Cross-cultural Communication (Day-1)

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Cross-cultural Communication(Day-1)

• Prof. Djamaludin Ancok, Ph.D
• Teaching Material at
• University of Innsbruck

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Why we learn cross-cultural Communication?

• Globalization, where the boundaries between
  countries have been less solid, the interaction
  of people from one country to other is enhanced.
• So many multi-national corporations whose
  employees and managements consists of people of
  from different cultures.
• Composition of population in a country such as
  USA for examples consists of many different
  ethnic groups (European, African, Mexican,
  Chinese, Indian, Pakistanis, and Arab)
• Information Technology such as internet, and
  cellular phone has been widely used for global
  communications, and change the economic theme
  into digital economy.

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US Workforce Demographics
Percent Entrants 2000-2010 Percent Departures 2000-2010
Total Men Women 100.0 49.6 50.4 100.0 55.4 44.6
White Non-Hispanic 60.6 77.4
African-American 13.7 11.8
Hispanic 17.9 7.2
Asian and Other Races 7.8 3.6
Source Kreitner Knicki, 2004
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Multinational Corporations

• Ford Motor Company
• Produced in China Europe and other countries
• Sell the car in more than 50 countries world-
  wide
• Engines comes to Kansas City from Cleveland,
  (USA), Chihuahua (Mexico) and Cologne (Germany),
  Sweden, Spain, and Britain.
• Air conditioning comes from France
• Volvo (Sweden national pride) owned partly by
  Ford.
• Mazda (Japanese Car) partly owned by Chrysler
  (USA).

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The Impact of IT on EconomyNew Economic Themes

• Knowledge
• Digitalization
• Virtualization
• Molecularization
• Integration / Internetworking
• Disintermediation

• Convergence
• Innovation
• Prosumption
• Immediacy
• Globalization
• Discordance

Source Don Tapscott, The Digital Economy,1996
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New Economic Theme (1)
Knowledge Economy. There is a shift from brawn
to brain. Knowledge becomes an important element
of product. The gap between consumers and
producers blurs. Organization Knowledge and
work becomes the basis of value, revenue,
and profit. Knowledge is added throughout value
chain. Culture Impact People of different
background should work together and shared their
knowledge
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New Economic Theme (2)
Digitalization Economy Human communication,
delivery of government programs, execution of
health care, business transactions, exchange of
funds, etc, become based on ones and
zeros. Organization Internal communication
shifts from analog (memos, reports,
meeting, telephone calls, whiteboard drawings,
blue prints, models, photog- graphs, designs,
graphic arts, etc) to digital. Culture
Impact Frequent misunderstanding and
misperception about the written information.
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New Economic Theme (3) Virtualization Economy Ph
ysical things can become virtual, changing the
metabolism of the economy, the types of
institutions and relationships possible, and the
nature of economic activity itself. Organization
Virtual corporations, teams, stockyards,
government agencies, jobs, etc . Culture
Impact The interaction of people from different
countries, different Cultures that may lead to
communication disconnect.
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New Economic Theme (4) Molecularization Economy
Replacement of the mass media, mass production,
monolithic government, by molecular media,
production, governance, etc Organization End of
command-and-control hierarchy, shifting to
team-based, molecular structures. Individual
employees and work groups are empowered or break
free act and to create value Culture Impacts Not
all culture can accept this type of
organization, In a paternalistic culture people
wait for guidance from the boss.
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New Economic Theme (5) Integration/Internetworking
Economy The new economy is a networked economy
with deep, rich inter- connections within and
between organizations and institutions.
Wealth creation, commerce, and social existence
are based on an ubiquitous public
infostructure. Organization The new enterprise
is an interworked enterprise. Achievable in the
past only through monolithic hierarchies, the new
technology now enables integration of modular,
independent, organizational components - an
integrated network services Culture
Impact Miscommunication in doing business may be
at stake if People do not understand their
overseas partner culture.
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New Economic Theme (6) Disintermediation Economy
Elimination of intermediaries in economic
activity including agents, brokers, wholesalers,
some retailers, broadcasters, record
companies, and anything that stands between
producers and consumers. Organization Elimination
of middle managers, internal agents, brokers, or
anyone else who act as boosters for the signals
that pass for communications in the preknowledge
organization. Culture Impacts In the
paternalistic culture, where people needs more
directions from their super-ordinate, this may
cause confusion.
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New Economic Theme (7) Convergence Economy Conve
rgence of key economic sectors-computing,
communications, and content Organization Converge
nce of organizational structures responsible for
the tech- nologies of computing, communications,
and content. Culture impacts People needs to be
prepared for multi-tasks
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New Economic Theme (8) Innovation Economy Innovati
on is the key driver of economic activity and
business success. Rather than traditional drivers
of success such as access to raw materials,
productivity, scale, and the cost of labor, human
imagination becomes the main source of
values. Organization Innovation is the key
driver of successful products, marketing
strategies, management approaches, organizational
changes. Old rules and approaches fail quickly.
The only sustainable advantage is organizational
learning Culture Impacts For a high power
distance culture, the innovation would
be inhibited by seniority and waiting for the
leaders direction.
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New Economic Theme (9) Prosumption Economy The
gap between consumers and producers blurs in a
number of ways. For example, consumers become
involved in the actual production process as
their knowledge, information, and ideas become
part of the product specification process. Human
collaboration on the Net becomes a part of the
international repository of knowledge. Organizati
on Consumers of information and technology become
producers. Human collaboration on the Net becomes
part of the corporate multimedia information
resource. Users become designers, creating new
software applications themselves. Many
responsibilities for technology purchasing and
implementation are dispersed. Culture Impacts In
a collectivistic culture the intermingled of
producers and customers would be easy since
people see them selves as a part of wider
community. For the individualistic culture The
sharing ideas between consumers and producers
needs more time to develop.
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New Economic Theme (10) Immediacy Economy The
new economy is a real-time economy. Commerce
becomes electronic as business transactions and
communications occur at the speed of light rather
than of the post office. Organization The new
enterprise is a -real-time enterprise-
continuously and immediately adjusting to
changing business conditions. Product life cycles
shorter. Culture Impacts In the culture where
the value of time as a economic resource is less
appreciated, then the real time business may
become a problem.
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New Economic Theme (11) Globalization Economy Kno
wledge knows no boundaries. As knowledge becomes
the key resource, there is only a world economy,
even though the individual organization operates
in a national, regional, or local setting. New
economic and political regions and structures
(such as the AFTA, NAFTA) are leading to a
decline in the importance of the nation-state and
increasing the interdependencies among
countries. Organization The new enterprise
enables time and space independence it
redefines time and space for its employees and
stakeholders. Work can be performed from a
variety of locations, including employees
homes. The network becomes a resipotary for the
time-independent communications. Networks of
business clusters cooperate globally to achieve
business objectives. Culture Impacts It is a
must to understand other cultures if we want to
succeed in doing business.
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New Economic Theme (12) Discordance Economy Mass
ive social contradictions are arising. New,
highly paid employment versus the inappropriateski
lls of laid-off workers. Gulfs are growing
between haves and haves- nots, knowers and
know-nots, those with access to the I-Way and
those without it. Organization Profound
organizational contradictions are rising. For
example, employees are told to work hard, create
the corporations value, identify with the team
and the enterprise. Culture Impacts The company
operation should care about the need of poor
peoples in the location where the company
operates (corporate social responsibility)
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Source Lane, H.W DiStefano, J.J.
International Management Behavior Boston
PWS-KENT Publishing Co. 1992.
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Source Verner, I Bremer, L Intercultural
Communication in the Global Workplace, New York
McGraw-Hiill , 2005
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Model of Cultural Assumptionand Organizational
Structure
Source Hoecklin, L. Managing Cultural
Differences. New York Addison-Wesley Coy. 1995
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Barriers to Cross-Cultural Communication

• Culture-- All human beings are captives of
  their culture
• PerceptionThe value inhibitors of
  stereotypes
• Experiencevariations in life experiences inhibit
  communication e.g. housing, religion, education
  system, eating habits, foods,

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Cross-Cultural Communication Differences

• Language Usage
• Verbal Communication Styles
• Nonverbal Communication

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Culture misunderstanding may create a high cost

• Two similar things may have a marked different
  meanings
• A case of Christmas crackers made in China, where
  the put a picture of Panda with a swastika symbol
  and sell the product in Canada.
• A case of name card in between Australian and
  Balinese business.
• To avoid this problems
• We should learn the culture of customers,
  business partners, employees, and local
  government.

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Signs of Culture Shock

• Irritability, moodiness
• Fluctuating appetite
• Reduced sex drive
• Disrupted sleep
• Homesickness
• Spending time alone
• Avoiding the locals

• Reading all day
• Boredom, low energy
• Confusion, anxiety
• Negativity, alienation
• Depression
• Physical illness
• Stereotyping

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Two Type of cultures

• On Stage Culture
• Behaviors and rituals that people show when they
  meet other people (such as shake hand, bowing,
  kissing, the distance while talking).
• Back Stage Culture
• The reasons behind a particular behavior. This is
  a belief about something, for example. If you
  dont give a business-card in a business meeting
  (because you forget to bring one) while your
  partner gives his or her card to you, it may mean
  different thing. It can be insulted for a
  particular culture (e.g. Balinese).

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Culture defined

• There are hundreds of definitions of culture. One
  of those
• Culture is the coherent, learned, shared view of
  a group of people about lifes concerns that
  ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes abut
  what things are appropriate, and dictates
  behavior.

Iris Varner Linda Beamer Intercultural
Communication In the Global Workplace, New Yor
McGraw-Hill, 2005, p.5
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Culture Defined

• Tylor E. (1871). That complex whole which
  includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws,
  customs and any other capabilities and habits
  acquired by man as a member of society.
• Herskovits M.J. (1948). The man-made part of the
  human environment. Kroeber A.L. and Kluckhohn C.
  (1952). Transmitted patterns of values, ideas and
  other symbolic systems that shape behaviour.
• van Maanen J. and Schein E.H. (1979). Values,
  beliefs and expectations that members come to
  share.
• Schwartz M.C. and Jordon D.K (1980). Pattern of
  beliefs and expectations shared by members that
  produce norms shaping behaviour.

Source Hoecklin, L. Managing Cultural
Differences. New York Addison-Wesley Coy. 1995
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Culture Defined

• Hofstede G.H. (1980). The collective programming
  of the mind which distinguishes the members of
  one human group from another.
• Louis M. R. (1983). Three aspects (1) some
  content (meaning and interpretation) (2) peculiar
  to (3) a group.
• Hall E. T. and Hall M.R. (1987). Primarily a
  system for creating, sending, storing and
  processing information.
• Harris PR. and Moran R. T. (1987). A distinctly
  human capacity for adapting to circumstances and
  transmitting this coping skill and knowledge to
  subsequent generations.
• Becker and Geer (1970). Set of common
  understandings expressed in language.

Source Hoecklin, L. Managing Cultural
Differences. New York Addison-Wesley Coy. 1995
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Culture is coherent

• Coherent means compact complete. There are
  meanings of every culture expression. To exchange
  a business-card in a business meeting means you
  respects your business partner. If you forget to
  bring yours and do not give in return, your
  partner may be insulted.

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Culture is learned

• We are not born with Culture. We learn from
  others (parent community).
• Nobody will be locked in one culture, if they
  interact with other culture, they will learn new
  culture.
• Learning other culture is one factor among others
  that lead to success in doing business.

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Culture is the view of a Group of People

• Member of a society learn the culture from their
  grandparents, parents, teachers, spiritual
  leaders, peers and representatives of legal,
  political and educational institutions. So they
  share what they learn, and they share the
  expression of culture (symbol, language, other
  artifacts) and they see them as valid
• A Sultan of Brunei shopped in one wealthy store
  in UK, and paid with a credit card. When he made
  a purchase he was asked to show his ID Card,
  since he did not bring ID Card, he showed the
  currency of Brunei where his picture is there.

Up to here
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Three Things Culture Does

• What Culture does
• Culture Ranks What is Important
• Culture Furnishes Attitude
• Culture Dictates How to Behave
• What Culture is not
• Right or wrong
• Inherited
• About individual behavior

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Trompenarr, 1995
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Culture is Perceived as Stereotype

• Though a culture has similarities among nations,
  but people mostly focus their attention to the
  extreme differences.
• Stereotyping is using extreme, exaggerated forms
  of behavior.
• Stereotype is a very limited view of the average
  behavior in a certain environment.
• A behavior of a person from a particular group,
  society, or nations tend to be generalized to all
  members of the group, society or nation.

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Source Hoecklin, L. Managing Cultural
Differences. New York Addison-Wesley Coy. 1995