Multicultural Communication Skills

• Geert Hofstede defined “Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”

five different dimensions-

Power Distance

Individualism versus Collectivism

Achievement versus nurturing

Uncertainty avoidance

Long-term versus Short-term Orientation

Result of study-

• West Africa and China considered as high power distance while US and Netherlands considered as low power distance countries.

• Most of the Asian countries are collectivism while US is more related with the individualism.

• Germany and Hong Kong are much concerned about achievement while Russia and Netherlands are having the attitude of nurturing.

• Countries like US and Hong Kong are having low while France and Russia are high on uncertainty avoidance.

• Countries like US and France are having short term orientation while China and Hong Kong are having long term orientation.

Impact of multi culture

• Organizational behavioral• Product Designs and features• Marketing channels• Standards or quality of the products• Advertisements

Importance of Communication in Multicultural Environment

– To improve the interpersonal communication skills

– Proper handling of the team members– To increase the contribution, not only for the

managers but also from the subordinates

Non verbal communication has been classified by Argyle as follows-

• Kinesics- It shows the boy language and differs in multi cultures.

• Proxemics- It refers the ways by which individual maintain the distance during the process of communication.

• Appearance- The fashion and styles also differ in multi cultures.

• Eye contact- The use of eyes during the communication is important for an effective communication, but its duration and styles are specific for different cultures.

• Symbolism- The numerical numbers, symbols, colors are also act as a passive non –verbal communication and give a certain message in different cultures.

Multicultural Examples-

• Asian – less inclined to kinesics , Europeans are more• Chinese finds uncomfortable – shaking hands• German keeps a greater distance while talking• Americans are less concerned – distance• Dressing style- South-East Asia & Europeans• Eye contact- Prefer in Western culture while unfavorable

in Asian countries

Some more examples-

• Color-• Chinese give money in red envelop- specially in new

year• Red-Lucky color, Pink and Yellow- represent happiness• Number-8: Luckiest number• Black, white and blue- Death or sadness• Blue- Warmth in Holland, Death in Iran, Coldness in

Sweden, Purity in India• 13 Number- Lucky in Jewish societies, Bad luck in

Christians

Effective Communication techniques-

1. Select topic content according to the culture of that region or country

• US- Business Dinner or Lunch is preferred• China- Arts and Pictures, Personal query regarding health or

family matters are not discussed 2. The intensity of the silence during the communication is also

decided according to the prevalent culture.• Accepted in Japan- Thought full ness• US- Appreciated3. The intensity of the interruption during the communication is also

decided according to the culture.• Accepted in Arab Countries • Not Accepted in Americans

• The intensity of the humor also varies in different cultures. For instance, in Japan it is not appreciated but in western countries it makes rapport between the senders and receivers.

Developing the cultural fluency

Dr. Linda Beamer proposed a model for cultural fluency consisting five different levels-

• Acknowledging cultural diversity• Organizing the information according to

stereotypes• Participation with aim to challenge the

stereotypes• Analyze the communication• Generating fluent messages from others cultures

Crisis Management

The Institute of Crisis Management defines a crisis as ‘a significant business disruption which stimulates extensive news media coverage. The resulting public scrutiny will affect the organization’s normal operations and also could have a political, legal, financial, and governmental impact on its business

Types of the Crisis

• Natural Disasters

• Industrial Accidents

• Perception of public

• Presence of Conflicts

• Plan or product failure

• Criminal events

On the basis of the warning period, crisis can be divided into following categories-

• Sudden crisis- The appearance of these crises is sudden with out any warning.

• Bhopal Gas tragedy at Madhya Pradesh in 1984 at Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant, Bhopal, caused the death of thousand of people due the poisonous gas. Terrorism attack on the Taj Hotel at Mumbai, 2009.

Attack on Taj- 26/11

• Bhopal Gas Tragedy- Madhya Pradesh

• Attack – 9/11

• Pesticide found in cold drinks

• Pesticide found in Cold Drinks-

• Bird Flu hits Asian Market

• Smoldering crisis- This may be defined as “ any serious problem which is not generally known within or without the company , which may generate negative news coverage if or when it goes ‘public’ and could result in more than a predetermined amount in fines, penalties, legal damage and other costs”.

21

Crisis Management: 4 Stages

Prodromal Crisis StageWarning—precursorSymptom —precrisis

Prodromal Crisis StageWarning—precursorSymptom —precrisis

Acute Crisis StagePoint of no return

Crisis has occurred

Acute Crisis StagePoint of no return

Crisis has occurred

Crisis Resolution StageThe firm recovers

Crisis Resolution StageThe firm recovers

Chronic Crisis StageLingering on—perhaps

indefinitely; period of self-doubt and self-analysis

Chronic Crisis StageLingering on—perhaps

indefinitely; period of self-doubt and self-analysis

Learning

Strategies to deal with the Crisis

• Execution of the team • Prepare with the concrete plan

• What to do at the time of crisis• To whom make the contact at crisis• Important contact numbers of the employees those can be

useful in an emergency• Schedule of the meeting to generate possible alternatives

to handle the crisis, list of the employees is ready who will call upon in the meeting

• Planning procedure is not too rigid, it should be flexible enough to meet out the particular situation

Strategies to deal with the Crisis

• Resolving the crisis • Communication in Crisis Management a. External Communication• Key points are prepared well in advance before informing to

the media or at news conference and always possess the honesty while giving the answers of the queries.

• Handling the queries based on the informations which are relevant and according to the strategy used to solve the crisis and don’t indulge very defensive or provoke while handling the queries.

• The news also published in the local or nationalized news paper with the aim to inform all the concerned, care should be taken for the subject matter published.

• Don’t need to disclose the legal issues to the media at first, but make sure for with deal of these issues properly.

Internal Communication

Crisis causes physiological and psychological stress on the employees, based on the type of its occurrence and intensity of the damage.

• Impact of the crisis may be in the form of decrease in employee’s efficiency, decrease organizational productivity, increased absenteeism, decrease morale, and protest by strikes, lockouts.

• The management must realize the feelings of the employees and communicate effectively about the causes of the crisis, its solution and strategy to solve it so that employees can understand the whole scene and feel themselves safe for any kind of injuries or negative impacts.

Principles of the Crisis Management

• Prepare well and be experienced

• Proceed as a team

• Stakeholder should be communicated effectively

• Reduce the impact of the crisis

• RiskA course of action or inaction takenunder conditions of uncertainty whichexposes the risk taker to possibleloss, or gain to reach a desiredoutcomeAn undesirable situation orcircumstance that is likely to cause aharm or a loss

• Risk is all around us

To live is to risk dying

To laugh is to risk appearing the Fool

To hope is to risk despair

To love is to risk not being loved inreturn

• Types of the risks-• Risk can differentiated based on the following

parameters-

Source

Amount of information

Personal

Insurability

Ability to control the risk

Constraints

• Source- Based on the source risk can be categories into following-• Internal risk- This type of the risk is related with the internal factors

of organization, such as staff efficiency, working capital, investment.• External risk- Beyond the control of the organization such as,

market condition, customer preference, economic condition, government rules.

• Amount of information- Risk can be divided into known or unknown risk. When all the informations are available about the particular situation, it is known risk and when it is difficult to predict the outcome then it is known as unknown risk.

• Insurability- Some of the risk contain the chance of the profit or loss and it is insurable while other risk can be in the form of loss only such as property loss.

Risk management process-

• Risk management process consisting following steps-

• Management planning for risk

• Identify the risk

• Qualitative and quantitative analysis

• Risk response planning

• Risk control