Understand Cultural Differences Cultural differences have huge impacts
- Slides: 20
Understand Cultural Differences • Cultural differences have huge impacts in the business world – International business dealings – Working locally with an international work force • Culture profoundly affects how people communicate – And communication is the basis of all business activities • The Silent Language – Culture is often outside of people’s conscious awareness
What is Culture? • How does it impact business activities? • How can cultural differences hamper international business? • How can an understanding of cultural differences improve international business?
What is Culture? • A lens – a frame of reference – Through which we view and interpret human interaction • 90% of communication is nonverbal – Nonverbal communication is heavily culturally influenced
Key Concepts • • • Speed: fast and slow messages Context Space Time Information Flow Interfacing
Fast and slow messages • How quickly is the meaning of a message understood? – Art is slow; a cartoon is fast – Television is faster than print • Messages are sent and received at different speeds depending upon culture • People are messages – How long does it take to “know” a person?
Context • How much of the relevant information is in the message, and how much is already understood by sender and receiver? • High context situations – a message can contain lots of meaning without much information content • Low context situations – The message must contain all relevant information
Space • Territoriality – What space and how much of it is “mine”? – Size and location of an office • Personal space – How close is too close? – This is very culturally dependent
Time • How people view time is very culturally dependent • Monochromatic vs. polychromatic – How many things are done at once? • One thing: monochromatic • Many: polychromatic
Time • Polychronic cultures – Lots of information is present – Very tolerant of interruptions – Very fluid and flexible • Monochronic cultures – Compartmentalized – Schedules and agendas very important
Time: Orientation to Past, Present and Future • Cultures differ in the importance they place on past, present and future – For example: in some cultures, current proposals must be positioned in terms of their historical relationships • Respect given to age and seniority is also relevant here
Time as Communication • Time-related behavior “says” a lot – But it’s all different by culture • Examples of time as communication – How far ahead are appointments scheduled? – How much importance is placed on a schedule? – How is waiting time interpreted? – What does setting end dates imply?
Time as Communication • Other cultures – Schedule and agendas are viewed as goals, not binding – Promptness is not as important as completing a human interaction • As a result, interruptions will delay appointments – Forcing someone to wait is not intended as an insult
Information Flow • How fast does information make its way through an organization? • In highly networked, high context cultures – Very fast – Information is not “hoarded” • In other cultures – Information flow is slow because communication is more compartmentalized • Email is changing this, but… – Email is a low-information-content medium
Context • Low context cultures – US and Canadian – Northern European • High context cultures – Mediterranean (Arab, Greek, Southern European) – Japanese – African – Latin American
Space • Territoriality – What space and how much of it is “mine”? – Size and location of an office • US: Executives have large, isolated spaces • Japan: Executives often don’t have private offices • Personal space – How close is too close? – This is very culturally dependent – North American, North European • Don’t get too close! – Mediterranean, Latin, African: close
Time • How do monochromatics view polychronicism? – Chaotic – Noisy – Inefficient (is anything getting done? – Creates anxiety • How do polychromatics view monochronicism? – Slow, sterile, boring, uncreative – Creates frustrations
Time: Orientation to Past, Present and Future • Cultures differ in the importance they place on past, present and future • US culture is very present and near-future oriented • In some cultures (German, French) historical context is very important • Some Asian, Arab cultures are very pastoriented
Time as Communication • Highly scheduled cultures – North America, Northern European – Lots of importance placed on punctuality – Time communicates importance – Poor schedule adherence • Interpreted as arrogance or incompetence
Interfacing • What happens when different cultures meet? • Least difficult interfacing – Low context to low context – Germans and Americans – Canadians and Scandinavians • Most difficulty – High context to low context – High context to high context
So What Do You Do? • Don’t judge culture – No culture is more or less valuable or efficient than any other • Understand your own cultural framework • Be interested – study – the cultures you work with • Move slowly and softly – Ask, listen, observe • Be brave and have fun!
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