- Modern business requires dealing with other cultures
- Shapes values, priorities, and practices
Successful Intercultural Communicator
- Aware of the values, beliefs, and practices in other cultures
- Sensitive to differences among individuals within a culture
- Aware that preferred values and behaviors are influenced by cultures and are not necessarily “right.”
- Sensitive to verbal and nonverbal behavior
- Flexible and open to change
Importance of Global Business
Video clip: "A Rude Introduction" (3 min 10 sec)
High-Context and Low-Context Cultures
- Values, Beliefs & Practices
- Often unconscious
- Affect response to people and situations
- Different cultures have different views of - Fairness - Competition - Success - Social status
International Business Communication
- Beyond a set of rules
- International business practices are constantly evolving/changing
- Seek out and talk to people from other backgrounds
- Enhance understanding of multiple perspectives
Writing to International Audiences
- Write in English unless fluent in audience’s language
- Buffer negative messages; make requests indirect
- Re-think audience benefits
- Allow extra response time
Nonverbal Communication
- Communication without words
- Signals such as smiles and gestures
- Can be misinterpreted as easily as words
- Important to be conscious of signals sent and received
Time
Monochronic culture
- Highly scheduled cultures,
- People focus on clock,
- Plan their time; avoid wasting it
- Time communicates importance,
- Lots of importance placed on punctuality
- Poor schedule adherence is interpreted as arrogance or incompetence
- If you live in the United States, Canada, or Northern Europe, you live in a monochronic culture.
Polychronic culture
- People focus on relationships
- Disregard clocks and planners
- Schedule and agendas are viewed as goals, not binding
- Promptness is not as important as completing a human interaction
- As a result, interruptions will delay appointments
- Forcing someone to wait is not intended as an insult
- If you live in Latin America, the Arab part of the Middle East, or sub-Sahara Africa, you live in a polychronic culture.
Voice Qualities: Stress and Volume
- Stress—emphasis given to one or more words...
- I’ll give you a raise. “…another supervisor wouldn’t”
- I’ll give you a raise. “…yes, but I really don’t agree”
- I’ll give you a raise. “…nobody else gets one”
- I’ll give you a raise. “…but just one”
- I’ll give you a raise. “…but nothing else you want”
- I’ll give you a raise. “…you deserve it”
- I’ll give you a raise. “…the raise will please both of us”
Personal space - distance one likes between self and others
- Lots: North Americans - North Europeans - Asians
- Little: Arabs - Latin Americans - French - Italians
- Some people more comfortable with touch than others
The middle finger in west may mean another thing in the east. A clip of the best and fascinating gestures from around the world, taken from BBC documentary the human animal- language of the body.
Portions attributed to Locker, Kitty O. and Donna Kienzler. Business and Administrative Communication, 8/e. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 2008.
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