This article describes a cross-cultural business communication model developed and used in Hong Kong and the United States. The article attempts to provide a general framework that can be adapted universally. Introduction As the world economy becomes more and more globalized and internationalized, there is a parallel need to improve global understanding and increase intercultural communication competence.
To be a successful international business executive in this changing marketplace, having a basic understanding of the target nation's economy and providing competitive products are no longer the sole answers. One also must be aware of other cultures and the ways people behave and do the business in these countries. In the late 70's and early 80's, the world economy and consumption patterns changed drastically; the United States was no longer a major "buying" nation and the Pacific Rim Basin nations, particularly the four little dragons South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore , were no longer solely "export-driven" countries any more.
The average citizen's disposable income increased a great deal. Except in Hong Kong, the weakened American dollar even accelerated people's purchasing power. To sell products in the global market, one has to follow the business customs of the target countries.
Herein lies a drastic attitude change in American business: Americans cannot simply require their buyers to speak their language English and adopt American business practices. Astute American traders and managers strive to avoid the "ugly American" syndrome. In a concurrent development, universities have realized the importance of preparing their business graduates to work in the international business arena by offering specialized cross-cultural communication courses or adding international components into specialized subjects, such as international finance, international marketing, and so forth.
To date, although there is wide awareness of the need to include cultural dimensions in international business studies, little attention has been paid to the development of appropriate course materials and approaches.
Educators, anthropologists, and sociologists have presented different and contrasting opinions based on their beliefs -- known as "utilitarianism" or "non- utilitarianism".
These contrasting educational philosophies underlie the development of different designs in intercultural communication courses. In contrast, advocates of non-utilitarianism believe that only through providing a solid theoretical base can the long-term aim of understanding the target culture be achieved, thus permitting individuals to work efficiently in the host country environment.
However, as Samovar, Porter, and Jain claim, most textbooks are inclined to focus on very superficial differences between cultures. Cultures have been simplified and over generalized. As an ancient Chinese philosopher put it, " it is easy to acquire cognitive knowledge, but it takes painstaking effort and an open mind to observe and, as a result, to internalize the acquired knowledge.
To be competent in dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds, individuals should go beyond understanding observable behaviors and develop an understanding of the deep content that is at the center of real messages. Most importantly, it is essential to understand the hidden cultural forces that shape the deeply rooted cultural behavior. Operating in a cross-cultural environment, individuals may consciously act like natives of that particular target culture at the surface level.
But unconsciously, they are still inclined to exhibit their own cultural trait. Intercultural communication courses should encourage learners to be aware of not just superficial differences among cultures but also develop the ability to detect the hidden grip of other cultures through interaction.
Culture is what makes Easterners different from Westerners. Culture makes Chinese a Chinese and American an American. Hall , p. Through communication, people can either be brought closer or separated. When communication takes place within the home culture, individuals are instinctively aware of the context, and less likely to misinterpret the transmitted messages. However, when communicating with individuals from different language and cultural backgrounds without a shared context, the danger of miscommunication increases.
In the current era of advanced technology, distance barriers have been shrunk and East meets West. The East has been long categorized as a high-context cultural society which is distinctively different from the low-context Western society.
Hall argues that high- context cultures prefer to use language in which relatively less meaning is provided in the coded, explicitly transmitted part of the message. High context-culture groups value group identity and covert communication codes to maintain a harmonious working environment among members of the groups.
For Hall, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans are characterized as high-context cultural societies. In contrast, in the low-context cultural system, people prefer to use messages in which meanings and interpretations of the transmitted information are vested in the explicit communication codes. Low-context culture societies include North American and Northern European countries. In environments exhibiting cultural differences and multiple language use, the possibility of miscommunication increases.
The merits of the varying approaches to teaching intercultural communication provokes arguments over the relative merits of "utilitarian" and "non-utilitarian" approaches. Educators or anthropologists who support a "utilitarian" philosophy have claimed that intercultural communication course design should focus on practicality.
In contrast, non- utilitarian advocators argued that providing a solid theoretical foundation is essential. Bayo focused attention on the necessity of developing effective methods for designing and teaching intercultural communication courses. They stressed that the majority of intercultural communication courses were theoretically oriented and devoted little time to skills development through actual intercultural interaction. These concerns have been supported and reinforced by Ady and Yu who felt that some specific information about certain specific cultures was presented without the benefit of a conceptual framework.
Klopf noted that intercultural communication is "out-of-context" learning. He emphasized that learning cannot be fulfilled by only listening to lectures, reading textbooks, and doing classroom role play which, although valuable, are performed without actually interacting with people from other cultures. He reports that, influenced by the "utilitarian" educational philosophy, the study of the intercultural communication has tended to adopt a "problem-solving" approach.
If the long term aim is to solve problems but also to eventually internalize knowledge, a problem solving approach will not in itself suffice. Kim believes that more emphasis should be on teaching knowledge whose content is focused on a higher level of abstraction and cognitive training, that is, at a deeper level and with greater thoroughness.
He claims that learning "non-utilitarian" knowledge will eventually prove to be more useful. Kim concludes by arguing that providing a solid base for the growth and development of intercultural communication as an academic discipline will lead to better practice in the area of intercultural communication.
The importance of theoretical and conceptual development cannot be denied. Yet without putting theory into practice, an approach centering only on problem solving cannot be considered complete and well-rounded. Theory-based teaching may lack practicality. After completing a theory-based teaching curriculum, individuals come away with a full range of knowledge but still cannot function properly in a particular cultural environment.
And yet, knowing "how to act" without a rationale to back up that action, an individual may only know how people will behave in that particular culture without knowing why people in that culture behave that way. It is not until an individual can fully internalize the theory and make it a part of the knowledge base that the learning cycle can be considered complete and that person can then claim to have reached intercultural communication competence.
Just having culture knowledge does not necessarily lead to effective communication; thus, learning to interact and cope with individuals from other cultures is essential. In a continuing developmental process, individuals will eventually reach the stage of "unconscious competence" Howell, where they are able to use the skills to the extent that they no longer need to think about how to use these skills. Descriptions of Teaching Module After examining the two contrasting - "utilitarian' or "non-utilitarian" - approaches to teaching intercultural communication, the paper describes an intercultural communication module developed at City University of Hong Kong which demonstrates the possibility of integrating the utilitarian and non-utilitarian approaches.
Though the use of these approaches is difficult and time-consuming to develop, the pay-off is long-lasting learning and better intercultural communication.
The underlying assumption of the teaching approach was that participants first need to develop self-awareness of their own personalities and values and cultural knowledge of their native culture and foreign cultures.
This self-awareness and cultural knowledge provided the prerequisite background for them to develop intercultural skills. Exhibit 1 on the next page provides an overview of the four interrelated themes which composed the teaching module.
A diagnostic survey Casse, , was administered to determine participants' cultural awareness in interacting in a multinational environment. After administering the survey, participants were introduced to the module and specific topics were also developed within the general framework. Themes 1 and 2 focused on providing the theoretical foundations for understanding inter-cultural communication, and themes 3 and 4 stressed application and skills development.
Theme 1 went from cultural-general topics which compared all cultures to more cultural- specific topics; that is, comparison of Chinese culture also other Oriental cultures with non- Chinese cultures. The emphasis was on the comparison with the Western cultures, with particular attention paid to American culture. The objectives of Theme 1 were to help participants a understand how culture affects peoples' behaviors such as beliefs, values and attitudes, b increase awareness of their own cultural identity and their sensitivity to cultural differences, and c increase understanding of the impact of culture on communication styles.
For image, contact ICS editor. Theme 2 focused on the individual participants in the training program; it aimed at providing self-awareness for the participants, especially how Asian culture, Chinese culture in particularly, influences their behaviors. Theme 3 stressed skill building. It aimed at preparing participants to learn how to cope in a cross-cultural setting. Theme 3, composed of three major components, ran through the entire program.
Intercultural Communication Incidents Ferraro, ; Adler, were used as a vehicle for pointing out specific cultural differences. Communication Exercises were used to focus on skill development; that is, how to communicate with individuals of other cultures. Personal Intercultural Experiences, the third component, provided experiences to the participants.
Because of the easy access to the expatriates and foreign tourists in Hong Kong, the participants were asked to contact and to interview Westerners throughout the program.
After each interview, participants wrote interview descriptions and analyzed the rationales for the success or difficulty of cross-cultural communication. Through the direct intercultural encounters, the participants were able to compare experiences, gain skill and confidence in intercultural communication, and relate their personal experience to the theory base. Theme 4 special topics of this teaching module concentrated on areas of specialized intercultural communication.
Marketing in an international environment comes with difficulties that may surface during the implementation of marketing -tools. In the context of an intercultural approach to marketing , this means that ethnomarketing can be considered a special form Introduction A significant body of research has indicated that failure in Author : Glen H.
Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Shao, Alan T. Shao, and DaleH. So, it is time to stop putting limits on our mind and start exploring new horizons that help us enrich our experiences of cross cultural exchanges.
I have realized how important is cultural communication nowadays. On this website, I have learned how culture can influence communication. When we speak with people from other countries, we must consider many aspects so that communication is effective, clear, and avoid misunderstandings. Something important to highlight is that no culture is better than another, and I consider that we should all have an open mind to accept and learn from these new cultures.
Definitely, this kind of information is very useful to develop communication skills to be a good speaker and listener. Interesting topic because we live in a world where we have the opportunity to connect with many cultures and learn from them, share ours and thus integrate ourselves as a society.
We must always keep our mind open to interact in different setting and maintain respect for others. We must keep in mind that we all come from different origins and it does not mean that some are more than others, our goal must always be mutual learning based on peace and respect for myself and therefore towards others.
We must know how to communicate, learn to listen ,and know that culture involves many things related to our daily life, we can improve, understand others and learn from them.
Also provide a great opportunity to meet people from other cultures and discuss. I fully agree with the content presented on this page. This is fundamental for human beings and it is a tool to have healthier social relationships and therefore we will be happier for the simple fact of respecting what is different.
It is also clear that we must be open mindful and learn how to communicate culturally in the best and effective way possible. Sharing with people of different backgrounds requires being tolerant, respectful, and flexible in understanding other people and their culture.
Equally important, you need to be open-minded to interact with individuals and accept new perspectives and behaviors from them. In addition, to establish fruitful relationships with people of different cultures, you must be aware that it is not about establishing a dominant culture, denigrating, discriminating, or relying on assumptions or stereotypes. Conversely, these relationships should create a comfortable environment for other people to have freedom of expression and to pay attention to decoding the verbal and non-verbal information that can be received and perceived from others.
Based on this information, it will be possible to build a successful interpersonal bond with third parties avoiding conflicts, increasing confidence and promoting a healthy social coexistence. Finally, cross-cultural communication enables new experiences, takes us away from ignorance, avoids barriers and drawing wrong conclusions, and allows us to understand diversity better.
Cross Cultural Communication is a really important topic that we must take into account to have a better communication in our daily life. This article helps me to understand and analyze in depth how important and influential is culture when it comes to communicating.
Many times, we usually talk about culture but we do not really have enough knowledge about it. We must keep in mind that we do not all belong or have the same culture, and that therefore it is important to respect and develop listening skills so not to have misunderstanding. Culture implies, race, language, dress, food, customs, standards, etc.
This imformation is very helpful. Sometimes when we hace a conversation with people from different contries there can be a lot of misunderstandings. The text was really interesting and helpful. I consider that social media has a huge impact of this in society because we often see videos of people generalizing their own culture,race or ethnicity.
For them may be funny but most of the time they represent a wrong side, and that creates conflicts and bias in other people. I think that the problem is that people tend to generalized a lot, and with that it will create stereotypes. Thanks again for the wonderful information. Each individual grew up with different boundaries, acquired from their families or the people they grew up with. These boundaries vary depending on the places they live in and the way these are used to interact with the rest of the world.
As individuals, we are always questioning our culture or confronting our beliefs with the rest of the world, but not culture is better or more relevant than other. Cross cultural communication is really helpful, it makes us feel comfortable and is extremely useful to avoid misunderstandings. We need to learn to understand our differences, accept other cultures and take the risk of being more open to what the world has to offer to us.
Nice post. Cross-Cultural Communication explains how the exchange of information between people from different countries works. It is essential to know the Miscommunication in Cross-Cultural Exchanges to avoid committing them when interacting with people from another culture. For sure, this website helps me to understand better the concept of Cross-Cultural Communication and what it implies.
Hello, I am from Panama. I want to say thank you to the author. The page has clear and interesting information.
I use it on my communication course. I got new knowledge about Cross Cultural Communication. I do agree with the fact that culture can affect our way of communication, because the pronunciation of the words, the different behavior of people, etc.
It is important to always listen carefully what people is saying and how they are saying that. It is a really interesting website that in which you can find a lot of information. Cross Cultural Communication is a wonderful and interesting topic due that we as a human used to have different behave according to our environment and society. Even though we live in a same country the beliefs are going to differ a lot.
There are people who believes in certain myth and others not. Humans beings can be irrespectful just because they unknown the meaning of some words.
But the most interesting part is that we can adapt to different culture at the moment to emerge in them. It has always been important for humans to communicate, not only to transmit messages but also to build relationships.
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