Intercultural Communication for Global Business

How leaders communicate for success

Elizabeth A. Tuleja

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317361725
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

This book brings together principles and new theories in intercultural communication in a concise and practical manner, focusing on communication as the foundation for management and global leadership.

Grounded in the Cultural IntelligenceModel, this compact text examines the concepts associated with understanding culture and communication in the global business environment to help readers:

• Understand intercultural communication processes.

• Improve self-awareness and communication in intercultural settings.

• Expand skills in identifying, analyzing, and solving intercultural communication challenges at work.

• Evaluate whether one's communication has been effective.

Richly illustrated with examples, activities, real-world applications, and recent case studies that make the content come alive, Intercultural Communication for Global Business is an ideal companion for any business student or manager dedicated to communicating more effectively in a globalized society.

Part 1
Foundations of Intercultural Communication

1
Culture in Business Contexts

Commerce may be global but culture isn’t … behind businesses there are people who have biases, expectations, and a view of life which can unexpectedly determine and form multi-million dollar decisions. Understanding that culture shapes people who shape business is vital to win.

(Pedro Pina, Google, Head of Brand Solutions, Europe)

Figure 1.1 Chinese fans—the beauty of diversity

(Source: Author)

Chapter Overview

Chapter 1, Culture in Business Contexts, lays the foundation for this text by examining the questions: As leaders why should we care about the intersection of culture and business? Why are globalization and evolving demographics increasingly becoming more complex rather than simpler? What is culture? How do we identify, let alone define, something so complex and abstract? These are the key questions we will address in Chapter 1 (Figure 1.1).

Learning Objective

Understanding the nature of globalization and evolving demographics is critical for global leaders. You will examine the rationale for culture learning—the cultural imperative of the 21st century—and attempt to define the elusive nature of culture. In order to make a case for the cultural imperative, this chapter explains the historical foundations of intercultural communication by mentioning the classic works of Hall, Hofstede, Trompenaars, Kluckhohn, and others.

Key Takeaways

• – Become aware of our own attitudes and assumptions about the importance of culture in leadership.
• – Understand that global leadership comes from knowledge developed within the fields of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and intercultural communication.

Leadership Applications

• – Technical skills are not the same as interpersonal skills.
• – Leaders need to understand the impact of the “shrinking” world in that they must lead people from diverse backgrounds.

Introduction

A Cultural Faux Pas

When Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, was in South Korea and met the President Park Geun-hye for the first time, critics were “up in arms” about his behavior. He was there to build relationships, talk about nuclear energy, and promote his new start-up, TerraPower. But why was there a media frenzy?

Gates was criticized for being too casual in his initial contact with the President. When shaking her hand he kept his left hand in his pocket. Some of the press read: “The handshake that has bruised a nation”; “Plain rude”; “Ignorance or just plain disrespect?”; “Cultural difference or bad manners?”; “A disrespectful handshake or a casual friendly handshake?” There was a notable disdain for how Gates went about establishing relationships in the East (Cho, 2013).

Why would something as harmless as leaving one hand in a pocket offend someone? This is often our reaction when we do something that contradicts someone else’s expectations of proper behavior—we are incredulous that they don’t understand us. Well, from a monocultural perspective, which is looking at things from one’s myopic perspective, it shouldn’t bother anyone! However, from a multicultural perspective (being able to see things from multiple angles with regard to cultural differences), one would have to reassess exactly why the action might have caused disrespect.

In Korean culture, using one hand to shake someone else’s is considered too casual, something you would do with a good friend or someone younger. The other hand in the pocket symbolizes superiority and can be potentially rude when done in the wrong context or situation. South Korea is a hierarchical culture. This means that there are age-old traditions founded in Confucian practices that require one to respect the rank and order of relationships and then to maintain such an order.

Whose Rules?

Some have argued that you cannot expect a Western person to follow, say, a Confucian culture’s rules nor be judged by its cultural standards. Others have reasoned that he is a “casual man … not bound by customs” or that he is “one of the richest men in the world and can do whatever he wants.” But there is an appropriate protocol for such occasions when meeting with heads of state—regardless of how rich or down-to-earth you are. Knowing some of the proper decorum is vital in creating goodwill and developing lasting relationships—especially if you are trying to cultivate them. You have to take into account a person’s status, gender, and even religion, all of which are important (Irvine, 2013).

It has often been said that “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” This adage is originally attested to St. Ambrose in his liturgical advice to St. Augustine (St. Augustine had asked if he should fast on Sunday as he did in Milan—or on Saturday as was customary in Rome). St. Ambrose replied, “If you were in Rome, fast in the Roman way; if you are elsewhere, live as they do there” (WordSense, n.d.). You’ll find many sayings like this in other languages. In Chinese, the translation is “Enter village, follow customs”; in Moroccan, “Do like your neighbor or move your house door”; in Polish, “When you fly among crows, you should caw like them.” (Schaff, 1886).

Whether we shake hands, bow, or kiss someone on the cheek, it is important to be aware of the symbolism conveyed in the actual gesture. It is not only good etiquette, but smart business. Being aware of a counterpart’s specific cultural norms demonstrates respect—and that you have spent time learning in order to develop a lasting relationship. In Japan, the subordinate is expected to bow lower than the boss. In France, you kiss a friend on each cheek, but in the Netherlands, three times. In China, you are expected to give and receive business cards with both hands while commenting on the other person’s impressive credentials.

Can a cultural faux pas break a relationship or potential business deal? It depends. Can you be forgiven for a social or cultural faux pas? Of course! However, if you are to be successful as a global leader you must develop an awareness of cultural practices that carry important meaning to the people with whom you interact. You may not always get it right, but it is important to be alert and ready to adapt to the customs and practices of the people and the place you are visiting. Anything that we can do to promote respect toward a counterpart’s culture or tradition is vital. So, is greeting someone correctly a social necessity? Yes, absolutely!

This book takes what is theoretical and makes it practical. It is important to know some of the foundations, because often the soft skills of doing business are overlooked in terms of the functional aspects (the skills necessary to perform accounting or financial tasks, for example). We will discuss the foundations, because this brings credibility to you as a business leader. As you will see toward the end of this chapter, the field of management is made up of a variety of disciplines—sociology, psychology and yes, communication. All of the functional skills such as knowing accounting practices, building financial models, or developing acquisition strategies do not matter much if you cannot communicate successfully. In order to lead people, you need to develop the critical skill of communication—and that is what this book is about—helping you to begin to be aware of, understand, and then put into practice communication skills developed within an intercultural framework.

Our Changing World

Our world has shrunk dramatically. With our ability to communicate 24/7 with anyone, anywhere via the Internet and smartphones; with one keystroke that brings us immediate, streaming news from all over the world; with easy access to cheaper, faster, more comfortable air travel, we have traversed the four corners of the world. Somehow we have acquired a misguided sentiment that because the world has shrunk then it will be simpler, easier, and less complicated to interact with others. However, this is far from the truth. Despite technology, treaties, or travel, our world is more complex, ambiguous, and fast-paced than ever—and it is harder to keep up with no matter how fast one’s Internet connection is.

We are at a point in history where it is no longer possible to minimize cultural differences—it has been too easy to overemphasize commonalities and underestimate differences, and we have done just that. We are experiencing a new way of living. We have reached a point of no return with the cultural imperative—it is unavoidable, it demands our attention, it is an obligation, and it is a necessity if we are to survive.

So what does this have to do with business? Everything! On an organizational, team, and individual level, it means that we are now required to interact with people who are very different than us. We must learn to speak, listen, and even write with a greater sensitivity, flexibility, and openness to doing things on other people’s terms, not necessarily our own.

Why is Culture Important in Business?

Globalization and Business

What is globalization? In business, it is when technology, communications, trade, tariffs, migration, and labor markets open up across borders so that free trade and capital flow unhindered by national boundaries. A more technical definition would describe globalization as: the increasing interdependence among national governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individual citizens. The drivers facilitating globalization are: a) the free movement of goods, services, knowledge, and communication across national boundaries; b) the development of new technologies—think high-speed Internet and air travel; c) the lowering of tariffs and other obstacles to such movement; and d) human migration, especially from undeveloped to developed countries (Gannon, 2008).

Globalization and Society

Globalization impacts us in social and political ways as well. In the 21st century, our organizations, schools, and neighborhoods are increasingly more multicultural—we work with people of different nationalities, ethnicities, and faiths. Chances are that the person in the cubicle next to us grew up with a different language. We have round-the-clock communication—the 2014 Umbrella Revolution protests happening in Hong Kong at 7:00 pm in the evening are broadcast to us as we wake up at 7:00 am in the morning. From NYC we can hop on a plane and be in London in 8 hours, Shanghai in 14 hours, Sydney in 20 hours, Rio in 13 hours, or Dubai in 15 hours. Trade and commerce has become a global issue with the world financial crisis (the United States’ subprime mortgage debacle, Spain’s austerity measures, Greece’s debt crisis, the Eurozone crisis and the 2016 Brexit, to name a few). Migration continues to surge as people are dispersed, seeking a better life because of economic, religious, or political reasons—whether it is immigrants from Mexico, sub-Saharan Africa, Syria, or Myanmar, we can no longer turn away.

In fact, according to the UN Global Migration Statistics, in 2013, 232 million people left their homelands in search of a better life elsewhere (compared with 175 million in 2000) (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Population Division, 2013)—that is 3.2 percent of the world’s population. Two-thirds of people who migrate live in Europe (72 million) and Asia (71 million). The U.S. hosts 45.8 million foreign-born people within a total population of about 330 million—that is one-seventh of the population in the third most populous country in the world. This surge of international migrants came between 1990 and 2013, with about 23 million people leaving their homelands—about 1 million migrants per year (Thornhill, 2013).

Figure 1.2 Immigrant Population in Top Ten Countries by Millions

(Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Population Division, 2013.)

And this migration is continuing to change throughout the world as history unfolds. China has plans to move 250 million rural people to cities in the next 15 years—if this is so, 70 percent of Ch...