Lost in Translation

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HOW MANY WAYS DO YOU SEE THE WORLD?
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OVERVIEW Globalization and Engineers Engineers
and Global Competence Cross-Cultural Factors

• Preparing Scientists and Engineers in the Global
  Marketplace
• Prepared by
• Christine B Burgoyne
• Marie C. Paretti

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QUESTION

• Do nationality and cultural differences play a
  significant role in the practice of engineering?

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What is Global Competence? Gary Downey (VT,
Engineering Cultures)

• Work productively with radically different
  cultures
• Communication across cultures
• Be exposed to foreign cultures
• Appreciate people, culture, and engineering
  practices of other nations
• Increasing awareness of and ability to negotiate
  cultural differences to achieve productive and
  harmonious relationships in the working
  environment
• Effectively engaging different ways of thinking
  about and understanding work that differ from
  your own

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How do we gauge cultural differences?

• High Context Cultures

• Low Context Cultures

• Sense of Self Space

• Dress and Appearance

• Food and Eating Habits

• Time

• Relationships and Task

• Hierarchies and Decision-Making

• Mental Processes

• Verbal and Nonverbal Communications

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Verbal Communication The Meaning(s) of Yes

• Agreement Lets do this
• Maybe Ill think about it and talk it over with
  others
• Deference You are above me hierarchically, so
  I say yes to whatever you say.

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Body Language and Gestures

• Greetings
• Beckoning
• Touching
• Posture
• Other non-verbal gestures

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Thought Patterns
Chinese Japanese Korean Vietnamese
Spanish French Italian
English
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Hierarchies and Decision-Making
Negotiation is paramount
Decision is paramount
Hierarchy is criticalAuthority is
centralized Decisions are collective
Hierarchy is flexible Authority is
loose Decisions are individual
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Relationships and Tasks
People are paramount Establish relationships
first
Tasks are paramount Work is about productivity,
not socializing
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TIME
Linear Active
Multi-Active
Cyclic Time
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Linear Active
Time is Money!
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Multi-Active
Human Transactions are a Priority.
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Cyclic Time
Time is an infinite Resource.
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Individualist/Low-Context Cultures

• Messages are explicit, directly, and completely
  encoded in words
• Responsibility for own individual actions
• Problems are objectified and externalized
• Individuals take blame for failure to solve
  problems and/or for causing problems

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Collectivist/High Context Cultures

• Rely on context (physical environment or
  internalized social context)
• Messages can be indirect, elliptical, and/or
  allusive
• Problems are not an individual responsibility
• Blame is generalized to the group
• Problems are a part of the context

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Managing Conflicts Decisions

• Low-Context cultures
• Define Resolve
• Verbalize and Discuss talk it out the defined
  problem and resolution
• Collectivist cultures
• Conflict openly identified threatens the harmony
  of the group
• Actions to compensate and restore harmony

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How do we gauge cultural differences?

• High Context Cultures

• Low Context Cultures

• Sense of Self Space

• Dress and Appearance

• Food and Eating Habits

• Time

• Relationships and Tasks

• Beliefs, Values, and Norms

• Mental Processes

• Verbal and Nonverbal Communications

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Important Cultural Variables for Scientists and
Engineers

• Standards
• Approaches to Problem Solving
• Hiring Process and Hierarchies in companies
• Patent Protection
• Interpretation and Collection of Data

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Ethical Issues in Cultural Conflicts

• When do you know if its a cultural norm or a
  personality issue?
• How do you avoid stereotyping?
• Should it always be a do what the Romans do
  case to avoid conflict?

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Books/Texts   Nancy Hoft Consulting http//www.wor
ld-ready.com/biblio.htm   Axtell, Roger E. Do's
and Taboos Around the World. New York John Wiley
Sons, 1993. A classic. This book offers a
helpful and humorous look at how people around
the world behave and respond. All told through
American eyes. ---. The Do's and Taboos of Body
Language Around the World. New York New York
John Wiley Sons, 1998. Another helpful book
that offers tips to people who travel
internationally and also those who create
graphics and icons of people and hand gestures.
Ferraro, Gary P. The Cultural Dimension of
International Business. Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Prentice Hall, 1997. Written by a cultural
anthropologist for business professionals.
Excellent introduction to cultural anthropology
and how its research can help in understanding
cross-cultural encounters in business.
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Books/Texts   Hall, Edward T. Beyond Culture. New
York Anchor Books, 1981. Hall's writings have
been extremely influential in international
business and cross-cultural communication.This
book, outlines his thoughts on contexting. ---.
The Dance of Life. New York Anchor Books, 1983.
Discusses time and culture. ---. The Hidden
Dimension. New York Anchor Books, 1990.
Discusses space and culture. ---. The Silent
Language. New York Anchor Books, 1981.
Discusses non-verbal communication and culture.
Hall, Edward T., and Mildred Reed Hall.
Understanding Cultural Differences Germans,
French, and Americans. Yarmouth Intercultural
Press, 1990. Compares three cultures in a
business setting. Useful to anyone who travels on
business to these countries and who works with
people from these countries.
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Books/Texts   Randlesome, Collin, William
Brierly, Kevin Bruton, Colin Gordon, and Peter
King. Business Cultures in Europe. Boston
Butterworth-Heinemann, Ltd, 1990. Offers a
perspective on the business cultures in seven
countries West Germany, France, Italy, the U.K.,
Spain, and The Netherlands. The descriptions of
each country are organized identically. One
section of particular interest is "Business,
education, training and development," which could
offer some insight into target users,
expectations, and cultural differences.
Stewart, Edward C., and Milton J. Bennett.
American Cultural Patterns A Cross-Cultural
Perspective. Rev. ed. Yarmouth, ME Intercultural
Press, 1991. A classic study of US Americans.
Invaluable information on four cultural
dimensions that are central to understanding US
Americans. Equally invaluable to US Americans who
want to understand their cultural context and how
people from other countries might interpret and
respond to their actions.  
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Books/Texts   Tannen, Deborah. "The Pragmatics of
Cross-Cultural Communication." Applied
Linguistics 5 (1984) 189-195. Focuses on how
people in different cultures communicate through
conversation, including such aspects as timing,
content, pace, listenership, intonation, and
cohesion. Tromenaars, Fons. Riding the Waves of
Culture Understanding Cultural Diversity in
Business. London Nicholas Brealey Publishing,
Ltd., 1998. The result of many years of
research, this book provides quantitative and
qualitative data on cultural diversity.
Trompenaars offers a model of culture that looks
at seven international variables. An excellent
and contemporary resource. Victor, David A.
International Business Communication. New York
Harper Collins Publishers, 1992. Introduces the
LESCANT model for studying business communication
across cultures. LESCANT is an initialism of
these words Language, Environment and
technology, Social organization, Contexting,
Authority conception, Nonverbal behavior, and
Temporal conception. This model offers valuable
ideas for analyzing a target audience.
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Books/Texts     Adler, Nancy J. International
Dimensions of Organizational Behavior.
South-Western Pub., 1996.   Deresky, Helen.
International Management Managing Across Borders
and Cultures. New York Harper Collins, 1994.
Granrose, Cherlyn Skromme and Stuart Oskamp,
ed. Cross-Cultural Work Groups. Thousand Oaks,
CA Sage Publications, 1997. Moran, Robert T.
and Philip R. Harris. Managing Cultural
Differences. Gulf Publishing Company, 1996.
  Usunier, Jean-Claude. International Marketing
A Cultural Approach. New York Prentice Hall,
1993.    
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