CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

BY:- DAVID C. THOMAS

PRESENTER: RAI (NEPAL)

DEPARTMENT OF IDC

28th Oct. 2010

“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit”- Jawaharlal Neharu

REVIEW OF CHAPTER 6

THE MANAGER AS NEGOTIATOR

Communicating and Negotiating Across Cultures

What is cross-cultural communication?

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION PROCESS

“Communication is the act of transmitting messages, includinginformation about the nature of the relationship, to anotherperson who interprets these messages and gives them meaning”(Berlo, 1960).

Cultural field Cultural field

(source: J.L. Graham, 1985)

Sender Encoding Channel Decoding Receiver

WAYS OF CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Language

Symbolic code consisting of a set of sounds with understood meanings and a set of rules for constructing messages.

Importance of Language

- Negotiate issues related to International business

- Recognize and understanding of cultural diversity

- Tools to share thoughts and ideas

- Represents of a fundamental expression of social identity.

Communication pictures (Source: Himalayan White House College www.whitehouse.edu.np)

Contd. Source: World Bank Conference, (5 September 2000) www.worldbank.org/conference/php5

Communication Style

Explicit Vs Implicit Communication

- High context communication (HC) ~ Implicit(Japan, China, Arab)

In high context cultures, the words convey only a small part of the message

- Low context communication (LC) ~ Explicit(German, Swiss, Scandinavian, French, English, Italian)

In low-context cultures, the message is conveyed largely by the words spoken

Direct Vs Indirect CommunicationDIRECT (linear) “What you see is what you get” More verbal and

explicit Clarity of communication.

• Directness is associated with individualist cultures, which hasfreedom from control.

• Direct communication expresses truth

INDIRECT (circular) “What you get is what you manage to see”More attention to situation Not much talk, more non-verbal

• Indirectness is associated with Collectivists cultures.

• In collectivist culture , politeness and desire to avoidembarrassment often take precedence over truth.

Silence & Verbal Overkill

• Cultural difference exist in how silence is used in communication.

• Collectivist culture value silence as way of controlling the communication interaction.

e.g. Japanese negotiators

Finland people

Use of Praise

• Stylistic element that has a systematic relationship to culture isthe use of praise and response to the praise (Triandis, 1978).

Other Language Considerations

Slang & Jargon - informal language consisting of words and expressions

Euphemisms – Less direct expression

Idioms – unique ways of combining words to express a particular thought.

Proverbs & Maxims – Short sayings express that obviously true

Language Pragmatics

Language Accommodation – shifting one’s speech patterns to achieve greater language similarity.

Stylistic accommodation – Idea that adapting one’s communication style to that of others.

Language fluency

CONCLUSION

Effective communication is an important and obvious mean inmulticultural environment. For the management of themulticultural work force, Globalization of market inInternational Business, Technological advancement andconflict management that occur due to the culturaldifferences, there should be effective negotiation whichManagers can do, so as to call managers are Negotiator.

CRITICAL ISSUES

1. Recent days, To be competitive in an increasingly globalized market sector, Some organizations trying to hire employees from overseas who has totally different cultural backgrounds.

- What problems will emerge due to the cultural variation ?