The Challenges of Communicating Across Cultures in International Cooperations

1
The Challenges of Communicating Across Cultures
in International Cooperations

• Evelyne Glaser
• Johannes Kepler Universität Linz
• Austria

2
Dont you understand?

• Mme Dumont As from tomorrow Thierry Castex will
  join our team. Thats great!
• Mr. Grote Ah. Who is he?
• Mme Dumont He is a graduate from HEC.
• Mr. Grote Do you know him? What is his field?
• Mme Dumont I have no idea but Im sure that he
  will be of great help in our project.
• Mr. Grote How do you know?

3
Business and Culture

• Despite popular beliefs to the contrary, the
  single greatest barrier to business success is
  the one erected by culture.
• Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall
• Hidden Differences Doing Business with the
  Japanese

4
Intercultural Competence

• Intercultural competence refers to the ability
  of an individual to move beyond his or her own
  language, culture, and world view and interact
  effectively with members of another culture.

5
Cultural Differences

• Cultural differences do not necessarily lead to
  problems in communication, i.e. major differences
  may have a minor importance in a communication
  (e.g. religion), while minor things may become
  very relevant (e.g. addressing or greeting
  someone). Qu

6
Dos and Donts of Cultures

• Rules on greeting
• Rules on gift-giving
• Rules on using chopsticks
• Business etiquette in different cultures
• http//www.executiveplanet.com
• http//www.culturalsavvy.com

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Expressive vs. Reserved Cultures

• Many words
• Loud speech, conversational overlap
• Strong body language
• Mediterranean Region, Latin Europe, Latin America

• Speech vs. Silence
• Soft-spoken, no interruptions (turn-taking)
• Few gestures
• East and Southeast Asia, Nordic and Germanic
  Europe

8
Eastern vs. Western Concepts of Communication

• The most important things cannot be communicated
  in language
• Language is only useful for secondary or trivial
  messages
• (Zen Buddhism --gt Edward Hall High-context
  communication)

• The ideal use of language happens when speech and
  writing are purged from everything but the
  essential information.
• What cannot be communicated by language is hardly
  worth paying attention to.
• (Utilitarian / Positivist thinking--gt Edward
  Hall Low context communication)

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The Purpose of Language

• East
• To express relationships
• Negotiations start with a series of social
  events to feel the subtle aspects of the
  relationship.

• West
• To convey information
• Negotiations should focus on direct talk and the
  exchange of information.

10
Relationships

• East
• Relationships are given by society
• Parents
• Ancestors
• Village
• Teachers

• West
• Relationships are continually negotiated
  (change/growth)
• Family
• Partner
• Friends

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Basic Assumptions in Business Negotiations

• East
• Group harmony
• Positions are stated in a less extreme way to
  avoid disrupting the harmony between the
  negotiating parties.

• West
• Individual welfare
• Each party has in mind achieving their own best
  advantage.

12
Technical language vs. Small talk

• Technical language rarely poses problems
• Language becomes a challenge when leadership
  issues or soft human resource topics need to be
  dealt with.
• Language becomes essential during the
  trust-building stages

13
Western Communication Style

• C -B -S Style (Clarity, Brevity, Sincerity
  Richard Lanham, 1983) is not the historically
  traditional communication style of western
  cultures.
• With the increase of the significance of the
  sciences to their central position in our
  society, this style has determined our thinking
  about effective communication.

14
An East - West Encounter

• Mr. Richardson By the way, Im Andrew
  Richardson. My friends call me Andy. This is my
  business card.
• Mr. Chu Im David Chu. Pleased to meet you, Mr.
  Richardson. This is my card.
• Mr. Richardson No, no. Call me Andy. I think
  well be doing a lot of business together.
• Mr. Chu Yes, I hope so.
• Mr. Richardson (reading Mr. Chus card) Chu
  Hon-fai. Hon-fai, Ill give you a call tomorrow
  as soon as I get settled at my hotel.
• Mr. Chu (smiling) Yes, Ill expect your call.

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Communication Styles and Thought Patterns

• Linear vs. Circular
• Direct vs. Indirect
• High-context vs. Low-context
• Person-oriented vs. Status-oriented
• Concrete vs. Abstract
• Deductive vs. Inductive
• Logical Qu

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Cultural Speech Patterns
Anglo-Saxon
Latin
Oriental
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Challenges of Language Diversity in Teams

• It can give rise to tensions in teams
• It makes relationship building more difficult
• It makes trust building more difficult
• Comments may not be taken up or may not even be
  heard
• BUT
• If managed effectively, it contributes strongly
  to team cohesion. Qu

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Communicative Competence

• Language skills (phonology, syntax, semantics)
• Sociolinguistic competence (interpreting
  correctly what is being said and knowing what to
  say how and when)
• Qu

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Miscommunication

• Most miscommunication does not arise through
  mispronunciation or through poor use of grammar
  but due to different patterns of discourse.
• Intergroup miscommunication and even hostility
  arise when one group has failed to interpret the
  intentions of the other group as a result of
  misinterpreting its discourse conventions.

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Communication Breakdown/1

• Resulting from lack of linguistic competence
• Unfamiliar vocabulary
• Unfamiliar connotations of words
• The speed of speech
• A strong accent
• Too many mistakes Qu

21
Communication Breakdown/2

• Resulting from lack of sociolinguistic
  competence
• Misinterpretation of the message (interpretation
  according to the receivers cultural parameters)
• Different discourse patterns (e.g. placing the
  main point at the beginning or at the end of a
  conversation)

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Communication Breakdown/3

• Different communication styles (e.g. being clear
  and decisive vs. being vague and leaving things
  unsaid vs. being highly explicit, using irony or
  jokes)
• Different paralinguistic features (e.g. tone of
  voice, pauses, interruptions, silences)
• Qu

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Ambiguity of Language 1

• We can never fully control the meanings of the
  things we say and write.
• We always depend on how our listeners or readers
  interpret what we are saying or writing.
• Meaning in language is jointly constructed by the
  participants in communication

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Ambiguity of Language 2

• Ambiguity of language does not disappear with
  better mastery of the language.
• We need to develop strategies to reduce the level
  of ambiguity (joint sense-making practices)
• Qu

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Non-verbal Communication

• Many aspects of discourse depend upon forms of
  communication which cannot be easily transcribed
  into words, e.g.
• The way a person dresses for a meeting
• Posture
• Movements
• Use of Space (e.g. furniture)
• Use of Time (time urgency) Qu

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Non-verbal Behaviour

• Kinesics (Body movements)
• Proxemics (space organisation)
• Oculesis (eye movement)
• Haptics (touching behaviour)
• Paraliguistic features (tone of voice,
  intonation, speed of talking, use of silence)

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Dangers of using English as a lingua franca

• Although the same surface language is used,
  team members continue using expressive and
  interpretive mechanisms that come from their own
  language system.
• Team members are under the false impression that
  they are sharing the same context and
  interpretation.
• There is no standard English.
• Team members sometimes act as if they understand,
  so as not to lose face. Qu

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Challenges faced by monolingual English speakers

• They tend to impose the methods and procedures
  that are common in their culture (e.g.
  brainstorming).
• They need to make themselves understood and need
  to adapt their use of English (no local idioms,
  neutral accent, slower pace, no abbreviations or
  slang.
• Qu

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Team Communication Strategies

• Negotiating and agreeing on shared meanings and
  discourse conventions
• Being explicit and checking for understanding
• Being careful about the reliability of the
  lingua franca used in the team
• Trying to create a working culture where all team
  members share the same interpretation
• Developing standards of appropriateness and norms
  that transcend cultural and linguistic
  boundaries Qu