intercultural environemnt of business (2)

8/13/2019 Intercultural Environemnt of Business (2)

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Business communication across

cultures:1. Communication in interculturalsettings2. English for professional

communicationAnna Szczepaniak-Kozak, PhD

Emilia Wsikiewicz-Firlej, PhD

Stanislaw Staszic HVSS in Pia, Poland

Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna, Poland


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Introduction

All comunication consists of encoding andsending messages through language and

receiving and decoding these messages. Messages dont usually contain a single objective

meaning.

Instead messages are given meaning first by the

sender and then by the receiver.


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Introduction

The meaning given to the message by each

person is rarely exactly the same;When you communicate across cultures, the

chances of miscommunication are even greater;


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Taking turns at speaking

Individuals contribute to conversations and

discussions in meetings in different ways. Some people allow you to finish before they start

to speak. Others speak at the same time. Othersallow a moment of silence before speaking.


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Culture

Culture relates to a system of shared assumptions,ideas, beliefs, and values that guide human behavior

Hall: Culture is communication and communicationis culture.

There is not one aspect of human life that is not

touched and altered by culture


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Differences in listening patterns acrosscultures


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Differences in listening patternsacross cultures Use of time: in cultures that structure time and

do one thing at a time, turn-taking may be

structured more formally; turns occur whensomeone finishes talking, there are rare overlapsor pauses;

In cultures with a more fluid approach to time,

turns overlap and people tend to speak at thesame time;


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General tips

When communicating across cultures, do notassume that your message will be easily

understood;When communicating in a lingua franca, e.g.

English, and not your first language, fullunderstanding is even rarer.

In contact with native speakers people often feelconfused, frustrated, annoyed


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Pragmatic failures in IChttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-ACqKkAMQ

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Clarity skills for less advanced or non-native speakers Speak clearly and slowly

Pause and emphasize key words

Increase redundancy Do not translate word for word from your first

language

Use prefabs phrases and sentences learnt by

heart to gain thinking time


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Clarity skills for less advanced or non-native speakersAsk for repetitions and explanations

Ask your interlocutor to speak more clearly,

slowly and simplyAsk your interlocutor to remember that you are

using a foreign language


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Listening actively to createundestanding Show you are listening by maintaining the right

amount of eye contact and nodding

Check whether your interlocutor understood andwhether you understood too

When a misunderstanding occurs, repair itimmediately

Summarize what you have understood


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Listening actively to createundestanding Bear in mind that international communication

usually takes longer.

Clarify by summarizing and paraphrizing notonly what others have said but what you havesaid


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Speaking transparently

Because there is a higher risk of communicationbreakdown in intercultural interactions, you

need to work harder to be transparent. This means communicating clearly both your

message and intention.


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Speaking transparentlybetter

Id like thatreport by theend of the day

Id like that report by the end of theday. Its very importnat for me to havetime to read it before the meetingtomorrow.

I disagree withyou.

I disagree with you. Its nothingpersonal, I just think theres anotherway to do it.

We need towork harder. Ive been thinking about this and Ivecome to the concusion that we need towork harder. Its the only way we willsurvive.


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Structuring and labelling

If you are giving a presentation say:

Ive divided it into three parts

If youre running a meeting say:

There are three items on the agenda.

If you are on the phone:Ive got two points. The first is


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The language of active listening

Showing you are listening:Right, OK., I see

Testing your own understanding:If I am not

mistaken, you are saying; What I understood is; Correct me if Im wrong but what youresaying is .

Testing the understanding of your interlocutor:

Did I get that accross OK.? Shall I repeat?


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The language of active listening

Summarizing:Let me go over that again. Just torecap.

Repairing misunderstanding:

There seems to have been a misunderstanding.

I think we may be getting something wrong

Let me correct a false impression.


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IC adventurehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSt_op3fQck

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Culture

Geert Hofstede, the well-known Dutchorganizational anthropologist, views culture as a

collective mental programmingof people. The software of the mind, or how wethink and reason, differentiates us from othergroups.


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Cross-cultural differences

Teamwork. What should managers do if foreign and

domestic nationals dont get along with each other Lifetime employment. Workers in some Japanese

companies expect to work for the same company duringtheir careers; how should a foreign firm handle this?

Pay for performance system. In China and Japan, a

persons age is important in promoting workers. Yethow do such workers perform when merit performance-based measures are used?


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Cross-cultural differences

Organizational structure. Preferences forcentralized, bureaucratic structures may deter

information sharing. Union-management relationships. European firmshave generally evolved into a business culture in whichworkers enjoy a more equal status with managers.

Attitudes toward ambiguity. If you are not

comfortable working with minimum guidance or takingindependent action, then you may have difficulty fittinginto some cultures.


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Cultures Role in International Business In the West, the customer is king, but in

Japan, the customer is God;A densely populated and homogenous society

has encouraged the development of a cohesiveand polite culture that rewards harmony.


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Multiple Layers of Cultural Influence

Employees are socialized into three overlapping cultures:

national culture

professional culture

corporate culture


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Multiple Layers of Cultural Influence

The influence of professional and corporate culture tendsto grow as people are socialized into a profession and

workplace. Corporate and professional cultures are embedded in

national cultures.

Even within a country differences are striking- Lloyds, alarge British insurance firm, has a conservative culture

that may be slow to change. Virgin, the British musicand travel provider, has an experimental, risk-takingculture.


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High Context Cultures A high-context culture emphasizes nonverbal messages and use

communication as a means to promote smooth, harmonious relationships.

Prefer an indirect, polite, face-saving style that emphasizes a

mutual sense of care and respect for others; careful not to embarrass oroffend others.

In East Asian cultures, showing impatience, frustration, irritation, oranger disrupts harmony and is considered rude and offensive.

In Japan, superiors are given favored seating as a show of respect, i.e.farthest away from the entrance to the room.

To succeed in Asian cultures, it is critical to noticenonverbal signs andbody language.


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Halls high and low contextNiemonaw ywietli obrazu.Na komputerzemoebrakowa pamicido otwarciaobrazu lub obrazmoeby uszkodzony.Uruchom ponowniekomputer, anastpnieotwrz plik ponownie.Jeliczerwony znak x nadalbdziewywietlany,ko niecznemoeby usunicieobrazu,a nastpnieponownewstawieniego.


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Possible sources of misunderstadings

abundance of informationprovided by low-contextcommunicators may even

irritate or make high-contextcommunicators impatient

members of low-contextcultures, who expect detailed,clear-cut messages, feel

uncomfortable when providedwith a limited amount ofinformation (cf. Samovar etal, 1998: 81)


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Perception of silence in highand low context cultures high-context cultures : silence a valued, effective

means of expression; silent messages oftenperceived as more credible than verbal ones;

silence is a communicative act rather than a merevoid in communicational space. Lebra (1987: 343)

low-context cultures: talk is more significantthan nonverbal information and silence is rather

avoided; silence generally causes discomfort andpeople try to fill it with talk(cf. Mare, 1990).


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Perception of time

Time talks. It speaks more plainly than words.The message it conveys comes through loud andclear. Because it is manipulated less consciously,it is subject to less distortion than the spoken

language. (Hall, 1959: 1).


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Perception of Time Time dictates expectations about planning,

scheduling, profit streams, and what constitutestardiness in arriving for work and meetings.

Longer planning horizon- Japan- preparestrategic plans for the decade.

Shorter planning horizon- Western companies-strategic plans-several years.


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Orientation: past, present andfuture past-oriented cultures believe that plans should be

evaluated in terms of their fit with establishedtraditions, thus innovation and change are infrequent.

Examples: Europeans tend to be past-oriented;Australia, Canada, and the U.S. are more focused onthe present.


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Past, present and

future orientations in

selected countries

(adapted fromTrompenaars, 1993:

114)


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Monochronic vs. PolychronicOrientation Monochronic - rigid orientation to time in which the individual is

focused on schedules, punctuality, time as a resource, time is linear,time is money.

Investors are impatient, and want quick returns. Managers have arelatively short-term perspective; performance is measured on aquarterly basis.

Polychronic- A flexible, non-linear orientation to time in which theindividual takes a long-term perspective and is capable of multi-tasking;time is elastic, long delays are tolerated before taking action.

Punctualityper se is relatively unimportant, time commitments are

flexible, relationships are valued, future-oriented performancetargets- 10 years, lifetime employment.


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Nonverbal communicationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxoB6MhmbIg

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Perceptions of (Physical) Space Conversational distance is closer in Latin America than in Northern

Europe or the U.S.


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Perceptions of (Physical) Space

Those who live in crowdedJapan and Belgium have

smaller personal spacerequirements than those

who live in Russia or theU.S.

A swimming-pool in Japan

A crowded street

Yokohama:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l1mV5p_0HY


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Perceptions of (Physical) Space In Japan, it is common for

employee workspaces to becrowded together in the

same room- one large officespace might be used for 50employees.


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Perceptions of (Physical) Space North American firms partition individual workspaces and

provide private offices for more important employees.


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Perceptions of (Physical) Space In Islamic countries,

close proximity maybe discouraged

between a man and awoman who are notmarried.


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Managerial Guidelines forCross-Cultural SuccessGuideline 1: Acquire factual and interpretive knowledge

about the other culture; and try to speak their language.

Guideline 2: Avoid cultural bias. Self-reference criterion: The tendency to view other culturesthrough the lens of one's own culture- understanding this is thefirst step.

Critical incident analysis: a method for analyzing awkwardsituations in cross cultural interactions by developing empathyfor other points of view.

Guideline 3: Develop cross-cultural skills. Cross-culturalproficiency is characterized by several personality traits.


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References

This presentation is mainly based on

chapter 5 of Cavusgil, Knight and Riesenberger

(2011).International business strategy.Management & the new realities. New York:

Prentice Hall.

and

chapter 7 of Comfort, Franklin (2008).Mindfulintercultural manager.York: Kogan

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Mulumesc mult

Thank you for your attention.

intercultural environemnt of business (2)

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