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218782020-21Wk4LectureInterculturalcommunicationWPJ1.pptxDr. Walter Jarvis
University of Technology
School of Business
Management Discipline Group
Organisational Dialogue: Theory & Practice Week 4 Intercultural communication
12/18/2020 5:29 PM
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Cultural differences? Shanghai Uni in 2012-4: “Teaching” 300 students in a B.Bus capstone subject
Context: expectations – students; lecturer?
Experiences: shared disillusionment, misunderstandings and tensions.
Consequences: implications for learning in post-graduate business education – learning FIRST HAND about different policies & institutions governing DIFFERENT SOCIETIES & THEREFORE INSTITUTIONS: interconnections between economics and business, education, environment, health care, child care, retirement, corporate governance, ETC. More glimpsed in a tutorial that followed re “clarification of values” with many deeply misaligned ambitions.
Who and what comes to mind here?
Speaking to the media before the meeting, Dr Merkel said she would discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, as well as Iran and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
Standing beside Mr Putin outside Meseberg castle, Dr Merkel said she would also raise human rights issues and bilateral relations.
"I am of the opinion that controversial issues can only be addressed in dialogue and through dialogue," she said.
What alternative is Dr. Merkel suggesting will not work?
Culture: “the way we do things here” (ie org., & country) Effective intercultural communication: What skills and mindsets do you think are needed? Start here:
Self-reflection/self-awareness (esp. bias/prejudice – linked to Maturity ) = “letting go …” Kant (explained in MLS); illustrated by story of Richard.
Open-mindedness (non-judgemental)
Acceptance (reality)
Respect (self & other)
Empathy (or Compassion?)
Curiosity (about business & society)
Flexibility
Patience
Active listening
Speaking skills
Respect for time (ie punctuality)
Then add TRAVEL … WITH CURIOSITY RE POLICIES, SOCIETY & WELLBEING!!
Essential for dia’logue (shared understanding)
Today’s Agenda: Inter-Cultural communication
Start with “culture”
Simple, everyday examples
Toward more complex examples
Inter-cultural competence:
Developing
Understanding
Practice
Implications for learning in Organisational Dialogue (and toward “Better” Conversations).
Summary & Questions
The family meal
Family meal
What assumptions about behaviour do you see? What basic differences do you see? Eg., Age, Gender? Hierarchy? Roles in Society?
Education at UTS Business School
What assumptions about education and training do you see? What differences do you see? For example: 1. Mindsets re “success”? 2. Attitudes toward goals and means? 3. Skills – eg people, team, leadership?
Sandhurst Military College
Intercultural communication competence: basics for shared understanding (for “better” conversations)
Ask: what’s needed to “understand”?
Answer: see/sense and evaluate differences/variations (intelligence)
Ask: what does “develop” require?
Answer:
Trust and confidence
(belief in “social capital”)
“practice” means “learning” via humility, courage and determination (character)
Understand cross-cultural differences
Develop cultural awareness
Intercultural communication practice
Our perception is limited…
SO WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US?
What do young children see?
What do adults see?
Develop cultural awareness
What is culture?
“The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.“ (Hofstede 1991, p.5).
However:
Cannot equate cultural programming with behaviour
The software is constantly changing!
Individuals adapt in interaction…
Develop cultural awareness
What is culture?
Visible:
Observable behaviour
Language
Customs and rituals
Institutions
Art and architecture
Food, clothing, etc.
Invisible:
Assumptions
Values (ethics; moral)
Beliefs re work and people
influences the way we judge other people
Examples: Egalitarianism; work effort; forms of incentives (intrinsic v. extrinsic – see Wells Fargo); attitudes to whistle-blowing – in this Bus.School (see Board & Regulator response to Barclays CEO in April 2017).
Develop cultural awareness
Cultural values and orientations
| Geert Hofstede’s research |
| Power distance |
| Individualism vs. Collectivism |
| Femininity vs. masculinity |
| Uncertainty avoidance |
| Long- vs. short-term orientation |
| Edward Hall’s research |
| High context vs. Low context |
| Monochronic vs. Polychronic |
| Space orientation/Proxemics |
Understand cross-cultural differences
Scenario #1 A North American was working in Indonesia as a consultant to banks on disaster recovery. At one of his presentations to a client – an Indonesian bank - he suggested that individual employees who did a good job ought to be given greater recognition by which he meant singling them out for praise in front of their colleagues. His audience was horrified.
Individualism and collectivism: implications for Covid 19 pandemic?
© AFS
Degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members
In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only.
In Collectivist societies people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in exchange for loyalty.
Understand cross-cultural differences
Power distance (hierarchical v. egalitarian)
Power distance = extent to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally -
Understand cross-cultural differences
Time to reflect
What would be considered as ideal leadership communication in a country with a high power distance index (PDI) vs. a country with a low PDI?
What does this mean for the leadership of a multi-cultural team?
Low context & High Context Cultures
Implicit communication
Explicit communication
Interpersonal harmony
Facial expressions
Tone
Situational context
Assertiveness
Codified rules
Understand cross-cultural differences
Scandinavian, German, Swiss
English, North American, Australian
Italian, French, Spanish, Greek
Asian, Arabic, African, Latin American
Scenario #2
A Singapore businessman in Saudi Arabia is keen to secure an important deal. He has a tight schedule, and can’t afford to waste any time. His frustration increases because he has to wait for ages to get an appointment with his Saudi partner. Meetings never start on time, and when they do, there are frequent interruptions, with people coming in to get papers signed. The Saudi partner even takes phone calls when his visitor is in the room.
Scenario #3
An Australian based representative for a pipe manufacturer arrives in Kuala Lumpur to an appointment with a Malaysian manufacturer. He waits patiently for the appointment but it is repeatedly “delayed” - for several hours. Just before leaving annoyed and frustrated at the wasted effort (not to mention disrespect for what was a firm appointment) the Boardroom door opens and he is invited into the Executive Meeting. The Australian begins to unpack his laptop for a presentation and the distribution of his 12 page proposal when the CEO asks him to put it all away and to sit down with them … The CEO then presses a button immediately underneath the top of the boardroom table in front of him … a screen descends – but not for a presentation! The CEO’s explanation shocked the Australian as much as his own expectations shocked the Malaysians. “We’ve delayed you because we don’t do business with people who don’t know us and whom we cannot trust … so now it’s time for …”
Time orientation
Understand cross-cultural differences
Breakout Room Discussion: 5 minutes
Please reflect on the range of cultural factors we have discussed…
What cross-cultural differences can you identify in your tutorial groups?
How specifically do they play out?
How can you apply this knowledge to have “better conversations” /collaborate more effectively?
Intercultural Communication Practice
Full circle…
Understand cross-cultural differences
Develop cultural awareness
Intercultural communication practice
Implications of inter-cultural communication for learning in Organisational Dialogue (and toward “better” conversations).
Exposure to cultures and multiple differences opens us to exploring history & philosophies (ways of thinking/making sense of) how cultures interpret “the human condition”
There are profound implications for values underpinning “work”, managing, leading, & citizenship – from reinforcing through to indifference and challenging opposition.
Scholar-practitioners will need to be alert to those values and potential for conflicts and challenge.
Be especially alert to national differences in policies – re work, health insurance, child care, costs of education (pre/school/vocation & higher), environment, retirement etc – as they are the conditions of Business-in-Economies-Serving-Society
Summary and Questions
Inter-cultural communication starts with recognising the challenges of “culture” – often described as “the way we do things around here”.
There are many examples of what we accept in cultural terms and we’ve seen some of those through looking at important (basic) differences underpinning views of (i) a Family Meal and (ii) Education and Training.
Inter-cultural competence comprises at least three inter-connected elements – each calling for a different “frame”/set of questions:
Developing cultural awareness (includes asking questions of trust and confidence)
Understanding cross-cultural differences (invites exploration of multiple variations)
Practicing Inter-cultural communication (learning via practice opens the need for humility, courage and determination [aspects of character] to see and better understand differences, and the basis of bias and prejudice).
We will become increasingly sensitive to the merits and risks of cultural and inter-cultural assumptions in work, management and organisations.
FINALLY… please read and carefully consider …
AT THIS STAGE you should be seeing just how crucial and valuable this subject/this semester is for you, so that, AS POST GRADUATE SCHOLAR-PRACTITIONERS, you can be FULLY focused on learning what will be needed in your professional and publicly accountable roles.
When you understand - and whole-heartedly practice - this foundation you’ll begin to earn broader respect for your scholarly-practitioner judgements and actions.
That’s the privileged offer of Higher (PG) Education – with Local and International Students – offering different histories, policies & institutions governing business/”varieties of capitalism” in their society/”our” world.
We trust that Scholar-Practitioners will ENGAGE TO THE MAX - AND ENJOY!
THE REWARDS OF LEARNING ARE RICH – WELL BEYOND THE FINANCIAL.
We can only hope that “students” (wanting just the minimum and so risking failure) might be inspired to see the value of shifting to higher, inter-cultural ground!
The questions that flow will amaze you – and for many years - well past any final assessment. We hope you will up the challenge – to become a scholarly practitioner!
Thank you …
References and Further Reading
Gudykunst, W.B. & Kim, Y.Y. 2003, Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication, 4th edn, McGraw Hill, New York.
Hall, E. 1976, Beyond Culture, Anchor Press, Garden City.
Hall, E.T. 1959, Silent Language, Doubleday, Garden City.
Hall, S. & du Gay, P. 1996, Questions of Cultural Identity, Sage, Thousand Oaks.
Hannerz, U. 1992, Cultural Complexity: Studies of the Social Organization of Meaning, Columbia University Press, New York.
Hannerz, U. 1996, Transnational Connections: Cultures, People, Places, Routledge, London.
Hofstede, G. 1980, Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values, Sage, Beverly Hills.
Hofstede, G. 1991, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill, London.
Lusting, M.W. & Koester, J. 2006, Intercultural Communication Competence. Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures, McGraw Hill, New York.
Rogers, E. & Steinfatt, T.M. 1999, Intercultural Communication, Waveland, Prospect Heights.
Sackmann, S. (ed.) 1997, Cultural Complexity in Organizations. Inherent Contrasts and Contradictions, Sage, Thousand Oaks.
Samovar, L.A. & Porter, R.E. 1991, Communication between Cultures, Wadsworth, Belmont.
Triandis, H. 1994, Culture and Social Behavior, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Triandis, H. 1995, Individualism and Collectivism, Westview, Boulder.
Trompenaars, F. 1993, Riding the Waves of Culture. Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business, Economist Books, London.
