...International Dimensions in Organizational Behavior | Cross-Cultural Communication INTRODUCTION "We didn't all come over on the same ship, but we're all in the same boat." – Bernard Baruch, American financier and statesman. The Internet and modern technology have opened up new marketplaces that allow us to promote our businesses to new geographic locations and cultures. And given that it can now be as easy to work with people remotely as it is to work face-to-face, cross-cultural communication is increasingly the new norm. For those of us who are native English-speakers, it is fortunate that English seems to be the language that people use if they want to reach the widest possible audience. However, even for native English speakers, cross-cultural communication can be an issue: Just witness the mutual incomprehension that can sometimes arise between people from different English-speaking countries. In this new world, good cross-cultural communication is a must. BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Obviously, not all individuals acculturate similarly. 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...
Words: 3344 - Pages: 14
...C Cross-Cultural Communication Matrix Use the matrix to complete the country information. Write 3-4 sentences for each item. • Access the Business Around the World information by accessing http://www.mhhe.com/business/buscom/bcommonline/ • Select three regions of the world to research by clicking the map on the lower-left corner of the page. Select one country from each region you chose to research. Enter your final country selections into the matrix. The Web site provides you with a strong starting point. You may also want to perform a general Internet search to find additional information. • Include APA-formatted references on a separate page. The assignment is due in Week Three. |Cross-Cultural Communication | |Country |Preferred Communication Style |Nonverbal Communication Practices |Business Communication Norms |Strategies to Increase Cross-Cultural | | | | | |Communication | |Brazil |The official language of Brazil is |Brazilians will make assumptions about a |Brazilians do business with people, |Increasing cross-cultural...
Words: 946 - Pages: 4
...Cross Cultural can be a challenge. What can be difficult is understanding how to communicate effectively with individuals who speak another language. But with the internet and modern technology you can communicate with anyone no matter what language or country they are from. When communicating with cross cultural I will be patient and I will increase my knowledge of their cultural before I communicate with them. Knowing the differences can be quite useful. It can give you a sense of how you’re supposed to act in a foreign setting. It can also help you understand why others from different cultural behave as they do. But in my experience, the mistake many companies make is thinking that knowing cultural difference is enough, that discovering the key differences is all you need to master to be effective across cultures. The key to effective cross cultural communication is knowledge. It is essential that people understand the potential problems of cross cultural communication, and make conscious effort to overcome the problem. Active listening can sometimes be used to check this out by repeating what one thinks he or she heard, one can confirm that one understands the communication accurately. If words are used differently between languages or cultural groups, however, even active listening can overlook misunderstandings. If you send me as a Representive to the conference I will study the culture, learning the history, economics, geography, politics, religion. I will study role...
Words: 653 - Pages: 3
...Cross-Cultural Communication Matrix The Cross-Cultural Communication Matrix provides detailed information about various countries, in this assignment will find important elements that will be helpful for the acquisition of knowledge about different cultures around the world, countries that are spoken in this project are China, Ireland, and Argentina. Cross Cultural Communication | Country | Preferred communication style | Non-verbal communication practices | Business communication norms | Strategies to increase cross-cultural communication | China | In China, there are several languages and dialects, the most important are Mandarin and Cantonese, most of business people speak at least some English (Katz, 2008).Chinese is a family of closely related but mutually unintelligible languages. These languages are known variously as f¨¡ngy¨¢n (regional languages), dialects of Chinese or varieties of Chinese. In all over 1.2 billion people speak one or more varieties of Chinese. All varieties of Chinese belong to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages and each one has its own dialects and sub-dialects, which are more or less mutually intelligible (Kwintessential Ltd, 2010 ). | The Chinese converse while standing around three feet apart, gestures are usually very subtle, it is advisable to restrict the body language; non verbal communication is very important, touching , crossing legs should be avoid, and hand gestures while speaking can distract the audience, eye contact...
Words: 1087 - Pages: 5
...Halmstad School of Business and Engineering Rufei He & Jianchao Liu (2010) Barriers of Cross Cultural Communication in Multinational Firms --- A Case Study of Swedish Company and its Subsidiary in China Abstract In times of rapid growth, both in terms of economic development and globalization, an increasing number of firms extend their businesses abroad. A subsequent challenge of this development is the managerial implications of cross-cultural management. This study employs a qualitative approach in a single case study of Swedish company and its subsidiary in China. After reviewing the previous studies, the authors summarize the differences of management style, staff behaviors and communication system in different culture context and find the barriers of cross cultural communication in multinational firms. The findings of this study indicate that the barriers of communication come from the national culture’s influence on the work place and behaviors of people with different identity. Moreover, culture also influences people’s way of thinking and behaving and result in different understandings toward vision and purposes of firms. Key words: cross cultural, communication, multinational firms, management style, staff behavior Prelude It is 9:00 a.m. on Monday in Sweden. The Technical product manager of company X sent an email about the new design of the product to its subsidiary company in China. He would like to have a production ready model of the new design by...
Words: 11977 - Pages: 48
...International Journal of Economics and Finance www.ccsenet.org/ijef Cross-cultural Communication in Business Negotiations Liangguang Huang English Department, Zhenjiang Watercraft College of PLA Zhenjiang 212003, China E-mail: Blackhawk1975@126.com Abstract All communication is cultural -- it draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. With the implementation of the Economic Reform and Opening policies, more and more Chinese companies do business with the foreigners. When negotiating with the delegates from different countries, cross-cultural communications play an important role. Culture differs from one another, which influences the style, the time, and the course of negotiations. If distorted, cross-cultural communications may weaken a company’s position in the market, prevent it from accomplishing its objectives, and ultimately lead to failure of negotiation. Keywords: Cross-culture, Cultural difference, Business negotiation, Negotiating style 1. Introduction As business has turned more and more to an integrated world market to meet its needs, the difficulties of communicating at a global level have become increasingly widespread. Still, in an increasingly competitive world economy, it is harder for the successful business venture to conduct business exclusively within the safe confines of a single domestic business environment. With the implementation of the Economic Reform and Opening policies, China’s national economy has made unprecedented...
Words: 3243 - Pages: 13
...Cross-Cultural Communication Sharon Jackson XCOM/285 11/15/10 Michelle Jackson Cross-Cultural Communication The way we communicate, whether it is of a personal or business nature, has to bring us together in order for us to progress as people. Styles of communication is not the same all over the world. We have different techniques that we use in order to get our points across. Because we are not all the same and come from different cultures and ethnicities, we have to learn to adapt to other cultures communication styles so, we do not end up offending anyone’s culture or way of life. Having the skills to make our connections stronger with each other can prove to be essential and crucial in today workforce. We purchase goods from other countries, we have meeting via satellite, and we have conference calls from all over the world. Communication is best when all efforts are put forth to make it easy for all to connect. There are so many tools available through communication, that there is no way the business world cannot stay together. We have emails, telephones, texting, cellular phones, the internet which gives us different search engines that are designed to direct us in the right place. Without these technological tools, we would not be able to communicate as fast as we are now. We are able to send a message to anywhere in the world, and with minutes it is received by the recipient. Businesses are able to stay on top of their game...
Words: 468 - Pages: 2
...Cross-Cultural Communication Paper Arab World v/s Bulgaria MBA 501 – Business Communications and Research Methods Cross-Cultural Communication Paper December 5, 2011 Arab World is rather heterogeneous group of nations and tribes who live in 22 states, counts more than 350 million people spread on bigger than Europe territory with very long distances - 7800 km. from East to West (United Nation Website, 2008). However based on common religion, origin and cultural roots many authors talk for "Arabs" making assumptions and conclusions. On the other hand different historical paths, isolation between remote groups and stage of development are the most probable reason for discrepancies and controversies found in the sources when the same topics are discussed. That is why this paper focuses on group of Arabic nations usually called Middle East and "Arabs" means Middle-East-Arabs in this paper. By contrast, Bulgarians are small nation situated in South-Eastern Europe what some authors and international authorities consider as Central Europe. Living in country in transition period and the will of younger generation to move towards Western stile are reasons for occurrence of somewhat of mixed business practices. The younger the staff is and the bigger the company is - the more western oriented the practices are, especially in the local branches of big multinational corporations. Even though geographically close situated and shared common history, for several centuries these...
Words: 2915 - Pages: 12
...comparative study conducted by Nelson et al (2002) reveals five primary indirect strategies, Indonesians use six primary strategies. The type of primary strategy also differs from Nelson’s findings since there are strategies used in this study which were not included in Nelson’s study; white lies, suggestions and the use of pragmatic particles. In conclusion, Indonesians use indirect strategies to ‘save face’ and the effort given to do this differs according to the status of requesters. Indonesians use more strategies and attempt to ‘save face’ when refusing requesters of higher status; less effort is evident when requesters are of lower status. Keywords: politeness strategy, negative face, direct and indirect refusals Introduction Communication is not culturally independent; thus, aside from syntactic and semantic knowledge, communicative competence requires more than an acquisition of syntactic and semantic knowledge of a language. It involves professing pragmatic knowledge, which Searle defines as knowledge of acceptable speech acts within a society, and the rules that govern them (as cited by Faerch and Kasper, 1984)....
Words: 5330 - Pages: 22
...tools of communication between the many different countries. Take for example the internet it gives the business people the ability to be able to communicate with other colleagues from different countries by the use of e-mails, instant messenger as well as other chatting communication tools which are available on their computers. Also today’s modern technology has opened up many market places which give business people the ability to be able to promote their business in many new geographical locations and cultures. These modern technologies have close the gap between many countries as well as it has allow everyone to be intertwined which will make items available to everyone around the world. The technology of today can also help other cultures get together and collaborate. Even though with the technology of today many problems may arise because some people from other cultures might don to understand the material differences in communication, traditions as well as the though process of people from different countries. Also there be countries that might believe that their culture is far more superior then other cultures which could cause many problems. Another problem when dealing with other countries will be the language barrier. Even though the help of a translator could reduce the language barrier problem, the environment may cause some difficulties trying to communicate with other countries around the world. Some other things that might influence the success of cross- cultural...
Words: 328 - Pages: 2
...Cross Cultural Communication Japanese Krystal R Gomez 8/30/2015 HCA/230 Japanese Culture in Healthcare In the Japanese culture, self-care is very important to them unless they are around relatives. When alone they are able to care for themselves and help themselves get better. They are dependent when it comes to being healthy. When a male patient is in the hospital he relies on himself to get better but when his spouse has arrived he depends on her to get things done. The emphasis on Asian cultures is on family interdependence over independence. Many Asians live in large extended family households, where someone is usually near to care for them. Another significant factor in caring for Japanese Americans is the difference between egalitarian and hierarchic cultures. In an egalitarian culture such as found in the United States, everyone theoretically is equal and no one in the family is considered subservient to anyone else. In hierarchic Asian cultures, some members of the family are clearly dominant (men and elders) while others are clearly subordinate (women and children). It is their duty to obey and care for the dominant family member—the husband and father. Control may also play a role in the failure to care for oneself, especially in cultures where men are dominant. When reduced to a state of physical weakness by a medical condition, men who issue orders and have their family attend to their every need demonstrate their dominance. The Japanese approach to...
Words: 397 - Pages: 2
...TITRE DU LIVRE LO R E M I P S U M 1 CASE STUDY: A TAKEOVER CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS 1 To benefit from this takeover, I recommend to Swiss Foods the following. Buying an existing business, means often an old one, in this case the company bought is traditional. I advise to invest large amounts in updating the production processes. On the one hand, that will help to convince your team that, the takeover is not a disaster, but it could actually lead to a brighter future. But I advise to wait at least three years before making any major changes and give the time to everybody to get used to the new organization. The key during a transition is to ensure that everyone feels included in the new organization. I recommend to promote a local manager to a position of authority in the company. The goal here is to manage expectations as with most strategies in business, the key is managing expectations in order to avoid an immediate drop in morale. As Swiss Foods will involve locals in the takeover, They will feel more secure. After, they have to make sure local managers have as much contact as possible with your head office. To maintain the communication, apply the right strategy and also make them feel that tey are a part of a team. I will also recommend to begin to use the brand names in the international product range, to promote internationally the takeover and to give a legitimacy to Birch Co. The other recommendations that I consider less important are: - Keep the...
Words: 445 - Pages: 2
...Cross cultural communication is very useful in the business world. But you must first learn to respect and understand the values of a foreign relationship. Building foreign relationships can be difficult due to language barriers and different beliefs. If we as Americans learn to focus on what we have in common with a person, rather than what we do not, stronger relationships could be built with foreigners; for there are many commonalities among people despite the language spoken. I have chosen to compare the culture of Nigerians and Americans. Nigerian culture has much in common with American culture. The things that I will focus on are: language, religion, family values, mannerisms, and economic relationships. In Nigeria, English is the official language. It is widely used for education, business transactions and for official purposes. English as a first language, however, remains an exclusive preserve of a small minority of the country's urban elite, and is not spoken at all in some rural areas. Many religions are followed in Nigeria. The constitution guarantees religious freedom. Christians predominantly live in the south of the country, whereas Muslims live predominantly in the north. Native religions in which people believe in deities, spirits and ancestor worship, are spread throughout the country. Many Muslims and Christians may also intertwine their beliefs with more unorthodox indigenous ones. The major Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter are recognized...
Words: 588 - Pages: 3
...Different communication styles- refers to when across culture some words are use differently and have different meaning. Body language can also be interpreted differently and sometimes people from different cultures can be offended by it. I believe this is very important for a teacher to keep in mind. For example in Puerto Rico the word “Bicho” is not appropriate, but to us that means insect. A “bicho” bit me. Same word with two different meanings. My husband and I are from the same country in Central America, yet we tend to have miscommunication because some of his words mean something else to me. When we married we had many confrontations because of this miscommunication, body language that I would interpret as rude towards his wife. One day I decided to pay close attention on how he communicated with his siblings and parents, I started learning their ways and everything started changing. In some cultures when a person gets too close is very disrespectful. I came to this country when I was eight years old and I did not get a chance to learn about the customs and traditions of my country. When I went back in 2002 I was very friendly with the opposite sex, and talk to them openly I would give a kiss on their cheek to say hi, and very carefree. Until I started realizing that I was being judge for my behavior, I asked some of my friends and they explained everything; I was very uncomfortable after that, but I try to stay away and follow their ways. I believe that communication is very...
Words: 966 - Pages: 4
...handled by the secretary. . Do not try to schedule meetings during July or August, as this is a common vacation period. . If you expect to be delayed, telephone immediately and offer an explanation. . Meetings are to discuss issues, not to make decisions. . Avoid exaggerated claims, as the French do not appreciate hyperbole. Relationships & Communication French business behaviour emphasizes courtesy and a degree of formality. . Mutual trust and respect is required to get things done. . Trust is earned through proper behaviour. . Creating a wide network of close personal business alliances is very important. . If you do not speak French, an apology for not knowing their language may aid in developing a relationship. . It is always a good idea to learn a few key phrases, since it demonstrates an interest in a long-term relationship. . The way a French person communicates is often predicated by their social status, education level, and which part of the country they were raised. . In business, the French often appear extremely direct because they are not afraid of asking probing questions. . Written communication is formal. Secretaries often schedule meetings and may be used to relay information from your French business colleagues. Business Negotiation . French business emphasizes courtesy and a fair degree of formality. . Wait to be told where to sit. . Maintain direct eye contact while speaking. . Business is conducted slowly. You will have to be...
Words: 477 - Pages: 2
