Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Communication
BC - 1
The growing importance
• Globalization
Satisfying customers’ needs
Gaining additional business
Getting along with co-workers
Hiring Good People
Avoiding misinterpretations
Impacts the way strategic moves are presented.
Influences management, decision making, negotiations
Culture makes international business difficult or easy
Main features of culture:
Culture is shared
Culture is intangible
Culture is confirmed by others
Culture is dynamic
Key Features
• Cultural Etiquette –
the manners and behavior that are expected in a given situation
• Cultural Stereotypes –
our beliefs about others, their attitudes and behavior
• Ethnocentrism –
looking at the world from a perspective shaped by our own culture
• Relativism –
all cultures are good
Cultural sensitivity
Self-reference criteria
Cultural Intelligence
Universal cultural variables
• Kinship
• Economy
• Recreation
• Religion
• Politics
• Education
Diverse Dimensions
• Hofstede Model
Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication, developed by Geert Hofstede. It
describes the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a
structure derived from factor analysis.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
• 1) Power Distance
• 2) Uncertainty Avoidance
• 3) Individualism
• 4) Masculinity
• 5) Long-term orientation
• 6) Time Perspective
Power distance - The extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and
organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally
• Uncertainty avoidance – The extent to which members of a society
feel threaten by uncertain or unknown situations.
Uncertainty Avoidance
Low stress – subjective feeling of well-being High stress – subjective feeling of anxiety
1) Power Distance
Aggression and emotions must not be shown Aggression and emotions may be shown at
proper times 2) Uncertainty Avoidance
Comfortable in ambiguous situations and with
unfamiliar risk Fear of ambiguous situations and of 3) Individualism
unfamiliar risk
There should not be more rules than necessary
Precision and punctuality have to be Emotional need for rules, even if they never 4) Masculinity
learned work
5) Long-term orientation
Tolerance to innovation Motivation by Precision and punctuality come
naturally
achievement Implications
Resistance to innovation Motivation
by security Criticism
Uncertainty Avoidance
Greece
Japan Hofstede’s dimensions
US UK 4) Masculinity
India
Denmark 5) Long-term orientation
Singapore
Implications
Low Criticism
Individualism
Culture defined
Hofstede’s dimensions
1) Power Distance
Individualism – The tendency of people to look after themselves and their
2) Uncertainty Avoidance
immediate family and neglect the needs of society
3) Individualism
4) Masculinity
5) Long-term orientation
Implications
Criticism
Individualism
Implications
Low Criticism
Masculinity
Culture defined
Hofstede’s dimensions
1) Power Distance
Masculinity – The tendency within a society to emphasize traditional gender
2) Uncertainty Avoidance
roles
3) Individualism
4) Masculinity
5) Long-term orientation
Implications
Criticism
Masculinity
People and warm relationships are important Money and things are important
1) Power Distance
Sympathy for the weak
In family, both fathers and mothers deal with Sympathy for the strong 2) Uncertainty Avoidance
facts and feelings In family, fathers deal with facts and mothers 3) Individualism
Stress on equality, solidarity , and quality of with feelings
work life Stress on equity, competition among 4) Masculinity
colleagues and performance
5) Long-term orientation
Managers use intuition and strive Managers are expected to be
for consensus decisive and assertive
Implications
Resolution of conflicts by compromise Resolution of conflicts by fighting them out
and negotiation
Criticism
Masculinity
Mexico
1) Power Distance
Germany
UK 2) Uncertainty Avoidance
US
Arabia 3) Individualism
France
4) Masculinity
Korea
Portugal 5) Long-term orientation
Denmark
Sweden
Implications
Low Criticism
Long- term orientation
Culture defined
Hofstede’s dimensions
1) Power Distance
2) Uncertainty Avoidance
Long- term orientation – A basic orientation towards time that
values patience 3) Individualism
4) Masculinity
5) Long-term orientation
Implications
Criticism
Long- term orientation
Culture defined
Short- term orientation Long-term orientation
Hofstede’s dimensions
Respect for traditions Adaptation of traditions to a modern
context 1) Power Distance
Criticism
High-context culture and the low-context culture
- Edward T. Hall
Higher-context culture
Many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain.
Afghans, African, Arabic, Brazilian, Chinese, Filipinos, French, Indian, Indonesian, Italian, Russian …
Low-context culture
The communicator needs to be much more explicit and the value of a single word is less important.
Australian, Dutch, English, German, New Zealand, United States …
Ways that High and Low Context Differ
The Structure of Relationships
High: Dense, intersecting networks and longterm relationships, strong boundaries, relationship more important than task
Low: Loose, wide networks, shorter term, compartmentalized relationships, task more important than relationship
Main Type of Cultural Knowledge
High: More knowledge is below waterline - implicit, patterns that are not fully conscious, hard to explain even if you are a member of that
culture
Low: More knowledge is above waterline - explicit, consciously organized
Eye Contact
In USA, the easiest, most effective way to connect with people is to look them into
the eye.
Most people in Arab culture share a great deal of eye contact and may regard too
little as disrespectful.
In English culture, a certain amount of eye contact is required, but too much makes
many people uncomfortable.
In South Asian and many other cultures direct eye contact is generally regarded as
aggressive and rude.
Gesture
•A motion of the hands, head or body to emphasize an idea or emotion.
USA=OK JAPAN=MONEY
RUSSIA=ZERO BRAZIL=INSULT
Same Gestures can be treated differently in different cultures
Relation Varies
• Time
• Space
• Odors
• Frankness
• Social hierarchy
• Workplace values
• Social behavior
• Language
Solutions
• Research
• Know yourself and your company
• Be aware of stereotypes
• Adapt to audience
• Be open to change