Cross cultural business communication

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 thinking—ways 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”.

Human Nature

Culture

Personality

Levels of human mental programming

Cross cultural/Intercultural Communication

Universal

Specific to individuals

Specific to groups

Inherited and learned

Learned

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 29% - 32%

Islam 1.3 billion - 1.6 billion 19% - 23%

Hindu 900 million - 1 billion 14%

Buddhism 500 million - 1.5 billion 7% - 23%

World population 6.8 billion

Hofstede’s 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

0

20

40

60

80

100

Malaysia ArabNations

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

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20

40

60

80

100

Japan Mexico Germany India SwedenTable 3.1 in text

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

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20

40

60

80

100

USA France India ArabNations

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

0

20

40

60

80

100

Japan G.Britain USA ArabNations

SwedenTable 3.1 in text

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. ParticularismUniversalism: the belief that ideas and

practices can be applied everywhere without modification

– U. S., Germany, and SwedenParticularism: the belief that

circumstances dictate how ideas and practices should be applied.

– Spain and Japan

Neutral Vs. AffectiveNeutral: emotions are held in check

– Japan and the U.S. Affective: emotions are openly and naturally expressed

– Mexico, Netherlands, and Switzerland

Specific Vs. DiffuseSpecific: 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. AscriptionAchievement: 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 DirectedBelieve in controlling outcomes

– U.S.

Outer DirectedBelieve 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 high-context 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 quantity—elaborating,

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, low-uncertainty-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– Kinesics

Study of communication through body movement and facial expression

– 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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Mumbai

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