Understanding the impact of culture on
communication
Jackie Black
English UK, SW
24 October 2015
What’s your
communication style?
Personal Communication Styles
Distanced
Personal
Systematic
Organic
Formal
Proactive
Informal
Reactive
Complex
Simple
Direct
Indirect
Emotional
Neutral
Expansive
Concise
Closed
Open
Problem-oriented
Solution-focused
Encouraging
Assertive
Statement-maker
Question-maker
Content-oriented
Relation-oriented
Silent listener
Active listener
Norwegian-French styles
more consensual
more collectivist
lower energy
quieter
slower paced
linear
more patient
taking turns
concern to save face
respect shown through listening
practice first
experience admired
more egalitarian
comm. managed by the chair
more belief-based (heart)?
←→
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more competitive / confrontational
more individualist
higher energy
noisier
faster paced
circular
less patient
talking over each other
some may lose face
respect shown through engaging
theory first
intellectual argument admired
more hierarchical
comm. managed by the boss
more analytical (head)?
International dialogue patterns
1.
2.
3.
Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business, FonsTrompenaars & Charles Hampden
Turner
One view of culture
Culture and Diversity
Which one are you?
Personal perceptions
Negative:
Positive:
Coconuts see peaches as …
Peaches see coconuts as …
- superficial
- not to be taken seriously
- childish
- too playful
- in
- unapproachable
- hard
- rigid in approach
- impolite
- lacking humour
- gruff
- Unfriendly / unsociable
Coconuts see peaches as …
Peaches see coconuts as …
- open
- enthusiastic
- friendly
- humorous
- flexible
- reliable
- proper
- clear
- honest
- ustworthy
Handling diversity
Negative:
Positive:
Coconuts see peaches as …
Peaches see coconuts as …
- superficial
- not to be taken seriously
- childish
- too playful
- insincere
- unapproachable
- hard
- rigid in approach
- impolite
- lacking humour
- gruff
- Unfriendly / unsociable
Coconuts see peaches as …
Peaches see coconuts as …
- open
- enthusiastic
- friendly
- humorous
- flexible
- reliable
- proper
- clear
- honest
- trustworthy
What are the practical implications of this model?
How do we work?
Do you think you live and work in a high or
low context culture?
High
Indirect communication
Implicit messages
Context important for understanding
Avoid saying “no”
Maintain harmony
Long-term relationships
Strong personal networks
Low
Direct communication
Words contain the real meaning
Say “no”
Surface conflict
Short-term relationships
Task-based networks
Culture, directness and trust
High context
Indirect
People important
Low context
Direct
Task important
Take the “Person or task?” quiz
Task-focused or
Concentration of technical aspects of work.
Little small talk, distance from personal
questions.
Person-focused?
Concentration on relationships with people at
work.
A lot of small talk, interest in personal questions.
Interest created by information, logic,
technical data
Interest created by relationships, trust, prestige.
Customers stay with the product even if the
sales representative changes.
Customers stay with the sales representative even
if he or she changes firm.
Results have priority over harmony and
“face”.
Results come from harmony and “face”.
People with expert knowledge are valued.
People with many relationships are valued.
Distance from people who are not useful.
Distance from people who are not loyal.
Conflicts resolved by logical use of
arguments, contracts, laws and compromise.
Conflicts resolved by evidence of loyalty, prestige,
mediators, authority figures and new formulations.
People concentrate on the task.
People mix work and private life.
Friends and colleagues are kept separate.
Colleagues are also friends.
Task-focused or person-focused?
Place yourself along the line.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
If you have more in column “T”, you are
task-focused.
If you have more in column “P”, you are peoplefocused
9
10
What’s going on?
A group of German academics were meeting for a Friday afternoon seminar. A
paper was presented, after which there was a heated discussion. An American
guest professor was disturbed by the atmosphere, and had the impression that the
professors didn’t like each other at all. She was surprised that after the discussion
had ended they all left the room in a good mood, wishing each other a good
weekend.
The German professors were focused on the task at
hand (i.e. the discussion of the academic paper),
while the US colleague was concentrating on the
relationship between the people present and
misinterpreted the tone of heated discussion as
meaning that the people didn’t like each other.
Managing
Communication channels
Virtual team experiences
Relationships / Interpersonal factors
Communication
We never meet.
I can’t get hold of him.
We don’t have any chance to build a
relationship.
I don’t know what is going on.
I can’t read the body language.
I don’t really know how to work with him.
I can’t understand him.
We’re not really a team.
I don’t know what she’s thinking.
It’s difficult to build trust.
I can’t get a word in.
I contribute more than the others.
I can’t get a decision.
Task versus technology
Synchronous
Asynchronous
VoIP
Web Meetings
Video Conferencing
Audio Conferencing
Personal Webcams
Phoning
Telepresence
Threaded discussions
Messaging
SMS
Wikis
E-mail
Rich Communication
http://blog.timebarrow.com/2009/09/mediarichness-theory/
Case study: the right message?
Background: Tim (British) and Janine (Australian) are both
leaders of small teams which are part of a much bigger
multinational team spanning 5 continents.They have never
met , but have worked together on several projects in the
past. They have always communicated with each by email
because of time differences.
Situation: the current project is due to end shortly but there
are some tasks outstanding and deadlines are fast
approaching. Tim is anxious to know what is going on so
meets with Phil one of his less experienced team members
based in Kuala Lumpur. He returns to London worried and
drafts a mail to Janine.
Matching technology to task
•Relationships
•Results
•Communication
Complex collaboration
Simple
collaboration
Real-time collaboration
Delayed-time collaboration
VoIP
Web Meetings Video Conferencing
Instant Messaging
Audio Conferencing
Threaded discussions
Email Smartphones
Best practices
• Maximise any opportunity for face to face contact, especially at the
beginning of a project to allow for relationship building
• Don’t rely too much on email. Use email for information exchange
not sensitive communication.
• Avoid giving any kind of feedback via email where possible.
• Book phone calls well in advance because task and time-oriented
people may not cope well with unexpected calls.
• In virtual projects, use the phone to build relationships but also
consider using on-line presentations to bring the team together.
• Use conference calls for top-down messages as it allows the team to
respond personally.
• Communicate frequently to ensure everyone knows what’s going on.
• Remember the acronym KISS in all forms of communication.
Native English speakers
Do
•
Speak slowly and build in more pauses
•
Use simple words and sentences (active vs passive / if / complex frames)
•
Articulate clearly and project strongly
•
Take care with contractions, weak forms and ends of words
•
Avoid unnecessary filling phrases
•
Reformulate, summarise, and check understanding often
•
Facilitate others
•
Listen to other people and listen to yourself
•
Ask someone for clarification if you don’t really understand their point
Don’t
•
Try to be funny
•
Be ambiguous
•
Make local (i.e. British / American etc.) cultural references
•
Use idiom, colloquial expression or complicated grammatical forms
•
Dominate the talking time with overlong interventions
What the
British
say ...
Thanks for listening!
Any questions?
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Building relationships
• What is do we mean?
• Why is it important?
• How good are you at it?
• What skills do you need to exercise it?
• What advice would you give someone who
needed to improve their relationship building
skills?
DIVERSITY
Leadership and
organisational
characteristics
Germany
UK
Spain
Switzerland
(D)
North America
Technical
expertise
Status driven
‘Serious’
Generalists
Pragmatic attitude
False modesty’
Personal,
charismatic and
creative (not
‘position’ based)
Sophisticated
manner
‘Job-hopping’
generalists
Inspirational
Open door policy
Informality
Territorial
Collectivist
Teamwork
Planning
Professional
communication
Relationships
On the surface ...
flatter
hierarchies than
others
Personal
alliances
(Benevolent
autocracy)
Networking
behind the scenes
‘Upward and
downward flow
Measured roles
Opportunity to
outperform
Specialists with
clear roles led
by responsible
experts
Individualist
orientation but
belief in
collaboration and
participative
decision-making
Building
personal
relationships to
support doing
the task
Structured with
time for
relationships
Individualists with
A-team ethic
Detailed
Analytical
Rule-bound
Consensusoriented
Increasing
systematic approach
Risk tolerant
Value flexibility
and creativity
Detailed and
methodical
Action oriented
Short termism
Structured
Formal
Data focused
Implicit
feedback
Pragmatic and
harmony seeking
Humour
Linguistic
cleverness
Unstructured,
creative
and showy
Task-based and
structured
‘Can do’
Positive feedback
Self-marketing
‘Authentic
coconuts’
Polite and indirect
Personal warmth
although some
initial
reservation
‘More easy going
than Germany.’
‘Friendly peaches.’
Positive and
enthusiastic
Direct and
Indirect
Expressive show
Belief in
Tough
1. Time Zones and Languages
•81% indicated time zones presented the greatest general hurdle to
virtual teams
•64% who found language (accents and dialects) to be a barrier
2. Communication style
•94% said the inability to read non-verbal cues is very challenging
•90% stated the absence of face-to-face contact interfered with the
ability to build a relationship (which is perceived as a challenge facing
virtual teams)
•81% said being virtual made it more difficult to establish trust and
rapport
3. Cultural differences
• 80% said that virtual teams slowed down decision making
•77% were hampered by different leadership styles
•76% felt the method of decision-making was a challenge
April 2010, RW3 CultureWizard:randomly selected employees of multinational corporations. 600 completed surveys
 Ask questions to move the group forward
in its discussions.
Just feel free to give any ideas ...
Let’s just collect a few ideas to begin ...
Just say what’s in your mind about ...
No decision has been made so feel free to ...
 Make people feel comfortable to speak.
What would be a good way to proceed here?
Should we focus more on ...
Could we move onto to look at ...
I think time is pressing and we should discuss ...
 Paraphrase what others have said to confirm
your (or others’) understanding.
So if I understood you correctly, you mean that ...
So for you the most important thing is ...
To summarise what you just said, ...
Just to make sure I understand, you’re saying that ...
 Bridge between the thoughts and ideas of
others so as to move the whole group forward.
 Encourage alternative viewpoints from others.
John, you said this. Alex, you said that. Peter, any
comments?
Luis, what do you think about Bob’s idea?
Can we take the best of these ideas and think about ...
If we keep these ideas in mind, let’s move onto look at ...
Could you play devil’s advocate for a moment?
Sue, is there another way of looking at this?
Luana, how would a customer think about this?
If we put ourselves into their shoes, what would ...
Using instant messaging
Processing the input (overview, documented complaints, anecdotal comments)
Establishing connections for messaging / emailing
Storming to norming - how to move towards a consensualised document
(agenda)
Carrying out process
Agreeing on final output
•Writing strips out the EMOTION so it removes the expressive element of
communication (voice, verbal discussion, interaction, rhetoric).
•BUT... It enhances the procedural aspects of the task because it imposes certain
linguistic rules and boundaries in terms of comprehensiveness and
appropriateness. It is multi-directional among 4 or 5 people and, if done with
commitment and a positive and collaborative attitude, it can be a powerful and
effective mode of communication.
•For those with less fluency in the language, greater opportunity for articulation
and intervention
Critical incidents
1.Team members from Sweden are losing patience with their French colleague.
During teleconference meetings he never sticks to the point and keeps dominating
and side-tracking the discussion with over-complex arguments. A great deal of time
is wasted and often outcomes are not reached. The Swedes decide to set
communication guidelines regarding meeting process to be implemented next
month.
2. A team member from Italy finds her colleague from Finland very cold
because he says very little and answers simply ‘Yes’ and nothing more to
the personal questions she asks him in an attempt to make small talk at the
beginning of their weekly conference call .
3. A U.S. manager working on an international project decides to praise a
Japanese team member who has done a good job in front of his
international colleagues during the next video conference call.
Afterwards, he reflects that the Japanese colleague seemed
uncomfortable with this approach.
Critical incidents 2
4. Simone is horrified following a contract negotiation in Beijing. She had arrived
home following a meeting when there was explicit verbal agreement about
changes to the scope of her project, and sent an email to her Chinese colleagues
confirming the agreement. In her inbox is an email refusing to accept that an
agreement was reached. It even states that some discussions summarised by
Simone never took place.
5.Sylvie, a project leader from Germany, is irritated by her British colleagues. They
often deliver engaging presentations to the Steering Committee of the project which
are accepted. But when the German team has to implement the ideas they find that
they are not well thought out and lack detail. Sylvie begins to see her British
colleagues as unprofessional and playing games to win influence in the project. She
tells her team to be careful of close collaboration with their British colleagues
6.Jack is a controller in New York. He has asked a local country manager in
India to supply key data several times. Despite promises made on the phone
the week before, nothing has happened. Jack decides to escalate the matter
to his board member in order to speed up the process
Useful References
1. The International Profiler by World Work
(psychometric tool for assessing people’s challenges when
working internationally)
2. Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity
by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner
3. The peach and the coconut analogy; Fons Trompenaars and
Susanne Zaninelli
4. Cultural dimensions by Geert Hofstede