1. McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2. Chapter 5 Communicating across Cultures   Culture   International Communicator   Importance   Workplace Diversity   High Context/ Low Context   Values, Beliefs, and Practices   Nonverbal Communication   Oral Communication   International Audiences   Learning More

3. Culture  Shapes values, priorities, and practices  Modern business requires dealing with other cultures 5-3

4. Successful Intercultural Communicator  Aware that one’s preferred values  Are influenced by culture  Are not always right  Flexible and open to change  Sensitive to verbal and nonverbal behavior 5-4

5. Successful Intercultural Communicator, continued…  Aware of values, beliefs, and practices in other cultures  Sensitive to differences among individuals within a culture 5-5

6. Importance of Global Business  Exports are essential to  Individual businesses  Country’s economy  Many companies depend on vendors who are located in other countries  Managers often find they need international experience for top-level jobs 5-6

7. Sources of Workplace Diversity  Gender  Race and ethnicity  Regional and national origin  Social class  Religion  Age  Sexual orientation  Physical ability 5-7

8. High-Context Cultures  Infer most information from social relationships  Convey little information explicitly  Prefer indirectness, politeness, ambiguity  Consider oral agreements more binding than written ones  Rely heavily on nonverbal signs Japanese Arabic Latin American 5-8

9. Low-Context Cultures  Rely little on context cultures  Spell out most information  Value directness: may see indirectness as dishonest or manipulative  Value written word more than oral statements North American Scandinavian German 5-9

10. Values, Beliefs, and Practices  Often unconscious  Affect response to people and situations  Different cultures have different views of  Fairness  Groups  Competition  Success  Social status 5-10

11. Nonverbal Communication  Communication without words  Signals such as smiles and gestures  Can be misinterpreted as easily as words  Important to be conscious of signals sent and received 5-11

12. Nonverbal Communication Types  Body language  eye contact - smiling - gestures  Touch  how much – who touches whom  Space  personal space - spatial layouts  Time  being on time- measuring time 5-12

13. Time  Monochronic culture  People focus on clock  Plan their time; avoid wasting it  Polychronic culture  People focus on relationships  Disregard clocks and planners X 5-13

14. Other Nonverbal Symbols  Hair  Clothing  Colors  Height  Age 5-14

15. Oral Communication  Requires cultural understanding  Be aware of:  Understatement and exaggeration  Compliments 5-15

16. Writing to International Audiences  Most cultures more formal than U.S.  Avoid  First names (use titles)  Contractions  Slang  Sports metaphors 5-16

17. Writing to International Audiences, continued…  Write in English unless fluent in audience’s language  Reconsider patterns of organization  Buffer negative messages; make requests indirect  Re-think audience benefits: Ones that motivate U.S. audience may not work  Allow extra response time 5-17

18. Learning about International Business Communication  Beyond a set of rules  International business practices are constantly evolving/changing  Seek and talk to people from other backgrounds  Enhance understanding of multiple perspectives 5-18