Communicating Across Cultures
Chapter 4
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Communicating Across Cultures
 The communication process
 The culture-communication link
 Information technology – going global and acting
local
 Managing cross-cultural communication
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What is Communication?
 Communication describes the process of sharing
meaning by transmitting messages through media
such as words, behavior, or material artifacts.
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How Do Cultural Factors Pervade the
Communication Process?
 “Culture not only dictates who talks with whom, and how
the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine
how people encode messages, the meanings they have for
messages, and the conditions and circumstances under
which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed,
or interpreted. In fact, our entire repertory of
communicative behaviors is dependent largely on the
culture in which we have been raised. Culture,
consequently, is the foundation of communication. And,
when cultures vary, communication practices also vary.”
Samovar, Porter, and Jain
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The Communication Process
(Exhibit 4-1)
Sender
Meaning Encode
Medium
Message
Receiver
Decode Meaning
Noise
Culture
Feedback
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Terms in Communication
 Intercultural communication is when a member
of one culture sends a message to a member of
another culture.
 Attribution is the process in which people look
for the explanation of another person’s behavior.
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Guidelines for Creating Trust
(as suggested by John Child)
 Create a clear and calculated basis for mutual
benefit. There must be realistic commitments
and good intentions to honor them.
 Improve predictability: strive to resolve conflicts
and keep communication open.
 Develop mutual bonding through regular
socializing and friendly contact.
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Cultural Variables Affecting Communication
 Attitudes: attitudes underlie the way we behave and
communicate and the way we interpret messages from
other people. Ethnocentric attitudes are a particular
source of noise in cross-cultural communication.
 Social Organization: our perceptions can be influenced
by differences in values, approach, or priorities relative to
the kind of social organizations to which we belong.
 Thought Patterns: The logical progression of reasoning
varies widely around the world. Managers cannot assume
that others use the same reasoning processes.
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Cultural Variables Affecting Communication
(contd.)
 Roles: societies differ considerably in their perception of
a manager’s role. Much of the difference is attributable
to their perception of who should make the decisions and
who has responsibility for what.
 Language: Spoken or written language is a frequent
cause of miscommunication, stemming from a person’s
inability to speak the local language, a poor or too-literal
translation, a speaker’s failure to explain idioms, or a
person missing the meaning conveyed through body
language or certain symbols.
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Cultural Variables Affecting Communication
(contd.)
 Nonverbal Communication: behavior that
communicates without words (although it often is
accompanied by words).
 Time: another variable that communicates culture is the
way people regard and use time.
• Monochronic time systems – time is experienced in a linear way
• Polychronic time systems – tolerate many things occurring
simultaneously and emphasize involvement with people.
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Forms of Nonverbal Communication
(Exhibit 4-4)
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Facial expressions
Body posture
Gestures with hands, arms, head, etc.
Interpersonal distance (proxemics)
Touching, body contact
Eye contact
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Forms of Nonverbal Communication
(contd.)
 Clothing, cosmetics, hairstyles, jewelry
 Paralanguage (voice pitch and inflections, rate of
speech, and silence)
 Color symbolism
 Attitude toward time and the use of time in
business and social interactions
 Food symbolism and social use of meals
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Context
 In high-context cultures, feelings and thoughts are not
explicitly expressed; instead, one has to read between the
lines and interpret meaning from one’s general
understanding.
 In low-context cultures, where personal and business
relationships are more separated, communication media
have to be more explicit. Feelings and thoughts are
expressed in words, and information is more readily
available.
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Cultural Context and its Effects on
Communication
(Exhibit 4-5)
high context/implicit
Context
High
Japan
Middle East
Latin America
Africa
Mediterranean
England
France
North America
Scandinavia
Germany
Switzerland
Low
Low
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low context/explicit
Explicitness of communication
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Guidelines for Effective Communication in
the Middle East
 Be patient. Recognize the Arab attitude toward time and
hospitality – take time to develop friendship and trust, as
these are prerequisites for any social or business
transactions.
 Recognize that people and relationships matter more to
Arabs than the job, company, or contract – conduct
business personally, not by correspondence or telephone.
 Avoid expressing doubts or criticism when others are
present – recognize the importance of honor and dignity
to Arabs.
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Guidelines for Effective Communication in
the Middle East
(contd.)
 Adapt to the norms of body language, flowery speech,
and circuitous verbal patterns in the Middle East, and
don’t be impatient to “get to the point.”
 Expect many interruptions in meetings, delays in
schedules, and changes in plans.
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Differences between Japanese and American
Communication Styles
(Exhibit 4-8)
 Japanese Ningensei Style of
Communication
• Indirect verbal and nonverbal
communication
• Relationship communication
• Discourages confrontational
strategies
• Strategically ambiguous
communication
• Delayed feedback
• Patient, longer term negotiators
• Uses fewer words
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 U.S. Adversarial Style of
Communication
• More direct verbal and
nonverbal communication
• More task communication
• Confrontational strategies
more acceptable
• Prefers more to-the-point
communication
• More immediate feedback
• Shorter term negotiators
• Favors verbosity
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Differences Between Japanese and American
Communication Styles
(Contd.)
• Distrustful of skilful verbal
communicators
• Group orientation
• Cautious, tentative
• Complementary
communicators
• Softer, heartlike logic
• Sympathetic, empathetic,
complex use of pathos
• Expresses and decodes
complex relational strategies
and nuances
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• Exalts verbal eloquence
• More individualistic
orientation
• More assertive, self-assured
• More publicly critical
communicators
• Harder, analytic logic preferred
• Favors logos, reason
• Expresses and decodes
complex logos, cognitive
nuances
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Differences Between Japanese and American
Communication Styles
(Contd.)
• Avoids decision making in
public
• Makes decision in private
venues, away from public eye
• Decisions via ringi and
nemawashi (complete
consensus process)
• Uses go-betweens for decision
making
• Understatement and hesitation
in verbal and nonverbal
communication
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• Frequent decision making in
public
• Frequent decisions in public at
negotiating tables
• Decisions by majority rule and
public compromise is more
commonplace
• More extensive use of direct
person-to-person, player-toplayer interaction for decisions
• May publicly speak in
superlatives, exaggerations,
nonverbal projection
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Differences Between Japanese and American
Communication Styles
(Contd.)
• Uses qualifiers, tentative,
humility as communicator
• Receiver/listening-centered
• Inferred meanings, looks
beyond words to nuances,
nonverbal communication
• Shy, reserved communicators
• Distaste for purely business
transactions
• Mixes social and business
communication
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• Favors fewer qualifiers, more
ego-centered
• More speaker- and messagecentered
• More face-value meaning,
more denotative
• More publicly self-assertive
• Prefers to “get down to
business” or “nitty gritty”
• Tends to keep business
negotiating more separated
from social communication
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Differences Between Japanese and American
Communication Styles
(Contd.)
• Utilizes matomari or “hints”
for achieving group
adjustments and saving face in
negotiating
• Practices haragei or belly logic
and communication
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• More directly verbalizes
management’s preference at
negotiating tables
• Practices more linear,
discursive, analytical logic;
greater reverence for cognitive
than for affective
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Managing Cross-Cultural Communication
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Developing cultural sensitivity
Careful encoding
Selective transmission
Careful decoding of feedback
Follow-up actions
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Behaviors Most Important to Intercultural
Communication Effectiveness
(as reviewed by Ruben)
 Respect (conveyed through eye contact, body posture, voice tone and
pitch)
 Interaction posture (the ability to respond to others in a descriptive,
nonevaluative, and nonjudgmental way)
 Orientation to knowledge (recognizing that one’s knowledge,
perception, and beliefs are valid only for oneself and not for everyone
else)
 Empathy
 Interaction management
 Tolerance for ambiguity
 Other-oriented role behavior (one’s capacity to be flexible and to
adopt different roles for the sake of greater group cohesion and group
communication
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Personality Factors For Effective
Intercultural Communication
(as reviewed by Kim)
 Openness – traits such as open-mindedness,
tolerance for ambiguity, and extrovertedness
 Resilience – traits such as having an internal
locus of control, persistence, a tolerance of
ambiguity, and resourcefulness
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