Lecture Business and administrative communication: Chapter 7 - Kitty O. Locker, Donna S. Kienzler

Chapter 7 - Communicating across cultures. After studying this chapter, you will know: Why global business is important, why diversity is becoming more important, how our values and beliefs affect our responses to other people, how nonverbal communication impacts cross-cultural communications, how to adapt oral communication for cross-cultural communications, how to adapt written communications for global audiences, why it is important to...

Chapter 7

Communicating across Cultures

 Shapes values, priorities, and practices

 Modern business requires dealing with

other cultures

Communicator

 Aware of values, beliefs, and practices

in other cultures

 Sensitive to differences among

individuals within a culture

 Aware that one’s preferred values

 Are influenced by culture

 Are not always right

Communicator, continued…

 Willing to ask questions

about preferences and

behaviors

 Flexible and open to

change

 Sensitive to verbal and

nonverbal behavior

 Exports are essential to businesses and

the economy

 Many companies depend on vendors

who are located in other countries

 Companies adapt products and services

for local cultures

 Managers often need international

experience for top-level jobs

 Gender

 Race and ethnicity

 Regional and national origin

 Social class

 Religion

 Age

 Sexual orientation

 Physical ability

High­Context Cultures

 Infer most information from social

relationships

 Convey little information explicitly

 Prefer indirectness, politeness,

ambiguity

 Consider oral agreements more

binding than written ones

 Rely heavily on nonverbal signs

Japane

se

Arabic

Latin American

Low­Context Cultures

 Rely little on context

 Spell out most information

 Value directness: may see indirectness

as dishonest or manipulative

 Value written word more than oral

statements

North American German Scandinavian

Cultural Dimensions

 Power/Inequality

 Individualism/Collectivism

 Masculinity/Femininity

 Uncertainty Avoidance

 Long-term/Short-term Orientation

 Often unconscious

 Affect response to people and situations

 Different cultures have different views of

 Fairness

 Groups

 Competition

 Success

 Social status

 Communication without

words

 Signals such as smiles

and gestures

 May be misinterpreted as

easily as words

 Important to be

conscious of signals sent and received

 Body language

 eye contact – facial expressions – gestures

 Touch

 how much – who touches whom

 Space

 personal space

 Time

 being on time – measuring time

 Monochronic culture

 People focus on clock

 Plan their time; avoid wasting it

 Polychronic culture

 People focus on relationships

 Disregard clocks and planners X

 Clothing

 Colors

 Age

 Height

 Requires cultural understanding

 Be aware of

 Understatement and exaggeration

 Compliments

 Approaches to Negatives

 Most cultures more formal than U.S

 Avoid

 First names (use titles)

 Contractions

 Slang

 Idioms

 Sports metaphors

continued…

 Write in English unless fluent in

audience’s language

 Reconsider patterns of organization

 Buffer negative messages; make

requests indirect

 Re-think audience benefits; ones that

motivate U.S audience may not work

 Allow extra response time

Learning about International Business  Communication

 Beyond a set of rules

 International business

practices are constantly

evolving/changing

 Seek and talk to people from

other backgrounds

 Enhance understanding of

multiple perspectives