BCM 3700

13-2 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice HallChapter Communicating in a World of Diversity

13-3  Why global business is important  Why diversity is becoming more important  Check how our values and beliefs affect our responses to other people  How nonverbal communication impacts cross- cultural communications  Why it is important to adapt oral and written communication for cross-cultural context  Why it is important to check cultural generalizations

13-4  Many people make assumptions about others based on their race, culture and/or gender.  It is important to develop an understanding of racial, cultural and gender differences. “A Rude Introduction”

 What is Culture?  A lens – a frame of reference through which we view and interpret human interaction  How important is nonverbal communication?  93% of communication is nonverbal  Nonverbal communication is heavily influenced by culture

 How does it impact business activities?  How can cultural differences hamper international business?  How can an understanding of cultural differences improve international business?

13-7  Our values, priorities, and practices are shaped by the culture in which we grow up.  Modern business requires dealing with other cultures  Understanding other cultures is crucial  if you want to sell your products to others in our country,  sell to other countries,  manage an international plant or office,  or work in this country for a multinational company headquartered in another country.  Shapes values, priorities, and practices

 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

13-9  Gender  Race and ethnicity  Regional and national origin  Social class  Religion  Age  Sexual orientation  Physical ability

13-10 A successful intercultural communicator is…  Aware of one’s preferred values  Flexible and open to change  Sensitive to verbal and nonverbal behavior  Aware of values, beliefs, and practices in other cultures  Sensitive to differences among individuals within a culture

13-11  Customers  Exports are essential to  Individual businesses  Country’s economy  Vendors located in other countries  Managers look for international experience to fill top-level jobs 5-11

13-12 First step: realize that others may do things very differently  …the difference is not bad …  …not inferior…  …just different Second step: understanding that people within a single culture often differ

13-13  Often unconscious  Affect response to people and situations  Different cultures have different views of  Fairness  Competition  Success  Social status

 Context  Space  Time  Interfacing  Nonverbal Communication

 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

13-16 High-ContextLow-Context Preferred communication strategy indirectness, politeness, ambiguity directness, confrontation, clarity Reliance on words lowhigh Reliance on nonverbal signs to communicate highlow Importance of relationships highlow Importance of written word lowhigh Agreements made in writing not bindingbinding Agreements made orally bindingnot binding Attention to detail lowhigh

13-17  High-Context Cultures  Latin American  Japanese  Arabic  Low-Context Cultures  North American  German  Scandinavian

13-18  Personal space - distance one likes between self and others  How close is too close?  This is very culturally dependent  Lots: North Americans, North Europeans, Asians  Little: Arabs, Latin Americans, French, Italians  Territoriality  What space and how much of it is “mine”?  Size and location of an office  Some people are more comfortable with touch than others

13-19  Differences in time zones is understandable...  More Important: views and attitudes toward time  How people view time is culturally dependent  Monochronic vs. Polychronic  How many things are done at once? ▪ One thing: monochronic ▪ Many: polychronic

13-20  Organizations in the United States— businesses, government, and schools— keep time by the calendar and the clock.  Being “on time” is seen as a sign of dependability.  Other cultures may keep time by the seasons and the moon, the sun, internal “body clocks”  …or a personal feeling that “the time is right.”

13-21  Monochronic culture  Highly scheduled cultures,  People focus on clock time,  Plan their time; avoid wasting it  Time communicates importance,  Lots of importance placed on punctuality  Poor schedule adherence is interpreted as arrogance or incompetence  If you live in the United States, Canada, or Northern Europe, you live in a monochronic culture.

13-22  Polychronic culture  People focus on relationships  Disregard clocks and planners  Schedule and agendas - viewed as goals, not binding  Promptness - 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  If you live in Latin America, the Arabic Middle East, or sub-Sahara Africa, you live in a polychronic culture.

 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

13-24  Write in English unless fluent in audience’s language  Buffer negative messages  Make requests indirect  Re-think audience benefits  Allow extra response time

13-25  Red  Western: Excitement, danger, passion  Eastern: Good luck, celebration  India: purity  South Africa: mourning  White  Western: purity, chastity, spirituality  Japan, Hong Kong: death

13-26  Stress—emphasis given to one or more words “I’ll give you a raise…”  I’ll give you a raise. ▪ “…another supervisor wouldn’t”  I’ll give you a raise. ▪ “…yes, but I really don’t agree”  I’ll give you a raise. ▪ “…nobody else gets one”

13-27  I’ll give you a raise. ▪ “…but just one”  I’ll give you a raise. ▪ “…but nothing else you want”  I’ll give you a raise. ▪ “…you deserve it”  I’ll give you a raise. ▪ “…the raise will please both of us”

13-28  Asia: colors are extremely significant  Simple and sophisticated  Navy blue, Charcoal grey, Black  No high heels and short sleeved blouses  Japan: symbols are very important  Casual is never acceptable  Minimal accessories and dress very conservatively  Middle East:  Very conservative, very modest attire  No jewelry, baggy concealment is the ultimate goal

 International business practices are constantly evolving/changing  Don’t judge culture  Move slowly and softly  Ask, listen, observe  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  Seek out and talk to people from other backgrounds  Enhance understanding of multiple perspectives  Be brave and have fun!