas. These executives may

encounter many different cultural problems when they travel overseas; and they need to trained

beforehand. Otherwise, these cultural problems may hinder the effectiveness of their performance.

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The literature on international business is filled with many examples of intercultural 20

miscommunication and blunders. What follows are just a few, to give you an idea of how complicated

situations can become when there are misunderstandings.

Examples of Intercultural Miscommunication:Examples of Intercultural Miscommunication:

Telex sent to a factory manager of a U.S. subsidy in Lima, Peru: “Please send a

headcount of the people in your factory and in your office, broken down by sex. Information

urgent.” The local manager, a Peruvian, replied: “Here’s your headcount: we have 30 in the

factory, 15 in the office, 5 in the hospital on sick leave, none broken down by sex. If you must

know, our problem here is with alcohol.”

A U.S. supermarket, trying to impress Japanese visitors, served sushi and tea to its

guests. Unfortunately, the fish was served cooked and the tea was Chinese. (Here the

American was not aware that in Japan sushi is fish served raw and serving Japanese tea

is somewhat different from serving Chinese tea.)

A U.S. executive innocently refused a Saudi Arabian’s friendly offer to join him for a cup of

coffee. Such rejection is considered an affront in Saudi Arabia.

International Business Blunders:International Business Blunders:

A Chinese electronic engineer of Sony Corporation Ltd. told his own experience. One

day, he saw a broken PCBA, which was a circuit board for the multimedia computer. He

picked it up and found there were many expensive components on it. As an engineer, he

though it was his duty to repair it. Otherwise, it would be discarded as useless. It took him

two hours before he finally fixed it, and it worked perfectly when tested. As he felt so

proud of what he had done, he signed his name on the card that was tied to the PCBA.

About an hour later, the PCBA was rejected by the QC Department, and he was called to

the General manager’s office. “Why did you repair that damaged PCBA and put it on the line?”

the Japanese manager asked him suspiciously.

“It’s not a defected piece any more. I’m sure it works well.” He answered with a confident

gesture. “In order to save money for the company, I have done a hard but excellent job. It is

good for the company. Why do you call me here and ask me in such a serious way?” He

looked directly into the manager’s eyes.

Instead of answering his question, the manager asked him a direct question. “Do you

want to buy a multimedia computer with this seriously broken but well repaired PCBA inside?”

Suddenly, the Chinese engineer came to realize something—if he were a consumer, he

definitely would not buy a computer like this. He suddenly understood there was a cultural

difference between them. So he said in an apologetical way, “Yes, well, manager. Saving the

thing when it still has some value is our Chinese way. But from this case I understand what

quality means to us now. It’s true that if I were the consumer, I wouldn’t buy a computer in a

good working condition but with a broken PCBA inside it. “

“It is a reasonable explanation, and that’s a cultural difference.” The manager said with a

satisfied expression on his face. “You know, Mr. Cue. You tried to save 1,000 US dollars for

Sony, but the goodwill of Sony is priceless. If the repaired broken PCBA passed our checks

and went to the consumers, it would be a disaster for Sony’s goodwill. And that’s why we must

throw away those seriously defected PCBAs”.

As Chinese students, you can understand the Chinese engineer rather easily. You might also have

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been told by your parents or teachers that it would be a good habit to save everything and make use of

it as much as possible. Do you remember the Chinese saying “use something for three years when it

looks new. When it looks old, it should be used for another three years. When it is broken or worn,

have it repaired or mended, and then use it for another three years.” ( 新三年，旧三年，缝缝补补又三年 ) To you, this idea might be already out of date; but to the engineer, who is a member of an

older generation, it is what he was taught when he was young.

These are just a few examples to show the results of miscalculating—or simply ignoring--the

cultural dimension of international business. Hence, more and more people have come to realize the

cultural impact and possible negative consequences that comes from inappropriate communications

during international business transactions, and over the past few decades, it has become an important

subject of study.

1. The research of ICBC

Despite the increasing interest in the subject noted above, until recently a relative paucity of work

has existed on intercultural business communication. This should not, however, seem surprising

considering that general communication as a discipline has only recently gained recognition in

business studies. It is a relatively new field. 21

Historically, much of the research examining international issues falls into two categories:

international business and intercultural communication. Most of the important work on intercultural

communication research at least somewhat relevant to business, surfaces in a wide range of other

disciplines ranging from comparative management, organizational behavior, and psychology to

anthropology and foreign language studies. However, relying on research from related disciplines can

create risks. For example, imported research may provide answers to questions that do not go to the

heart of intercultural business communication and impose its own conceptual model of intercultural

communication or international business that may hinder the development of more appropriate

concepts of intercultural business communication.

While the international/intercultural business literature does not focus on communication, the

intercultural communication literature traditionally does not examine the communication in a business

context but a more general cultural context. For example, Holtgraves (1997) examines how culture

influences whether a person uses direct or indirect communication. He finds that Koreans are more

likely to be indirect than are U.S. citizens in intercultural communication. Gudykunst, Matsumoto, and

Ting-Toomey (1996) found that individual factors are better predictors of high and low-context

communication styles than are cultural values of individualism and collectivism. A number of studies

focus on acculturation of immigrant groups (Laroche, Kim, & Hui, 1997), while others compare

intercultural communication behavior based on cultural variations in role and social rules (Hammer,

Nishida, & Wiseman, 1996; Nishida, Hammer, & Wiseman, 1998).

Another focal point of intercultural communication research is individualism vs. collectivism and

the impact of the relationship on the functioning of society (Gudykunst & Hammer, 1988; Gudykunst,

Matsumoto, & Ting-Toomey, 1996; Lieberman, 1990; Triandis, Bontempo, Villareal, Asai, & Lucca,

1988; Triandis, McCusker, & Hui, 1990; among many others). Triandis (1989), for example, examines

ingroups and outgroups in individualistic and collectivist societies. He analyzes the causes of

collectivism and individualism and the implications for social interaction.

Many of the findings of this body of knowledge can be applied to business situations. Insights 22

into social behavior, attitudes towards morality, self-perception, and the role of hierarchy are not just

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beneficial for getting to know other cultures but help in shaping business interactions. For example, the

construct ingroup vs. outgroup will help us understand how competing groups in a business

environment will communicate with each other. However, the focus of Triandis’ work is on the

theoretical foundation of intercultural communication rather than intercultural business communication.

He does not tie the intercultural communication directly to business organizations or business

activities.

Over the last 15 years business communication specialists have increasingly concentrated on 23

intercultural business communication. The number of internationally oriented articles in The Journal of

Business Communication, Business Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Business and Technical

Communication, and the Management Communication Quarterly has increased dramatically. The

Journal of Business Communication dedicated two special issues to intercultural business

communication: July 1992 and July 1997. The Journal of Business and Technical Communication

devoted the July issue of 1997 to international/intercultural communication. The international articles

can be grouped into five categories: the theory of intercultural business communication, practices in

other countries, comparative studies, studies of specific communication genres, and intercultural

business communication studies. Some articles can be placed into more than one group.

An examination of the literature shows that the focus of intercultural business communication in

24 business communication journals tends to be on intercultural communication, country-specific

business communication studies, and comparative studies. Only recently have researchers focused on

the influence of all three variables---communication, culture and business, and the implications for

intercultural business communication. While the research in each area contributes to the

understanding of the whole, the implications for intercultural business communication are often only

implied.

For example, in his article entitled “The Theoretical Foundation for Intercultural Business

Communication: A Conceptual Model”, Iris I. Varner develops a theoretical framework for intercultural

business communication which sets it apart from intercultural communication and international

business. In the past, discussions on the theory of intercultural business communication have mostly

focused on intercultural communication using business as examples rather than including business as

a distinct variable. The model presented in his article discusses the intercultural, business, and

communication strategies that are part of intercultural business communication. It is argued that for

intercultural business communication to take place, it is not sufficient for all three variables to be

present. The three variables interact and create a synergy that reflects the dynamic character of

intercultural business communication. In this process, intercultural business communication becomes

a unique construct that is different from intercultural medical or intercultural religious communication.

The article examines how past articles in the field fit into this model.

More recently, more topics have been explored in the field of ICBC by an increasing number of

scholars and researchers.

2. The Importance of Learning ICBC

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS are essential for businesspersons in today's market.

As was discussed earlier, the increase in globalization in the last few decades has changed the way

people view the world and conduct business in that world. Economic globalization generally results in

individuals from one culture working not only with, but also for individuals from another culture.

Business schools have a responsibility to prepare their students to be effective intercultural

communicators. Many business schools in U.S. have begun to incorporate intercultural communication

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into their curricula through individual chapters, research projects, semester-long courses, study abroad

programs, and other methods. However, it seems that the students in China sometimes are more

interested in learning about business and professional knowledge than they are in learning about the

process of intercultural business communication. Effective international business communication skills

are the backbone that supports the many transactions of businesses throughout the world. The ability

to communicate effectively gives both businesspersons and their organizations tangible benefits, such

as:

Quick problem solving

Stronger decision-making

Increased productivity

Steadier work flow

Strong business relationships

Clearer promotional materials

Enhanced professional image

The goal in learning should therefore be to increase the student’s communicative competency25

skills, which would include not only linguistic competencies but also sociolinguistic competencies. The

students should also be taught to become culturally aware in the learning process and to not only

know, but also understand how and why it is important to develop the communicative skills that will

help them to interact with people from other cultures. This is especially important to students who are

majoring in international business or foreign language studies, where there is an urgent need for highly

developed interpersonal communication skills and intercultural business communication competence.

For example, in order to understand the significance of a message from someone, you need to

understand the way that person looks at the world, and the values that weigh heavily in that person’s

cultural background. You need to understand the meanings that are not put into words, the importance

of the words that are used, and the way the message is organized and transmitted. You also need to

know what to expect when that other person engages in a particular communicational behavior such

as making a decision, negotiating a sales agreement, or writing a legal document such as a contract. It

is also important to be knowledgeable about the organization that a particular person works for, and

how its structure and its organizational culture affects its communications.

In summary, we are living in an age of globalization when we increasingly interact with people

from different cultures. And whether we like it or not, those interactions will continue to grow in both

frequency and intensity. The time to prepare to work in it is now. Accordingly, this book is provided to

help students take a step in that direction.

3. The complexity in learning intercultural business communication 26

Improving intercultural communication is not only expedient, but also possible, because our brain

is an open system (we can learn), we have choices (we can communicate one way or another) and our

actions produce a response (we do something to other people). Yet it is not easy for us to learn from

each other or to learn new information about other people and other cultures.

As noted above, several Western scholars have been investigating and trying to explain the main

barriers to intercultural communication. Barna suggests that there are six main “stumbling blocks”

which often cause difficulties in intercultural communication:

1) People tend to assume that there are more cultural similarities between themselves and

people of other cultures than there actually are, and this can lead to misunderstanding.

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2) Language differences, obviously, are often a source of misunderstanding.

3) People of different cultures often misinterpret each other’s non-verbal communication.

4) People often have stereotypes and preconceptions about “foreigners” that lead to

misunderstanding.

5) People often evaluate what “foreigners” do and say before really understanding what they

mean.

6) When people interact with foreigners, they often have feelings of anxiety or stress, and

this can lead them to jump to inaccurate conclusions. (One source of this stress is

sometimes “cultural shock.”)

Lustig and Koester (2000) summarize the barriers to intercultural understanding in a somewhat

different way. They suggest that the following three features of the way human beings think create

obstacles to intercultural communication and understanding:

1) People tend to reduce the complexity of the world into a smaller number of groupings and

patterns; in other words, they tend to generalize and over-simplify.

2) People tend to identify and define groups by a few key characteristics.

3) People tend to assume that all people pf all cultures see the world similarly.

Specifically, it’s generally agreed that the potential problems in intercultural communication are

mainly as the following:

Avoidance of the unfamiliar

As the proverb goes “Birds of a feather flock together”, most people seek to be near others with

whom they share common outlooks, habits, and traits. Culture often separates you from people with a

history different from your own and many people often feel uncomfortable when confronted with

strangers. This tendency is the very reason the bias of similarity can be a potential communication

problem.

Uncertainty reduction

People have a desire to reduce the uncertainty build into every new meeting with strangers from

diverse cultures. Fear, dislike and distrust are emotions that all too often erupt. What’s more

problematic to intercultural communication is that if the amount of uncertainty present in initial

interactions is not reduce, further communication between the people will, in all likelihood, not take

place.

Withdrawal

If you can not find similarities and / or fail to reduce uncertainty in a satisfactory manner, you are

apt to withdraw from the communication event. Withdrawal, at an interpersonal, intercultural and

international level, has often been the rule rather than the exception.

Stereotyping

Stereotyping is a complex form of categorization that mentally organizes your experiences and

guides your behavior toward a particular group of people. Stereotypes hamper intercultural

communication, because (1) they are rooted in your compulsion to make in-group and out-group

distinctions, (2) they are oversimplified, overgeneralized, and / or exaggerated, (3) they repeat and

reinforce beliefs until they often become taken for “truth”, and therefore keep you from making fair and

honest judgments about other people.

Prejudice

Macionis (1998) offers a detailed definition of prejudice while explaining its damaging effect on

intercultural communication: “Prejudice amounts to a rigid and irrational generalization about a

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category of people. Prejudice is irrational to the extent that people hold inflexible attitudes supported

by little or no direct evidence. Prejudice may target people of a particular social class, sex, sexual

orientation, age, political affiliation, race or ethnicity.” (p. 217)

Racism

Racism refers to the belief that one racial category is innately superior to another. Built into this

idea of superiority is the belief that a group of people can be mistreated on the basis of race, color,

religion, national origin, or ancestry. Racism is a major hindrance to successful intercultural

communication.

Misuse of power

Power is the ability to control what happens, to cause things you want to happen and to block

things you don’t want to happen. What makes power an important dimension in intercultural

communication, and a potential problem, is that power usually means controlling not only your own life

but also the lives of others. In interpersonal communication the amount of power you have, or do not

have, influences who you talk to, what you talk about, and how much control you have when you talk.

There are vast cultural differences in both the perception and use of power. Misuse of power is a big

headache to successful intercultural communication.

Culture shock

The anthropologist Oberg first introduced the term culture shock with the following definition:

Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of

social intercourse. Although the reactions associated with culture shock vary from individual to

individual, most of the literature in the area of culture shock suggests that people normally go through

four stages (the U-Curve): honeymoon phase, culture shock phase, recovery phase and adjustment

phase. In a positive sense, experiencing culture shock has a strong potential to make people be

multicultural or bicultural.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the belief that your own cultural background, including ways if analyzing

problems, values, beliefs, language, and verbal and nonverbal communication, is correct.

Ethnocentrists believe their culture is the central culture and other cultures are incorrect, defective, or

quaint. The negative impact of ethnocentrism on intercultural communication is obvious: it shape social

sense of identity which is narrow and defensive; it normally involves the perception of members of

other cultures in terms of stereotypes; ethnocentric judgments usually involve invidious comparisons

that ennoble one’s culture while degrading those of others.

The above are the major potential problems facing you as you are engaged in intercultural 28

communication. In the following chapters, we will see their negative effects in various areas of ICBC

and discuss in more detail the reasons for these problems and explore ways to solve them.

The book is divided into two parts with six chapters each.

The first part is based on the basic theory and the framework of intercultural communication,

exploring the relationships among culture, values and communication and their influence on ICBC.

Chapter One serves as an introduction to ICC and ICBC, pointing out the importance and the

complexity in learning ICBC. Chapter Two discusses the basic communication theory and its

application in ICBC. Chapter Three turns from communication to culture, including its functions,

definitions, ingredients and characteristics, etc. Chapter Four focuses on cultural values which have

the most influential effect on ICBC. The next two chapters cover separately verbal and nonverbal

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communication, the two communicative channels through which various cultural differences are

manifested.

The second part consists of the next six chapters, attempting to apply the above communication

theory into the analysis of some importance aspects of international business practice. Namely,

Chapter Seven is about intercultural business writing, Chapter Eight intercultural business etiquette

and protocol, Chapter Nine cultural considerations in international business negotiation, Chapter Ten

cultural considerations in international marketing and advertising, Chapter Eleven legal and ethical

consideration in ICBC and Chapter Twelve the consideration of organizational culture in ICBC.

Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with key terms to help readers grasp the

main points of the chapter. After each chapter, various forms of exercises and cases studies are

provided for readers to review and work on. Hopefully, this book will help readers in increasing cultural

awareness and competence of ICBC.

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Chapter 1 Introduction to ICC

Key Terms:

Intercultural communication

Intercultural business communication

International communication

Interethnic communication

Interracial communication

Interregional communication

Globalization

Communication barriers

Avoidance of the unfamiliar

Uncertainty reduction

Withdrawal

Stereotyping

Prejudice

Culture shock

Racism

Ethnocentrism

Exercises

I. Discussion Questions:

1. What is intercultural communication (ICC)? Give examples to illustrate its different

types.

2. What does it mean by the term intercultural business communication (ICBC)? Why is

intercultural communication increasingly important in international business?

3. How was the study of intercultural communication developed both in America and in

China?

4. What are the potential problems of intercultural communication? Have you ever

experienced any intercultural communication barriers? If any, how did you deal with

them?

II. True or False:

Write T if the statement is true; write F if it is false.

1. The terms intercultural and international can be used interchangeably.

2. International communication takes place between such groups as African Americans and

Latin Americans.

3. Communication barriers are caused by the same communication having different meanings

in different cultures.

4. Globalization of the world economy is crucial to the rapid increase of intercultural

communication.

5. Technology has made international business travel obsolete.

6. The recent increase in migration of people around the world has led to discussions about

multiculturalism in many countries.

7. In the study of intercultural communication, the influence of immigration histories in U.S. has

little significance for current intercultural communication interactions.

8. As they become globalized, companies will have to train their work forces to deal with

multiculturalism.

9. Intercultural communication as a discipline was not established in U.S. until the 1980s.

10. Intercultural communication has an important application in the training of international

business persons.

III. Multiple Choices

1. From what areas of the world do most of today's immigrants to the United States

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come?

A. Asia and Latin America

B. Mexico and Eastern Europe

C. Haiti and China

D. Eastern Europe and the Middle East

2. Which of the following has occurred due to advances in technology?

A. People are beginning to spend more time with family members.

B. The number of relationships we have with people have decreased.

C. People have more frequent contact with people from other cultures.

D. People are gaining a clearer sense of who they really are.

3. To effectively compete with other nations, Chinese companies have to

A. impose their own business conventions on other countries.

B. emphasize quick returns and short-term goals.

C. understand how business is conducted in other countries.

D. encourage their overseas representatives to complete business deals very quickly.

4. Communication technology is an important issue in intercultural communication

because

A. it enables us to come into contact with people who are very different from ourselves in

ways we do not always understand.

B. we are not always able to meet or see people with whom we communicate.

C. it is not possible to develop cultural understandings with people over E-mail or other

such high-tech communication devices.

D. cultural differences disappear when we are able to communicate with people all over

the world.

5. As a result of globalization, new issues facing corporations include

A. cultural differences in work ethics

B. stereotyping by members of international teams

C. personnel who are overqualified for overseas positions

D. a & b

6. The classic The Silent Language published in 1959, was written by _____.

A. Kluckhohn

B. Benedict

C. Mead

D. Edward Hall

7. Which of the following is true about the development of the intercultural communication area of

study?

A. It originated with scholars looking for practical answers to help overseas workers.

B. This area of study is almost the same as the research done in the field of sociology.

C. It began as a result of people's displeasure over the foreign relations concerning the

Vietnam conflict.

D. The primary goal of scholars was to develop theories that described intercultural

communication processes.

8. Joint ventures, transnational corporations, multinational mergers, and acquisitions are products

of

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A. globalization.

B. domestic interaction.

C. international interaction.

D. the environment.

9. It is important to study intercultural communication because

A. it is a necessary and worthwhile pursuit.

B. most people are more alike than they realize.

C. cultural differences bring people together.

D. intercultural communication is subjective.

10. The China Association for Intercultural Communication is held ______.

A. once a year

B. every two years

C. every three years

D. every four years

Case Study

Case 1: Monsieur Mickey

Bringing the wonders of Disneyland to a foreign country must have seemed like old hat for

Disney. After all, only a few years earlier the company had successfully opened a Disney theme

park in Japan, bridging the enormous differences between Japanese and American cultures.

EuroDisney, at least initially, proved to be another story entirely. The company, it seems, failed to

do its cultural homework on everything from French business negotiating styles to employee

flexibility and dress habits to consumer spending patterns and eating preferences. The company

had a system that worked in the United States and Japan—two very diverse cultures—and

evidently saw no good reason to change it to adapt to European sensibilities.

Day one began with a nightmare. The French people, who tend to wear their cultural hearts on

their sleeves, howled about Yankee cultural imperialism when Disney managed to buy 1,950

hectares (4,400 acres) of prime farmland for a fraction of the market price after the government

used its right of eminent domain to find Mickey and friends a home. The farmers whose families

had worked the land for centuries were bounced. French newspapers railed at the American

invaders in a very public display of anger and insult. Before a single building foundation had been

dug or a brick laid, the company had managed to alienate the community, partly because it had

underestimated the attachment to the land of one segment of French society.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Next, Disney offended French sensibilities and created a wellspring of ill will when it used

lawyers rather than its executives to negotiate construction and other contracts for EuroDisney. It

was simply not a French thing to do. In France, lawyers are considered a negotiating tool of

absolute last resort. The use of lawyers early on in the process was a sign of mistrust and

backhand rejection of French ways. Then, according to the French trade and popular press, the

company insisted during the construction of Disney-run hotels that a sprinkler system be

included. While required under American law, such a system was unnecessary under French law

which demands only adequate fire escapes and alarms and access to an emergency water

supply. Disney’s insistence on the sprinkler system was perceived as a negative comment on

French safety standards and an assertion that the “American way” was better. The battle ruffled

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the feathers of Disney’s French partners and management, generating even more ill will made

public in a stream of negative press reports.

In terms of operations, Disney’s ignorance of European culture and French working norms

caused more problems. The company, which prides itself on the squeaky clean All-American look

of its employees, instituted a strict dress code for its local employees, barring facial hair, dictating

a maximum length for fingernails and limiting the size of hoped earrings. The staff and its unions

rebelled at this perceived attack on everyday French fashion. Morale plunged.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

Disney got several other important details wrong. For example, the company believed that

Europeans do not generally have sit-down breakfasts. Relative to the normal workday lifestyle of

the European commuter, they were correct. But the exact opposite is true when Europeans

vacation. As a result of this incorrect notion, hotel dining rooms at Disney hotels were kept small,

creating logjams and angry customers when the overcrowded rooms that seat a maximum of 400

guests tried to serve upwards of 2,500 sit-down breakfasts every morning. Lunch times inside

EuroDisney also bordered on disaster. While Americans visiting Disneyland prefer to graze, that

is, eat at irregular intervals, as they wander the park confines, Europeans are used to set

lunchtimes. As a result, the park’s restaurants became jammed at the lunch hour as everyone

tried to eat at once and were empty the rest of the day. Customers complained of long lunch-time

lines and pressure to eat quickly. The staff complained of being overworked at lunchtime and

under worked during the rest of their shifts. To top it off, Disney, in keeping with the “family

friendly” theme, barred the serving of alcohol—perhaps the ultimate insult in a country where the

consumption of wine at mealtimes is a birthright.

HOSPITALITY HEADACHES

The company committed other marketing foibles. While the park did hit its initial attendance

target of more than 10 million visitors in the first year, its revenue projections were way off. The

reason: unlike Americans or Japanese visiting Disney parks in their home countries, the

European visitors to EuroDisney did not spend money on souvenirs. Europeans, it seems, are

more used to taking month-long vacations and as a rule do not go on short spending sprees like

the Americans and Japanese when they visit a theme park. Finally, Disney found that checkout at

its official hotels had turned into a nightmare because of different consumer patterns. Unlike the

Americans or the Japanese, the European visitor to EuroDisney tends to stay only one night at a

hotel, not the three or four nights common at other Disney parks. The result: the hotels had too

few computers to handle the irate guests as they all tried to check out of the hotel at the hotel at

the same time after a single night’s stay.

“It was so unlike Disney to get so many details so wrong,” says one U.S.-based securities

analyst who follows the company. ”Maybe it’s not such a small world after all. The company’s

cultural insensitivities cost it a Jot of money and goodwill. I think it is a good reminder to any

company or individual doing business in another country—the devil is often in the cultural details.

They can make or break you.” But for Disney at least, all’s wall that ends well. After making some

significant “cultural adjustments,” EuroDisney is no longer the economic drain it once was on

company coffers.

(Source: Charles Mitchell, International Business Culture, Shanghai : Shanghai Foreign

Language Education Press, 2000, pp.2-4)

Questions for discussion:

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1. How could you explain the response of French people when Disney just set foot on the

land of France?

2. What mistake did Disney make in the cultural adaptation process when it negotiated

construction and other contracts for EuroDisney with their French counterparts?

3. What advice would you give to resolve the dispute over the sprinkle system?

4. What details should EuroDisney have noticed in its daily operation?

5. How do you understand the comment of the securities analyst “… the devil is often in the

cultural details. They can make or break you.”?

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