ctivnan
02/23/09, 02:26 PM
The cultural advantage
By Robert Gibson
Knowledge of cultural differences is a key to success in international business. Perhaps you are a frequent business traveler, or an employee going on a foreign assignment for several years. Do you need to run an international project team? Or are you involved in cross-border joint ventures or mergers? Whatever the situation, cultural skills give you an important advantage. Developing intercultural competence is a lifelong process that comes through experience as well as training and reflection. We hope that you enjoy our introduction to this fascinating topic, and that you will find it useful in your working life.
Cultural Dimensions
To understand intercultural communication, one must consider a number of aspects of communication style and other cultural dimensions.
1. Communication style
Non-verbal communication:
- Body language: which gestures are used or avoided?
- Eye contact: is it acceptable to look someone directly in the eye?
- Touch: whether we shake hands or kiss on a greeting varies widely across the world.
- Body distance: what is the acceptable “comfort zone” between people when they are talking.
- Voice patterns: intonation and tone of voice differ from language to language.
- Turn taking: in some cultures, there are often longer periods of silence between speakers, while in others, it is OK to interrupt or for several people to talk at the same time.
Context: in low-context cultures, messages are made very explicit, while in high-context cultures, people often “read between the lines.”
Directness/indirectness: is communication direct and explicit or indirect and implicit?
Person/task orientation: someone from a task-oriented culture will often work first and then get to know the other person. In person-oriented cultures, business can be done only when you have built a relationship.
2. Time
Polychronic/monochronic: in polychronic cultures, it is acceptable to do several things at the same time (such as answer your mobile phone in a meeting). In monochromic cultures, this is considered impolite.
Past/present/future: attitudes to their relative importance vary widely.
Event-related: the situation, not the clock, determines what will happen (e.g. the bus goes when the bus is full).
3. Space
How much do you socialize with your business partners? Is there a clear division between work (public space) and private life or not?
4. Uncertainty avoidance
Cultures with low uncertainty avoidance welcome the unknown, while those with high uncertainty avoidance see it as a threat.
5. Individualism/collectivism
In some cultures, people are encouraged to make individual decisions, while in others they often act as a group.
6. Power distance
This is the distance between the highest and the lowest people in the hierarchy. In low power-distance cultures, the hierarchies are often flat, while in high power-distance cultures, they are steeper.
7. Universalism/particularism
Universalist cultures focus on rules rather than on relationships, while particularist cultures focus on relationships (e.g. giving preference to family members when hiring staff.
For more information on these cultural dimensions, see Geert Hofstede’s studies of specific countries: www.geert-hofstede.com (http://english-coffee.com/www.geert-hofstede.com)
Source: Business Spotlight The Essential Series: Successful Intercultural Communication
By Robert Gibson
Knowledge of cultural differences is a key to success in international business. Perhaps you are a frequent business traveler, or an employee going on a foreign assignment for several years. Do you need to run an international project team? Or are you involved in cross-border joint ventures or mergers? Whatever the situation, cultural skills give you an important advantage. Developing intercultural competence is a lifelong process that comes through experience as well as training and reflection. We hope that you enjoy our introduction to this fascinating topic, and that you will find it useful in your working life.
Cultural Dimensions
To understand intercultural communication, one must consider a number of aspects of communication style and other cultural dimensions.
1. Communication style
Non-verbal communication:
- Body language: which gestures are used or avoided?
- Eye contact: is it acceptable to look someone directly in the eye?
- Touch: whether we shake hands or kiss on a greeting varies widely across the world.
- Body distance: what is the acceptable “comfort zone” between people when they are talking.
- Voice patterns: intonation and tone of voice differ from language to language.
- Turn taking: in some cultures, there are often longer periods of silence between speakers, while in others, it is OK to interrupt or for several people to talk at the same time.
Context: in low-context cultures, messages are made very explicit, while in high-context cultures, people often “read between the lines.”
Directness/indirectness: is communication direct and explicit or indirect and implicit?
Person/task orientation: someone from a task-oriented culture will often work first and then get to know the other person. In person-oriented cultures, business can be done only when you have built a relationship.
2. Time
Polychronic/monochronic: in polychronic cultures, it is acceptable to do several things at the same time (such as answer your mobile phone in a meeting). In monochromic cultures, this is considered impolite.
Past/present/future: attitudes to their relative importance vary widely.
Event-related: the situation, not the clock, determines what will happen (e.g. the bus goes when the bus is full).
3. Space
How much do you socialize with your business partners? Is there a clear division between work (public space) and private life or not?
4. Uncertainty avoidance
Cultures with low uncertainty avoidance welcome the unknown, while those with high uncertainty avoidance see it as a threat.
5. Individualism/collectivism
In some cultures, people are encouraged to make individual decisions, while in others they often act as a group.
6. Power distance
This is the distance between the highest and the lowest people in the hierarchy. In low power-distance cultures, the hierarchies are often flat, while in high power-distance cultures, they are steeper.
7. Universalism/particularism
Universalist cultures focus on rules rather than on relationships, while particularist cultures focus on relationships (e.g. giving preference to family members when hiring staff.
For more information on these cultural dimensions, see Geert Hofstede’s studies of specific countries: www.geert-hofstede.com (http://english-coffee.com/www.geert-hofstede.com)
Source: Business Spotlight The Essential Series: Successful Intercultural Communication