Managing across Cultures MGMT 544: Managing across Cultures Professor Xiao-Ping Chen University of Washington Spring, 2005

Intercultural Communication Agenda International jokes A Chairy Tale Cross-cultural dialogue analysis

A Chairy Tale Question: What has transpired and how the man and the chair communicated?

A chairy tale Power Issues related: How does power influence, distort, damage communication across cultures? Can honest communication take place between people or groups if there is an inequality of power?

A Chairy Tale Empathy If we imagine ourselves in any given interaction as the man (or chair), the one with more (or less) power, how does that affect the way we communicate?

Cross-cultural miscommunication ME YOU message sent message received encoding decoding

Cross-cultural dialogue analysis

Dialogue 1 L’Ecole des Hantes Etudes Commerciales M. Le Beau: I think we have an excellent candidate for that marketing VP position. Ms. Rogers: Great! Who? M. Le Beau: His name is Jean-Francois Bertrand. Ms. Rogers: What are his qualifications? M. Le Beau: He went to l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales. Ms. Rogers: What did he study? M. Le Beau: Excuse me? Ms. Rogers: What did he specialize in? M. Le Beau: I’m not sure, accounting or something like that. Ms. Rogers: But if you don’t know, how can you be sure he’s qualified?

Dialogue 2 Basics Miss Li: And as we have said, this was all part of the vision of our founder. Mr. Holt: I see. Well, Tsai International certainly has an interesting history. Perhaps now, if you don’t mind, we could talk about how we might be able to do business together. Miss Li: You have nothing to add? Mr. Holt: About us? Not really. As you know, we’re a pretty young company, nothing like Tsai. Miss Li: Well, then, as you say, we can talk about doing business. With your permission, we might begin by describing for you our organizational structure and how it reflects our company principles. And then perhaps you could do the same. Mr. Holt: I see. And then we can talk about specific terms? Miss Li: Terms? Mr. Holt: You know, some of the basics? Miss Li: But we are talking about basics.

Dialogue 3 Negotiations Martha: How did the negotiations go? Janet: Not so well. We were taken. Martha: What happened? Janet: Well, I proposed our starting price, and Mr. Maruoka didn’t say anything. Martha: Nothing? Janet: He just sat there, looking very serious. So then I brought the price down. Martha: And? Janet: Still nothing. But he looked a little surprised. So I brought it down to our last offer and just waited. I couldn’t go any lower. Martha: What did he say? Janet: Well, he was quiet for about a minute, and then he agreed. Martha: Well, at least we’ve got a deal. You should be pleased. Janet: I guess so. But later I learned that he thought our first price was very generous.

Lessons learned from dialogues Don’t assume sameness What you think of as normal or human behavior may only be cultural Familiar behaviors may have different meanings Don’t assume that what you meant is what was understood Don’t assume that what you understood is what was meant You don’t have to like or accept “different” behavior, but you should try to understand where it comes from Most people do behave rationally; you just have to discover the rationale

Avoiding the pitfalls of cross-cultural communication Assume difference until proven otherwise Describe behavior Then interpret behavior Confirm/test interpretation Evaluate and act

Good cross-cultural communication contradicts our basic instincts We tend to assume others are just like us Our brains are wired to go straight to evaluation Good cross-cultural communication takes time

Summary Problems in communication arise from gap between assumptions and perceptions Cross-cultural communication increases the likelihood that assumptions, perceptions, and behaviors will be different Communication styles differ across cultures high/low context body language Good cross-cultural communication defies basic instincts assume difference describe, interpret, reconfirm, evaluate