Cross-cultural Communication

Lecture 1

Activity 1: Discussion on the E – SOFTPROD case

Description:

E – SOFTPROD - American company

• develops software for other companies (American & foreign

companies; inside & outside the States)
• employs offshore teams of engineers in two development
centres located in Bangalore and Mangalore (India)

Possible problems

A. areas where problems may occur

outside the company – existing/potential clients

inside the company – headquarters - branches

B. what problems?

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• misunderstanding
• delay of work
• mistrust

What can the project manager do?

A. Potential clients: reassurance

• the company can successfully manage and monitor its remote

teams
• the international team can meet deadlines as established to build
trust

How?

• regular, formal communication with customers - daily/ weekly

reports

B. within the company:

Communication
Face-to face communication (when the teams are forming)
• an India-based project manager  to US (customer's
location)
• an US-based project manager  to India (discussions with
the staff)
• to establish rapport that bridges time and space
other forms of communication

Economic advantages
Additional efforts  achieving successful intercultural
communication

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Intercultural communication  the process of sending and
receiving messages between people with different cultural
background

People coming into contact with people from other culture

Favourable conditions
 Fast means of transportation
 The internet
 The international labour force is more mobile
 Business people – active globally
 The workforce is becoming more diverse

Opportunities in a global market place

Managers/ business people

• new customers
• new resources
• new labour sources

Employees  new work opportunities

Multicultural workforce

Advantages of using diverse workforce:

• a broader range of ideas/viewpoints

• help companies to diverse markets
• enable companies to tap into a large pool of talents

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The present business environment – very dynamic

Intercultural skills needed:

 mega cross-border mergers

 multinationals
 domestic companies faced with multicultural diversity
(Munich (Germany): non-Germans accounts for 20% of the
population; Germans + Turks + Serbs + Croatians + Greeks)
 companies that wish to grow export

Going global  implications

Strong companies

Before: USA – Europe – Japan

Now:

a. revitalization of Central and Eastern Europe

b. development of the Third World

Business people aware of a new aspect:

the developed world = today’s money

the developing countries = the seeds of growth for tomorrow

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Many transnational companies  oriented both globally & locally

Advertisements: “Local insight. Global outlook” (Hong Kong

Bank)
“Think global! Act Local!” (Sandoz)

A new buzzword is gaining ground: glocal

"glocalisation"

 the need for standardization in organizational design, systems

and procedures increases;

 pressure to adapt the organization to the local characteristics

of the market, the legislation, the fiscal regime, the socio-
political system and the cultural system;

 corporate success depends on the balance of the two

characteristics.

DIVERSITY (inside and outside the organization)

Contact between cultures – only brings problems?

The Anglo-French Concorde Project

Different opinions:

the product  better and cheaper if either the French or the British
had made the supersonic plane than working together

A more positive approach

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 to look for and find synergy effects in cultural diversity

Synergy = combined effect is more than the effect of the sum

of the individual parts

Procter and Gamble: statement on diversity

Diversity:
 provides a broader, richer and more fertile environment for
creative thinking and innovation
 an asset
 attract and develop talent from a wide range of the world’s
cultural base
 future leadership – from the pool of talents
 different perspectives brought to business
 encourages collaboration that brings different talents and
experiences together  better ideas; superior
products/services

The fundamental belief:

Individual differences will produce true competitive advantage
-

- national culture
- corporate culture

What is culture?

“culture”  Lat. “colere” (to grow)

Historical view permanent development of the concept.

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preoccupation for defining culture

Cicero: "cultura agrorum" referring to crops and everything they

require, and "cultura animi" meaning educational effort
directed towards the refining of soul.

Hobbes: spiritual life

Rousseau: culture + education  the development of human

character (to make it better; to leave no room for evil).

The Enlightenment: two attitudes

a. supporters of simple, natural, unsophisticated habits who

considered culture a source of corruption

b. those who thought that culture could sublimate human passions

and instincts into positive values

Romanticism: enrichment of the meaning of culture; national

culture whose constitutive nucleus is folk culture.

Herder: the modern concept of culture: “a culture of the entire

world, a culture of all spaces, all times, all peoples”.

Hegel: culture = heritage to which all generations have

contributed their principles, prejudices, life experience.
Modern times: culture = a dynamic process with a view to
educating people according to a certain ideal.

20th century: a multitude of opinions on culture;

Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn: 300 definitions;
164 (from the European cultural environment) critically
analysed.

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6 groups of definitions: descriptive, historical, normative,
functional, structural, definitions based on heritage.

A new type can be added: communicational  referring mainly to

the spreading and ”learning” of culture.

Romanian contributions: Dimitrie Gusti, Constantin Rădulescu

Motru, Simion Mehedinţi, Tudor Vianu and others.

Edward B. Tylor: (19th century)  introduces the scientific

concept of culture.

Culture = a complex and interrelated set of elements comprising

knowledge, beliefs and values, arts, law, manners and
morals and all other kind of skills and habits acquired
by a human being as a member of a particular society.

Activity 2. Group work:

Task: Try to define the terms/ phrase(s) on your card starting from
Tylor’s definition of culture.

Card 1: world culture

the totality of material and spiritual values created by

mankind
throughout its existence;

 the cumulative character of culture. Throughout history,

culture collects and maintains all the valuable results of
human activity

 works that have got universal value.

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Card 2: ancient culture; medieval culture; modern culture;

the diversity of the cultural values recognised and used in a

specific historical period of time;

Culture integrates values corresponding to different

historical periods of time.

(Contraction of historical time: Plato becomes

contemporary with both Hegel and Sartre;

Extension of historical time: elements of the ancient cultural life

are hidden in our spiritual life leading to cultural eternity.)

Card 3: European culture, Romanian culture; British culture

the values specific to a certain community/ group of people placed in a

certain geographical area.

Card 4: Romanian culture at the end of the 20th century

the totality of values belonging to a social system, at a

certain moment of its historical development;

 each social system includes a specifically structured system of

values;
 each social system can be associated with a certain system of
values;
 any social system is identified by its own system of values;
 the essence of any social system is its own cultural system.

e. all creative activities generating new values

(not only the values preserved in museums, libraries, etc. but also the

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 creative potential of the community)

Culture  touches and alters every aspect of human life;

 embraces everything from food to dress, from
household
to industry, from forms of politeness to mass media,
from work pace to the learning of familiar rules.

Other definitions:

"the distinctive way of life of a particular group of people"

(Herskovitz, 1952, p. 17)

"a pattern of behaviour transmitted to members of a group

from
previous generations of the same group" (Hall, 1977, pp. 16-
17)

"shapes people's values, attitudes, beliefs and behavioural

patterns" (Terpestra and David, 1985)

It is therefore crucial for business managers to understand:

 how people in different cultures behave

 why they behave in the way they do

Knowledge about culture is achieved by a combination of

factual knowledge + interpretative understanding.

Planning a career in international business

 the ability to speak and understand the various
interpretations of the language of a foreign country

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  verbal + non-verbal language;

Culture is learned through perception.

• different individuals - different perceptions

"Once upon a time there -was a great flood, and involved in the
flood were two creatures, a monkey and a fish. The monkey,
being agile and experienced, was lucky enough to scramble upon
a tree and escape the raging waters. As he looked down from his
safe perch, he saw the poor fish struggling against the swift
current. With the very best of intentions, he reached and lifted
the fish from the water. The result was inevitable." (Adams,
1969, pp. 22-4)

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