INTERNATIONAL
MANAGEMENT
GLOBAL
Business and People
Management
Professor H. Michael Boyd, Ph.D.
Professor H. Michael Boyd, Ph.D.
Chapter Seven
Cross-Cultural Communication
and Negotiation
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Overall Communication Process
Communication
 The process of transferring meanings from sender
to receiver.
On the surface this appears straightforward
However, a great many problems can result in
the failure to transfer meanings correctly
7-5
Verbal Communication Styles
Context
 Information that surrounds a communication and
helps convey the message.
Context plays a key role in explaining many
communication differences
Messages often highly coded and implicit in
high-context societies
 Japan, many Arab countries
Messages often explicit and speaker says
precisely what s/he means in low context
societies
 U.S. and Canada
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Explicit and Implicit Communication
An International Comparison
7-7
Major Characteristics of
Verbal Styles
7-8
Verbal Communication Styles
Indirect and Direct Styles
 High-context cultures: messages implicit and
indirect; voice intonation, timing, facial expressions
play important roles in conveying information
 Low-context cultures: people often meet only to
accomplish objectives; tend to be direct and
focused in communications
7-9
Verbal Communication Styles
 Elaborate to Succinct Styles
 Three degrees of communication quantity—elaborating,
exacting, succinct
1. Elaborating style most popular in high- context cultures
with moderate degree of uncertainty avoidance
2. Exacting style focuses on precision and use of the right
amount of words to convey message; more common in
low-context, low-uncertainty-avoidance cultures
3. Succinct style more common in high-context cultures
with considerable uncertainty avoidance where people
say few words and allow understatements, pauses, and
silence to convey meaning.
7-10
Verbal Communication Styles
Contextual and Personal Styles
 Contextual style focuses on the speaker and the
relationship of parties
Often associated with high power distance,
collective, high-context cultures
 Personal style focuses on the speaker and the
reduction of barriers between parties
More popular in low-power-distance,
individualistic, low-context cultures
7-11
Verbal Communication Styles
 Affective and Instrumental Styles
 Affective style is characterized by language requiring the
listener to note what is said and to observe how the message
is presented
The meaning is often nonverbal and requires receiver to
use intuitive skills to decipher message
Common in collective, high-context cultures
 Instrumental style is goal oriented, and focuses on the sender
who clearly lets the other know what s/he wants the other to
know
More commonly found in individualistic, low-context
cultures
7-12
Verbal Styles Used in
10 Select Countries
7-13
Communication Flows
Downward Communication
 Transmission of information from manager to
subordinate.
Primary purpose of manager-initiated
communication is to convey orders/information
 Managers use this channel for instructions and
performance feedback
 Channel facilitates the flow of information to those
who need it for operational purposes
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Communication Flows
Suggestions for Communication

When communicating downward with nonnative
speakers
1.
Use most common words with their most common
meanings
2. Select words with few alternative meanings
3. Strictly follow the basic rules of grammar
4. Speak with clear breaks between words
5. Avoid using esoteric or culturally biased words
6. Avoid the use of slang
7. Don’t use words or expressions requiring the listener to
form mental images
8. Mimic the cultural flavor of the non-native speaker’s
language
9. Paraphrase and repeat basic ideas continually
10. At the end, test how well the other person understands by
asking him/her to paraphrase what has been said
7-15
Communication Flows
Upward Communication
 Transfer of meaning from subordinate to superior.
Primary purposes are to provide feedback, ask
questions, and obtain assistance
 In recent years there has been a call for more
upward communication in U.S.
 In Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore upward
communication has long been a fact of life
 Outside Asian countries, upward communication is
not as popular
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Communication Epigrams
7-17
Communication Barriers
Language barriers
 Knowledge of the language used at headquarters is
not enough
 Fluency, technical knowledge, and writing skills are
also important
Cultural barriers in language
 Cultural distance
 Letter writing
7-18
Communication Barriers
Perception
 A person’s view of reality.
Advertising Messages: countless advertising
blunders when words are misinterpreted by
others
How others see us: May be different than we
think
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U.S. Proverbs Representing
Cultural Values
7-20
The Impact of Culture
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication
 The transfer of meaning through means such as
body language and use of physical space.
 Chromatics
Use of color to communicate messages.
 Kinesics
Study of communication through body
movement and facial expression.
Eye contact
Posture
Gestures
7-21
Nonverbal Communication
 Proxemics
 Study of the way people use physical space to convey
messages.
Intimate distance used for very confidential
communications
Personal distance used for talking with family/close friends
Social distance used to handle most business transactions
Public distance used when calling across room or giving
talk to group
7-22
Nonverbal Communication
 Chronemics
 The way time is used in a culture.
 Two types
1. Monochronic time schedule: things done in
linear fashion
2. Polychronic time schedule: people do several
things at same time and place higher value on
personal involvement than on getting things done
on time
7-23
Personal Space Categories
for Those in the U.S.
7-24
Achieving Communication
Effectiveness
Improve feedback systems
Provide language training
Provide cultural training
Flexibility and cooperation
7-25
Managing Cross Cultural
Negotiations
 Negotiation
 The process of bargaining with one more parties
at arrive at solution acceptable to all.
 Two types of negotiation
1. Distributive negotiation when two parties with
opposing goals compete over set value.
2. Integrative negotiation when two groups
integrate interests, create value, invest in the
agreement (win-win scenario).
7-26
Negotiating Types and Characteristics
7-27
Negotiation Styles from a
Cross-Cultural Perspective
7-28
The Negotiation Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Planning
Interpersonal relationship building
Exchanging task related information
Persuasion
Agreement
7-29
Cultural Differences
Affecting Negotiations
 When negotiating
1. Don’t identify the counterpart’s home culture too
quickly; common cues such as accent may be
unreliable.
2. Beware of Western bias toward “doing”. Ways of
being, feeling, thinking, and talking can shape
relationships more powerfully than doing.
3. Counteract the tendency to formulate simple,
consistent, stable images.
4. Don’t assume all aspects of culture are equally
significant.
5. Recognize that norms for interactions involving
outsiders may differ from those for interactions
between compatriots.
6. Don’t overestimate familiarity with counterpart’s
culture.
7-30
Negotiation Tactics
Location
Time limits
Buyer-seller relationship
Bargaining behaviors
 Use of extreme behaviors
 Promises, threats and other behaviors
 Nonverbal behaviors
7-31
Taking IDG Across the Globe
http://atc.bentley.edu/stream.asp?url=//fall11/boyd/taking_idg_across_globe.wmv
7-32