The Cross-Cultural Dimensions of Business Communication

Cross-cultural communication occurs when a person from one culture sends a message to a person from another culture. Cross-cultural miscommunication occurs when the person from the second culture does not receive the sender’s intended message. The greater the differences between the sender’s and the receiver’s cultures, the greater the chance for cross-cultural miscommunication.

Cross-cultural communication has become strategically important to companies due to the growth of global business, technology and the Internet. Understanding cross-cultural communication is important for any company that has a diverse workforce or plans on conducting global business. This type of communication involves an understanding of how people from different cultures speak, communicate and perceive the world around them.

Cross-cultural communication in an organization deals with understanding different business customs, beliefs and communication strategies. Language differences, high-context vs. low-context cultures, nonverbal differences, and power distance are major factors that can affect cross-cultural communication.

Geography

In a time of international corporations and foreign outsourcing, business teams are spanning continents. Employees in the Americas may find themselves working closely with people in India, Japan and France all at once. Finding common ways of working together can be challenging especially when communication is primarily through email and occasional video conferences. Companies that elect to outsource and operate international offices have to consider guidelines, protocols and significant education on communication and working together. Otherwise, employees can easily find themselves struggling to work together, and productivity suffers.

Considerations

When conducting business internationally, entrepreneurs learn that cultures have different expectations and protocols when it comes to meetings and interpersonal discussions. Cultures such as those of Japan and China have strong power distance values, and much of the speaking and interaction is done by the most senior member of a group. In fact, it may be inappropriate for someone lower in your organization to speak to a leader in theirs. Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian cultures consider socialization and getting to know one another a very important part of in-person meetings. Therefore, the American standard of “getting down to business” may hit a wall with cultures that consider building trust between parties essential to the business process.

Misconceptions

Phrases and ideas don’t always translate. Numerous companies have found that selling their products in foreign markets has meant changing slogans and branding strategies to meet the tastes of a new target demographic. For example, in many third-world countries, fast-food restaurants are actually expensive to the local population. The low-cost and good value strategies often used in the United States have to be changed to present fast food as a premium product. In another example, products that may be sold with sexually themed or suggestive marketing in North America and European countries may have to be revamped for sales in Middle Eastern and Asian countries where such messages are offensive.

Effects

A diverse population means adapting sales and marketing communications to the various populations that make up the United States. Many companies recognize that varying demographics in different cities, regions and even neighborhoods mean having to come up with different communication approaches. As a result, you may notice billboards in Spanish in some neighborhoods or a national retail chain using more television advertising in one region and more print ads in another.

Impact

Misinterpretations: Expressions and thoughts don’t generally decipher. Various organizations have discovered that selling their items in remote markets has implied changing motto and marking procedures to meet the flavors of another objective statistic. For instance, in some underdeveloped nations, drive-through joints are really costly to the nearby populace. The minimal effort and great esteem procedures regularly utilized in the United States must be changed to exhibit inexpensive food as a top-notch item. In another model, items that may be sold with explicitly themed or suggestive promoting in North America and European nations may be patched up for deals in Middle Eastern and Asian nations where such messages are hostile.

Consideration: When leading business globally, business people discover that cultures have different desires and conventions with regard to gatherings and relational dialogues. Cultures, for example, those of Japan and China have solid power separate qualities, and a significant part of the talking and connection is finished by the most senior individual from a gathering. Indeed, it may be wrong for somebody lower in your organization to address a pioneer in theirs. Center Eastern and Southeast Asian cultures think about socialization and becoming more acquainted with each other a significant piece of face to face gatherings. Thus, the American standard of “getting serious” may reach a stopping point with cultures that consider building trust between gatherings basic to the business procedure.

Barriers to Effective Multicultural Communication

Obviously, not all cultures are similar. Some find the daily challenges of responding to another culture to be too stressful and overwhelming. If possible, such individuals will choose to return to their cultural origin; if they cannot do so, various kinds of maladaptive adjustments, or even mental illness, can occur. People misunderstand each other for a wide variety of reasons, and these misunderstandings can occur between people who are culturally similar as well as those who are different and for the communication to be effective it is important that message should be decoded with the perception of the encoder.

Reasons

1. Formation of “US” and “THEM” Groups

The step in the development of stereotypes is the categorisation of people in to two groups: “us” (in-group) and “them” (out-group). This happens all the time, and we often don’t realise it. The groups are formed along a wide variety of diversity dimensions such as race/ethnicity, gender, age, nationality, religion, geographic location, family status, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and physical characteristics.

1. Preference for the In-group

The second step consists of the natural tendency to prefer the group of which one is a member (in-group). It makes sense that we would come to prefer the group that we are constantly a part of. These bonds are usually drawn based on geography and the community.

1. Illusion of Out-group Homogeneity

The third step is where actual stereotyping takes place. Simply stated, we tend to perceive members of out-group to be more like one another than members of our in-group. This is probably because we have the opportunity to directly experience the diversity within the in-group while we have limited experience interacting with members of the out-group.

2. Lack of Understanding: Another major barrier is the lack of understanding that is frequently present between people from different backgrounds and this barrier is very common among the cross-culture people. Because people may have differences in values, beliefs, methods of reasoning, communication styles, work styles, and personality types, communication difficulties will occur. In order to avoid this barrier, each party must have a clear and accurate understanding of the thoughts, feelings, ideas, values, styles, desires and goals of other person and many of us are not very effective at getting to understand the ways in which others may differ.
3. Judgmental Attitudes: The third major barrier includes the judgmental attitudes of us have when it comes to interacting with people who are different. Because all the time we interact with other culture people; we set the standard of our culture and compare with it. Most of us would like to believe we are open minded and accepting. But in reality, a great many of us find discomfort with those who are different in terms of values, beliefs and behaviours. We may then evaluate them in a negative light. This is the essence of ethnocentrism, where we evaluate good and bad, right and wrong relative to how closely the values, behaviours and ideas of others mirror our own. We must suspend judgment about their ways, and try to get to understand them from their perspective.

High- vs. Low-Context Culture

The concept of high- and low-context culture relates to how an employee’s thoughts, opinions, feelings, and upbringing affect how they act within a given culture. North America and Western Europe are generally considered to have low-context cultures. This means that businesses in these places have direct, individualistic employees who tend to base decisions on facts. This type of businessperson wants specifics noted in contracts and may have issues with trust.

High-context cultures are the opposite in that trust is the most important part of business dealings. There are areas in the Middle East, Asia and Africa that can be considered high context. Organizations that have high-context cultures are collectivist and focus on interpersonal relationships. Individuals from high-context cultures might be interested in getting to know the person they are conducting business with in order to get a gut feeling on decision making. They may also be more concerned about business teams and group success rather than individual achievement.

Jack and Yamato ran into some difficulties during their business negotiations. Jack spoke quickly and profusely because he wanted to seal the deal as soon as possible. However, Yamato wanted to get to know Jack, and he felt that Jack spoke too much. Yamato also felt that Jack was only concerned with completing the deal for his own self-interest and was not concerned with the overall good of the company. Jack’s nonverbal cues did not help the negotiations either.

Nonverbal Differences

Gestures and eye contact are two areas of nonverbal communication that are utilized differently across cultures. Companies must train employees in the correct way to handle nonverbal communication as to not offend other cultures. For example, American workers tend to wave their hand and use a finger to point when giving nonverbal direction. Extreme gesturing is considered rude in some cultures. While pointing may be considered appropriate in some contexts in the United States, Yamato would never use a finger to point towards another person because that gesture is considered rude in Japan. Instead, he might gesture with an open hand, with his palm facing up, toward the person.